A journalist from the most influential Honduran radio station was kidnapped in the capital of Tegucigalpa, early in the morning of Wednesday, May 9, reported the newspaper La Prensa.
The former president of the Brazilian city council of Curitiba (Paraná), João Carlos Derosso, threw a humor journalist's microphone out the window of a four-story building on Tuesday, May 8, reported the newspaper Gazeta do Povo. Journalist Maurício Meirelles is from the TV program Custe o que Custar on the CQC station.
A Honduran journalist and gay activist was found dead on Monday, May 7, after having been reported missing for two days, according to the BBC. Journalist Erick Martínez Ávila was a spokesperson for the group Kulkulcán, which represents the rights of homosexuals in Honduras. He was also a Congressional candidate for the National Resistance Front party, which was created by followers of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, reported the news agency EFE.
Another Mexican news outlet was the target of an attack on Monday, May 7. This time the shooting was against the newspaper Hora Cero in the city of Reynosa, on the Texas border, according to the newspaper Vanguardia.
On Monday, May 7, in an article published by the Argentine newspaper Clarin, journalist Daniel Santoro said that he was victim of a plot to discredit him created by the Argentine Intelligence Agency (SIDE in Spanish).
The Deutsche Welle international competition for blogs, The BOBs, awarded the Brazilian Catraca Livre as the best blog in Portuguese this year. Catraca Livre, which means "Open Turnstile," is famous for publishing about Sao Paulo's free social and cultural events.
After the killing of four Mexican journalists in Veracruz in less than a week, a few local news media managers ordered their reporters not to attend the funerals of their colleagues as a precautionary measure, reported the news agency AFP.
A new report from the Office of Journalist Human Rights of the National Journalists Association of Peru (ANP in Spanish) shows 49 attacks against journalists recorded in Peru during the first months of 2012. Most assaults were done by public officials (17), followed by civilians (16), non-identified attackers (11), news outlet owners/managers (4), and police/military (1). Among the assaulted journalists, 12 of them were women, according to the report.
As the rest of the world celebrated World Press Freedom Day, Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, Canada, called for police to file charges against Toronto Sun reporter Daniel Dale, and demanded that Dale be removed from the city hall beat, saying he would not speak with any members of the media if Dale were around, reported CTV News and the National Post.
The U.S. government called on Ecuador to guarantee freedom of expression “and to make sure journalists can work without fear of threats or punishments," reported the news agency EFE. The U.S. government also criticized the case of Ecuadorian journalist Cesar Ricaurte, director of the Ecuadorian NGO Fundamedios, who has received death threats for his criticisms against the government, added EFE.
Winners have been announced for two of the most prestigious fellowships for journalists: the 75th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard and the John S. Knight Journalism Fellows at Stanford University.
After authorities identified the bodies of two tortured and killed Mexican photojournalists, the Attorney General of the Mexican state of Veracruz confirmed that the other two dismembered bodies found on Thursday, May 3, also belonged to employees of the local press, reported the Program of Freedom of Expression of the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics. Drug cartels are considered suspects in the killings, which highlight the dangers of reporting in parts of Mexico, the Houston Chronicle and the Globe and Main re