Human Rights Watch's 2012 World Report, released on Jan. 22, 2012, accuses the Venezuelan government of trying to control independent media and the judiciary in order to silence opposition voices, reported the website Uol.
Controversial businessman Rupert Murdoch's media giant News Corp. and Colombia's RCN Televisión announced a partnership to launch a Spanish-language television channel in the United States to compete with Univision and Telemundo, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The Chilean government announced that it will withdraw the "Hinzpeter Bill," a proposal that would have permitted authorities to demand media companies turn over their archives to the police without a warrant, reported ANSA.
A Spanish journalist jailed in Cuba for 17 months over allegations of sexually exploiting minors after reporting on child prostitution on the island for the television station Telecinco arrived back in Madrid on Jan. 17, reported the news agency EFE.
U.S. online advertising spending is expected to surpass print for the first time this year, according to a study released Thursday, Jan. 19, by eMarketer, reported AdAge, adding that this would "represent a watershed in the media business." Forbes noted that such a forecast means "digital remains the sole bright spot for newspapers and magazines," as print ad revenue dropped 9.3 percent to $20.7 billion in 2011, the report said.
U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich faced off with CNN's John King during the South Carolina debate Thursday, Jan, 19, accusing the "destructive, vicious, negative" media of making it "harder to govern this country," reported Politico. Following the debate, which King moderated, CNN’s David Gergen said on the air that Gingrich's anti-media rant represented "one of the harshest attacks that we’ve had on the press that I can remember in a long, long time,” Politico added.
The Mexican Supreme Court will review an appeal from oil businessmen against journalists from the magazine Contralínea charged with libel, reported the news agency Notimex.
Despite the Internet's essential role in journalism today, few reporters take the issue of cyber security seriously. Recent cyber attacks on journalists in Venezuela reinforce the fact that the Internet is not without its risks.
Amy Webb didn’t have to look far for an example of how Spark Camp, an "un-conference" she helps organize, pulls disparate people together for an informal exchange of ideas and problem solving. Co-hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americasand the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, Spark Camp attracted an impressive variety of talented people to spend three days in January — in Austin — to ruminate on the crossroads of data and online journalism.
Brazilian journalists received death threats over e-mail after reporting on investigations by the State Public Ministry into family members and other people connected to the city's mayor, Silvio Félix, according to Canal Rio Claro. The reporters, in the city of Limeira, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, are from the newspapers Gazeta de Limeira and Jornal de Limeira, and TV Jornal.
According to Nieman Fellow Carlos Eduardo Huertas, columnist for the Colombian magazine Semana and founding director of the Consejo de Redacción (CdR), or Newsroom Council, today's newsrooms are caught between what journalism used to be, and what it can be in the future. Huertas, a participant in the second Spark Camp, held Jan. 13-15 in Austin, TX, spoke with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas about the importance of data journalism and computer assisted reporting.
An Argentine journalist was unlawfully detained after filming a violent police confrontation, reported the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish). Along with being detained for nine hours, the journalist claims police forced him to erase the recording.