Brazilian journalist Laécio de Souza was shot to death the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 3, in the metropolitan area of Salvador, the capital city of the state of Bahia, reported G1. Police said the radio reporter had received threats on his cell phone minutes before he was killed, according to the news site Itaberaba Notícias.
Mexican newspapers El Diario de Coahuila and El Heraldo de Saltillo criticized the private security business Serviprose, whose guards are accused of attacking and stealing from reporters in the northern city of Saltillo, for failing to comply with an agreement to pay damages.
At the start of 2012, media organizations and news sites are looking back at the top stories of 2011 (see this CNN list for a good run-down), suggesting new year's resolutions for newsrooms, and even offering a few trends that will "reshape digital news in 2012," as Poynter did.
The national executive of the PSDB, the opposition party in Brazil, has threatened to sue controversial journalist Amaury Ribeiro Junior, author of the book A Privataria Tucana, that alleges cases of misappropriation of funds by members of the political party, according to Estadão. The journalist came under fire last year when he was charged with bribery and using false documents.
An Argentine television reporter and cameraman were beaten, threatened with death, and ordered to strip when they tried to cover a human trafficking story about Bolivian families on a farm in the western province of Mendoza on Dec. 29, reported the official news agency Télam and Diario Uno.
A radio broadcaster was attacked live on the air by an assailant who invaded the studios of community radio station CS FM in the Brazilian city of Canoas in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, reported G1.
Online courses and webinars, workshops, conferences, e-books, a news blog and direct assistance to journalists' organizations have been offered by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas during 2011.
Three Guatemalan journalists and a photographer are among 52 persons accused of participating in the kidnapping, torture, and killing of diplomats during this Central American country's civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996.
The Brazilian Senate recently bucked a 2009 ruling by the South American country's Supreme Court when it approved a bill reestablishing the requirement that all practicing journalists have an advanced degree.
The Argentine journalist Patricio Downes gave testimony in the trial of priest Horacio Zitelli for crimes against humanity on Dec. 15, reported the newspaper Clarín.
The Ecuadorian blogger who coined the tag "30S" or "30-S" to follow tweets about the police protest on Sept. 30, 2010, came out against the government's attempt to trademark 30S, reported the newspapers El País and El Universo.
Journalists have joined the growing list of groups opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) under consideration by the U.S. congress, according to the Washington Post.