A commission formed by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved the federal government to investigate crimes against journalists with the cases to be tried in local courts, reported the newspaper El Universal.
On the day the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) met to analyze the state of freedom of expression in Ecuador, an Ecuadoran legislator proposed a bill, sent by President Rafael Correa, that would punish government officials who attack freedom of expression, meeting out sentences of three to five years in jail, according to the news agecy Andes.
Nearly two years after the bill was first introduced in the National Congress, the Brazilian Senate approved the Public Information Access Law on Oct. 25, reported G1. During the bill's long road to ratification it depended on the support of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji in Portuguese), the NGO Article 19, and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Along with these organizations, journalists like Fernando Rodrigues, who led the campaign for the right to access to information
A radio host in Peru claimed she was fired because of pressure from the mayor of her city, Cajabamba, in the north of the country, reported the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish).
A jornalista mexicana Adela Navarro Bello foi uma das ganhadoras dos Prêmios Valor Jornalístico, concedidos pela Fundação Internacional de Mulheres na Mídia (IWMF, na sigla em inglês) em reconhecimento às mulheres que arriscam suas vidas para noticiar a violência e outros fatos em seus países.
Mexican journalist Adela Navarro Bello has been named one of winners of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 2011 Courage in Journalism Awards. The awards, which honor women journalists who risk their lives reporting on violence in their countries, will be presented Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, according to IWMF. The award winners also were recognized in Los Angeles on Monday, Oct. 24.
O jornalista Everaldo Fogaça denunciou ter sofrido ameaças do delegado Eduardo Brun de Souza durante depoimento para esclarecer a publicação de um manifesto do Diretório Central dos Estudantes (DCE) da Universidade Federal de Rondônia, informou o Jornal O Globo. Os alunos da universidade estão em greve.
Brazilian journalist Everaldo Fogaça was threatened by the head of the Federal Police, Eduardo Brun de Souza, according to the newspaper O Globo. Fogaça was testifying at police headquarters after being indicted for publishing on his news site the manifesto from a student group on strike at the Federal University of Rondônia.
In the northern Mexican state of Durango, four strangers broke into a journalist's home the night of Oct. 14 while she and her mother were asleep, reported the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish). The intruders locked the two women in a room, and after spending several hours in the house, they stole the journalist's computer, car, and credentials, along with personal photos, underwear and perfume, IPYS said.
Rapporteurs for freedom of expression from the United Nations and Organization of American States denounced the Mexican state's slow response to prosecute those that commit crimes against journalists. In the presentation of the report, "Freedom of Expression in Mexico," both organizations noted that violence against journalists in the country was the worst in the continent and the fifth overall in the world, reported EFE.
Police arrested two suspects in connection with the killing of Brazilian journalist Auro Ida on Oct. 17 in Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, reported Diário de Cuiabá.
A reporting team from TV Globovisión was attacked by a group of employees from the Venezuelan city of Plaza on Wednesday, Oct. 19, as they were covering protests in the city of Guarenas, close to the capital city of Caracas, according to the Press and Society Institute.