Every day dozens of celebrities worldwide are hounded by the press for scoops on things like alleged plastic surgeries, pregnancies, or their romantic lives. A member of Chile’s House of Deputies, inspired by recent press harassment faced by a former beauty queen, believes that journalists have gone too far and that their behavior needs to be reined in.
Journalist Jaime Quispe, the director of Jornada newspaper in Ayacucho, Peru, received a death threat the same day he published an article about political pressure to release a regional politician’s imprisoned brother, whom he accused of being a member of a blackmail gang, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports.
The directors of El Universo newspaper in Ecuador announced that the newspaper would continue circulating and reporting, in spite of the July 20 ruling that sentenced the paper, its directors, and an editor to $40 million in damages and three years in prison.
Political journalist Auro Ida, 53, was shot to death the morning of July 22 in front of his girlfriend’s house in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, G1 reports.
The National Board of Elections (JNE), Peru’s highest electoral authority, has presented a formal complaint against Uri Ben Schmuel, the director of La Razón newspaper, for not including the complete datasheet of a poll published in the paper, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports.
In the midst of the bribery and phone-hacking scandal involving CEO Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., media analysts continue to debate the ethical challenges of reporting. Are their limits to what a journalist should do in the search for a scoop?
Two journalists from Canal 36, an affiliate of Cholusat Sur, received text message death threats after reporting on evidence of alleged misconduct by the Catholic Church in Honduras, El Libertador reports.
A potential opposition presidential candidate and former state governor in Venezuela, Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, was convicted July 13 of “spreading false information” in a March 2010 interview with Globovisión, The Press and Society Institute and The Associated Press report.
The International Association of Broadcasters (IAB) says changes that give more power to the authorities to regulate the media’s role in elections violate freedom of expression, restrict citizen’s access to media, and promote censorship, EFE reports.
A judge sentenced three directors and a columnist at El Universo daily to three years each in prison and $40 million in fines for defaming President Rafael Correa in a February 6 editorial, CNN reports.
A São Paulo judge has ordered Brazilian ISPs to block access to journalist Paulo Cezar Prado’s “Blog do Paulinho” website, Mônica Bergamo reports for Folha de S. Paulo. The site is known for criticizing and making allegations against executives at the Brazilian Soccer Confederation (CBF) and major domestic clubs.
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled July 13 that government departments could not discriminate against the community radio station La Voladora with official ad spending, La Jornada reports.