Amid controversy for the decision to award him a prize, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez received the Rodolfo Walsh Prize in the category “Latin American President for Popular Communication," which the Universidad de La Plata awards every year, La Razón reports. See stories in English by Reuters, CNN, the Associated Press, and other sources.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal initiated by a group of 15 journalists and academics against a constitutional provision that bans private individuals from buying electoral ad space on radio and TV, Milenio reports.
A TV reporter was wounded in the face after police fired tear gas while he was covering a teachers' protest in Tegucigalpa, the capital, Hora Cero reports. See this summary in English by Reporters Without Borders.
Argentina's Clarín newspaper published a blank front page Monday, March 28, in protest against the 12-hour blockade at the printing press the previous day that had prevented normal circulation of the country's largest newspaper, reported MercoPress, Notimex and La Gaceta.
A new digital portal in Bolivia is aimed at discussing rights to information and communication, according to a website about democratic governance supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Only hours after a TV host was killed in northern Mexico, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported the disappearance of another journalist in Mexico, where in the last four years violence linked to drug trafficking has exploded.
In an interview from Wednesday, March 23, Brazil's former World-Cup soccer team manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, became irritated with the press and threatened a journalist who revealed how much Scolari, current coach for the Palmeiras team, makes, reported Folha de São Paulo.
President Evo Morales, who has a tense relationship with the press, lashed out again against some opposition media, accusing them of trying to weaken his administration, IFEX reports.
In an unprecedented decision favoring transparency about the impact of drug trafficking, Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI) ordered the national intelligence service to furnish precise data on the number of people killed in clashes between authorities and organized crime groups, El Universal reports.
TV host José Luis Cerda of the Televisa network was found assassinated in the northern city of Monterrey—which in recent months has become the site of several attacks on media and aggression on the press by organized crime. He was kidnapped the day before by a group of armed men, Terra reports.
Blogger Ricardo Gama was shot three times the morning of Wednesday, March 23 in Copacabana in southern Rio de Janeiro, according to O Globo. The blogger was taken to the hospital where he was in serious condition, reported Estado de São Paulo.
After the shutdown of two community radio stations in Mexico during the past two weeks, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is calling on Mexican authorities to stop "criminalizing" community stations, reported Púlsar, the information agency for AMARC of Latin America and the Caribbean.