While President Rafael Correa’s March 18 announcement that he was suing a pair of journalists is still the talk of the town, the leader announced another lawsuit – this time against an editorial writer and the directors of El Universo newspaper, Vistazo.com reports.
The United States has Propublica, the U.K. has the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and Chile has the Center for Investigative Journalism (Ciper). Brazil will soon join the ranks of countries with these independent centers, as Natália Viana, a journalist and collaborator with WikiLeaks, announced the creation of “Pública” (Public), the first investigative journalism agency in the country.
Riot police threw a teargas canister at journalist Lidieth Díaz and cameraman Adolfo Sierra for TV Cholusat Sur, attempting to stop the pair from filming a teacher protest in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, Revistazo.com reports.
After joining forces with the Huffington Post Investigative Fund to create one of the largest non-profit investigative newsrooms in the United States, the Center for Public Integrity is set to launch a daily, online investigative newspaper, reported Politico.
The commissioner of the Institute of Access to Public Information (IAIP) threatened to take legal action against Revistazo.com reporter Eleana Borjas who was trying to interview him about his vote on an information request issue, C-Libre reports.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports that it has received a copy of a new set of threats against journalists and human rights activists in Colombia from the Black Eagles paramilitary group, which for the last five years has engaged in acts of violence and intimidation against the press.
A journalist and a cameraman for the news show CM& on Colombia’s TV Canal 1 were attacked with rocks and sticks by people living in a mining zone in northeastern Colombia, while seeking interviews with locals about a Canadian mining company's decision to postpone a project, El Tiempo reports.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appointed Brazilian journalist Elisabeth Costa as its new secretary general. Costa, whom the IFJ describes as a “veteran campaigner for union rights and press freedom in Latin America,” will be the first woman and non-European to hold the post.
The Carabobo state division of Venezuela’s National Journalism Guild (CNP) announced plans to protest the decision by the national telecom agency (CONATEL) to close Carabobo Stereo radio station last week.
Several studies launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in association with the Ford Foundation, discuss the regulation of Brazilian media, reported Agência Brasil. According to UNESCO, the objective is to contribute to the debate about the role of communications in the strengthening of democracy.
President Rafael Correa has initiated a lawsuit against two journalists who published a book alleging corrupt dealings that benefited the leader’s older brother, El Diario reports. According to La Hora, the suit is for $10 million.
A provincial prosecutor in Peru wants four years in prison for Aurora Burgos, the owner of the award-winning, low frequency radio station La Voz de Bagua, for “aggravated theft of the radio spectrum,” the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports via IFEX.