After controversy sparked by a language in a bill that created crimes of “media violence," referring to content that disparages or satirizes women, the Supreme Court decided to withdraw the bill, barely more than a week after it was originally submitted to the National Assembly, EFE and La Prensa report.
The controversial decision to sack an award-winning Mexican radio host for commenting on allegations that President Felipe Calderón is an alcoholic has prompted protests and opened a debate on the relationship between concentrated media ownership and politically-motivated censorship.
Even as two imprisoned journalists are refusing to eat in protest against the Cuban government, on Saturday, Feb. 12, Cuban authorities freed another independent reporter -- who has spent the past eight years in prison — in the latest round of political prisoners being released from jail, reported the Miami Herald and the Associated Press.
Journalist Aguirre Peixoto, who was fired from his job in Bahia state after alleged pressure from the real estate industry, could be rehired by A Tarde newspaper, Bahia Notícias reports. However, the reporter may not be open to joining the paper again.
An armed group attacked the facilities of two media outlets and shot to death a worker on Feb. 9 in the city of Torreón, in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, one of the regions most affected by drug trafficking violence in the country, reported the local press.
Panamanian journalists are developing the “My Transparent Panama” platform as a model digital tool that can be used to cover crime and corruption in Latin America. The project is an online digital map that plots citizen-provided information about incidents ranging from fraud and theft to murder and rape.
Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the "opinion makers" for trying to create differences between his government and that of his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, reported Estado de S. Paulo. Lula made the remarks at an event commemorating 31 years of the Workers Party (PT) on Feb. 10.
In its 28 edition, the King of Spain International Journalism Prizes has recognized the work of Argentine Diana Fernández Irusta; Colombians José Enrique Guarnizo, Waldir Ochoa Guzmán and Víctor Hugo Deossa; and Mexican Daniel Aguilar Rodríguez, reported the news agency EFE. The awards are among the most prestigious given to Ibero-American journalists.
The Cuban government has lifted access restrictions on the more than 40 of the country’s dissent bloggers’ websites, continuing the apparent drawdown in attacks against the opposition, which included the release of political prisoners last year, the Miami Herald reports.
Ten people in Colombia, including three journalists, have been threatened in a pamphlet allegedly signed by the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FLIP in Spanish), which condemned the death threats.
Seven journalists were killed in Colombia in 2010, and total attacks on the media were almost double the number that occurred over the previous four years combined, says the annual report of the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper).
Award-winning journalist Carmen Aristegui accused the Mexican government of pushing for her dismissal after she asked President Felipe Calderón to clarify whether he had alcohol problems, BBC reports.