Soldiers in Argentina’s Gendarmerie police force raided the offices of Papel Prensa, the country’s top newsprint producer and the focal point of an ongoing conflict between the government and Clarín and La Nación, the two largest domestic dailies, EFE and DiarioJornada report.
The national telecom regulator, Conatel, has urged that the law governing TV and radio broadcasts be modified to include Internet content, El Universal and El Tiempo report.
Police in Rio de Janeiro arrested a drug leader Sunday who was convicted of taking part in the assassination of TV Globo reporter Tim Lopes in 2002. Eliseu Felicio de Sousa was captured during this weekend's police invasion of the Alemão shantytown complex, the same region where Lopes was killed. The arrest was broadcast on live TV during extensive coverage of the police operations. (See video below of TV Globo's coverage.)
Peasants allegedly armed with assault rifles shot at a photographer for La Prensa newspaper while he was reporting on the military’s efforts to disarm farmers in the Atlantic coast region of Bajo Aguán, Proceso Digital reports.
The massive police mobilization against drug traffickers in the “favela” shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro has led journalists and the city’s residents to find creative ways to follow, debate, and share information about the ongoing violence.
The Argentine government has initiated new legal action against the newspapers Clarín and La Nación in order to remove the two companies' eight representatives from the board of Papel Prensa, the largest producer of newsprint in the country, Perfil.com reports. The government also wants “judicial intervention” against the papers in response to “numerous and serious irregularities” at the company.
Folha.com, the online site of Brazil's largest circulating newspaper, has begun to host the blog The Wall ("Mural"), the start of a news agency for communities in Greater São Paulo. The project was created by journalist Bruno Garcez as part of a Knight International Journalism Fellowship offered through the International Center for Journalists. Mural will be produced by a network of more than 50 community correspondents, who participated in training workshops about citizen journalism.
In his first news conference held exclusively for bloggers, outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva strongly criticized traditional media, saying he had quit reading the opposition press, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reports. Among his plans after leaving office Jan. 1, Lula says he’ll blog and tweet, Spain’s El País says.
Luis Horacio Nájera, who won asylum in Canada two years ago, was honored last week in Toronto by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, for his reporting in the violent border city Ciudad Juárez. His Mexican colleague Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and three journalists from Cameroon were also awarded prizes, The Toronto Star reports.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has praised Peru's decision to create a special jurisdiction to prosecute serious crimes against journalists, calling it "of far-reaching importance for the battle against impunity.” Starting this month, the new jurisdiction will try cases of assassination, serious injuries, kidnapping, and extortion of journalists.
Since the Law Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination took effect in Bolivia Oct. 8, La Patria newspaper of Oruro has published the following disclaimer on Page 3: “We reserve the right to publish or reject any announcement, information, and/or opinion text that could harm our newspaper. As a consequence, one can not accuse this newspaper of discrimination, partiality, self-censorship, or any other abuse of the right to free expression."
Brazilian photojournalist Paulo Whitaker, who works for the Reuters news agency, was shot in the left shoulder Friday (Nov. 26) while covering the third day of gun battles in Rio de Janeiro, The Guardian reports. His injury was not life-threatening, and he was recovering quickly, Reuters says.