For the third time since September, a division of Grupo Reforma-owned newspaper El Norte was hit with a grenade in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Vanguardia reports.
Reporter Pedro López, a correspondent for Radio Progreso in Cortés Department western Honduras, was held by police for four hours along with demonstrators. He was covering a national strike on Wednesday, El Patriota reports.
A Colombian journalist was hit with two tear gas canisters as he covered student protests at a university in the capital city of Bogotá, while two regional media directors received death threats after one was attacked in a different protest, Periodistas en Español reports.
The 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism began today at the University of Texas at Austin. More than 200 journalists, media executives, and academics are registered for the event taking place April 1-2.
After the recent controversial firing of journalist Aguirre Peixoto, the newspaper A Tarde is embroiled in another controversy over one of its employees. Reporter Emanuella Sombra resigned, Monday, March 28, after disagreeing with edits that were made to her interview with the singer Ivete Sangalo, reported the news site Grande Bahia. According to the journalist, an important part of her article, where the singer spoke about a crisis in the company and a lawsuit involving an ex-employee, was edited out against her will
The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, asked for $80 million in damages from the newspaper El Universo, in a complaint filed for alleged libel, El Universo reported.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has filed a case against Colombia in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for failing to provide justice and protection for journalist Luís Gonzalo “Richard” Vélez Restrepo, who was attacked by soldiers in 1996, while filming farmers protesting the destruction of coca crops. See reports in English by the IACHR and Colombia Reports.
Police in Rio de Janeiro have identified the car used in the nearly fatal shooting of a blogger, Ricardo Gama, reported the news site Terra. As such, it will be easier to identify the shooter, said prosecutor Bruno Gilabert.
In an article published on its website, the Brazilian magazine Caras said its was being censored for covering the death of the Brazilian actress and writer Cibele Dorsa. A court order forced the magazine to unpublish excerpts of the suicide note that the actress had sent to the magazine before her death.
More than half of Panamanians believe freedom of expression is at risk in their country, where in recent months the press has been in conflict with the government of President Ricardo Martinelli, reported the AFP news agency.
Nine years after the assassination of the deputy editor of La Patria newspaper, Orlando Sierra, two influential Colombian politicians from the interior were accused of being the masterminds of his killing, and they were ordered imprisoned to prevent them from fleeing, RCN Radio reports.
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.