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.
Columnist and satirist Laureano Márquez won the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for his independent commentary while under constant harassment from the government of President Hugo Chávez.
The Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Catalina Botero, said access to public information in Brazil is an important tool for understanding what happened during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). She argued that the release of such documents, however, cannot be accompanied by any type of rules on the use of the documents by journalists or other members of the public. "Media outlets have the responsibility to manage news, but beyond guaranteeing access, the law cannot
At least four journalists have disappeared in the Mexican state of Michoacán since 2006 - an epicenter of the government’s offensive against drug trafficking - and there have not been any concrete developments in the investigations by the federal and state authorities, Reporters without Borders (RWB) reports.
Thirty years after Guatemalan journalist, writer and activist Alaíde Foppa was kidnapped, her family and journalism and human rights organizations on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, went before Guatemala's Supreme Court to demand authorities investigate what happened to Foppa, according to IFEX. The family presented a statement to the court to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25.
The Venezuelan government issued a decree prohibiting the unauthorized use of the “name, image, or figure” of President Hugo Chávez for public works, political and social organizations, or ad campaigns, EFE and AFP report.
Outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave his first blogger-only interview Nov. 24, Bruno Siffredi writes for Estadão. The interview was streamed live by the participants and on the government’s Blog do Planalto.
The Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression initiated preliminary hearings in federal court for three individuals – two of them police officers – for their alleged role in attempting to kill a journalist, El Universal reports. For safety reasons, the journalist’s name has not been released.
Journalists in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte earn a base salary of $525 a month, the lowest in Brazil. They have launched a strong Internet campaign to criticize the decline of the profession in their state, and to demand a salary increase and respect for their human rights, the Portal Imprensa media news site reports.
President Hugo Chávez said it is not acceptable for the TV station Globovisión to criticize his government, while its majority shareholder, Guillermo Zuloaga, remains a fugitive of Venezuelan justice, The Associated Press reports.
The Bolivian government has finished a series of public debates in nine regions of the country to discuss how the new anti-racism law will be enforced, Prensa Latina reports. According to Los Tiempos, the rules should be ready before the end of the year.
Journalists from Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil will gather in the border cities of the three countries Nov. 26-28, 2010, to attend the First International Journalists Meeting on the Triple Frontier. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is a co-sponsor of the gathering.