The vice president of Guatemala, Rafael Espada, tried to sue Marta Yolanda Díaz-Durán for libel, insult and defamation after she wrote a column published a year ago in the newspaper Siglo Veintiuno, but the Constitutional Court this week dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the journalist only expressed her opinion in the media, reported Cerigua.
In June, the U.S. embassy in Bogota denied renowned television journalist Hollman Morris a visa to come to the United States as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, permanently banning him from entry on the basis that the Patriot Act blocked him because of "terrorist ties.". After public outcry, however, the U.S. State Department in July reversed its decision.
Giant U.S. communications company Time Warner reached an agreement to purchase Chilevisión, the network of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, for $140 million, reported La Tercera.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez announced Tuesday, Aug. 24, that the country's lawyers will bring a lawsuit accusing Argentina's two largest newspapers, Clarín and La Nación, of illegally appropriating newsprint company Papel Prensa during the military dictatorship (1976-1983), reported the official news agency Télam, the Associated Press, and Agência Estado.
Frank La Rue and Catalinta Botero, special rapporteurs for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, respectively, for freedom of expression, gave their preliminary observations from their official mission to Mexico, warning that the situation in the country was grave, reported BBC Mundo and El Universal.
Israel Zelaya Díaz, a renowned radio journalist from San Pedro Sula, was found dead outside the city with three bullet wounds, reported Radio-Info and La Tribuna. He was the 10th journalist killed in Honduras this year, explained Radio Nederland.
The Argentine government today, Aug. 24, will release a 400-page report that supposedly shows ties between the country's two largest newspapers and the military dictatorship (1976-1983), reported the news agency Télam. The document analyzes the newspapers' purchase in 1976 of Papel Prensa, Agentina's largest producer of newsprint. The newspapers share ownership of the company with the Argentine government.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court approved the request to seek extradition of Walid Makled, alleged Venezuelan drug dealer arrested in Colombia last week, reported the Associated Press. Makled is considered the mastermind behind the 2009 killing of journalist Orel Sambrano, according to El Universal.
The federal district attorney has opened a public civil inquiry to investigate how the press of Mato Grosso do Sul had access to documents that proved the use of a video recording system, as part of criminal investigations, in the Federal Maximum Security Prison in Campo Grande, reported Campo Grande News.
Brazil's first online presidential debate, provided by Folha de S. Paulo and the website UOL and still available online, attracted more than 1.7 million views during its first day up on the Internet, reported M&M Online. The debate took place Wednesday, Aug. 18.
A group of comedians gathered Sunday, Aug. 22, on the beach of Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro, to demonstrate against a law that bans parodies and jokes about candidates during election campaigns in Brazil, reported O Globo.
The book "Cyber-journalism: Style Book for Cyber-journalists" (written in Spanish), will be presented this Friday (Aug. 27) at the College of Communication Sciences at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, according to Noticias Al Aire.