A government resolution gives large media companies in Argentina one year, as of Thursday, Sept. 9, to get rid of any broadcast licenses that exceed the maximum number permitted under the new audiovisual communication law, reported Página 12.
The 15th journalist freed from prison in Cuba went into exile in Spain on Wednesday, Sept. 8., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“Silence or Death in Mexico's Press” is the title of the just-released 2010 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report is an accounting of the crisis in freedom of expression and access to information resulting from surging organized crime, violence and corruption.
The media companies with good relationships with the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernández received during the first months of 2010 as much as 780 times more revenue from official ads than those media considered enemies of the administration, reported Clarín. The calculation evaluated the amount each media company received multiplied by the amount of people the ad reached, explained O Globo.
José Raúl Arriaga, a journalist for Univisión Radio in Puerto Rico, was stabbed between 14 and 18 times early on Sept. 7 in the town of Corozal, reported El Nuevo Día. The 37-year-old journalist was taken to the hospital, where he was stable and alert, added Primera Hora.
The National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ) and the Journalists Union of Amapá released a statement condemning the Sept. 3 attack on TV Marco Zero, affiliate of the Record network in Macapá, according to Amapá Digital.
William Parra Jaimes, who worked for the multi-state channel Telesur in Colombia, is being investigated for alleged links to the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) that go beyond his role as a journalist, reported El Espectador and the Associated Press. An international arrest warrant for Parra charges him with conspiracy, rebellion and financing terrorism, added EFE and Colombia Reports.
The Ecuadoran government has ramped up its media presence with the Sept. 6 launch of PP, El Verdadero (the True One), a popular (as in "of the people") publication that, in the words of President Rafael Correa, aims to "counter the de facto powers that are disguised as media" in the country, reported AFP and the news agency Andes.
The decision of the Honduran Congress to allocate the frequency of television channel Canal 8 to the government has prompted criticisms, and the owner of Teleunsa -- which currently operates the signal -- has accused President Porfirio Lobo of plotting to take over the station, reported La Prensa and AFP.
Cuban dissident and journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who in July ended his 135-day hunger strike, is recovering after emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder on Sept. 3, reported AFP and the Miami Herald.
In recognition of the challenges and restrictions she faces as a blogger in Cuba, and her defense of freedom of expression, the International Press Institute (IPI), based in Vienna, has named Yoani Sanchez of its 60 heroes of press freedom. (See also this story from EFE in Spanish).
Luis Carlos Cervantes, correspondent for Teleantioquia in Tarazá, is being protected by police after receiving anonymous death threats that told him to leave town within 72 hours, reported El Espectador and RCN Noticias.