Wiretaps conducted by Colombian intelligence agents on judges, journalists, politicians, and human rights defenders have put more pressure on President Álvaro Uribe to be accountable. Uribe was summoned this week to testify about any possible role or knowledge he had of the wiretaps. He publicly denied claims made by the prosecutor handling the case who suggested that the president's office had leaked the press information in order to discredit the Supreme Court, CM& and El Colombiano report.
Guatedigital brought the news that Aníbal Archila, a reporter for Noti7 TV, was declared missing Thursday night (May 27) after being hit and injured by volcanic debris while covering the eruption south of Guatemala City, EFE says. His body was later discovered, and his shaken colleagues announced Archila's death live on the air. (See these videos on the CNN and LA Observed sites.)
The Nieman Foundation at Harvard University has selected 25 journalists from around the world to participate in its annual fellowship program. Fellows will be able to attend classes of their choice at Harvard and participate in workshops and seminars on topics like narrative writing, video editing, and computer-assisted reporting.
Circulation in Brazil is increasing once again after a decline last year during the economic crisis, O Estado de S. Paulo reports. On average, 97 papers reported a 1.5 percent increase in the first quarter of 2010, compared with an 8.6 percent drop in U.S. circulation over the six-month period ending March 31. What accounts for this difference?
Ângelo Ferreira da Silva is the second convicted assassin of TV journalist Tim Lopes to leave prison while serving a sentence allowing his limited release, the G1 news site reports. Lopes was killed by drug traffickers in 2002 after being captured and tortured while he was reporting on drug and sex trafficking at community dances in a shantytown of Rio de Janeiro.
Renato Santana, a reporter for the newspaper Tribuna de Santos, has received threats of harm and is facing pressures from prosecutors in São Paulo state after publishing a series of reports showing the operation of death squads in the area of Santos, São Paulo, the Journalists Union of São Paulo reports.
Reporters, editors, academics and developers who are highly involved in producing digital news will meet in São Paulo May 29, 2010, for the First International Seminar on Online Journalism. The event is organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Faculdade Cásper Líbero, and the Brazilian chapter of the Online News Association, a U.S. organization.
First he went on television and radio. Next, he started tweeting. Now, President Chávez has launched an official blog to communicate with Venezuelans, ABC and Europa Press report.
Bloggers in Jamaica have been covering for many months the series of events that led to this week’s violence and state of emergency in Jamaica over the government’s decision to extradite an alleged drug lord to the United States. Global Voices Online’s Janine Mendes-Franco compiles reports from bloggers and social media users, as does Robert Mackey for The New York Times.
Independent journalist Guillermo (Coco) Fariñas has refused food for nearly three months to protest treatment of political prisoners on the island. His story has been widely reported by English- and Spanish-language media. But on Saturday, he was the source of stories in foreign media that said the Havana regime had agreed to transfer ill prisoners to hospitals and to move prisoners being held far from their hometowns.
The station, La Voz de Bagua (The Voice of Bagua), is accused of inciting violence during disturbances in Peru's Amazon last June that left at least 30 people dead, EFE explains.
A computer technician has confessed to sending false emails to 180 court judges in the state of Rio de Janeiro in the name of journalist Chico Otavio of O Globo newspaper. The messages are said to have been sent at the request of a former high-ranking judge, Roberto Wider, who resigned from his job after a series of news reports co-authored by Otavio last year accused Wider of involvement in fraudulent sentencing deals, O Globo explains.