A Lima court acquitted Luis Valdez Villacorta, the former mayor of Coronel Portillo, on charges that he had ordered the killing of journalist Alberto Rivera in 2004, the Associated Press reports.
The closure of Cambio news magazine and the termination of its two top editors are described by its owner, El Tiempo publishing group, as an economic decision, but the dismissed editor-in-chief and managing editor believe political motivations were at play. See this story in English by Colombia Reports.
The 16-year-old son of TV and radio host Eduardo Maldonado was released 27 days after he was kidnapped from his home in Tegucigalpa, EFE reports.
Guatemalan investigative journalist Marvin del Cid Acevedo, who works for the newspaper elPeriódico, has received several death threats recently, after writing about official corruption and serving as a witness in a murder trial against security forces, reported Amnesty International.
The killings of three Mexican journalists in January alone, and the news that 15 people, mostly teenagers, were killed at a birthday party in Ciudad Juárez have called new international attention to Mexico’s drug-related violence, which is reported to have killed more than 1,000 people in the first 34 days of this year. Meanwhile, Mexican media workers brace for more attacks.
In response to the recent debate over TV content, several members of Parliament have proposed measures to censor and regulate media. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed concern about possible governmental interference in the media's editorial decisions.
El Nacional published a front-page image that shows a soldier holding the chain and hooks before a group of students who were protesting the closure of the RCTV cable station. The newspaper also reports that prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation against it over the image published Jan. 28.
The day after the mines: danger without control is the second report by the Argentine Journalism Forum’s (FOPEA) new Investigative Reporting Unit. The multimedia project explores the consequences of mining that may linger even after mines are abandoned and emphasizes the lack of government regulation.
A former member of the secret police during the dictatorship has brought charges against Luiz Claudio Cunha for "moral harm" after being mentioned in the journalist’s book Operation Condor: The kidnapping of the Uruguayans, EFE reports (Spanish).
Twitter users in Mexico City have angered authorities by tweeting the locations of roadside Breathalyzer checkpoints, and kidnappers and drug traffickers are using Facebook and MySpace to communicate. Federal lawmakers have responded by proposing a bill to restrict social networking sites and to create a police force to monitor them, GlobalPost reports.
Latin American newspapers will only survive with help from the state, but not by continuing to rely on the government for placing ads, longtime media observer Eduardo Bertoni writes for the Huffington Post.
Adding to a litany of recent attacks on press freedom, the Ministry of Communications and Information plans to ask prosecutors to punish Tal Cual for an editorial describing a Venezuela without President Hugo Chávez, ABC.es reports.