Last week the website Clases de Periodismo published a free guide in Spanish for journalists and communicators interested in social media management.
The President of Peru, Ollanta Humala, enacted the Computer Crimes Act last week, which criminalizes the unauthorized creation and use of electronic databases, among other things, with up to five years in prison. Several lawyers and journalism organizations have criticized the law, saying it will endanger Peruvians' right to freedom of expression and information.
Peruvian investigative reporter Mónica Vecco filed a criminal complaint against five persons -- among them politicians and media directors -- for allegedly having broken into her email and using several messages out of context to accuse her of helping a fugitive escape the country. According to her complaint, the actions were part of a plan to discredit her and, ultimately, the recent congressional and journalistic efforts to investigate alleged acts of corruption committed during the administration of former Peruvian President Alán García.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned the intimidation and censorship against the journalists of indigenous media during the national mobilization of several regional groups in Colombia.
With the purpose of helping journalists from different regions and reaches of the country improve their coverage of the conflict and post-conflict in Colombia, and the goal of creating a network of colleagues that specialize on these issues, several organizations have joined to launch a new digital project, Plataforma de Periodismo (“Journalism Platform” in Spanish).
The limits that Brazilian law places on the publication of historical biographies threatens freedom of expression and the preservation of memory, writers Mário Magalhães and Audálio Dantas said at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference while discussing the challenges of writing an unauthorized biography.
Of the 124,394 applications received during the first 18 months since Brazil’s new Law of Access to Information (LAI) went into effect, 5.15 percent came from journalists, according to Brazil’s Inspector General Jorge Hage.
Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa, president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF in Portuguese), criticized the journalistic coverage of judicial topics in Brazil. In his opinion, the press has been monothematic and addresses topics on the agenda with little preparation.
The creation of a new intelligence body in Venezuela that, among other powers, has the capacity to declare information as "reserved" or "classified," generated concern among different national and international organizations, several publications reported.
Mexico, El Salvador and Antigua are ranked higher than Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia on a global ranking of right to information laws, according to the annual ratings prepared by Access Info Europe (AIE) and Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD).
More than 1,000 journalists from 80 different countries have gathered at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference.
Luis Chancay, president of the National Educators’ Union of Guayas, Ecuador, filed a complaint before the People’s Defender on Sept. 23 because of a memorandum from the Ministry of Education. This memorandum prohibits rectors, directors and professors of educational institutions in the Province of Guayas from giving statements to the press without the authorization of the sub secretary of said ministry, according to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universal.