Peruvian civil society organizations like Hiperderecho are organizing an online campaign to collect signatures demanding that the country's president establish clear, "non-negotiable" points during the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations with the United States and other Pacific nations that could affect Peruvians' access to the Internet, among other issues.
One year after Brazil's Access to Information law took effect, fewer than half of the public agencies respect the law and the Executive branch receives the most information requests--and complaints--from journalists.
With the aim to broaden the debate on journalists' security, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, and the United Nations Information Center in Rio de Janeiro launched the website Segurança de Jornalistas (Journalists' Security in English) on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.
Internet use is growing rapidly in Latin America, and traditional media groups are exploring digital paid content strategies to try to protect and consolidate their dominant position, especially in the face of competition from new digital-only news organizations.
The Central American University of El Salvador established a specialized security-training center for journalists with financial support from the United States government, reported the news agency Agence-France Presse.
Before 2005, crime news dominated the regional media in Chile, according to Paula Rojo, founder of the network of regional newspapers Mi Voz. That year, Rojo and her partner Jorge Domínguez Larraín launched an effort to recruit citizens, representatives from diverse political backgrounds and the social sector to become citizen reporters for their new newspaper.
After a five-month wait, Nación Data has launched the Spanish version of the Data Journalism Handbook. The book is free, open-source, and is designed to help journalists use data to improve their stories.
The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, has presented the Congress with a proposal that toughens content regulations on the media, including regulation on schedules and punishments for broadcasting violent or obscene content, content that celebrates or defends crime, or content that goes against morals and good behavior, said La Prensa. Lobo’s proposed telecom law is popularly known as the “ley mordaza” – the gag law – due to its restrictions on press freedom.
Officially launched in Brazil in December 2007, today digital TV covers 46.8 percent of the country, according to data from the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL). What does this mean less than three years out from the end of analog TV broadcasting – which, by decree, is set to end in July 2016? What is the federal government planning to reach the remaining 53.4 percent before the deadline?
Brazil has a big lead as the country with the most government requests to remove online content by judicial order in the latest Google Transparency Report, released on Thursday, April 25. In the period between July and December 2012, the search giant received 1,461 court-ordered requests from governments around the world to remove content, including YouTube videos and search results, with nearly 43 percent of them coming from Brazilian authorities.