On Thursday, May 31, the first Braille newspaper in Central American was published in Guatemala, reported the news site CNN México. The monthly publication Publinews Braille will be available at no cost in the offices of the Committee for the Blind and Deaf of Guatemala and will be available for 110,000 blind people, according to the radio station Emisoras Unidas.
Succumbing to pressure from the Mexican student movement “Yo Soy 132,”, or "I am 132," the president of the TV station Televisa, Emilio Azcárraga, agreed to nationally broadcast the next presidential debate, reported Noticias MVS. Then, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, president of the second largest TV station, TV Azteca, announced that it, too, would nationally televise the debate, according to El Informador.
Heading towards the Mexican presidential elections on July 1, voting surveys are done on Facebook; candidates have cell phone 'apps' and YouTube channels, and citizen journalists are the protagonists of new digital media that have refreshed electoral coverage to meet the demands of a younger and more informed public. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas interviewed the directors of Mexican digital and independent media about this tendency.
Columbia University in the United States and the School of Advertising and Marketing (ESPM in Portuguese) in Brazil worked in collaboration to launch the Journalism Magazine of the ESPM, the Brazilian version of the influential Columbia Journalism Review, reported the portal Meio e Mensagem. The magazine, to be published every trimester, started circulating at the beginning of May.
Journalist organizations condemned a court order that forces a Puerto Rican journalist to reveal the identity of a confidential source, reported the newspaper El Nuevo Día.
Journalist organizations condemned a court order that forces a Puerto Rican journalist to reveal the identity of a confidential source, reported the newspaper El Nuevo Día.
Two days after the Brazilian information access law went into effect, the Forum on the Right of Access to Public Information (FDAIP in Portuguese) published a recounting of the law's shortcomings and controversies.
Brazilians can now count on an Information Access Law to obtain data and non-secret government documents without having to provide justification for their information requests. The information access law went into effect on Wednesday, May 16, making Brazil one of 91 countries with freedom of informationlaws, reported ABC News and the newspaper Zero Hora. Also, the decree that regulates this law was signed by President Dilma Rousseff.
The Mexican radio station Grupo Fórmula sent a letter to the owner of the newspaper Reforma to clarify the sponsorship payments made by presidential candidate and former governor of the state of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, reported the same radio station.
The night of Thursday, May 10, the same day Bolivian president Evo Morales criticized the press for twisting information, the president launched a digital, HD version of the official state-run digital TV channel, Bolivia TV HD, with the alleged goal of "democratizing communication" and promoting cultural diversity, reported the newspaper La Razón and the Argentine digital news site Télam.
More than 100 Argentine journalists called for the government to guarantee access to public information, and for there to be press conferences, which, according to Argentine journalists, almost don't exist in the country, reported the news agency La Información, and the newspaper Clarín.
How much does a journalist in Mexico cost? According to an article in the Mexican newspaper Reforma, the answer could be hundreds of thousands of dollars if it's for Joaquín López Dóriga, news host for Televisa, the main Mexican broadcaster.