During election season, political coverage takes on a central role in society and journalists come under pressure to improve news gathering.
The Costa Rican presidency created its own online newspaper to promote government achievements to citizens, reported the Central American newspaper La Nación.
Ecuadorian non-governmental organization Fundamedios filed a lawsuit challenging President Rafael Correa's order that public officials not give interviews to certain media outlets, reported the website Cerigua.
Six Mexican Senators presented a bill to publish public spending for all levels of government in print and electronic media, according to the newspaper El Universal.
On Tuesday, Aug. 28, a news team from the newspaper El Nacional was detained by Venezuelan National Guard officials while trying to report on a large fire in the oil refinery of Amuay, in the state of Falcón, reported El Nacional.
An ultraconservative group in Mexico blocked the press from entering Nueva Jerusalén, a town in the state of Michoacán where a serious conflict is ongoing between secular inhabitants that confront religious fanatics for public education rights, according to the news agency Quadratin.
On Monday, Aug. 27, Brazilian civil society organizations launched the campaign "Freedom of Expression--A New Law for a New Time," reported the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication. The campaign marks the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian Telecommunications Law and calls for a new "general communication law" that defends plurality, diversity, and equal access to media and telecommunications in the South American country.
A reporter from the Brazilian newspaper Jornal da Tarde, in São Paulo, will run for city council this year 2012 elections in order to cover the campaign from a different perspective, reported the newspaper's website.
What can be done to improve media coverage of international migration in the Americas? More than 50 journalists, specialists, and NGO representatives met in 2011, in Austin, TX, to discuss this issue. The highlights of their discussion is now available in a digital booklet by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, "Media Coverage of Migration in the Americas," which can be downloaded in Spanish and English.
On Monday, Aug. 20, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo announced the launch of the website FolhaSPDados, an online resource for the up-coming mayoral elections in the city of São Paulo. The website will feature interactive maps and infographics to illustrate and accompany the newspaper's coverage of the election's main themes.