The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Organization of American States (OAS), Catalina Botero, said she was concerned with critics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the press facing libel suits, license suspensions, and broad “stigmatization,” El Universal reports.
Human rights organizations and freedom of expression groups celebrated Cuba’s release of one of the last jailed dissident journalists. Pedro Argüelles, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003, was freed last week, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune.
The Paraguayan Congress has ratified a controversial bill that imposes restrictions on community radio stations, rejecting President Fernando Lugo's veto, according to the news agency EFE.
The open tension between Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa and the press intensified in recent days amid accusations of corruption and conspiracy among the media and allegations of government censorship and freedom of expression violations, reported the local press.
A top official in the Social Defense Secretariat in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, Colonel Elías Augusto Siqueira de Souza, was fired last week after pressuring a local journalist to reveal his sources, Folha de Pernambuco reports.
Journalists working for big media companies and their independent blogger colleagues are facing the same problem: the risk of lawsuits for their work.
The documentary “Presumed Guilty,” about judicial mistakes and corruption in Mexico, may become a victim of the system it criticizes, La Crónica de Hoy reports. Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction after a witness in a trial, which led to the ultimately overturned conviction of Antonio Zuniga for murder, said he never gave permission to be filmed, the Los Angeles Times explains.
Spanish journalists Francisco Gómez Nadal and Pilar Chato agreed to leave Panama after their arrest during a protest by indigenous groups against mining reforms.
Spanish journalists Francisco Gómez Nadal and Pilar Chato agreed to leave Panama after their arrest during a protest by indigenous groups against mining reforms.
Brazil’s Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo says he wants to “comb through” the omnibus bill dealing telecommunications and broadcast regulation, O Estado de S. Paulo reports. The goal is to clarify the languages and provisions in the controversial bill that was initially proposed by Bernardo’s predecessor, Franklin Martins.
The Spanish journalist Francisco Gómez Nadal was arrested in Panama City while covering a demonstration organized by indigenous groups protesting mining reforms they believe would harm the environment, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune.
A judge absolved Colombian journalist Claudia López of libel, after accusations leveled against her by ex-President Ernesto Samper (1994-98) prompted by a column in which she suggested Samper was involved in a pair of homicides, reported RCN Radio.