Barely three weeks after the disclosure that dozens of journalists in El Salvador were the target of digital espionage, the country's Legislative Assembly approved new legislation that creates the legal figure of a "digital secret agent" and allows police to access electronic devices and collect data to be used as proof in criminal proceedings. Opponents of the measure claim that this is about legalizing digital spying on citizens and that it can be used to harass journalists critical of the government.
Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz was acquitted in a trial for aggravated defamation. Since 2018, Ugaz has been repeatedly sued for defamation based on her investigations into the alleged sexual and psychological abuse of minors and financial irregularities of the Catholic congregation Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana.
At least six writs of security regarding Jair Bolsonaro's blocking of Brazilian journalists and citizens on his social media are awaiting judgment in the Federal Supreme Court (STF, by its Portuguese acronym), according to an investigation by LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). There is no prediction of when the 2019 and 2021 legal actions will be judged.
Collective of women journalists from Cuba seeks to raise funds to create a shelter and provide protection to journalists who face police and judicial harassment from the Cuban State, for practicing their profession as independent journalists.
An investigation confirmed that the phones of 30 Salvadoran journalists were hacked with Pegasus spy software. The program was developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. In some cases, the dates of the intercepts coincide with journalistic investigations into the political landscape in El Salvador. These interceptions allow full control of the device: messages, calls and extraction of stored data.
For at least four years, journalist Juliana Dal Piva has been trying to “understand who is Jair Bolsonaro,” as she said in an interview with LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). She is perhaps one of the Brazilian journalists most dedicated to that mission. Read below the interview with Juliana Dal Piva, the first in the "Five Questions" series, which we are premiering at LJR. (The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity).
Peruvian journalist Christopher Acosta received a two-year suspended prison sentence in a trial for aggravated defamation and crimes against honor. The plaintiff is businessman and former presidential candidate César Acuña, on whom Acosta bases his journalistic investigation in the book "Plata como cancha."
Journalists in the Peruvian capital faced a record number of 105 cases of assault while carrying out their work, especially during the months of presidential election campaigns that were infused with a high social, political and media polarization.
A physical assault on reporters covering President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to the state of Bahia has renewed accusations that the leader’s own words and actions, as well as those of his family and supporters, have fostered a hostile environment for the press. On Dec. 12, his security team and supporters attacked reporters from TV Bahia who […]
The spike of public protests that sometimes turned violent has not been met with enough preparation by Latin American journalists who find themselves in the midst of confrontations, experts say.
The following reports are part of a LatAm Journalism Review project on journalist safety in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is funded by UNESCO's Global Media Defence Fund. The stories focus on prevention of aggressions against journalists in the context of protests and violent conflict; the development of mechanisms to protect journalists from harm […]
Pese a que en América Latina la cifra de periodistas en prisión es relativamente baja, el CPJ advirtió que en 2021 se registró un preocupante deterioro en la situación de la libertad de prensa en la región al considerar otros indicadores.