Member countries of the UN Human Rights Council criticized Honduras and sought more information about human right violations since the coup that unseated President Manuel Zelaya, and about the killings of nine journalists in 2010, Inter Press Service reports. (See this earlier story in English).
A Buenos Aires labor court has claimed legal ownership over several of the Spanish company Prisa’s radio holdings in Argentina, in order to guarantee that Radio Continental pays more than $1 million in damages for firing journalist Rolando Hanglin, El Mundo reports. The ruling affects seven radio stations.
The government’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) is investigating reports of death threats against Milenio Semanal magazine reporter Jorge Alejandro Medellín, Noroeste reports.
The Mexican authorities have presented a mechanism for protecting journalists to stop the attacks on reporters and the media that, in the last decade, have resulted in 65 killings, in addition to 12 disappearances in the past five years, reported CNN Mexico and La Jornada.
On Nov. 4, Honduras will have its Universal Periodic Review, an evaluation by the United Nations Human Rights Council. In the lead-up to this event, more than 32 press freedom organizations in the IFEX network have presented recommendations to combat the “deplorable human rights situation” in the country.
A Peruvian court has sentenced journalist José Alejandro Godoy, the head of the blog Desde el Tercer Piso (From the Third Floor), to three years in prison, a fine of $107,000, and 120 days of social work for “aggravated defamation” against former minister and congressman Jorge Mufarech, El Comercio reports.
In her acceptance speech in Brasília, President-elect Dilma Rousseff highlighted the role of the press and promised that her future government would guarantee freedom of expression.
U.S. voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 2 , 2010, for mid-term elections, after what has been a campaign season "rife with hostile and downright bizarre encounters between candidates and the news media," according to The New York Times.
The Foundation for the Freedom of the Press in Colombia and the weekly newspaper ZETA in Tijuana, Mexico, were honored Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010, for being two recipients of this year's Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, reported the Associated Press.
The states of Ceará, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Bahia, Piauí, and Alagoas are considering creating communications monitoring agencies, Folha de S. Paulo and O Globo report.
The Federal Police are working to indict journalist Amaury Ribeiro Júnior for his alleged role in violating the financial privacy of individuals linked to opposition presidential candidate José Serra, O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo report.
One the eve of the country’s Day of the Journalist, celebrated Oct. 23, President José Mujica said the press is “an absolutely necessary and indispensable evil” that shouldn’t be “tinkered” with, El País reports.