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.
Journalist Paulo Beringhs, host of a news program on the TV Brasil Central channel, funded by the government of Goiás state, declared live that his station received orders not to interview the opposition candidate for governor, Marconi Perillo, Portal Imprensa reports.
Reporters Without Borders released its annual press freedom index on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, according to Radio Free Europe.
The Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities (ADEPA in Spanish) is condemning the government of President Cristina Fernández and criticizing government officials' insults and defaming of reporters and the media.
Several press freedom organizations have accused the Chiapas state government of violating human rights and freedom of expression in their violent shutdown of the Proletaria community radio station on Oct. 12. The station is run mainly by neighborhood youths in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico's Center for Social Communication (CENCOS) Reports (via IFEX).
Two years ago this week, a police raid on a media research center in Managua run by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro prompted international concern that President Daniel Ortega’s government was persecuting his critics—such as Chamorro—and violating press freedom.