Seven legislators flew to D.C. to criticize Ecuador’s controversial draft media law in front of several international groups, including the Organization of American States and Freedom House, El Universo and EFE report.
The Bolivian Chamber of Deputies recently passed a controversial law that would criminalize racist or discriminatory acts, BBC Mundo reports. Journalism and media groups have said that the law, which is still waiting Senate approval, “violates freedom of expression,” because it could punish third parties for covering controversial issues.
The 15th journalist freed from prison in Cuba went into exile in Spain on Wednesday, Sept. 8., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
William Parra Jaimes, who worked for the multi-state channel Telesur in Colombia, is being investigated for alleged links to the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) that go beyond his role as a journalist, reported El Espectador and the Associated Press. An international arrest warrant for Parra charges him with conspiracy, rebellion and financing terrorism, added EFE and Colombia Reports.
The decision of the Honduran Congress to allocate the frequency of television channel Canal 8 to the government has prompted criticisms, and the owner of Teleunsa -- which currently operates the signal -- has accused President Porfirio Lobo of plotting to take over the station, reported La Prensa and AFP.
Cuban dissident and journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who in July ended his 135-day hunger strike, is recovering after emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder on Sept. 3, reported AFP and the Miami Herald.
In recognition of the challenges and restrictions she faces as a blogger in Cuba, and her defense of freedom of expression, the International Press Institute (IPI), based in Vienna, has named Yoani Sanchez of its 60 heroes of press freedom. (See also this story from EFE in Spanish).
The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court ruled that radio and television stations now are free to broadcast political satire and jokes about election candidates. They also can issue opinions for or against candidates in news and editorial programs, as long as they don't serve as propaganda, reported O Estado de S. Paulo.
In the middle of August, the newspaper La Prensa in Nicaragua said it was firing 23 delivery workers, but the Labor Ministry ordered their rehiring, which according to the newspaper — a strong opponent of President Daniel Ortega— is part of a “political persecution” trying to restrict freedoms of press and opinion.
According to C-Libre/IFEX, the harassment against Radio Uno in the city of San Pedro Sula has escalated during the past three months and this week its broadcast signal was interrupted when unknown persons cut the electricity to the station's transmitters.
The prosecution of Bolivia has sued three journalists for "using the media to induce people to commit crimes," stemming from a case of violence and racism against indigenous peasants in the city of Sucre on May 24, 2008, reported Erbol.
Less than a month before Venezuela's elections, President Hugo Chavez accused media liked CNN in Spanish, The New York Times, and Grupo Prisa of Spain of orchestrating a campaign of "intrigues" and "lies" about his government and of sabotaging the coming elections, reported the news agency AFP and the magazine Semana.