Charges of espionage that could result in a 30-year jail sentence were brought against two journalists of the Bolivian newspaper La Razón for publishing alleged state secrets leaked to a reporter by an anonymous source.
Advances on the digital revolution, attacks on journalists, and state-media conflict have marked journalism in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to UNESCO's 2014 report “World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development”. The document highlights state harassment of journalists, challenges reforming outdated media laws, media concentration, lack of journalistic resources and training, and drug-related journalistic deaths as some of the major problems facing journalists in the region.
After 32 years of print publication, the Ecuadorian daily newspaper Hoy announced that it will stop printing, buckling under government policy which many allege intends to cripple independent press. Hoy, known as an opposition publication, will continue with digital publication.
Investigative journalist Mark Bassant was forced to leave Trinidad and Tobago last week after receiving death threats, the International Press Institute (IPI) informed.
The government of Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra canceled the ads that usually run in local newspaper El Deber after the latter published in its website a video that shows the city's mayor Percy Fernández Áñez touching the leg of a journalist sitting next to him, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said last week.
In a case that has generated alarm among local and international journalism organizations, an Argentine editor could face up to 12 years in prison after being charged under the country's Anti Terrorism Law for his coverage of a brutal police arrest and allegedly inciting to violence, newspaper Clarín reported.
On World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, Venezuela’s Press and Society Institute (IPYS) launched a new chapter of the digital platform Poderopedia, which helps visualize the connections that exist between powerful people in the country, the organization reported. The platform collects and charts information about political and business leaders in the nation, revealing conflicts of interest, spheres of influence and other connections.
The organization Freedom House released its 2014 report on freedom of the press around the world, noting that in 2013 global press freedom was at its lowest level in more than a decade and the lowest in five years for the Americas.
On Saturday April 26, around 7,000 people formed a human chain in front of Mexico’s Senate in protest of a new proposed communications bill that President Enrique Peña Nieto presented last Monday.
Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned last week that a recent statement by Haiti’s National Council of Telecommunications (CONATEL) could lead to self-censorship in the country.