A lawsuit brought against two journalists by a government official in Argentina sparked outcry from the media, according to the newspaper Clarín. The head of the Federal Revenue Administration (AFIP in Spanish), Ricardo Echegaray, sued journalists Matías Longoni and Luis Majul separately for "damages and harm," added the newspaper. The official asked for almost $275,000 in restitution from each.
The Ecuadorian media organization Fundamedios called for greater tolerance and mutual respect between state and private media in the Andean country, the group said on its website. According to Fundamedios, the polarized climate in which journalists practice their craft contributes to verbal abuse and insults between reporters.
The director of a documentary about Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa refused to air his film on a U.S. television channel after an official requested the station makes some changes in their broadcast, according to Fundamedios.
An organization created by members of the telecommunications industry launched on Dec. 5 a campaign to to raise awareness about the "oppressive circumstances" many media outlets face across the continent.
Chilean police detained a journalist for over three hours on Saturday, Nov. 24, on an old warrant, reported the website Diario Voz Populi. Pedro Cayuqueo, a Mapuche indigenous journalist, was detained by police in the community of Teodoro Schmidt.
A judge in Brazil ruled that the media cannot mention the name of the mayor-elect of the city of Campo Mourão, outside Curitiba, Paraná, and a bus company based in the city in reference to an alleged vote-buying scheme during the election.
The Brazilian media company Record, owner of the eponymous television broadcaster and the news website R7, was sentenced to pay almost $24,000 in moral damages to the Globo network host William Waack after republishing a blog post alleging Waack was an informant for the U.S. government.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the "violent detention" of Cuban journalist Roberto de Jesús Guerra, director of the news agency Hablemos Press.
After receiving dozens of threatening messages for over a month, an Argentine journalist decided to close the radio station he owned for six years, reported the newspaper La Nación.
Journalists from the Center for Independent Media in Guatemala claimed they were threatened by employees of the mining company Exmingua, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Radious Gold Group in association with the U.S.-based KCA.
Reporter Without Borders launched on Tuesday a new website that will publish material that has been “censored or banned or has given rise to reprisals against its creator,” the organization said.
Costa Rica’s highest court temporarily suspended the controversial Information Crimes Law that could send journalists and other individuals to prison for up to eight years for revealing government secrets, reported the newspaper La Nación on Saturday, Nov. 24.