The Ecuadorean Telecommunications Superintendency (Supertel) announced that it would seek to punish seven radio broadcasters for a simultaneous broadcast of a debate on freedom of expression without first notifying the authorities.
Raúl Flores Castillo, director of the Chilean digital magazine Dilemas, claimed he was detained by police for covering a student protest in the capital of Santiago on Sept. 8, the magazine reported.
Following criticism, Panamanian Representative Rubén Frías Ortega of the Cambio Democrático party will withdraw his bill that would regulate journalists' salaries, reported the newspaper La Estrella.
The Ecuadorian government responded to a letter from Reporters Without Borders addressed to President Rafael Correa expressing its concern for freedom of expression in the Andean country with its own letter.
The newspaper O Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul was ordered by the Brazilian state's court to pay damages to Luiz Carlos Bonelli, ex-superintendent of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform.
César Ferreira, Paraguayan journalist for Radio Yuty in the southern city of Caazapá, faces a new defamation charge after the local Court of Appeals ruled in his favor on the previous charge, reported the news site Cuarto Poder.
A Peruvian lawyer issued a writ of habeas corpus to free the journalist Paul Garay Ramírez. Garay was sentenced to three years in prison for alleged defamation, reported the newspaper Expreso.
Officials in Ecuador presented a bill on Sept. 6 that would give owners and shareholders of media companies until Jul. 13, 2012, to sell their interests in other businesses, reported Fundamedios.
A Mexican official accused the newspaper La Jornada of altering a photograph of a meeting during the Fifth Presidential Report on Sept. 2, that he said never happened.
A report from the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) said that low salaries are Argentine journalists' greatest concern. Half of the nearly 1,000 respondents for the 2011 FOPEA Survey reported having a second job.
Reporters Without Borders sent a letter to President Rafael Correa of Ecuador expressing their concern over his hostile attitude and actions against the press in the Andean country.
On Sept. 1, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Andean Group of Information Freedoms, and Fundamedios released a report on the state of freedom of expression in Ecuador titled, "Confrontation, Repression in Correa's Ecuador."