Since Honduran President Porfirio Lobo took office on Jan. 27, 2010, following disputed elections, 16 journalists in the Central American country have been killed and none of the crimes have been solved. In a 2010 report, the Committee to Protect Journalists claimed the “murders [of press workers] occurred in a politically charged atmosphere of violence and lawlessness.” The violence's political undertones have raised concerns about impunity and freedom of expression in Honduras in the wake of the 2009 coup d’état that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office.
Guatemalan journalist Claudia Mendez Arriaza, 35, is part of the 2012 class of Nieman Fellows. With 13 years of experience as a journalist -- she has worked as an editor and reporter at elPeriódico in Guatemala, and co-hosted the television show “A las 8:45” -- Mendez was named the 2012 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellow.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS) is offering 15 investigative journalism scholarships to reporters from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 31, 2011.
Tensions between the Costa Rican press and President Laura Chinchilla's staff came to a head when the Journalists Union of Costa Rica sent a letter to her office demanding an explanation for recent obstacles and intimidatory acts against journalists, the organization reported.
At its 67th annual general assembly in Lima, Peru, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announced the publication of its bilingual book “Stories and Sketches,” that recounts the experiences of journalists from throughout the Americas who have been awarded scholarships by the organization during the past 57 years.
A journalist from Haiti and one from Mexico are among the 2011 Dart Center Ochberg Fellows, according to Poynter.org.
Luis Horacio Nájera has received a fellowship to study at a prestigious graduate school in Canada, the country that granted the Mexican journalist asylum more than two years ago, IFEX reports.
Journalists who have been sexually assaulted in the line of work have been reluctant to step forward for fear of being reassigned, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) revealed June 7 in a new report "The Silencing Crime: Sexual Violence and Journalists."
Reporters Pablo Hernández and Ismael Villagómez of the Mexican newspaper Norte were arrested by city police while covering a police raid on pirated merchandise, according to Norte Digital. The police attacked the journalists, calling them "nosy," reported El Mexicano. Agents also arrested Univisión reporter Luis Escalera, added Tiempo.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has announced the 2012 class of Nieman Fellows, including Claudia Méndez Arriaza of Guatemala's El Periódico newspaper, and Carlos Eduardo Huertas of Colombia's Revista Semana, according to the Nieman Lab.
Bolivian media outlets are applauding President Evo Morales’s plans to change a law that severely restricted coverage of judiciary elections, Bolivia’s National Press Association (ANP) reports via IFEX.
Six months after Chilean community radio station Radio Tentación in November 2010 was closed and its equipment seized, the station's members find themselves on trial for broadcasting without authorization, reported the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, or AMARC.