The death of Brazilian TV cameraman Gelson Domingos, shot Nov. 6 while covering a police raid in a favela, or slum, outside Rio de Janeiro, has re-ignited concerns about the safety of journalists reporting in high-risk areas. Such concerns previously came to the forefront with the 2002 torture and killing of journalist Tim Lopes in another slum in Rio de Janeiro.
The director of a community radio station in the Brazilian city of Araçagi, Paraíba tried to stab the host of another radio station during a live broadcast on Nov. 5, reported the news site Focando a Notícia.
For the fourth time in two months in the city of Nuevo Laredo in Mexico, a body has been found with a message threatening users of social networks, reported GlobalPost and La Jornada.
The newspaper El Buen Tono, which had only been in circulation for one month, temporarily ceased publishing due to damages sustained to their computer system, editing and administrative departments, as the newspaper Hoy de Veracruz reported.
With Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa increasingly critical of the media, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in October issued a "freedom resolution" calling on the government to "reverse recent trends that seriously undermine a free and independent press in Ecuador, by repealing criminal defamation, putting a stop to all forms of harassment against journalists and guaranteeing the full independence of the media in the country."
Cameraman for TV Bandeirantes Gelson Domingos died in a firefight between police and drug traffickers on Nov. 6 in the Antares favela in Santa Cruz, west of Rio de Janeiro, reported G1. Domingos was covering the police operation in the community when he was shot with a rifle.
Late in the evening of Nov. 7, students occupying the chancellor's office of the University of São Paulo in protest against the presence of military police on the campus attacked journalists covering the event, reported the news agency Estado.
On Nov. 1, an explosive detonated in front of the building of a newspaper publishing company in Chile, according to the news agency EFE. No one was injured in the explosion, although several windows were destroyed. The company, Copesa, publishes the Chilean newspapers La Tercera, La Cuarta, and La Hora, as well as the magazine Que Pasa.
A Peruvian journalist from the newspaper La República was shot and robbed Saturday night, Nov. 5, as he was leaving his home, reported the newspaper Correo.
A criminal court in Honduras acquitted the main suspect in the killing of journalist David Meza Montesinos, who was shot to death in March 11 2010, reported Proceso.
Photographers and reporters were beaten by police agents as the journalists covered an anti-violence protest by Los Indignados (The Indignant) in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, according to El Diario.
Unknown gunmen shot a vehicle with the logo of local television station in Córdoba, Argentina, while reporter Gracia Martín and cameraman Raúl Vicessi with inside, reported the Argentine Journalism Forum. Neither of the journalists was hurt in the attack, according to La Voz.