Amidst the “information blackout” generated by drug trafficking violence along the U.S.-Mexican border, social network sites have transformed into a fundamental information source for citizens, but they cannot replace Mexican journalism, said veteran Mexican journalist Jacinto Rodríguez, who spoke recently at the University of Texas at Austin about journalism and violence.
The director of the community radio station La Voz de Zacate Grande, who also is a peasant leader in the island of Zacate in the south of Honduras, was shot in the leg and hospitalized March 13, reported the newspaper La Prensa Gráfica.
A group of civil society organizations is demanding greater safety and protection for journalists and human rights activists in Mexico, especially in the eastern and northern regions of the country where the most aggression occurs, reported the newspaper La Jornada.
Cameraman Arturo Sandoval, from Canal 2 Frecuencia Latina, was taken to the hospital after being hit by the car driving Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala to a debate in Lima, La República reports.
Alexandre Rolim, journalist for the news site Parecis.net, accused Mauro Berft, mayor of Campo Novo do Parecis, in the state of Mato Grosso, of having threatened and attacked him on March 11. According to the reporter, the mayor was upset by some articles Rolim had published.
Reporter Andrei Netto, Libya correspondent of O Estado de São Paulo newspaper, was freed by government forces Thursday after being held for eight days. He was expected to return soon to Paris, where he lives, Reuters reports.
A special court in San Salvador sentenced 11 of the 31 suspects charged in the 2009 killing of a photographer to between four and 30 years in prison, reported EFE and La Prensa Gráfica.
Gabino Cue, governor for the Mexican state of Oaxaca, has created a special prosecutor's office to re-open the investigations into the deaths of 26 people -- including New York journalist Bradley Will -- who were killed during protests against the government in 2006, reported Milenio and the Associated Press.
The Costa Rican Journalists’ Guild has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to sue the government for not investigating one of the worst attacks on the press in Central American history, El País reports.
São Paulo police recaptured Wilson de Moraes da Silva, who was convicted for the death of journalist Ivandel Godinho Júnior, Globo Notícias reports. The journalist was kidnapped in 2003 and his body was found and identified by a DNA test in 2006. The police found the fugitive after an anonymous tip claimed that Silva was selling drugs in a house in São Paulo.
In recognition of International Women's Day on Tuesday, Reporters Without Borders released a report on the problems women journalists face in their work, according to QMI Agency. The report, "News Media: A Men’s Preserve that is Dangerous for Women," highlights problems such as segregation, violence, and inequality in the newsroom.
Just two days after the release of a report on the state of press freedom in Mexico that denounced increasing police and military aggression against reporters, a photographer for the Televisa station was arrested and beaten by security agents in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila on Friday, March 4, reported local press.