Through social networks, Brazilian military police discovered a plot to kidnap journalist José Luiz Datena, host of the television program "Urgent Brazil," on the night of Wednesday, March 28, according to a column written by journalist Flávio Ricco of UOL.
On Tuesday, March 27, in a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, journalist organizations called 2011 the worst year for the Venezuelan press because of the rise in attacks against reporters and news media, reported the AFP.
A grenade exploded in front of the headquarters of a Mexican television station the night of Sunday, March 25, in the border city of Matamoros, causing material damages but no injuries, reported the newspaper El Universal.
Authorities accused a Chilean radio journalist of inciting a "climate of violence" in the area of Aysén, Chile, where protests are frequent, according to a report from the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).
The co-owner and director of the Brazilian newspaper Costa Oeste was shot to death the evening of Saturday, March 24, in front of a beverage distribution company in the city of Santa Helena, in the interior of the state of Paraná, reported the newspaper Jornal de Santa Catarina.
A young man confessed to killing Colombian journalist and political leader Argemiro Cárdenas Agudelo, and said that he was offered about $1,000 for the crime, which occurred on Thursday, March 15, reported the newspaper El Universal.
On the afternoon of Monday, March 12, a cameraman working for TV Record was attacked while covering a traffic accident in Campo Grande, capital of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, reported the news site MS Record.
Reporters Without Borders criticized police violence against local and international journalists covering protests in Chile, and expressed concern for the safety of journalists in a statement released Monday, March 19.
In 2011, 172 attacks against the Mexican press were registered, and nine of these were killings. That's up from the 155 attacks recorded in 2010, according to a report from the organization Article 19 released Tuesday, March 20. The report, Forced Silence: The State Complicit in Violence Against the Press, shows that public officials were responsible for more than half of these attacks, according to the magazine Proceso.
In 2011, 172 attacks against the Mexican press were registered, and nine of these were killings. That's up from the 155 attacks recorded in 2010, according to a report from the organization Article 19 released Tuesday, March 20. The report, Forced Silence: The State Complicit in Violence Against the Press, shows that public officials were responsible for more than half of these attacks, according to the magazine Proceso.
Most attacks against the Mexican press come from police and military, and authorities are collaborating with organized crime by not investigating or punishing cases that harm freedom of expression, according to several Mexican media reporting on an upcoming study titled "Forced Silence: The State, Accomplice in Violence Against the Press in Mexico." The report is to be released by the press freedom organization Article 19 on Tuesday, March 20, in Mexico City.
On Monday, March, 19, a car bomb exploded in front of the offices of a Mexican newspaper in Ciudad Victoria, capital of the northern state of Tamaulipas, reported the BBC. This makes the 25th armed attack with explosives against news media outlets in Mexico in the last three years -- none of which have been investigated by authorities, according to an upcoming report from the press freedom organization Article 19 that will be released on Tuesday, March 20.