One year after Brazil's Access to Information law took effect, fewer than half of the public agencies respect the law and the Executive branch receives the most information requests--and complaints--from journalists.
In just under two weeks, Colombian journalists have had to face one of their greatest fears: the resurgence of violence as a means to muzzle freedom of expression commonly used during the height of armed groups and drug traffickers.
With the aim to broaden the debate on journalists' security, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, and the United Nations Information Center in Rio de Janeiro launched the website Segurança de Jornalistas (Journalists' Security in English) on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.
After a five-month wait, Nación Data has launched the Spanish version of the Data Journalism Handbook. The book is free, open-source, and is designed to help journalists use data to improve their stories.
Various journalists have claimed that their coverage was restricted during the recent elections in Venezuela, won by Hugo Chávez’s designated successor Nicolás Maduro. According to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), some local journalists had problems getting into voting centers and were impeded by the authorities.
A new report found that a majority of the 32 state governments in Mexico hides information regarding their official advertising expenses in media outlets and that none of them has specific rules on how they allocate their publicity budgets. "This discretionary distribution of advertising funds weakens informative pluralism and increases suspicions of political favoritism," said the organization Fundar, which put together the second edition of the report Access to Official Advertising Funds Index along with the Mexican chapter of the press freedom organization Article 19.
A report from the Media Agreement Observatory has revealed that Mexican media has notably reduced its coverage of organized crime since the inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto as president in December.
Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez announced her intention to establish an independent news organization on the island when she returns from her world tour, reported Agence France-Presse on Sunday, March 10.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) said that the first months of 2013 have been "disastrous" for freedom of information in Peru, according to a report published by the organization on its website.
Renowned Mexican reporters Marcela Turati and Javier Valdez, as well as Chilean narrative journalist Cristian Alarcón, will discuss on Feb. 28 their work and the need to forge a bridge between journalists and academics during a forum hosted at the University of Texas at Austin.