In 2011, 68 percent of Brazilian journalists used Twitter as their main tool for spreading news, according to a new digital journalism study from Oriella PR Network. The study, which aimed at understanding how the press worldwide is using digital technologies, interviewed about 500 journalists from 15 countries - 84 of those interviewed were Brazilian.
The Ecuadorian government confirmed that members of the presidential cabinet will no longer give interviews to private news media outlets, reported the Ecuadorian NGO Fundamedios. Aside from this attack on freedom of the press, Fundamedios also reported the closure of the ninth news media outlet in less than one month in the country.
On Tuesday, June 12, the Argentine Journalism Forum applauded the new public information access in the Misiones Province of Argentina, which was approved on June 7 by the provincial congress, and said that this "means a significant step forward for freedom of expression, state transparency, and citizens' rights in democracy."
In only 15 days, four radio broadcasters and two TV channels were closed in Ecuador, reported the news agency EFE. The Ecuadorian NGO Fundamedios reported that the closed news media outlets are the TV channels Telesangay (of the province of Morona Santiago), Lidervisión (from Napo), and the radios stations El Dorado (from Sucumbíos), Líder (from Napo), Pantera (from Pichincha), and Net (from Tungurahua), reported the news paper El Comercio.
On Saturday, June 9, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that he is considering preventing public officials from granting interviews to for-profit, private news media, in an attempt to financing those families that own these news media outlets, reported the news agency EFE.
Cuban authorities have given independent journalist Alexis Ferrer 72 hours to leave the island, reported the site Cuba Encuentro.
On Thursday, May 31, the first Braille newspaper in Central American was published in Guatemala, reported the news site CNN México. The monthly publication Publinews Braille will be available at no cost in the offices of the Committee for the Blind and Deaf of Guatemala and will be available for 110,000 blind people, according to the radio station Emisoras Unidas.
Succumbing to pressure from the Mexican student movement “Yo Soy 132,”, or "I am 132," the president of the TV station Televisa, Emilio Azcárraga, agreed to nationally broadcast the next presidential debate, reported Noticias MVS. Then, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, president of the second largest TV station, TV Azteca, announced that it, too, would nationally televise the debate, according to El Informador.
Two days after the Brazilian information access law went into effect, the Forum on the Right of Access to Public Information (FDAIP in Portuguese) published a recounting of the law's shortcomings and controversies.
Brazilians can now count on an Information Access Law to obtain data and non-secret government documents without having to provide justification for their information requests. The information access law went into effect on Wednesday, May 16, making Brazil one of 91 countries with freedom of informationlaws, reported ABC News and the newspaper Zero Hora. Also, the decree that regulates this law was signed by President Dilma Rousseff.
The night of Thursday, May 10, the same day Bolivian president Evo Morales criticized the press for twisting information, the president launched a digital, HD version of the official state-run digital TV channel, Bolivia TV HD, with the alleged goal of "democratizing communication" and promoting cultural diversity, reported the newspaper La Razón and the Argentine digital news site Télam.
More than 100 Argentine journalists called for the government to guarantee access to public information, and for there to be press conferences, which, according to Argentine journalists, almost don't exist in the country, reported the news agency La Información, and the newspaper Clarín.