On Sept. 18, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) addressed the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights about the current situation in Venezuela in the last weeks before the Oct. 7 presidential elections.
The Press Union of Rosario (SPR in Spanish) defended its proposal to add the standard of "actual malice" to the Argentine civil code on Sept. 4, reported the organization's website.
Residents of Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro went without the newspaper O Dia on Sept. 4 and 5, after copies of the publication bearing accusations against mayoral candidate Altineu Côrtes disappeared from newsstands, reported the website Brasil 247.
Attempts to block the publication of voter polls were met with mixed results leading up to Brazil's municipal elections, reported the newspaper O Globo.
Ecuadorian non-governmental organization Fundamedios filed a lawsuit challenging President Rafael Correa's order that public officials not give interviews to certain media outlets, reported the website Cerigua.
The case of Peruvian journalist Rudy Palma, who served two months in jail for hacking into the e-mail of government officials, has started a national debate in the South American country over how to regulate information technology without threatening other liberties.
On Tuesday, Aug. 28, a news team from the newspaper El Nacional was detained by Venezuelan National Guard officials while trying to report on a large fire in the oil refinery of Amuay, in the state of Falcón, reported El Nacional.
An ultraconservative group in Mexico blocked the press from entering Nueva Jerusalén, a town in the state of Michoacán where a serious conflict is ongoing between secular inhabitants that confront religious fanatics for public education rights, according to the news agency Quadratin.
On Monday, Aug. 27, Brazilian civil society organizations launched the campaign "Freedom of Expression--A New Law for a New Time," reported the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication. The campaign marks the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian Telecommunications Law and calls for a new "general communication law" that defends plurality, diversity, and equal access to media and telecommunications in the South American country.
What can be done to improve media coverage of international migration in the Americas? More than 50 journalists, specialists, and NGO representatives met in 2011, in Austin, TX, to discuss this issue. The highlights of their discussion is now available in a digital booklet by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, "Media Coverage of Migration in the Americas," which can be downloaded in Spanish and English.