During a conference in Vienna, Austria, Bolivian President Evo Morales said there is "too much freedom of expression" in his country and that independent news outlets in Bolivia are his main opposition, reported the radio station FM Bolivia.
The Bolivian government approved a decree requiring media owners to guarantee transportation at night for journalists and other press workers, reported radio station FM Bolivia. The door-to-door transport is supposed to run from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Bolivia's National Press Association (ANP in Spanish) documented 200 cases of aggression against journalists in Bolivia in 2011, reported the news website Clases de Periodismo.
The Bolivian government announced that it will not move forward with a new press law but that it does intend to "bring the work of the press and journalism into line with the new Constitution," reported the television channel Eju TV.
At least three journalists were attacked while covering a violent protest in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, reported the newspaper Jornada. Protesters from the Indigenous Council of the South also injured more than 20 police officers during the demonstration.
A Bolivian journalist filed charges of racial discrimination against the mayor of Santa Cruz after the mayor insulted the journalist, comparing him to a donkey during a press conference, reported the newspapers La Razón and El Deber on Jan. 3.
Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed regulating the media and modifying the Press Law leading up to the Plurinational Summit, which will take place in December in the city of Cochabamba, reported the radio station FM Bolivia.
A radio announcer was stabbed and beaten in the Bolivian city of El Alto, close to the capital city of La Paz, on Nov. 15, according to the newspaper Crónica Viva.
Inhabitants of the El Choré forest reserve in the eastern part of Bolivia, who are sympathetic to the local mayor, attacked and dismantled equipment at the Radio Comunitaria and Canal 8 television station in response to accusations of corruption the broadcasters made against the mayor, reported IFEX.
The Attorney General’s office in Bolivia requested a list of the journalists who covered the oppression of indigenous peoples who participated in the protest march for the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, according to the newspaper La Razón.
Bolivia’s National Association of the Press denounced restrictions from a new campaign rule, saying the regulation impeded journalists’ ability to effectively cover the Andean country’s first judicial elections held Oct. 16, reported IFEX.
About 200 neighbors and employees are standing watch night and day at the offices of a TV news station in the city of El Alto (on the outskirts of the Bolivian capital of La Paz) after a labor union threatened to physically seize the station, according to Reporters Without Borders.