Contrary to international conventions on freedom of expression and access to information, defamation cases in Brazil -- a country characterized lately by a high number of judicial cases against the media -- are still resolved in criminal courts.
After the vote was postponed four times because of a lack on consensus, the Internet Bill of Rights, a bill that establishes the rights and obligations of Internet users in Brazil, is back on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies Tuesday, Nov. 13.
The Brazilian daily Estado de São Paulo and the University of São Paulo (USP) will launch in early November the "Corrupteca," a digital library of sorts that will aggregate news and academic articles on corruption, the newspaper informed.
The courts have become the greatest hurdle to freedom of expression in Brazil, according to international groups like Inter American Press Association and Freedom House. If judicial offensives are a hurdle for large media organizations, any participation in the political sphere by small websites and blogs can be a death sentence.
The Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, the lower legislative house, approved two cyber-crime laws and set a date for the vote on an Internet Bill of Rights, reported the magazine Época on Nov. 7.
Photojournalist Eros Hoagland agreed to have a film crew follow him through the streets of Rio de Janeiro for an upcoming HBO documentary on conflict photographers – but his driver didn’t.
One of the most respected media outlets in São Paulo, Brazil, the newspaper Jornal da Tarde (JT in Portugese) released its final edition on Wednesday, Oct. 31, after 46 years. The newspaper decorated its farewell cover with a photo taken from the Itália building, a postcard picture of the city, and the line, "Obrigado, São Paulo" (Thank you, São Paulo).
After a tumultuous first round of municipal elections in Brazil for journalists, who suffered censorship and attacks by candidates or their supporters, the second round elections, which took place on Sunday, Oct. 28, saw similar levels of violence against reporters in the South American country.
Brazilian radio host Edmilson de Souza was shot to death inside the studio where he worked in the city of Itabaiana, Sergipe, on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 28, reported the website Sou de Sergipe.
According to the National Association of Newspapers in Brazil (or ANJ in Portuguese), members that followed the association’s recommendation to abandon Google News have seen a decrease in web traffic of only 5 percent.
Two Bolivian journalists were forced to flee to Brazil after suffering legal harassment by public officials on Oct. 13, reported the newspaper Opinión. The reporters from Cobija, capital of the northern department of Pando, claimed that officials with the department Prosecutor's office attempted to arrest them, according to the newspaper.
The National Newspaper Association of Brazil (ANJ) said the decision of its members to opt out of Google News en masse has made the service “very deficient” because it no longer has “the content with the highest credibility and quality in the nation.” However, ANJ reiterated its disposition to negotiate with Google a financial compensation for the use of the newspapers’ content.