A Brazilian reporter said he was attacked by the mayor of Ipu, a city in the northeastern state of Ceará, while covering a city council meeting on Jan. 6, reported the website Crato.org.
The Brazilian newspaper Diário do Litoral claimed that its journalists have been intimidated following the publication of a story accusing a beach condominium's security team in the southern coastal city of Guarujá of operating as a "militia," the newspaper stated in a letter released by the website Red on Jan. 2.
The International Association of Radio Broadcasters (AIR) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asked the Brazilian authorities to carefully investigate the killing of journalist Laércio de Souza, a reporter for Rádio Sucesso in Camaçari, Bahia, reported the websites G1 and Terra.
Brazilian journalist Laécio de Souza was shot to death the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 3, in the metropolitan area of Salvador, the capital city of the state of Bahia, reported G1. Police said the radio reporter had received threats on his cell phone minutes before he was killed, according to the news site Itaberaba Notícias.
The national executive of the PSDB, the opposition party in Brazil, has threatened to sue controversial journalist Amaury Ribeiro Junior, author of the book A Privataria Tucana, that alleges cases of misappropriation of funds by members of the political party, according to Estadão. The journalist came under fire last year when he was charged with bribery and using false documents.
A radio broadcaster was attacked live on the air by an assailant who invaded the studios of community radio station CS FM in the Brazilian city of Canoas in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, reported G1.
The Brazilian Senate recently bucked a 2009 ruling by the South American country's Supreme Court when it approved a bill reestablishing the requirement that all practicing journalists have an advanced degree.
Brazilian journalist Claudio Dantas Sequeira was threatened by the brother of the governor of the Brazilian Federal District, Angelo Queiroz, as he interviewed him for a report on the family's new-found wealth for the magazine Isto É on Dec. 11, reported the Press and Society Institute.
Brazilian journalist Ruy Sposati was threatened while reporting on lay offs by the Belo Monte Construction Consortium in the city of Altamira in the northern state of Pará on Dec. 12, reported the newspaper Jornal do Brasil.
Amilton Alexander, a Brazilian blogger known as Mosquito was found dead in his house Tuesday, Dec. 13, in the city of Florianópolis, in the state of Santa Catarina, according to Cangablog.
In a landmark decision for the press, the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice ruled that a suspect's "presumed innocence" does not impede the press from reporting critical facts about the case.
Brazilian journalist Lúcio Flávio Pinto reported he was threatened by a businessman when he left a restaurant in downtown Belém, the capital of the northern state of Pará, on Dec. 10.