After years of proposed transparency laws that went nowhere, a freedom of information act is gaining momentum in Brazil, where newly elected President Dilma Rousseff is expected to finally sign such a law on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, according to Brazilian media like Valor and acritica.com. What's more, once it has an information access law in place, Brazil is expected to join the United States in leading an international transparency campaign, Valor said.
In another case of court-ordered censorship in Brazil, journalist Esmael Morais’ blog was taken down at the request of the governor of Paraná state, Beto Richa, Folha de São Paulo reports. The politician’s suit against the blog began during the 2010 electoral campaign season, when Morais posted a video comparing Richa to Adolf Hitler.
Luciano Leitão Pedrosa was killed the night of April 9 in a restaurant in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, G1 reports. The journalist worked for Radio Metropolitana FM and hosted the program Action and Citizenship on TV Victoria, where he discussed criminal allegations and police issues.
The Brazilian online site Journalists on the Web has published a virtual interactive map with information about urban massacres -- particularly in schools -- from around the world. The map was launched one day after the April 7 school shooting in Río de Janeiro, in which 12 people died.
The international citizen media network Global Voices has chosen Friends of Januária (Asajan), based in the small city of the same name, as one its newest “Rising Voices” grantees for its work against corruption.
In an article titled “the end of censorship,” Caras magazine announced that it was authorized by a São Paulo state court to publish a letter sent by actress Cibele Dorsa, who died after allegedly committing suicide March 26.
Alec Duarte, a political editor for Folha de São Paulo newspaper, and Carol Rocha, a reporter for the Folha-owned Agora SP, were fired on March 31 after Twitter messages about the death of former Vice-President José Alencar, IDG Now reports.
In an April 1 press conference, a World Cup and Sao Paulo soccer player for the Corinthians team, Adriano Leite Ribeiro, threatened to sue the newspaper O Dia, published in Río de Janeiro. The soccer player is complaining about an article that revealed a tape-recorded conversation in which he makes fun of the police and says he's not scared to drive without a license, reported the news site Terra.
After the recent controversial firing of journalist Aguirre Peixoto, the newspaper A Tarde is embroiled in another controversy over one of its employees. Reporter Emanuella Sombra resigned, Monday, March 28, after disagreeing with edits that were made to her interview with the singer Ivete Sangalo, reported the news site Grande Bahia. According to the journalist, an important part of her article, where the singer spoke about a crisis in the company and a lawsuit involving an ex-employee, was edited out against her will.
Police in Rio de Janeiro have identified the car used in the nearly fatal shooting of a blogger, Ricardo Gama, reported the news site Terra. As such, it will be easier to identify the shooter, said prosecutor Bruno Gilabert.
In an article published on its website, the Brazilian magazine Caras said its was being censored for covering the death of the Brazilian actress and writer Cibele Dorsa. A court order forced the magazine to unpublish excerpts of the suicide note that the actress had sent to the magazine before her death.
In an interview from Wednesday, March 23, Brazil's former World-Cup soccer team manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, became irritated with the press and threatened a journalist who revealed how much Scolari, current coach for the Palmeiras team, makes, reported Folha de São Paulo.