World Cup 2010, expected to be the most-watched TV event in history, got under way Friday (June 11) in South Africa, with reporters cursing the spotty Internet access at the International Broadcast Centre.
Nearly five months after the Jan. 12 earthquake, more than one million Haitians are living in tents and under tarps in some 1,322 camps. Hundreds of thousands have no access to radio or TV, but outdoor screens are going up across the capital, Port-au-Prince, and 16 camps are screening a series of informative, entertaining soap operas that are filling needs for information, The New York Times reports.
Two weeks before the second round of Colombia’s presidential election, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has released videos that show four police and a soldier held since the late 1990s are still alive, BBC and CNN report. The five hostages urge officials to hold talks with the rebels, BBC adds.
A disagreement over a TV signal concession has ended President Sebastián Piñera’s attempt to sell Chilevisión to a domestic investment firm for $130 million, La Tercera and EFE report. (See this Reuters article in English.)
José Jordy Veras Rodríguez, an attorney who appears regularly on the "Mañana Boreal" morning TV program on the privately owned Channel 25, was shot when he arrived at the station’s parking lot this week in Santiago de los Caballeros, the country’s second largest city. He was recovering in a local hospital, with heavily armed guards stationed outside the room, Listín Diario and El Nacional report. (See this report in English by Reporters Without Borders.)
On the recent third anniversary of the forced closure of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), whose editorial line opposed President Hugo Chávez, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) released a video of Marcel Granier, RCTV’s general manager, discussing attacks by the government against private media.
In an interview with Argentine daily Página 12, Paraguay's communications minister Augusto dos Santos says the country wants to launch its first state-run TV network in May of 2011.
The station, La Voz de Bagua (The Voice of Bagua), is accused of inciting violence during disturbances in Peru's Amazon last June that left at least 30 people dead, EFE explains.
The country's biggest media outlet announced that it would not report on the disappearance of former presidential candidate Diego Fernández de Cevallos until the investigation has concluded, drawing criticism from media and security experts, CNN México reports. (See articles in English by The Christian Science Monitor and the Associated Press.)
The offices of Televisa’s Canal 2 in Tepic, Nayarit (on Mexico’s central Pacific coast) were attacked with AK-47s and grenades, La Jornada reports. The facilities suffered damage, but neither of the two people in the offices were wounded, Europa Press adds. (See this Associated Press article in English.)
The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) invites community radio journalists and citizen reporters from Latin America and Spanish-language radio reporters in the United States to apply for two online training courses about digital media tools, IJNet reports.
President Sebastián Piñera agreed to sell his TV channel Chilevisión to local private equity investors Linzor Capital for $130 million, Dow Jones reports, citing Chilean news reports. (See Spanish version of this post.)