A Honduran appellate court has reinstated a 16-month journalism ban on news anchor Julio Ernesto Alvarado, the latest in a rally of court decisions and appeals since Alvarado was charged with criminal defamation for segments, alleging corrupt behavior of a university dean, aired on his TV program “Mi Nación” (My Nation) in 2006.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) called on the Inter American Court of Human Rights to sentence the Venezuelan government for having unlawfully shut down TV network RCTV in 2007.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro launched a weekly radio program titled “En contacto con Maduro” (“In contact with Maduro” in English) on Tuesday, March 11, reported the digital newspaper Infobae.
The Colombian news channel NTN 24, which transmits through cable in Venezuela, was taken off the air after reporting on the massive protests that shook the entire country on Feb. 12. According to Caracol Radio, the Venezuelan government said the news channel was misinforming on the events.
Three radio journalists in Guaviare, Colombia recently received death threats in response to their reporting on an upcoming vote that may remove the local governor from office. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Erika Londoño, Gustavo Chicangana and Jorge Ramírez received the threats via multiple text messages sent to Londoño's phone.
Rural media organizations in Paraguay recently denounced alleged pressures by larger media outlets to shut down community radios.
The director of a Brazilian radio station in in the city of Jaru, Rondônia, was shot and killed on Oct. 12. Another broadcaster was also injured during the attack.
Government officials closed down a radio station and confiscated the equipment on Wednesday, Sep. 18, in the city of Guayaquil (southeast of the nation), informed news agency AFP. According to the Supervisor of Telecommunications, Supertel, the closure was due to the station operating illegally, reported AFP.
A total of 55 radio and television frequencies will be appropriated by the Ecuadorian government for failing to comply with the country's new communications law, said telecommunications minister Jaime Guerrero during a Sep. 20 press conference, news portal Infobae reported.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced last week the creation of ‘El Noticiero de la Verdad’ ("The Truth Newscast"), news agency EFE reported. Private and state media outlets will be required to run the new government radio and TV broadcast twice a day.
Colombian journalist and attorney Édison Alberto Molina was killed last week in the city of Puerto Berrío in the Department of Antioquia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Molina was attacked on Sep. 11 by unidentified suspects that shot him four times in the head when he was heading back to his house with his wife, who was mildly injured.
Two daily newspapers in Mexico have created their own cable television news channels to compete against the limited coverage that Mexico's network duopoly provide the country on broadcast television. Starting on Sept. 2, Excélsior, the oldest paper in Mexico, will begin broadcasting a 24 hour news channel under its brand using its own reporters.