A special report about Venezuela on Wednesday, Aug. 29, by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called attention to President Hugo Chávez's harassment of the private press during the last 13 years, reported the newspaper La Nación. The report, titled "Venezuela's private media wither under Chávez assault," is the fourth CPJ has published about Venezuela ever since Chávez was elected president for the first time, in 1999. According to CPJ, Chávez has used threats and restrictive measures -- such as the persecution of journalists that criticize the government, and other ways of criminalizing the press -- to und
Venezuelan journalists from private news outlets were not allowed to cover a presidential event on Monday, Aug. 6, reported El Universal.
A group of exiled Cuban activists in the United States is planning a fireworks display off Cuba's coast to demand Internet access and freedom of expression on the island on Saturday, Aug. 11, according to the EFE news agency.
Officials of the Venezuelan National Guard seized the camera and deleted the work of a photographer who was covering violence in a park in the city of Barinas, in southeastern Venezuela, reported the National Union of Journalists on Friday, August 3.
In an attempt to block the circulation of the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa, construction workers besieged the publication's offices late in the evening Thursday, Aug. 2, until the early morning of Friday, Aug. 3, according to the newspaper.
In an editorial published Thursday, Aug. 2, the newspaper El Observador criticized the Uruguayan government of issuing a decree that censors violent images prior to their publication in the news.
On Thursday, August 2, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE in Spanish) said that it would investigate two TV stations and two newspapers in the country for allegedly violating the rules of the presidential elections, which will take place in October 2012, reported the newspaper El Nacional.
On Tuesday, July 31, the Ecuadorian magazine Vanguardia was once again raided as a public official from the Ministry of Labor Relations who confiscated the magazine's computers, furniture, and equipment. During the raid, the journalists of the magazine, which opposes President Rafael Correa's government, were not allowed to back up or save their research, reported the news outlet Voz de América and the newspaper El Comercio.
An Argentine journalist was censored by the TV channel C5N,when President Cristina Kirchner prohibited the TV channel from letting the journalist participate in a news program, reported Perfil.
Venezuelan journalist from the TV station Venezoelana de Televisión reported being attacked by supporters of presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, reported the National Union of Venezuelan Journalists.
On Saturday, July 28, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that official government advertising will be withheld from several private news media outlets that have accused his administration of damaging freedom of expression in Ecuador.
The Mexican governor of Sinaloa asked the press to change the image of this western state when reporting about drug trafficking and organized crime, reported the radio station Radio Fórmula.