Members of the Venezuelan news chain Cadena Capriles protested against the censorship of Laura Weffer’s investigative piece on the demonstrations that have taken place for over a month in the country.
Nicolás Maduro’s government continues to repress the news media in Venezuela. A week after NTN24’s signal was cut mid-transmission and work permits for CNN journalists were revoked, Twitter confirmed to BBC Mundo that the images of the protests published through its service are being blocked in Venezuela.
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.
Northern Mexico has fallen into a state of fear creating a silenced media that is less willing to report crime and take on investigative pieces, according a recent University of Arizona study.
The Venezuelan government is suppressing news about the economic crisis in the country through attacks on journalists and the media, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
So far this year, there have been 71 cases of censorship of journalists and media in Venezuela, meaning 87 percent more cases than there were over the same period last year, according to Venezuelan organizations that defend freedom of expression and information access that spoke about the situation in their country on Oct. 31 before the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) during its 149th session.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned the intimidation and censorship against the journalists of indigenous media during the national mobilization of several regional groups in Colombia.
Of the 124,394 applications received during the first 18 months since Brazil’s new Law of Access to Information (LAI) went into effect, 5.15 percent came from journalists, according to Brazil’s Inspector General Jorge Hage.
The Cuban government appointed new editors for its two main newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, describing the move as part of a “renewal” process to improve the country’s official press, BBC News reported.
The creation of a new intelligence body in Venezuela that, among other powers, has the capacity to declare information as "reserved" or "classified," generated concern among different national and international organizations, several publications reported.
Update 10/18/2013: According to Reporters without Borders, all three journalists, along with Denis Noa Martinez and Pablo Morales Marchán (correspondents for Hablemos Press) who had been arrested Sunday, were released on Oct. 14.
Luis Chancay, president of the National Educators’ Union of Guayas, Ecuador, filed a complaint before the People’s Defender on Sept. 23 because of a memorandum from the Ministry of Education. This memorandum prohibits rectors, directors and professors of educational institutions in the Province of Guayas from giving statements to the press without the authorization of the sub secretary of said ministry, according to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universal.