A man on a motorcycle shot five times at journalist Marco Tulio Valencia who was on his way to his home in Mariquita the night of Aug. 30, reported El Nuevo Día. The bullets hit a wall and window, but Valencia was uninjured.
Colombian police de-activated a bomb alleged FARC guerrillas left outside Linda Estéreo, a community radio station in the town of El Doncello, Caquetá, reported EFE and RCN Radio.
In June, the U.S. embassy in Bogota denied renowned television journalist Hollman Morris a visa to come to the United States as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, permanently banning him from entry on the basis that the Patriot Act blocked him because of "terrorist ties.". After public outcry, however, the U.S. State Department in July reversed its decision.
Even as controversy erupted in Venezuela over a ban on the publication of violent photos, in Colombia a senator from the ruling coalition has offered up a bill that would prohibit the publication of "mildly pornographic" or sensational images in print media and websites, reported El Espectador and the news agency Europa Press.
Despite the global economic crisis and the migration of readers to the Internet, the circulation of printed newspapers in Latin America is projected to grow during the next five years, particularly in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, according to a Pricewaterhouse Coopers study, reported the newspaper La Nación.
In the wee hours of Wednesday, Aug. 12, a car bomb exploded in the financial district of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. The explosion, which did not kill anyone, occurred in front of a building complex that was home to Caracol Radio, one of the most important stations in the country, and the Spanish news agency EFE, reported the Associated Press and BBC.
Rodolfo Flórez, who has been missing since July 9, was found in Cali on Aug. 5 in good health, but confused and upset, reported the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) via IFEX.
Colombian Carina Solano Padilla received the Hellman/Hammett grant, from the organization Human Rights Watch, for journalists and writers who have faced political persecution, reported the news agency DPA.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) questioned a proposed law that applies harsh sanctions to media outlets that publish content that affects minors.
The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) reports that Rodolfo Flórez, a filmmaker and photographer from the port city of Buenaventura, disappeared 20 days ago.
In statements to prosecutors, an ex intelligence agency offical said that President Álvaro Uribe and several of his confidants knew about the Administrative Department of Security's (DAS) wiretaps and spying on journalists, judges, opposition leaders, and human rights activists. The incriminating testimony by the former director of DAS is the first that has directly connected the president to the spy scandal, El Nuevo Herald and La Silla Vacia report.
Renowned journalist Hollman Morris can now travel to the United States and attend Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow, after the Department of State decided to grant Morris the student visa that it had originally denied him, the Nieman Foundation reports.