Brazilian journalist Wagner Florêncio Império is being investigated by São Paulo police for allegedly using his position as a reporter to obtain secret information about police investigations and give that information to tax fraud suspects in the city of Taboão da Serra, reported Folha de S. Paulo.
A corruption scandal involving a top official at the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group, the country’s most prominent voice against the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), has led media outlets and journalists to accuse each other of biasing coverage for political ends.
Gaspar Domingos Lazari, the mayor of Confresa, in the western Brazil state of Mato Grosso, is accused of sending “henchmen” to threaten journalist Leandro Nascimento because of articles that revealed corruption at city hall, reported Gazeta Digital.
Inspired by the recent protests in Spain that, since March, have demanded economic and electoral system changes, filmmaker Raquel Diniz, 31, created a collaborative map to pinpoint cases of corruption in Brazil, according to Folha de S. Paulo.
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa congratulated Ollanta Humala on being elected the next president of Peru and warned him of future problems he may face due to the country’s “corrupt press,” EFE reports. “I hope that I am wrong but they will see how Peru’s corrupt press is not going to leave you alone,” Correa said. He also questioned why international journalism organizations like the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) have not discussed allegations that the country’s biggest media companies were biasing coverage against Humala. Correa himself has a tense relationship with the Ecuadoran press and
Federal prosecutors in Brazil announced charges against João Dorileo Leal, a top executive at Grupo Gazeta, the largest media company in Mato Grosso state, for laundering money earned from illegal gambling, Folha de São Paulo reports.
Journalists from TV RBA and Diário do Pará newspaper were not allowed to witness statements made in court by Rômulo Maiorana Jr. on May 18, Diário Online reports.
Márcio Pin and Otávio Alves, the owners of Tribuna do Estado and Vida Mídia newspapers, were arrested May 12 in Brasnorte, Mato Grosso, accused of attempting to extort the city’s mayor, Mauro Rui Heisler, Terra reports.
A series of videos that attack Panamanian journalists, especially those at La Prensa newspaper, were released at the end of April. Reporters without Borders (RSF) argues that their release is related to the publication of WikiLeaks cables that were not to President Ricardo Martinelli’s liking.
Journalist Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco, who reported on land conflicts with ranchers and alleged corruption in the northwestern city of Morazán, became at least the 12th journalist killed in the past 18 months in Honduras, the Associated Press reports.