Several Central American press organizations have come together to form a united front against the risks and threats journalists face in their respective countries, according to the news agency Notimex.
Costa Rican journalists could go to prison for revealing "secret political information" according to a controversial new law, reported the newspaper La Nación de Costa Rica.
On Dec. 9, Costa Rican courts opened an avenue to appeal criminal libel sentences thanks to an Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) case involving a defamation charge against a journalist, reported AFP.
Tensions between the Costa Rican press and President Laura Chinchilla's staff came to a head when the Journalists Union of Costa Rica sent a letter to her office demanding an explanation for recent obstacles and intimidatory acts against journalists, the organization reported.
Costa Rica's Congress voted to table a proposed freedom of expression and the press law that would have updated the 1902 press law, and whose approval had been pending for several years, reported the radio station Monumental.
Coinciding with a call by international organizations for increased freedom of expression on the Internet, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report urges governments to support internet use as a human right, GigaOm reports.
The Costa Rican Journalists’ Guild has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to sue the government for not investigating one of the worst attacks on the press in Central American history, El País reports.
El Financiero newspaper reports that Costa Rica’s Guild of Journalists (Colper) and the Institute for Press and Freedom of Expression (IPLEX) have joined with the paper in a suit against the Ministry of Labor for refusing to release data about firms that fail to comply with minimum wage laws.
An investigation by internal affairs of Costa Rica's police force into the police beating of journalists at television channels 6 and 7 could last between two and six months and potentially could lead to officers being fired, reported Notimex and DPA.
President Laura Chinchilla has appointed veteran journalist Eduardo Ulibarri to be Costa Rica's new representative to the United Nations, La Nación reports.