Mexico and Cuba were the worst places for journalists in the Americas, tensions between the government and privately-owned media continued to escalate in Ecuador and Argentina, and Canada lost its position as press freedom leader in the continent.
Newspaper La Hora said last Friday the government of Ecuador is trying to censor its readers after the National Secretary of Communication, Patricio Barriga, sent a letter to the newspaper’s editor asking for an “effective filter” of reader comments.
Ecuador's president and candidate for re-election, Rafael Correa, announced that he would review a proposal to subsidize the salaries of "poorly paid" journalists, reported the news agency EFE.
The organization Fundamedios released a guide to election coverage for journalists and Ecuadorian media in anticipation of the Feb. 17 elections, reported the group.
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said he would continue confronting the press that he accuses of manipulating information on favor of business interests if voters re-elect him on Feb. 17, reported the website América Economía.
A court in Ecuador denied an injunction that sought to rescind an executive order from President Rafael Correa prohibiting his ministers and other public officials from giving interviews to private media, arguing that there was no evidence of a "violation of a constitutional right".
The obstacles keep coming for the distribution of Colombian-American Santiago Villa's documentary on President Rafael Correa. According to the Ecuadorian NGO Fundamedios, YouTube and Vimeo took down the video after the company Ares Rights brought a lawsuit for copyright infringement.
The Ecuadorian media organization Fundamedios called for greater tolerance and mutual respect between state and private media in the Andean country, the group said on its website. According to Fundamedios, the polarized climate in which journalists practice their craft contributes to verbal abuse and insults between reporters.
The director of a documentary about Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa refused to air his film on a U.S. television channel after an official requested the station makes some changes in their broadcast, according to Fundamedios.
La Plata University (UNLP in Spanish) in Argentina honored Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa with a freedom of expression award. The prize was previously awarded to President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Bolivian President Evo Morales in 2011 and 2008, respectively.
An Ecuadorian blogger was arrested after using President Rafael Correa's information to demonstrate the vulnerability of the government's system on Friday, Nov. 30, reported the newspaper El Universo. Paul Moreno was arrested in the city of Riobamba on the orders of the National Directory of Registration and Public Data (DINARDAP in Spanish), which accused him of hacking into the system.
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, proposed increasing "democratic controls" over information to transition freedom of expression into a "function of the State" during a press conference on Monday, Nov. 19, according to the news agency EFE.