The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released a report criticizing pending Ecuadorian electoral reforms that will prohibit the press from covering political campaigns and elections. According to CPJ, the electoral reform will go into effect Saturday, Feb. 4.
The series of recommendations to change the inter-American system of human rights, presented by the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on Jan. 25, would limit the authority of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), especially the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
The outcome of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa's lawsuit against the newspaper El Universo remains unsettled after a scheduled hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 24, was suspended when one of the trial's three judges got sick, according to the news agency EFE.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) published a report criticizing the Ecuadoran government for measures taken against freedom of the press and expression.
Ecuador's National Assembly has approved President Rafael Correa's changes to the Democracy Code, which goes into effect Feb. 4 and prohibits news media from transmitting beneficial or harmful messages about candidates, reported El Diario.
The Ecuadoran Attorney General and judicial police seized transmission equipment and closed the radio station Perla Orense on Jan. 7, in the southwestern El Oro province, reported Fundamedios.
The Colombian magazine Semana warned that a proposal backed by the Venezuelan and Ecuadorean governments is aimed at weakening the Organization for American States' (OAS) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
Journalists in Mexico and Ecuador had little to celebrate this year as they recognized Journalists' Day this week, according to the newspapers La Vanguardia and Hoy. Mexico, considered one of the world's most dangerous countries to practice journalism, remembered the seven journalists killed in 2011 on Jan. 4. Ecuador remembered a difficult year for freedom of expression on Jan. 5, following President Rafael Correa's aggressive stance against the media.
An Ecuadorian judge's decision to sentence Hoy newspaper director Jaime Mantilla Anderson to three months in prison for libel drew condemnation from the Inter American Commission of Human Rights' Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, the Inter American Press Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists, reported the news agency EFE.
The Ecuadorian blogger who coined the tag "30S" or "30-S" to follow tweets about the police protest on Sept. 30, 2010, came out against the government's attempt to trademark 30S, reported the newspapers El País and El Universo.
Warning of a "progressive loss of fundamental rights" in Ecuador, the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, during its half-yearly meeting Dec. 9 in Miami, issued a series of resolutions calling on the administration of President Rafael Correa to respect free speech and press freedom.
A court in Ecuador has ratified a six-month prison sentence against a radio broadcaster accused of defaming a doctor two years ago, according to IFEX.