The Salvadoran Congress ratified the Public Information Access Law on Thursday, March 3, after accepting some of the changes proposed by President Mauricio Funes, reported news agency EFE.
El Salvador’s Human Rights ombudsman called on the police and Attorney General to open an investigation into the series of threats received by journalists at Radio Victoria, in the central department of Cabañas, La Prensa Gráfica reports.
El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes sent back to the Legislative Assembly a bill that would create a public information access law, asking for various modifications and clarifications, reported El Faro.
After 17 months of debate, the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador approved a law requiring state institutions to make information available to the public, reported El Faro. The law still must be signed by President Mauricio Funes.
Journalists in Central America aren't prepared to deal with covering the violence, organized crime and drug trafficking that is moving south from Mexico, said Carlos Dada, editor and founder of El Salvador's digital newspaper El Faro and winner of the 2010 Latin American Studies Association Media Award.
In what has been characterized as a “blow to the media,” the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador declared unconstitutional a section of the penal code that exempted media, reporters, editors and owners from legal responsibility for defamation. According to the ruling, the law violated the principle of equality, reported El Mundo and El Faro.
The legal debate on the line between protecting the privacy of youth and supporting free expression was temporarily decided on the side of the former, when the Chamber for Minors in the capital city of San Salvador upheld the ruling against José Roberto Dutriz, the president of La Prensa Gráfica, for publishing the name and photos of a minor that was charged in the public killing of another youth in March, El Mundo and ElSalvador.com report.
During a presentation Friday, Sept. 17, to more than 40 public policy, Latin American studies, government and sociology students at the University of Texas at Austin, Salvadoran journalists Oscar Martinez and Carlos Dada of ElFaro.net explained how the multi-media news website put together a project looking at the dangerous path of undocumented Central American migrants through Mexico.
An impending ruling from the Salvadoran Supreme Court has created uncertainty and concern among journalists in the country, and sparked a debate on the limits of freedom of expression, reported El Salvador and El Faro.
A group comprised of universities, media, and civil and press organizations that is promoting the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information urged the Salvadoran legislature to approve in the short term "an effective law in accordance with international principles and best practices," reported El Mundo and El País.
The fifth annual freedom of expression award from the Casa América Catalunya honors the work of Diario Co Latino for its defense of freedom of expression and its struggle to solve crimes committed during El Salvador's civil war, EFE reports.
Should it be illegal for the press to publish names and photos of minors who are charged with a crime? The topic is under debate this week in El Salvador, after the paper La Prensa Gráfica was fined for publishing a sequence of photos showing a 17-year-old stabbing a student on a busy street in San Salvador.