The Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) of Venezuela recorded 19 incidents that affected press freedom in the country during the presidential elections that took place on Sunday, Oct. 7, the group said in a report released on Oct. 11. According to IPYS Venezuela, the events happened between the week before the elections and the days after the results were announced.
In what’s become the latest episode of aggressions against journalists during the electoral season in Brazil – especially in smaller municipalities – a group of people who were celebrating the victory of one of the candidates for the prefecture of Lagoa Seca threatened to death and tried to break into the car of a reporter from TV Correio, reported Portal Correio.
On the eve of municipal elections in Brazil, journalists suffered assaults in several cities across the country. The assaults shared a common thread of alleged illegal behavior by candidates and their supporters.
Venezuela journalist Leonardo León tweeted on Sept. 30, that he had received threats on his Twitter feed from a government supporter known as "imperatus josue," reported the press freedom group Public Space.
Venezuela's presidential election will take place next Sunday, Oct. 7. In this period of the campaign, the media landscape in the country is polarized between supporters of President Hugo Chávez and opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. An analysis from BBC revealed that while the Venezuelan government has built a media empire of five public broadcasters, the state-run channels have only a slim 5.4 percent of the audience share, according to an investigation by AGB Panamericana.
Ecuador's Electoral Court (TCE in Spanish) sentenced a magazine to pay $80,000 for publishing an editorial on Sept. 26, reported the newspaper El Universo.
During election season, political coverage takes on a central role in society and journalists come under pressure to improve news gathering.
Including alternative voices, differentiating between government and campaign acts, and in-depth reports on the trajectory of the candidates were some of the recommendations compiled by a group of Venezuelan journalists.
On Sept. 18, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) addressed the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights about the current situation in Venezuela in the last weeks before the Oct. 7 presidential elections.
Hostilities against journalists and bloggers in Brazil leading up to municipal elections do not stop at censorship; media professionals also face a rise in attacks by candidate supporters.
Conflicting versions of a violent confrontation between supporters of President Hugo Chávez and opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles demonstrate the polarization of the press in Venezuela less than a month from the elections.
In the morning of Thursday, Sept. 13, two men broke into the offices of Rádio Farol in the northeastern city of União dos Palmares in Brazil and planted a bomb that exploded, destroying the broadcaster's studio, reported the newspaper Tribuna Hoje.