A report from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) warned that Mexico's press is rapidly losing its freedom with entire regions experiencing an "information blackout".
Contributors to the Mexican blog "El 5antuario" (The Sanctuary) released a YouTube video and an online statement reporting that the blog's creator, Ruy Salgado or "El 5anto," had disappeared.
A photographer was attacked at a demonstration in Venezuela as a confrontation broke out between pro-government and opposition supporters on Wednesday, Sept. 12, reported the website Notícias 24.
Residents of Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro went without the newspaper O Dia on Sept. 4 and 5, after copies of the publication bearing accusations against mayoral candidate Altineu Côrtes disappeared from newsstands, reported the website Brasil 247.
Attempts to block the publication of voter polls were met with mixed results leading up to Brazil's municipal elections, reported the newspaper O Globo.
On Sunday, Sept. 9, a journalist for the National Network of Venezuelan Public Media (SNMP in Spanish) was attacked by supporters of Henrique Capriles, President Hugo Chávez's opponent in the up-coming October presidential elections, reported the Venezuelan News Agency.
Judicial censorship of newspapers and blogs is on the rise leading up to municipal elections in Brazil. On Monday, Sept. 3, journalist Fernando Conceição claimed that a mayoral candidate tried to censor him in the city of Salvador.
On Aug. 29, federal police agents invaded the offices of the newspaper Correio do Estado in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul to stop the release of the Aug. 30 edition of the newspaper that included the results of an voter poll.
A reporter from the Brazilian newspaper Jornal da Tarde, in São Paulo, will run for city council this year 2012 elections in order to cover the campaign from a different perspective, reported the newspaper's website.
On Monday, Aug. 20, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo announced the launch of the website FolhaSPDados, an online resource for the up-coming mayoral elections in the city of São Paulo. The website will feature interactive maps and infographics to illustrate and accompany the newspaper's coverage of the election's main themes.
The Venezuelan NGO Espacio Público launched on Tuesday, Aug. 14, a campaign for the end of President Hugo Chavez's forced TV and radio broadcasts, reported El Universal.
In the state of Mato Grosso, in central-western Brazil, two Brazilian television stations were fined by the electoral court for broadcasting unfavorable reports about the administration of Mayor Juarez Costa of the city of Sinop, reported the newspaper Diário de Cuiabá on Thursday, Aug. 9.