With the goal of producing an investigative report and a public information database, Peruvian investigative journalism site Ojo Público and international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in French) have launched a project to monitor ownership of the most important media outlets in the Andean country.
Researcher Olga Khrustaleva is looking for journalists and activists across Latin America to share their experiences with Internet censorship. Her goal: to map types of Internet censorship in the region and to find out how journalists and activists are changing their behavior as a result.
The Directorate General for Personal Data Protection (DGPDP for its acronym in Spanish) of the Ministry of Justice dismissed Justice Javier Villa Stein’s complaint against Peruvian investigative journalism site Ojo Público for publishing a report on his financial and real estate assets.
A Peruvian court annulled the conviction of Rafael Léon Rodríguez, a Peruvian journalist who was sentenced on May 3 for aggravated defamation, La República reported. The original sentence carried a one-year suspended prison term and a payment of 6,000 nuevo soles (about US $1,800) in civil damages.
The Sept. 3 detention of lawyer and journalist Braulio Jatar Alonso on Margarita Island in the state of Nueva Esparta in Venezuela has caused indignation and rejection. Family members, as well as local and international human rights organizations have labeled the case a “total abuse” and an attack of press freedom in the country.
A day of demonstrations in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas ended with complaints of restrictions on freedoms of the press and of expression, including attacks and temporary detentions of some media workers, as well as international journalists being banned from entering the country.
In Honduras, investigative journalist Ariel Armando D’Vicente Jarquín, 48, was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of defamation for reporting on a former police chief, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
A recent study by the European Broadcasting Union found that “well-funded and strong public service media goes hand in hand with signs of a healthy democracy.” Historically, funding challenges and scarce resources have plagued public media in Latin America.
There is discord between the government of Bolivian President Evo Morales and a large sector of the media, as well as organizations defending freedom of expression, said Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), during a visit to La Paz, according to Página Siete.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) just announced its annual awards for Excellence in Journalism 2016, aimed to “encourage excellence in journalism and the defense of freedom of expression throughout the continent.”
Two Venezuelan news outlets suffered attacks from armed men in the past three days.
Arguing that journalists were making recordings in a “presidential corridor,” members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB for its acronym in Spanish) in Venezuela detained journalists Andreina Flores and Jorge Luis Pérez Valery, according to the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela (IPYS).