For photographer, documentary maker and University of Texas journalism professor Donna DeCesare, full immersion is the only way for a journalist to build the deep relationships of mutual trust necessary to report truthfully about a conflict.
At least 15 articles of Ecuador's new Organic Penal Code, partially approved by the National Assembly, could limit freedom of expression and turn into a tool to persecute citizens critical of the government, according to a report published by NGO Fundamedios.
Ismael López, a Nicaraguan journalist with news site Confidencial and its sister TV show Esta Semana, has accused the Nicaraguan Army of spying on him, according to the independent English-language online newspaper The Nicaragua Dispatch.
The President of Peru, Ollanta Humala, enacted the Computer Crimes Act last week, which criminalizes the unauthorized creation and use of electronic databases, among other things, with up to five years in prison. Several lawyers and journalism organizations have criticized the law, saying it will endanger Peruvians' right to freedom of expression and information.
The body of Honduran cameraman Manuel de Jesús Varela Murillo, 32, was found with three bullet wounds in the face on Oct. 23 near a popular neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, C-Libre reported. It appeared Varela Murillo had been killed a week before being found.
The International Press Institute has urged the Caribbean countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin to examine and change their criminal defamation laws.
Bolivian journalist Raúl Peñaranda had to quit his newspaper to save it.
The last six months represented the worst semester for journalists in the Americas in the last five years, according to the Inter American Press Association, news agency EFE reported. The killing of journalists and the various government measures that restrict access to information were some of the reasons that IAPA cited during its General Assembly, which took place in Denver last weekend.
The concentration of the media by “autocratic” governments is one of the “the greatest obstacles for the freedom of the press in the western hemisphere during the last six months of the year” and the killing of 14 journalists represents one of the highest numbers in the last 20 years, the Inter American Press Association noted during the conclusion of its 69th General Assembly in Denver last weekend.
Carlos Martínez is a reporter with Salvadoran news site El Faro who specializes in covering violence in Central America. He's part of the publication's Sala Negra team, which was created in 2011 with the goal of creating a model for permanent coverage of prisons, gangs, organized crime and violence in the region.
Viltor García, a bodyguard for cable channel director Karen Rottman, had just finished his shift on Oct. 19 when he was shot and killed by attackers in a vehicle with tinted glass windows in Guatemala City, informed Reporters without Borders (RSF). Rottman is the director of Vea Canal, an independent cable channel critical of the nation's administration.
The Cuban government appointed new editors for its two main newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, describing the move as part of a “renewal” process to improve the country’s official press, BBC News reported.