According to a court in São Paulo, the Brazilian press has the right to release all material leaked by government agents and confidentiality only applies to the police or judicial authorities who are responsible for it, reported the Counsel's website on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
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.
The Mexican Navy arrested an alleged drug trafficker that may be linked to the killing of four media employees in Veracruz, according to the newspaper Milenio.
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner proposed an ethics law for journalists during a speech at the energy company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF in Spanish), claiming that the media were "mounting a campaign to tarnish the image" of the recently nationalized business. Kirchner cited recent articles published in the newspaper Clarín for her argument, reported HidrocarburosBolivia.com.
The Chilean government denied a passport to a journalist for the second time because of "opinion crimes" committed 61 years ago, during the administration of President Gabriel González Videla, reported the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP in Spanish).
A Brazilian photojournalist was arrested and handcuffed by a police officer while filming an accident involving a military police car that left five injured in Goiânia, on Thursday, Aug. 9, reported the news portal G1. The cameraman works for the TV station TV Goiânia in the state of Goiás.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and several other international press organizations took the opportunity to express their mounting concern over the state of freedom of expression in Argentina and Ecuador during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which took place on July 12 in Santiago, Chile, reported the news website Martí on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
Gunmen sprayed the facade of the Mexican newspaper El Regional del Sur with bullets during the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 8, reported the newspaper El Universal. El Regional del Sur is published in the city of Cuernacava, near the Mexican capital.
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.
Brazilian Minister Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court asked federal police to open an investigation into Wikipedia for its distorted and "ideological" posts, reported the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.
Venezuelan journalists from private news outlets were not allowed to cover a presidential event on Monday, Aug. 6, reported El Universal.
On the night of Friday, Aug. 3, a Colombian journalist was injured after an attack with explosives near the community radio station where she worked in Saravena, a town in Arauca, on the Venezuelan border, reported the news agency EFE, and the newspaper El Tiempo. According to Caracol radio, those responsible for the attack are allegedly members of the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish), and the attack had targeted police.