In only 15 days, four radio broadcasters and two TV channels were closed in Ecuador, reported the news agency EFE. The Ecuadorian NGO Fundamedios reported that the closed news media outlets are the TV channels Telesangay (of the province of Morona Santiago), Lidervisión (from Napo), and the radios stations El Dorado (from Sucumbíos), Líder (from Napo), Pantera (from Pichincha), and Net (from Tungurahua), reported the news paper El Comercio.
On Saturday, June 9, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that he is considering preventing public officials from granting interviews to for-profit, private news media, in an attempt to financing those families that own these news media outlets, reported the news agency EFE.
On Wednesday, June 6, the National Association of Journalists of Peru reported that on May 24, a judge from the department of Ancash emitted a sentence against a journalist for alleged defamation of a public official of the province. The sentence was suspended as long as the journalist follows certain rules, including "rectifying" damages within 15 days.
The 42nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) ended on Tuesday, June 5, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, by welcoming the polemic recommendation to reform the Inter American System of Human Rights, presented by Venezuela and Ecuador, that amounts to nothing more than an attack on freedom of expression, said the Los Angeles Times. The OAS decided to put off application of the reforms for six to nine months to discuss the decision with parties involved, reported the news agency EFE.
Cuban authorities have given independent journalist Alexis Ferrer 72 hours to leave the island, reported the site Cuba Encuentro.
Armed individuals opened fire against the headquarters of a newspaper in the state of Zulia, in northeast Venezuela, on the night of Sunday, June 3, reported La Nación. This is the third attack in one week against news media outlets in the region.
On Wednesday, June 6, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the threats and attacks against Venezuelan journalists and news media, reported the newspaper El Universal.
A team of reporters was attacked during a demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while trying to cover a "pots and pans" protest in front of the Court Palace the night of Friday, June 1. The incident occurred just 10 days after the same reporting team was attacked by another group of protesters in the same place, reported the Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities.
On Tuesday, June 5, two Peruvian journalists were sentenced to two years in prison and fined to pay more than $22,000 each to the former Interior Minister, Antonio Ketín Vidal Herrera, who accused the journalists of "alleged defamation" on January 12, 2011, reported the Press and Society Institute.
The headquarters of the Venezuelan newspaper Qué Pasa was attacked with a grenade on May 28. No one was hurt during the attack, however the building suffered damages, reported the news site Clases de Periodismo, on Monday, June 4.
In the Mexican state of Veracruz, one of the 10 most-dangerous places in the world to practice journalism, fear is surging that more journalists are going to be killed. According to the digital newspaper El Arsenal, a new list is circulating with the names of journalists slated to be killed in coming days, and the warning comes from an official in the state prosecutor's office.
Rights Court, and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. The letter was sent in anticipation of the 42nd OAS General Assembly, June 3-5 in the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia, where different proposals will be discussed to change the Inter American human rights system, according to the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. The proposals caused concern among diverse human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, which said that these changes would weaken the Human Rights Commission, reported the news agency AFP. On May 10, the OAS General Secretary, José Miguel Insulza, said that the human rights def