Immigration authorities in Panama denied Canadian journalist Rosie Simms entry into the country on Jan. 21. Authorities alleged that her passport was invalid, despite its 2015 expiration date, according to Reporters Without Borders. After holding her for four hours and denying her access to consular services, they forced her to board a plane for the United States, reported the website Newsroom Panama.
At least three journalists were attacked while covering a violent protest in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, reported the newspaper Jornada. Protesters from the Indigenous Council of the South also injured more than 20 police officers during the demonstration.
A news team for the Venezuelan television broadcaster Globovisión was detained by the country's Bolivarian National Guard as they tried to cover an oil spill in the community of Pararí, in the state of Monagas, reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange on Jan. 27.
Memphis police briefly detained a photojournalist and erased images he had recorded on his cell phone on Sunday, Jan. 29, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Police are investigating the incident, the group added.
The series of recommendations to change the inter-American system of human rights, presented by the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on Jan. 25, would limit the authority of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), especially the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
A Chilean military court sentenced a police officer to 541 days in prison for attacking a photojournalist for the EFE news agency who was covering a protest in the coastal city of Valparaíso, on May 21, 2008, reported the newspaper La Nación.
On the 29th anniversary of the killing of eight journalists in the community of Uchuraccay, Peru, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP in Spanish) criticized a bill known as the "Mordaza Law," which they consider a restriction of press freedom in the Andean country.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced that he will send a bill to regulate the press during the inauguration of the new session of Congress, according to the Associated Press.
Jailed Cuban journalist José Antonio Torres is facing 10 years in prison for corruption charges, according to the website Observatorio Crítico Desde Cuba.
Brazil, Chile and the United States tumbled dramatically in the 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index that Reporters Without Borders released Wednesday, Jan. 25. Brazil dropped 41 places to no. 99, Chile plummeted 47 places to no. 80, and the United States fell 27 spots to no. 47.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called a Dominican Republic journalist's six-month prison sentence for slander and libel dangerous and disproportionate.
Honduran journalist Gilda Silvestrucci announced she received death threats over the phone mentioning the ages of her children and where they could be found, and family members were questioned about her, reported the organization C-Libre.