Human Rights Watch's 2012 World Report, released on Jan. 22, 2012, accuses the Venezuelan government of trying to control independent media and the judiciary in order to silence opposition voices, reported the website Uol.
The Chilean government announced that it will withdraw the "Hinzpeter Bill," a proposal that would have permitted authorities to demand media companies turn over their archives to the police without a warrant, reported ANSA.
A Spanish journalist jailed in Cuba for 17 months over allegations of sexually exploiting minors after reporting on child prostitution on the island for the television station Telecinco arrived back in Madrid on Jan. 17, reported the news agency EFE.
The Mexican Supreme Court will review an appeal from oil businessmen against journalists from the magazine Contralínea charged with libel, reported the news agency Notimex.
An Argentine journalist was unlawfully detained after filming a violent police confrontation, reported the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish). Along with being detained for nine hours, the journalist claims police forced him to erase the recording.
A lawyer who served as a newspaper source was killed in Honduras on Jan. 17, three days after speaking out against police abuse and torture, reported the freedom of expression organization C-Libre.
With Wikipedia blacked out to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) anti-piracy bills in the U.S. Congress, news outlets like the Washington Post, NPR and the Guardian teamed up to use crowdsourcing via Twitter to try to serve as a make-shift encyclopedia, according to the Huffington Post.
Argentine editor Alejandro Alfie accused businessman and owner of the media conglomerate Grupo Veintetrés, Sergio Szpolski, of threatening him over the phone for writing about the business in the newspaper Clarín, reported the newspaper La Nación.
In protest of two Congressional bills that critics contend amount to censorship of the Internet, Wikipedia announced that it will go dark on Wednesday Jan. 18, reported The New York Times.
On Jan. 10, Bahia became the first Brazilian state to establish a Social Communication Council characterized as a "consultative and deliberative" body charged with creating a state communication plan, reported the newspaper A Tarde.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security regularly monitors dozens of websites, including Facebook, Twitter, WikiLeaks, YouTube, and even the New York Times Lede Blog, Global Voices Online, and the Blog del Narco, in order to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture," reported Reuters on Thursday, Jan. 11.
A military judge has recommended that Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking classified military documents to WikiLeaks, face a court martial, reported the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, Jan. 12.