Day two of the 8th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas on Saturday, Sept. 18, at the University of Texas at Austin kicked off with journalists from South and Central America and Eastern Europe discussing how reporters and journalism organizations can cooperate across borders to better cover organized crime.
Journalists and representatives from journalism organizations from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean are coming together for two days of discussion on coverage of drug trafficking and organized crime at the 8th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas, Sept. 17-18, 2010, in Austin, Texas.
Watchdog reporting in traditional news outlets is on the decline, and new nonprofit investigative journalism ventures are doing their best to fill the void, according to a new article in the American Journalism Review (AJR).
Alejandro Aguirre, president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said that in Latin America, democratically elected governments are falling to authoritarianism and increasingly restricting press freedom, reported Voice of America.
Journalists who cover environmental degradation are increasingly subject to threats and attacks, according to a new Reporters without Borders investigative report, “High-Risk Subjects: Deforestation and Pollution” (PDF file). Its publication is timed to coincide with World Environment Day (June 5).
Scholars, journalists and media executives from 12 countries shared experiences about online journalism that are particular to Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. The Third Ibero-American Colloquium on Digital Journalism took place in Austin on April 25, 2010.
Journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico received the King of Spain International Journalism Prizes sponsored by EFE and Spain's international development agency. The winners, announced in January, received the prizes Tuesday from King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, in the Casa de América in Madrid.
Access to Internet has grown considerably in Latin America, increasing the access to social networks. According to a report by David Cuen for BBC Mundo (Spanish), Latin American Internet users don't surf in isolation. At least 95 percent of them have an account on a social network.
Latin American newspapers will only survive with help from the state, but not by continuing to rely on the government for placing ads, longtime media observer Eduardo Bertoni writes for the Huffington Post.
Argentine journalist and writer Tomás Eloy Martínez, who died of cancer Sunday at 75, was one of the most accomplished writers of New Journalism, fusing journalistic storytelling with literary techniques, La Voz de Argentina recalls (Spanish). See the Buenos Aires Herald's obituary (in English).