El Salvador's Supreme Court declared some of President Mauricio Funes' September 2011 recommendations for the Access to Public Information Law unconstitutional, according to El Faro.
The Brazilian media company Record, owner of the eponymous television broadcaster and the news website R7, was sentenced to pay almost $24,000 in moral damages to the Globo network host William Waack after republishing a blog post alleging Waack was an informant for the U.S. government.
Costa Rica’s highest court temporarily suspended the controversial Information Crimes Law that could send journalists and other individuals to prison for up to eight years for revealing government secrets, reported the newspaper La Nación on Saturday, Nov. 24.
After being criticized for naming journalists in a lawsuit over inciting violence, the Argentine media giant Clarín clarified in a statement that the reporters were mentioned only as possible witnesses.
The Brazilian government now has a commission to oversee court cases involving freedom of the press, the National Forum of Judicial Authority and Freedom, created on Tuesday, Nov. 13, by the National Judicial Council.
Two reporters in the Dominican Republic could face three months to one year in prison for allegedly defaming the Canadian textile multinational Gildan Activewear, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French).
Fighting a court order, the Ecuadorian newspaper La Hora published an apology to the government in its Nov. 14 edition, according to the newspaper El Diario.
Contrary to international conventions on freedom of expression and access to information, defamation cases in Brazil -- a country characterized lately by a high number of judicial cases against the media -- are still resolved in criminal courts.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned another multi-million dollar charge brought against the newspaper La Prensa in Panama that reported on the Ochy Diez business group's contracts with the government of President Ricardo Martinelli.
An Argentine journalist claimed he was threatened by a retired military officer who is being prosecuted for possible crimes against humanity, reported the newspaper Diario de Cuyo.