Multivisión (MVS), the same Mexican broadcaster that fired a journalist in February 2011 for commenting on opposition allegations that President Felipe Calderón was an alcoholic, has created an ombudsman position at the station, El Informador reports.
After a workshop on teaching border reporting held April 29-May 1 at the University of Arizona, journalism educators from nine U.S. colleges have joined forces to establish the Border Journalism Network/La Red de Periodismo de la Frontera, according to a University of Arizona statement.
With the Committee to Protect Journalists reporting 861 journalists killed in the line of duty since 1992, and another 145 in prison currently, YouTube has launched a journalist memorial video channel, according to ReadWriteWeb.
On May 3, media workers all over Latin American used World Press Freedom Day to denounce violence against reporters and media outlets and to demand protection, as new reports showed that the region has become one the most dangerous in the world to practice journalism. Press Freedom Day was also marred by the news that two journalists, one in Brazil and another in Peru, were shot to death in separate incidents.
A total of 68 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, while another 13 remain missing, says a new report by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), El Universal reports.
Mexico and Honduras have joined the rank of countries where the press is not considered free or independent, according to a Freedom House study released Monday, May 2, reported the Christian Science Monitor. In fact, the report, Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence, found that global press freedom has declined to its lowest levels in more than a decade, with Latin America experiencing the most severe setbacks. The report was released as part of World Press Freedom Day.
Cuarto Poder reports that one of its reporters, Fredy Martín Pérezis is being harassed by a judge, who is trying to force the journalist to testify in a trial for two alleged drug traffickers.
The commentary Kowanin Silva, of the newspaper Vanguardia de Saltillo, wrote here last week [April 18] about the use of social networks to break the information blockade, was very correct, as publishing on Facebook or Twitter helps a newspaper to get information out immediately.
A federal court has overturned a ruling that journalist’s from Contralínea weekly had caused moral harm to several executives for stories alleging contract irregularities with the state oil company Pemex, Misión Política reports.
Italian journalist and professor Giovanni Proiettis, a resident of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas for 18 years, was summarily deported back to his home country April 15, Proceso reports.
Violence in Saltillo has increased in recent months, putting us in new risky situations where social media is a way to break the silence enforced by criminal groups. It is not the best substitute, but considering the lack of protection journalists in Coahuila state have, there is no other option.
In the face of the threats and dangers journalists confront as increasing violence rocks Mexico, various initiatives have emerged as part of an effort to help protect reporters: group coverage so no one journalist can be singled out, bullet-proof vests, and even self censorship. The most recent protection measure is an accord with guidelines specifying how to cover the drug war.