The Venezuelan vice president, Elías Jaua, asked the National Assembly to include in the reform of the General Bank Law a provision prohibiting shareholders of financial institutions from participating in communications enterprises, reported El Nacional.
The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it is important to change parts of the proposed communications law in Ecuador in order to protect freedom of expression.
The Chamber of Deputies is considering a bill to regulate the distribution of official advertising to media outlets, Clarín reports. In June, Clarín accused the executive of using ad spending to manipulate coverage.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) questioned a proposed law that applies harsh sanctions to media outlets that publish content that affects minors.
Four journalism organizations are oppenly opposing a new electoral law, enacted three weeks ago, which they say violates free expression. (Read the full text PDF of the law in Spanish here.)
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a decree that created an intergovernmental commission to propose changes to the regulatory system that governs broadcast media, O Estado de S. Paulo reports.
A proposed law that will be debated in Paraguay's House of Representatives would establish community radio stations as those with signal strength between 50 and 300 watts, and would prohibit them from receiving funding from state or private advertising. The Paraguayan Journalists Union rejected the measure, calling the restrictions arbitrary.
Venezuela's Supreme Court emphasized one more time that freedom of expression is not an absolute right, and established various limitations to access to governmental information, reported El Tiempo.
A group comprised of universities, media, and civil and press organizations that is promoting the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information urged the Salvadoran legislature to approve in the short term "an effective law in accordance with international principles and best practices," reported El Mundo and El País.
Representatives from Brazil's media outlets sent a document to Minister Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes, the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs, arguing that "freedom to think and express opinions and information, without control by whomever, is the very essence of democracy," according to Folha de S. Paulo (link for subscribers) and O Globo.
The proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC 386/09) that would re-establish the requirement for a professional degree in order to practice journalism was approved Wednesday, July 14, by a special commission of Brazil's House of Representatives, reported Agência Câmara. The proposal first must be voted on by the full House before it can go to a vote in the Senate.
Ecuador's communication bill has entered, in theory, the final stretch, but ruling and opposition forces remain at odds, divided over the proposal's future, reported El Comercio.