A group of 60 persons -- among them journalists, politicians, writers and former Ecuadorian legislators -- have filed a new lawsuit before the Constitutional Court with the goal of revoking the country's controversial communications law, representing the second attempt to strike down the law through the courts.
Since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, Brazil has been known as a free country regarding free speech and access to information. Although both rights are guaranteed in the Constitution of 1988, there is a disturbing distance between the words written on paper and their implementation in practice.
The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, has presented the Congress with a proposal that toughens content regulations on the media, including regulation on schedules and punishments for broadcasting violent or obscene content, content that celebrates or defends crime, or content that goes against morals and good behavior, said La Prensa. Lobo’s proposed telecom law is popularly known as the “ley mordaza” – the gag law – due to its restrictions on press freedom.
The Honduran National Commissioner on Human Rights, Ramón Custodio, suggested that a proposed telecommunications bill would enable censorship, violate the right to private property and make the state a content producer, according to the newspaper La Tribuna
The Jamaican government will submit new defamation legislation designed to protect journalists in their work, reported the news website Caribbean360. Information Minister Sandrea Falconer says the new law will remove the distinction between libel and slander, set up a single defamation cause, and abolish the criminal libel law, added the website.
After 17 hours in session, the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico approved on Friday, March 22 a telecommunications reform law, one of the most hotly debated topics of recent weeks.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto presented on Monday, March 11 a proposal to reform the telecommunications law with the intention of putting an end to the open television duopoly and putting and broaden competition in the sector, according to the Associated Press.
The transfer of media licenses from Daniel Hadad to pro-Kirchner businessman Cristobal López has generated controversy in Argentina, leading some to suggest the hand over was "illegal," reported the newspaper Clarín.
The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
The National Press Association of Bolivia, or ANP, described new rules in the country's law against human trafficking as an "attack" on freedom of expression and the "confiscation" of media outlets' financial resources, news portal Los Tiempos reported.
In Brazil defamation currently carries a minimum sentence of only three months, but that could change to two years if a penal code reform project currently being discussed in the Senate is approved.
The International Press Institute released a statement on Monday, Feb. 18, warning of rising impunity for crimes against journalists in Brazil and insisting the Congress approve a bill that would allow federal authorities to investigate attacks on press workers in the country.