Journalist José Luis Galdámez and his family deserve protection by Honduran authorities, according to an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, reported the Associated Press.
Journalists always live in a state of tension with their work. To uncover the truth, journalists must develop not only a broad understanding of issues of public interest, but they must also have the good journalistic sense to be at the right place at the right time to cover a story. However, for journalists who work in zones of conflict, such journalistic competence can mean death.
The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) released a statement calling on the authorities to guarantee the safety of press workers who are covering the recent conflicts in the Parque Indoamericano (American Indian Park) in Buenos Aires, which is currently occupied by at least 5,000 homeless squatters, many of them immigrants. FOPEA also asked media companies to prioritize the safety of their employees.
The Mexican government, media outlets on both sides of the border, and press organizations must do more to end danger faced by the press on Mexico’s northern border from drug-trafficking violence and impunity.
Anabel Hernández is pressing charges against Security Minister Genaro García Luna and one of his assistants, Luis Cárdenas Palomino, for an alleged plot to kill her, AFP and EFE report.
Luis Horacio Nájera, who won asylum in Canada two years ago, was honored last week in Toronto by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, for his reporting in the violent border city Ciudad Juárez. His Mexican colleague Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and three journalists from Cameroon were also awarded prizes, The Toronto Star reports.
The Chamber of Deputies passed a 2011 federal budget that includes more than $2 million for journalist life insurance, El Universal reports. The funds are set to go towards medical services, funeral costs, and damages.
Mexico’s Foundation for Freedom of Expression (Fundalex) and the Cádiz Press Association (APC) signed an agreement that will allow threatened Mexican journalists to seek refuge in Spain, EFE reports.
Several journalist and freedom of expression organizations criticized the press protection measures used by the authorities, which they said lack the resources and scope to attack the problem at its roots, El Diario de Juárez reports.
The Mexican authorities have presented a mechanism for protecting journalists to stop the attacks on reporters and the media that, in the last decade, have resulted in 65 killings, in addition to 12 disappearances in the past five years, reported CNN Mexico and La Jornada.
The escalation of violence and drug cartel influence in Mexico means that for foreign correspondents, reporting in Mexico is no different than covering a war, said Tracy Wilkinson, Mexico City bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. No one can be trusted, and "Baghdad rules" apply, she said. Get in, report, and get out.
Forty-five journalists and representatives from media organizations from 20 countries gathered Sept. 17-18, 2010, in Austin, Texas, for the 8th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas. The Forum is organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and the Open Society Foundations' programs for Latin America and the media.