Americas News items Page

U.S. District Court Judge rules that bloggers and journalists do not enjoy same legal privileges
Date: 6 December 2011 "A U.S. District Court judge in Portland has drawn a line in the sand between "journalist" and "blogger." And for Crystal Cox, a woman on the latter...

Yale to Ensure Students in Singapore Have Freedom of Expression
Date: 7 July 2012 "Yale University will ensure its liberal arts campus in Singapore won’t impose censorship amid criticism the city-state’s laws will stifle academic freedom...

Ecuador 'will respect freedom of expression' in Assange case
Date: 21 June 2012 - "A decision on the fate of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be made within 24 hours, while the Ecuadorian foreign minister took to Twitter...

Cuba Denounces Biased Reports about Freedom of Expression
Date: 20 June 2012 - "Cuba denounced here today reports by the Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) concerning freedom of expression, that exclusively...

Issue of web access raises hackles at conference
Date: 19 June 2012 "THE PUNISHMENT for breakers of the “three strikes” illegal download rule was “exceptionally disproportionate”, the vice-chairman of the UN Human...

Tories repeal part of rights act banning hate speech
Date: 8 June 2012 - "The federal Conservatives voted late Wednesday to repeal controversial sections of the Canadian Human Rights Act banning hate speech on the Internet, backing a bill they say promotes freedom of expression...

Ecuador President Correa pardons paper in libel case
Date: 27 February 2012 "Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has pardoned the owners and a journalist at El Universo newspaper who faced jail terms and $40m (£25m) in damages for libelling him...

Day laborers win Supreme Court free-speech case
Date: 22 February 2012 "Day laborers in Western states including California scored a legal victory Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling declaring that cities violate free speech when they make it a crime to seek work from passing drivers...

Ecuador’s Assault on Free Speech
Date: 21 Feb 2012 "Ecuador’s highest court has delivered a staggering, shameful blow to the country’s democracy, siding with President Rafael Correa’s campaign to silence and bankrupt El Universo...

Correa's defamation win exposes country's "disturbing" free expression situation
Date: 15 February 2012 "Two Ecuadoran journalists have been ordered to pay President Rafael Correa US$2 million in moral damages - the latest in a string of incidents that point to a "disturbing" and "deteriorating" free expression situation in Ecuador under President Rafael Correa...

Journalist who covered corruption murdered in Brazil
"New York, February 10, 2012--The body of Brazilian journalist Mario Randolfo Marques Lopes was found on Thursday in the city of Barra do Piraí in Rio de Janeiro state...

US free speech faces Islamic blasphemy law pressure, analyst says
"Washington D.C., Feb 4, 2012 / 07:05 am (CNA).- Paul Marshall, a religious liberty expert, says that attempts to “export” Islamic anti-blasphemy laws to the West could pose a threat to freedom of speech in the U.S...

In tiny Ecuador, populist president restrains press
Date: 24 January 2012 "Reporters are frequently assassinated in Mexico, and a populist government in Venezuela has driven some journalists into exile...

Media law expert weighs in on SOPA and PIPA legislation
Date : 201 January 2012 "Senate and House leaders announced plans to postpone work on two controversial anti-piracy bills. The decision comes in the wake of large online protests...

Chile withdraws proposed law enabling police to seize images from media without court orders
Date: 19 January 2012 "Chile’s government is backing down on a plan that would have empowered police to force news media to surrender images without a court order...

Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa protest
Date: 17 January 2012 "Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.The user...

White House: Anti-Piracy Legislation Must Not Curtail Innovation, Freedom of Expression
Date: 14 Janaury 2012 "In a potential problem for the movie industry, the White House has issued a warning about the anti-piracy legislation in Congress. While agreeing that...

Honduran journalists face 'growing threat'
Date: 7 December 2011 "Journalists in Honduras are facing growing danger, the country's human rights commissioner has warned...

Ecuador: Press freedom fears as Ecuador president rages against the media he doesn't control
Date: 10 November 2011 "...Throughout this year there has been a rapidly growing threat to freedom of expression in the country. Now a five-day mission by the World...

Argentina: "Dirty War" generals sentenced, multiple radio stations attacked
Date: 02 November 2011 "Over the past two months, numerous radio stations have been violently attacked in separate incidents and through various means - from arson, to...

The Ten Rules Of Terrorism: Art That Tests The First Amendment
Date: 28 October 2011 "Peter Reynosa has unveiled a painting called The Ten Rules of Terrorism that definitely tests the idea of freedom of expression in America...

USA: Yahoo! blocked emails against Occupy Wall Street movement
Date: 14 October 2011 "september 22nd Yahoo blocked email containing the address "occupywallstreet.org". Since mid september activists have sat up a Tahrir square like camp near the New York stock exchange

Venezuela: Government rejects UPR recommendations on free expression
Date: 11 October 2011 "On 11 October, the Venezuelan government rejected all requests to improve aspects of freedom of expression recommended by IFEX members and

USA: Virginia State Bar’s crackdown on lawyer’s blog raises questions
Date: 10 October 2011 " Virginia lawyers who blog about their cases, beware: the state bar may come after you for inappropriate advertising. At least that’s the message the...

IFEX-ALC delegation submits recommendations on freedom of expression during Venezuela's UPR
Date: 3 October 2011 "IFEX-ALC is calling on the UN Human Rights Council members to urge the Venezuelan government to uphold the right to free expression

UN human rights office concerned about killing of journalists in Mexico
Date: 30 September 2011 "The United Nations human rights office today expressed concern over the increase in the number of killings of journalists in Mexico this year...

Dowler lawyer: News Corp faces hacking lawsuit in US
Date: 23 September 2011 "American lawyers are set to launch legal action against News Corporation over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal...

Ecuador: 7 Radio Stations Could be Fined due to Freedom of Expression Simulcasts
Date: 15 September 2011 "Four simulcasts made by seven radio stations in Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca to talk on freedom of expression are now under an investigation by the Superintendency of Telecommunications...

Do we have a fundamental right to film the police in public?
Date: 31 August 2011 "As a number of recent cases have made clear, filming policing activity in public places is a vital method of holding police to account...

Vancouver: Government undermining freedom of speech - 08/08/2011
Date: 08 August 2011 "Freedom of expression and access to information are core democratic values to which Canada presumably ascribes...

Ecuadorian paper reacts to libel ruling with nearly-empty front page
Date: 26/07/2011 "There were no articles on the front page of Ecuador's El Universo newspaper in reaction to a judge's ruling that the publication had libeled the country's president...

Ecuador Newspaper Gets Harsh Sentence
Date: 22/07/2011 'An Ecuadorian judge has ordered three executives and a former columnist from one of the country's major newspapers, each to be jailed for three years..

Media watchdogs condemn Ecuador libel ruling
Date: 22/07/2011 "Media watchdogs around the world have denounced an Ecuadorian court decision to send four journalists to prison and impose a $40m fine for libel against President Rafael Correa...

Senior UN official deplores murder of third Mexican journalist in one month
Date: 19/07/2011 "The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom has condemned the killing of a Mexican journalist...

Guatemalan journalist keeps secrets of drug killings for posthumous video
Date: 18/07/2011 "Carlos Jimenez's video to be aired only if he falls victim to the escalating violence against journalists in central America...

Strip Clubs claim Tax violates Freedom of Expression
Date: 14/07/2011 "When Texas lawmakers passed a $5-per-patron strip club fee in 2007, they pledged it would raise $40 million in the first year to finance programs to combat sexual assault and low-income health insurance...

To Track Militants, U.S. Has System That Never Forgets a Face
Date: 13/07/2011 "When the Taliban dug an elaborate tunnel system beneath the largest prison in southern Afghanistan this spring, they set off a scramble to catch the 475 inmates who escaped...

US court orders halt to gay military ban
Date: 07/07/2011 "A US court has advanced the cause of gays and lesbians serving in the military by ordering the authorities to end a policy that...US court orders halt to gay military ban

Pakistan’s Spies Tied to Slaying of a Journalist
Date: 05/06/2011 "Obama administration officials believe that Pakistan’s powerful spy agency ordered the killing of a Pakistani journalist who had written scathing reports about the infiltration of militants in the country’s military, according to American officials..."

United States: Kerry Urges Privacy Protections
Date: 30/06/2011 "Senator John F. Kerry called today for stronger Internet protections for consumers, saying a privacy bill of rights is needed because...

USA: Free speech trumps blocking kids from violent video games
Date:29/06/2011 "The Supreme Court ended its term with a vigorous defense of free speech, striking down a California law that banned sales of violent video games to minors...

Baidu Accused of Aiding Chinese Censorship in U.S. Suit
Date:19/05/2011 BEIJING—Eight New York residents filed a lawsuit Wednesday against China and Chinese online-search provider Baidu Inc...

CJFE gives Harper government failing grade on access to information
Date: 18/05/2011 When it comes to access to information, Canada has received an F minus ...

WikiLeaks: US opens grand jury hearing
Date:12/05/2011 First session of process of deciding whether to prosecute website and founder Julian Assange for espionage...

Ecuador referendum tackles judges, media and bull-fights
Date:06/05/2011 Banning bull-fighting and regulating media content are two of the controversial issues Ecuadoreans are preparing to vote on in a referendum on 7 May...

PRESS RELEASE: OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Date:15/04/2011 The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression express its concern over the existence and application of aggravated criminal defamation or desacato and insult laws, as well as the existence and application of civil law provisions that may lead to the imposition of disproportionate sanctions against persons who have publicly expressed criticism of the most senior government officials in Ecuador...

CUBA: Last journalist released
Date:08/04/2011 Du Bouchet joins 18 other writers and independent journalists and librarians freed and forced into exile between July and September 2010...

US public broadcasting chief quits after sting catches Tea Party gibe
Date:10/03/2011 The future of public broadcasting in the United States, already hazy because of pressure from conservative Republicans for deep cuts in its funding, looked even more precarious last night after National Public Radio's (NPR) chief executive took the fall for one of her senior subordinates saying on a video recording that Tea Party members are racist...

US court allows Westboro Baptist's anti-gay funeral pickets to go on
Date:04/03/2011 One of the most detested church groups in America can continue to picket military funerals after the supreme court ruled in favour of their right to free speech...

US court allows Westboro Baptist's anti-gay funeral pickets to go on
Date:02/03/2011 One of the most detested church groups in America can continue to picket military funerals after the supreme court ruled in favour of their right to free speech...

US pastor Terry Jones banned from entering UK
Date:20/01/2011 Controversial US pastor Terry Jones has been barred from entering the UK for the public good, the Home Office says...

US wants Twitter details of Wikileaks activists
Date:10/01/2011 The US government has subpoenaed the social networking site Twitter for personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, court documents show...

Venezuela media bills would harm freedom of expression
Date:15/12/2010 New York: The Venezuelan legislature should reject proposed legal reforms that would harm freedom of expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today...

US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis
Date:29/11/2010 The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250, 000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year...

Mexico: President Calderon warns that organized crime is biggest threat to press freedoms in Mexico
Date:09/11/2010 …

Michigan Teacher Reprimanded in ‘Free Speech Flap’
Date:03/11/2010 A Michigan teacher has been accused of bullying students in an incident sparked by the teacher himself wearing a purple shirt in a gesture of support toward gay students who suffer at the hands of bullies...

Brazil’s future president Dilma Rousseff promises press freedom
Date:02/11/2010 In her acceptance speech in Brasília, President-elect Dilma Rousseff highlighted the role of the press and promised that her future government would guarantee freedom of expression...

US Supreme Court to hear videogames free speech case
Date:02/11/2010 The US Supreme Court prepared to hear arguments on Tuesday on whether a California ban on the sale or rental of violent videogames to minors is unconstitutional...

Venezuela organizations denounce violations of freedom of expression
Date:01/11/2010 The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was asked by organizations to monitor closely events that might represent violations of freedom of speech and other guarantees in Venezuela...

Gay marriage foes: NY law blocks free speech right
Date:21/10/2010 Lawyers for an anti-gay marriage group have appeared before judges in Rhode Island and New York seeking the right to run political ads without having to comply with certain donor and spending reporting requirements...

Bolivian newspapers stage protest
Date:11/10/2010 Several Bolivian newspapers protested last week against a proposed law that would allow the government to shut down media outlets it deems guilty of racism...

Mich. worker's blog sparks debate on free speech
Date:02/10/2010 LANSING, Mich...

The Net in Canada: a black hole in cyberspace?
Date:28/09/2010 The scope of the Freedom of Expression in Canada will be tested when the Supreme Court of Canada rules on <em>Crookes vs Newton</em>, the freedom of speech case that’s due to be heard in Ottawa on December 7...

El Salvador’s High Court Deals Blow to Press Freedom
Date:27/09/2010 SAN SALVADOR – El Salvador’s Supreme Court ruled that the media and television station owners, editors and managers may be brought to trial for slander, injury or defamation in a decision interpreted as a blow against press freedom ...

Mexican newspaper to cartels: 'We do not want more deaths'
Date:20/09/2010 On the same day friends and family buried slain photographer Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, the newspaper he worked for, El Diario, in an unprecedented move published an open letter to the drug cartels operating in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico...

Pentagon issues new rules for Guantanamo coverage
Date:13/09/2010 Reporters Without Borders takes note of the new ground rules for journalists covering the “military commissions” at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which the US Department of Defense issued on 10 September...

Argentine government clamps down on country's largest media organisation
Date:21/08/2010 ARGENTINA’S GOVERNMENT ordered the country’s largest media organisation and a leading critic of its policies to shut down its internet service provider on Thursday...

Venezuelan judge says newspapers can print violent pictures
Date:20/08/2010 (CNN) -- A judge has lifted an order banning Venezuelan media from printing violent photographs, an official said on state-owned VTV...

Venezuela bans papers from printing violent photos
Date:18/08/2010 CARACAS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - A Venezuelan court has ordered two opposition newspapers not to print violent images and asked the rest to follow suit, in a move that it said was to protect children but which critics denounced as censorship...

Mexican Journalists March to Denounce Violence, Intimidation
Date:09/08/2010 Hundreds of Mexican journalists marched Saturday in this capital and other cities nationwide in defense of freedom of expression and to demand an end to violence, intimidation and harassment...

Mexican Journalists March to Denounce Violence, Intimidation
Date:09/08/2010 Hundreds of Mexican journalists marched Saturday in this capital and other cities nationwide in defense of freedom of expression and to demand an end to violence, intimidation and harassment...

Venezuela Takes Aim at U.S. Ambassador Designee
Date:09/08/2010 Venezuela on Thursday lashed out at U...

Mexico Journalists Kidnapped as Drug Cartels Threaten Freedom of Speech
Date:30/07/2010 Mexican gang members took at least three journalists hostage this week in Durango state after the reporters investigated alleged links between prison officials and drug groups, the state attorney general’s office said...

Mexico Journalists Kidnapped as Drug Cartels Threaten Freedom of Speech
Date:29/07/2010 Mexican gang members took at least three journalists hostage this week in Durango state after the reporters investigated alleged links between prison officials and drug groups, the state attorney general’s office said...

US libel tourism bill to be passed into law
Date:29/07/2010 The US Congress has given final approval by voice vote to a libel tourism bill, which will now be passed to President Obama to be signed into law...

US Rams Through UN Approval of Homosexual Group that Opposes Religious Freedom
Date:23/07/2010 NEW YORK, July 22 (C-FAM) The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted this week on a US-led initiative to accredit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)...

US Senate committee moves to curb libel tourism
Date:14/07/2010 The US Senate is moving closer to passing legislation that would make it harder for plaintiffs to sue Americans in overseas jurisdictions, such as Britain, where laws governing free speech are weaker...

First of 52 Cuban political prisoners leave Cuba
Date:13/07/2010 (Reuters) - The first six of 52 political prisoners to be freed in a deal with the Catholic Church left Cuba on Monday, bound for a new life as Cuban exiles in Spain...

US soldier charged for leaking video showing US army war crime
Date:07/07/2010 Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old US army intelligence analyst, was charged yesterday with leaking a video of a US army helicopter attack in Baghdad in July 2007 in which two employees of the Reuters news agency were killed...

Cuba: 'Climate of fear' created by restrictions on free expression
Date:01/07/2010 In my opinion, the blogger movement in Cuba has become an excellent alternative form of free communication...

Our challenge: Keeping the Internet open
Date:21/04/2010 The Internet is one of the world's most important means of free expression...

Battle for human rights increasingly fought on Internet: US
Date:12/03/2010 The United States said Thursday that the battle for human rights is increasingly being fought on the Internet as China, Iran and other states try to block access by political activists and others...

Venezuela: Government violating basic human rights: report
Date:26/02/2010 The Venezuelan government is continuously violating basic human rights [press release], particularly freedom of expression, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the Organization of American States (OAS) [official website] said in a report [text] released Wednesday...

Brazil: Arson Attack Destroys Radio’s Broadcasting Studio
Date:15/02/2010 The studio of radio broadcaster Nova Coari, based in Coari, Amazonas state, was completely destroyed by an arson attack on 8 February 2010...

Canada Slams Door in Chicago Reporter's Face
Date:11/02/2010 Canada is rarely mentioned as an oppressive country that limits freedom of expression and press...

US and EU call for release of well-known Chinese dissident
Date:11/02/2010 The US and European Union today renewed calls for the immediate release of high profile dissident Liu Xiaobo, as a Chinese court upheld his 11-year-sentence...

US and EU call for release of well-known Chinese dissident
Date:11/02/2010 The US and European Union today renewed calls for the immediate release of high profile dissident Liu Xiaobo, as a Chinese court upheld his 11-year-sentence...

Mexico: Three Journalists Murdered in First Weeks of 2010
Date:04/02/2010 For immediate release – 3 February 2010 Mexico: Three Journalists Murdered in First Weeks of 2010 ARTICLE 19 calls on the Mexican authorities to fully and immediately investigate the killings of another three journalists in recent weeks...

Venezuela - Six tv channels suspended over Chávez “cadenas”
Date:01/02/2010 Reporters Without Borders today condemned the government's ‘allergic reaction' to dissident voices in the media as six cable TV channels were suspended yesterday for declining to give airtime to interminable presidential speeches known as “cadenas”...

US editor at Palestinian agency fights Israel entry ban
Date:14/01/2010 A US citizen working as an editor for a the Palestinian news agency Maan is appealing against Israel's refusal to allow him entry at Tel Aviv airport...

Mexican Editor Detained, Interrogated
Date:11/01/2010 As Mexico prepared to mark the twin anniversary of its 1810 War of Independence and 1910 Revolution -events ushered in with cries of freedom and justice- a prominent newsman was detained and interrogated because of an article he wrote...

Mexican journalists create group against attacks
Date:07/01/2010 Mexican journalists have formed an advocacy group in response to attacks on reporters...

Canada Supreme Court hears media appeal
Date:16/11/2009 News blackouts unjustifiably prevented the public from learning why charges were dropped or suspended for some terror suspects, media lawyers told Canada's Supreme Court on Monday...

Ecuador rejects media warnings on freedom of speech
Date:11/11/2009 The Ecuadorian government on Tuesday rejected warnings by the Inter-American Press Society (SIP) of aggressions against the freedom of speech in the country...

Mexican crime reporter abducted and slain in Durango State
Date:03/11/2009 New York, November 3, 2009;Crime reporter Bladimir Antuna García was found murdered Monday night, according local news reports, after reportedly being abducted from a street in the Mexican city of Durango that morning...

Honduras radio journalists dealt further blow to freedom of expression
Date:27/10/2009 Amnesty International has denounced an attack on the freedom of the press in Honduras, following the cancellation of three radio programmes by a popular radio station’s managers who cited a controversial presidential decree to justify their action...

Honduras radio journalists dealt further blow to freedom of expression
Date:27/10/2009 Amnesty International has denounced an attack on the freedom of the press in Honduras, following the cancellation of three radio programmes by a popular radio station’s managers who cited a controversial presidential decree to justify their action...

Honduras radio journalists dealt further blow to freedom of expression
Date:27/10/2009 Amnesty International has denounced an attack on the freedom of the press in Honduras, following the cancellation of three radio programmes by a popular radio station’s managers who cited a controversial presidential decree to justify their action...

Honduras radio journalists dealt further blow to freedom of expression
Date:27/10/2009 Amnesty International has denounced an attack on the freedom of the press in Honduras, following the cancellation of three radio programmes by a popular radio station’s managers who cited a controversial presidential decree to justify their action...

US hits out at bid to bar religious defamation
Date:26/10/2009 The Obama administration on Monday came out strongly against efforts by Islamic nations to bar the defamation of religions, saying the moves would restrict free speech...

HONDURAS: Zelaya's Delegates Urge OAS to Unblock Talks
Date:20/10/2009 The talks in Honduras have stalled over the question of reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya, whose delegates have called on the Organisation of American States (OAS) to take steps to keep the negotiations from failing...

Argentina passes controversial media reform
Date:11/10/2009 Argentina’s largest media groups will be required to sell off various radio and television channels in the wake of a controversial media law rushed through on Saturday...

Honduras: censored Radio Globo quadruples listeners by going online
Date:01/10/2009 It seemed like a typical day at Radio Globo in Tegucigalpa, which supports ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya...

Honduras: censored Radio Globo quadruples listeners by going online
Date:01/10/2009 …

The Honduras Crisis, Three Months Out: Is Micheletti's Support Unraveling?
Date:29/09/2009 …

The Honduras Crisis, Three Months Out: Is Micheletti's Support Unraveling?
Date:29/09/2009 It appears that Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president of Honduras, overplayed his hand on Sunday when he announced a decree that closed down two media outlets (Radio Globo and Canal 36), dissolved the right of assembly and permitted police to detain suspects without warrents...

Honduras: New wave of censorship in response to deposed president’s return
Date:24/09/2009 Ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s reappearance in Tegucigalpa has prompted a new wave of censorship of the national and international press...

Honduras: No End in Sight for Crisis
Date:24/09/2009 Ousted President Zelaya’s return to Honduras supported by the Brazilian government signals a growing regional crisis and a worsening human rights situation...

Peru: Government maintains ban on Amazonian radio station silenced since June
Date:22/09/2009 The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has maintained its arbitrary ban on Radio La Voz de Bagua, a station based in Peru’s northern Amazonas region, refusing on 15 September to allow it to resume broadcasting...

Cuba: Authorities block websites, detain 26th journalist
Date:21/09/2009 Two bloggers, Luis Felipe González Rojas and Yosvany Anzardo Hernández, were arrested and beaten by police in the eastern city of Holguín on 10 September and their computers were confiscated...

Colombia: Risky return by TV current affairs programme after eight-month interruption
Date:17/09/2009 'Contravía, a TV current affairs programme that was forced off the air by threats eight months ago, will resume broadcasting on the Canal Uno public TV channel tomorrow...

Brazil: Proposed Electoral Law Restricts Internet Freedom
Date:15/09/2009 Proposed reform of the Brazilian electoral rules, part of broader reforms in this area being debated by the Senate, would subject internet media to the same rules as traditional broadcasters during electoral campaigns...

Argentina: CPJ seeks comprehensive inquiry in Clarín tax raid
Date:14/09/2009 Two hundred tax agents raided the offices of Argentina’s largest daily, Clarín, on Wednesday after the paper ran a cover story alleging that a government agency improperly granted a farm subsidy, the local press said...

Cuba: Chronicling Cuba, bloggers offer fresh hope
Date:11/09/2009 'A vibrant, independent blogging culture is emerging in Cuba, of all places...

El Salvador: UNESCO head speaks out against killing of journalist in El Salvador
Date:11/09/2009 The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom today condemned the killing of a Franco-Spanish journalist and documentary film-maker in El Salvador...

Brazil: 1st National Conference on Communication to Go Ahead
Date:08/09/2009 On 1 September 2009, after much uncertainty, the national preparatory commission for the first Brazilian Conference on Communication has finally been made official...

Venezuela: Authorities Threaten to Close another 29 Radio Stations
Date:08/09/2009 On 5 September 2009, Minister Diosdado Cabello, Director of Venezuelan´s National Commission on Telecommunications (Conatel), announced that 29 unidentified radio stations will soon be forced to cease operations...

El Salvador: Filmmaker who documented Salvadoran gangs is slain
Date:04/09/2009 The bullet-ridden body of journalist Christian Poveda, whose new documentary on a violent Salvadoran street gang was scheduled for wide release this month, was discovered Wednesday afternoon just north of the capital, San Salvador, according to local and international press reports...

Latin America: Drug Trade, Violent Gangs Pose Grave Danger
Date:04/09/2009 As criminal organizations have expanded their power over the last decade, the spread of violence has undermined political stability and threatened democracy in Latin America...

US: CPJ calls U.S. detention of Ibrahim Jassam unjust
Date:03/09/2009 CPJ called on U...

Argentina: Argentine president sends media reform to Congress
Date:28/08/2009 Argentina's president sent a media reform bill to Congress on Thursday, saying it would strengthen democracy by reducing the control of a handful of companies that dominate broadcasting...

Guatemala: ARTICLE 19 calls on President to Annul Resolution Which Violates Access to Public Information Law
Date:26/08/2009 ARTICLE 19 is concerned about the publication of a recent resolution by President Álvaro Colom that classifies as confidential, for a period of five years, files related to the communication of the Presidency, and between other public and private bodies...

Honduras: Assailants force two Honduran broadcasters off the air
Date:26/08/2009 Masked assailants on Monday stormed a radio station and a television outlet critical of the country's interim government, forcing the broadcasters off the air in the latest attack on the Honduran media...

Honduras: In new wave of violence against media, de facto regime “reaps what it sowed”
Date:21/08/2009 Reporters Without Borders condemns the new wave of violence against the media that took place last week, while Honduras appeared to be further than ever from resolving the crisis resulting from President Manuel Zelaya’s removal in a coup on 28 June...

Peru: Controversial bill would restrict freedom of opinion
Date:21/08/2009 Reporters Without Borders urges legislators to reject a government bill submitted to parliament yesterday that would toughen the provisions regulating the publication of corrections and retractions in the media and would increase the penalties for violators...

Central America: ARTICLE 19 and Partners Launch the Platform of Action for Strengthening of Freedom of Expression
Date:18/08/2009 Human Rights Defenders and media professionals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua, meeting in Guatemala City on July 23 and 24, 2009 for the Regional Conference “Towards a Joint Action Platform to Strengthen Freedom of Expression” have adopted the first Central-American platform of action on freedom of expression...

America: U.S. officials detain Pakistani VOA journalist
Date:17/08/2009 The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by U...

America: U.S. officials detain Pakistani VOA journalist
Date:17/08/2009 'New York, August 14, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by U...

Venezuela: Protesting journalists attacked in Caracas
Date:17/08/2009 The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a violent assault by suspected government supporters on a dozen journalists in Venezuela on Thursday...

Venezuela: UN human rights expert sounds alarm on draft media laws in Venezuela
Date:11/08/2009 Proposed media laws in Venezuela could be used as a tool for political intimidation and would seriously curtail press freedom and potentially criminalize legitimate dissent, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned today...

Venezuela: Venezuela draft media law: a tool to intimidate?
Date:11/08/2009 'The proposed Special Law against Media Crimes in Venezuela, presented by the Attorney-General to the National Assembly, would involve serious violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and would curtail press freedom in the country, if it is adopted in its current form, warned the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue...

Brazil: Access to Information Bill Could be Approved by the End of 2009
Date:10/08/2009 Following the launch of ARTICLE 19’s review of the new Brazilian Access to Information Bill (see below), Brazilian politicians welcomed ARTICLE 19’s concerns and recommendations on the draft legislation...

El Salvador: Members of a Community Radio Station and a Human Right Defender Receive Death Threats and Face Kidnapping Attempts
Date:10/08/2009 ARTICLE 19 and its national partners, the Human Rights Institute at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (IDHUCA), the National Journalists Association of El Salvador (APES), and the Association of Radio Stations and Participatory Radio Programmes (ARPAS) condemns the recent threats against community journalists and a human rights defender in El Salvador...

Venezuela: SPJ Leaders Oppose Venezuelan Government's Acts Against The Press
Date:10/08/2009 'Leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists oppose the Venezuelan government's proposed Special Law Against Media Crimes, which regulates the media's freedom of expression...

El Salvador: Members of a Community Radio Station and a Human Right Defender Receive and Face Kidnapping Attempts
Date:07/08/2009 'ARTICLE 19 and its national partners, the Human Rights Institute at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (IDHUCA), the National Journalists Association of El Salvador (APES), and the Association of Radio Stations and Participatory Radio Programmes (ARPAS) condemns the recent threats against community journalists and a human rights defender in El Salvador...

Venezuela: Venezuela: A Dark Month for Media Freedom
Date:07/08/2009 'The past week has witnessed criminal charges against opposition blogger, Alexis Marrero, attacks against Globovision, the cancelation of broadcasting licenses of at least 34 radio stations and the submission of a bill on media crimes...

Brazil: ARTICLE 19 Launches Analysis on Draft Access to Information Bill
Date:06/08/2009 ARTICLE 19 has published its analysis on the long-awaited draft Access to Information Bill was sent by President Lula to Brazilian National Congress in May 2009...

Honduras: Media in coup storm
Date:06/08/2009 Police attacked Honduran and foreign journalists in Tegucigalpa on 30 July while dispersing demonstrators protesting against the 28 June coup d’état, the Honduras Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre) has reported...

Venezuela: IACHR voices concern over freedom of expression in Venezuela
Date:06/08/2009 Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Rapporteur for Venezuela of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and Catalina Botero Marino, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, IACHR, sent a communiqué to Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, voicing the IACHR's concern over the worsening of the right to freedom of expression...

Honduras: Gag on media getting steadily tighter in month since coup
Date:05/08/2009 Reporters Without Borders condemns the de facto government’s selective censorship of news since the 28 June coup d’état...

Venezuela: Pro-government militants attack Venezuela's Globovisión
Date:04/08/2009 A group of more than 30 armed pro-government militants riding motorcycles stormed the premises of private broadcaster Globovisión today and set off tear gas, local press reports said...

Venezuela: 34 broadcast media shut down at government’s behest
Date:03/08/2009 Reporters Without Borders vigorously condemns the massive closure of broadcast media on allegedly “administrative grounds...

Venezuela: Chavez Government Claims Venezuela Clamoring for Media Crackdown
Date:03/08/2009 Infrastructure and Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello, who oversees the government’s broadcasting policy, claimed Friday that the country was clamoring for the government to regulate freedom of expression – which in any case, he argued “isn’t the most sacred liberty in existence...

Venezuela: Repeal Measures Aimed at Critics
Date:03/08/2009 The Venezuelan government has adopted and proposed measures that reduce the ability of government critics to voice their opinions and will seriously limit freedom of expression in Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said today...

Venezuela: 'Freedom of expression must be limited'
Date:31/07/2009 Venezuela's top prosecutor insisted Thursday that freedom of expression in Venezuela must be limited, and proposed legislation that would slap additional restrictions on the country's news media...

Honduras: Early Warning Signs of Impending Crisis
Date:30/07/2009 An ARTICLE 19 delegation, recently returned from Honduras, reports serious abuses of human rights and freedom of expression in that country since the political coup which occurred on 28 June 2009...

Cuba: Doctor and journalist arrested and taken to Havana jail
Date:27/07/2009 Reporters Without Borders voiced concern at the arrest and detention on 21 July of dissident Darsi Ferrer, head of a health and human rights centre, saying it feared he faced a long period behind bars...

Honduras: International community urged to demand an end to news media lockdown by de facto authorities
Date:27/07/2009 Reporters Without Borders calls on the international community to press the Honduran de facto government to stop controlling news coverage and stop discriminating against media that are critical of the 28 June coup...

United Nations Unveils in Mexico Mural Advocating Freedom of Expression
Date:23/07/2009 The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, inaugurated here a mural advocating this right in Mexico, a country where attacks on reporters have increased in recent years...

Mexico criticised for weak protection of journalists.
Date:22/07/2009 The federal government attributes 78 percent of Mexico's attacks against the press to private individuals and organized crime, but freedom of expression advocates blame authorities for at least 49 percent of the incidents, Liliana Alcántara reports for El Universal...

Brazil: Supreme Court allows publications of civil servants' salaries
Date:17/07/2009 On 8 July 2009, the Supreme Court of Brazil held that the mayor of the Municipality of Sao Paulo could order the salary of all municipal civil servants to be put online...

Honduras: Constraints on press freedom must be lifted in Honduras, says UNESCO chief
Date:17/07/2009 The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called for restrictions on press freedom to be lifted in Honduras, where President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales was ousted by the military last month...

Venezuela: Television station shuts down due to economic and political pressure; judge harasses journalist
Date:17/07/2009 On 10 July 2009, the Órbita TV station, which operates in the northern region of the state of Anzoátegui, ceased to operate...

Colombia: Individual accused of murdering journalist captured in Cauca department
Date:16/07/2009 The police have said that, on 8 July 2009, Arley Manquillo Rivera, alias Huracán, was captured in the department of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia...

Ecuador: President characterises newspaper as corrupt after it criticises the government
Date:16/07/2009 On 11 July 2009, President Rafael Correa called the El Universo newspaper a travesty of a paper, the voice of the most pernicious political mafias in the history of Ecuador...

Honduras: Venezuelan journalists leave Honduras after harassment
Date:16/07/2009 A group of Venezuelan journalists with the regional television network Telesur and the state-owned station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) left Honduras on Sunday after being detained and harassed in the capital, Tegucigalpa...

Brazil: Supreme Court OKs publication of Civil Servants saliaries'
Date:15/07/2009 On 8 July 2009, the Supreme Court of Brazil held that the Mayor of the Municipality of Sao Paulo could order the salary of all municipal civil servants to be put online...

Colombia: Constitutional Court finds criminal code article affecting slander and libel cases to be unconstitutional
Date:15/07/2009 Journalists and media outlets will no longer be subjected to criminal charges for libel and slander when they publicise truthful information about individuals who have been absolved of wrongdoing by the judicial system...

Mexico: Journalists media outlets come under pressure after criticising public officials
Date:15/07/2009 Edilia Contreras Álvarez and Enrique Romero Vara, hosts respectively of the Voz Informativa and Sin censura radio programmes in Palenque, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, have said that the owners of the media outlets for which they work are being pressured by a local congressional deputy, Juan Carlos López Fernández, with the objective of censoring them and having them taken off the air...

Venezuela: Government increases pressure on private media
Date:15/07/2009 Venezuelan Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello confirmed on Thursday 9 July that the government is to begin proceedings against more than 200 privately owned radio stations with the aim of stripping them of their broadcasting licences...

Canada: Supreme Court upholds freedom of expression
Date:13/07/2009 The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in favour of the Canadian Federation of Students-BC and the BC Teachers' Federation in their fight, for the right, to advertise on public transit...

Mexico: Article 19 Submission to UN Human Rights Committee
Date:13/07/2009 ARTICLE 19 has called attention to key freedom of expression issues in Mexico, including the State’s failure to protect journalist and human rights defenders from attacks, and a broadcasting system that fails to promote public interest broadcasting...

Venezuela: Newspapers' headquarters attacked
Date:10/07/2009 In less than a week, the headquarters of two regional newspapers were attacked by supporters of Venezuela's ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV)...

Venezuela: Supreme Court bench ratifies legislation that endangers freedom of expression
Date:10/07/2009 On 18 June 2009, the Supreme Court's Constitutional Bench issued a ruling that ratified the validity of articles 208, 209, 171 and 183 of the Telecommunications Law (Ley Orgánica de Telecomunicaciones, LOTEL)...

Brazil: Journalist Luiz Flavio Pinto Ordered to Pay US$15, 000
Date:09/07/2009 The Superior Court of the State of Para, in the north of Brazil, ordered journalist Luiz Flavio Pinto to pay approximately US$15, 000 for defaming Romulo Maionara, a deceased local businessman...

Brazil: Journalist Luiz Flavio Pinto ordered to pay US$15, 000 for defamation
Date:09/07/2009 The Superior Court of the State of Para, in the north of Brazil, ordered journalist Luiz Flavio Pinto to pay approximately US$15, 000 for defaming Romulo Maionara, a deceased local businessman...

Colombia: Journalist assaulted, threatened in Barranquilla
Date:09/07/2009 At approximately 9:00 p...

Skewed coverage has followed Honduran coup
Date:09/07/2009 The ongoing political crisis following the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 has damaged the press freedom climate in Honduras...

Bolivia: Journalist detained by Public Prosecutor's Office security director
Date:07/07/2009 On 24 June 2009, journalist Rogelio Peláez, the editor of the monthly Larga Vista in La Paz, reported that he was detained by the security director for the Public Prosecutor's Office, Major Octavio García, when he was covering a protest by two women who were expressing their outrage over the disappearance of their relatives during the dictatorship of the 1980s...

Honduras: Radio America journalist killed
Date:07/07/2009 Reporters Without Borders is appalled to learn that journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega, the local correspondent for the national radio station Radio América, was gunned down on 3 July 2009 in San Juan Pueblo, in the Caribbean coast province of Atlántida...

Honduras: Respect press freedom, IAPA again urges Honduras
Date:07/07/2009 The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today repeated its call to the new Honduran authorities for full respect for press freedom...

Mexico: Military personnel harass ''La Jornada Guerrero'' newspaper reporter
Date:07/07/2009 Jesús Rodríguez Montes, a correspondent for the daily La Jornada Guerrero, was interrogated and photographed at a military checkpoint in Huamuxtitlán, Guerrero state, southeastern Mexico...

Venezuela: Chavez Government Threatens to Revoke Venezuela TV, Radio Licenses
Date:07/07/2009 Venezuela's Conatel regulatory agency said 285 radio and television stations will have their licenses revoked if they don't provide the entity with updated data on their operations, Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello said Friday...

Bolivia: Television station condemns harrassment of journalist following series of reports on public security issues
Date:06/07/2009 On 17 June 2009, the Bolivian Television Network Unitel stated in a communiqué that journalist and news presenter Jimena Antelo Telchi was harassed on 11 June by five men who said they were police officers...

Canada: Don't rush to ban the burka
Date:06/07/2009 The President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, recently commented that the burka – the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women - is not welcome in France...

Venezuela: Venezuelan official: Radio licenses to be revoked
Date:06/07/2009 The head of Venezuela's telecommunications regulatory agency said Friday that 240 radio stations will have their licenses revoked for failing to update their registrations with the government...

Honduras: After Honduran coup, reporters detained, signals blocked
Date:03/07/2009 Honduran military personnel briefly detained seven journalists, temporarily shut down several local broadcasters, and intermittently blocked the broadcast signals of international news channels in the aftermath of the weekend coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya...

Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega's Media War
Date:03/07/2009 On the afternoon of April 2, a caravan of official limousines sped through the streets of Managua toward the international airport...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 'What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 'What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 'What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 'What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 'What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Nicaragua: Fighting back against Nicaragua's war on the media
Date:03/07/2009 What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media...

Honduras: Free expression in jeopardy following coup
Date:02/07/2009 Following the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya on 28 June, the new authorities have harassed and briefly detained journalists, interfered with several broadcast media outlets and imposed a 48-hour curfew, putting free expression at risk, say IFEX member in Honduras Comité por la Libre Expresíon (C-Libre), the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and other IFEX members...

Mexico: Reporter under threat killed on World Press Freedom Day
Date:01/07/2009 A Mexican journalist who was critical of local authorities in the northern state of Durango was assassinated on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day Carlos Ortega Samper, a reporter for the daily El Tiempo de Durango and also an attorney, was ambushed by two pickup trucks on his way home...

Washington decided freedom of expression by the Honduras people was illegal
Date:29/06/2009 In Latin America and the Caribbean, the US imperialists in most instances control these institutions...

Venezuela: Thousands march for, against anti-Chavez station
Date:29/06/2009 Thousands of Venezuelans held separate protests Saturday to support and condemn an opposition-aligned TV station that President Hugo Chavez's government has threatened with closure...

Mexico: The Right to Freedom of Expression of Activists
Date:23/06/2009 ARTICLE 19, together with local partner organisations in Mexico, is calling on the Governor of the State of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, to investigate several sustained attacks against Agustín Estrada Negrete, a special needs school teacher, and his lawyer, Jaime Genaro López Vela...

Jamaica: Legislators consider defamation suits against telecom providers
Date:19/06/2009 Legislators in Jamaica are discussing whether telecommunications service providers should be open to legal suits if defamatory material is disseminated on their networks...

Ecuador: Third investigation launched against Teleamazonas; newspaper editor threatened
Date:17/06/2009 On 9 June 2009, the president of the National Broadcasting and Television Council (CONARTEL), Antonio García, confirmed that a third investigation has been launched against the Teleamazonas television station...

US urges Vietnam to free lawyer
Date:16/06/2009 The US government has said it was deeply concerned by the arrest in Vietnam of activist lawyer Le Cong Dinh and has called for his release...

Peru: Attacks to human rights and freedom of expression
Date:15/06/2009 The bloody events in the Peruvian town of Bagua began when the police removed a road blockade of indigenous people protesting against a law (DL 1090) they believe undermines their ancestral rights to their territory...

Honduras: Armed men storm online daily's offices
Date:10/06/2009 At 1:30 p...

Mexico: Supreme Court to review case involving writer and former first lady
Date:10/06/2009 On 4 June 2009, Mexico's Supreme Court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, SCJN) decided to admit for examination an appeal for constitutional relief brought forward by writer Olga Wornat...

Argentina: Intentionally-set fire destroys Radio Activa facilities in El Bolsón
Date:09/06/2009 An intentionally-set fire completely destroyed the facilities of FM Radio Activa, in El Bolsón, Río Negro province, located on the border with Chile...

USA: Officers Can Order Removal of Veils
Date:08/06/2009 Maryland Attorney General Douglas F...

Ecuadoran president threatens action against critical media
Date:05/06/2009 The opening of two government investigations into private television network Teleamazonas and threats of legal action by Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa against critical media outlets are an attempt by the government to stifle dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today...

Venezuela: Journalist prevented from covering protest in support of RCTV; cameraman attacked, videotape stolen
Date:05/06/2009 On 27 May 2009, demonstrators who were demanding the restitution of RCTV station's open signal, prevented state-run station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) journalist Siary Rodríguez, from covering the protest which took place in Plaza Brión de Chacaito, Caracas...

USA: Corporate Counsel Launches New “Daily Alert” E-Newsletter for In-House Attorneys
Date:03/06/2009 Incisive Media’s Corporate Counsel, the nation’s leading print and online magazine for general counsel and in-house attorneys at corporations across the country, today launched its new “Daily Alert...

Title Too Long
Date:02/06/2009 On 28 May 2009, unidentified individuals threw a homemade bomb at the building that houses the headquarters of Teleamazonas television station...

Title Too Long
Date:01/06/2009 Writing on walls is not a modern phenomenon...

Mexico: Crime reporter abducted and killed in Durango state
Date:28/05/2009 Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the murder of Eliseo Barrón Hernández, 36, a crime reporter for the daily Milenio Torreón and several regional media, whose body was found in an irrigation ditch in the northern state of Durango yesterday, a day after he was kidnapped from his home...

USA: Blogger jailed for contempt in Smith case
Date:28/05/2009 A Houstonian who’s being sued by the mother of the late Anna Nicole Smith spent the holiday weekend in jail, making her the latest gossip blogger to pay a steep price for her hobby...

Canada: Court to rule on 'tidal wave' of press-freedom cases
Date:27/05/2009 The value that Canadians place on the freedom of the press will be put to the test in five media rights cases that dominate the Supreme Court of Canada docket this year...

Mexican journalist who covered police is abducted and killed
Date:27/05/2009 Authorities found the body of a journalist who covered the police beat in northern Mexico this morning after he was abducted from his house on Monday night, according to Mexican news reports...

Venezuela rejects concerns from UN, OAS on media
Date:27/05/2009 A top diplomat on Saturday defended Venezuela's investigation into a leading anti-government television station, rebuffing the concerns of U...

Jamaica: Local experts call for reform of defamation laws
Date:18/05/2009 Recognising the need for greater press freedom and the importance of free speech to good governance, Jamaica has embarked on a serious review of its defamation laws–a move being applauded by local experts who say there is need for a similar approach here...

USA: Laws That Could Save Journalism
Date:18/05/2009 Unless Congress embarks on far-reaching change in public policy to maintain the viability of journalism as it evolves online, we will soon find ourselves with the remnants of a broken industry incapable of providing the knowledge necessary to manage life in a complex world...

Venezuela: CNP urges the government to honor freedom of expression
Synopsis Too Long

Colombia: Former intelligence officials leak list of news media and journalists whose phones were tapped
Date:15/05/2009 Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for an investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) following a new round of revelations about the spying on journalists and news media by the DAS, an intelligence agency that reports directly to the president’s office...

Venezuela Targets Cable Station
Date:15/05/2009 The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has taken actions that could shutter a private television news station, part of an offensive that has led to the seizure of foreign oil firms and a congressional effort to control the financing of nongovernmental organizations critical of the state...

Brazil: Lula Sends Access to Information Bill to Congress
Date:13/05/2009 Brazilian President Lula da Silva today sent the long-awaited draft Access to Information Bill to the Brazilian National Congress...

The Americas: Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Presents its 2008 Annual Report
Date:11/05/2009 The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) presented its annual report before the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS) today, the second volume of which is the 2008 Annual Report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression...

USA(Texas): Reporters' shield law faces final hurdle
Date:08/05/2009 The Texas Legislature has made it possible for the state to join 36 other states in providing a reporters shield law...

Brazil: Supreme Court Strikes Down Press Law
Date:05/05/2009 On 30 April 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court held that the 1967 Press Law, adopted by a military government, was void as it breached the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression...

Brazilian court annuls dictatorship-era press law
Date:05/05/2009 Brazils Supreme Court has struck down a press censorship law enacted during a nearly quarter-century military dictatorship...

Panamanian journalist sentenced to two years in prison
Date:01/05/2009 A Panama City court has sentenced leading Panamanian journalist Jean Marcel Chéry to two years in prison on trespassing charges stemming from a years-long series of complaints filed by a Supreme Court justice...

Colombia: Radio reporter gunned down in Cauca department, probably in connection with his work
Date:28/04/2009 Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities to shed all possible light on the murder of José Everardo Aguilar, a reporter for the privately-owned regional radio stations Radio Super and Bolívar Estéreo, who was gunned down in his home in El Bordo, a town in the southwestern department of Cauca, on 24 April...

Mexico: ARTICLE 19 Expresses Serious Concerns over Assault
Date:27/04/2009 A prominent political cartoonist, Mario Robles, of the newspaper Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca in western Mexico was violently assaulted and subjected to death threats by members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on 19 April...

Trinidad and Tobago: Is it over yet?
Date:27/04/2009 April 21 marked the 29th anniversary of the declaration of a state of emergency during the Black Power uprising in 1970...

Venezuelan Government guarantees media freedom of expression
Date:27/04/2009 The Venezuelan Government guarantees the complete freedom of expression in the media, as long as the right to speech does not represent a threat to the countrys democracy, expressed on Thursday Telesur president, Andres Izarra...

Argentine president's media reform stirs suspicions
Date:24/04/2009 A drive by Argentinas president to overhaul an outdated media law is arousing suspicions she wants to punish the countrys biggest media group and hush her critics during an election campaign...

USA: Ruling recognizes Detroit Free Press reporter’s right to protect his sources
Date:23/04/2009 Reporters Without Borders is thrilled with U...

Brazil: National Conference on Communications Announced
Date:21/04/2009 On 16 April 2009, Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed a decree announcing the first Brazilian National Conference on Communications...

Mexico: Reform of the Federal Penal Code Falls Short in Protecting the Right to Freedom of Expression
Date:17/04/2009 The Mexican Chamber of Deputies has approved an incomplete reform to confront the prevailing impunity for crimes against journalists in the country, after a long consultative process among legislators, journalists, academics and civil society, including ARTICLE 19...

USA: Journalists need a federal shield law
Date:17/04/2009 The 1st Amendment protects freedom of the press in the broad sense, not just the freedom to publish what a reporter has learned...

Brazil: Government Promises to Adopt Right to Information
Date:07/04/2009 On 1 April 2009, at the opening session of the International Seminar on Access to Information, the Brazilian Minister of Internal Affairs, Dilma Rousseff, announced that a draft law on the right to information would be sent to Congress by the end of April...

Mexico: Congress should federalize crimes against free expression
Date:07/04/2009 The Mexican Congress must move expeditiously to approve a constitutional reform granting federal authorities jurisdiction over crimes against free expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today...

USA: Don't pan Michigan's movie law yet
Date:07/04/2009 State lawmakers need to see the full picture before editing the tax incentives for film makers...

Argentina: free press, for now
Date:06/04/2009 From Raúl Alfonsín onwards, Argentina has done well to move on from the dark days of the generals...

Guatemala: TV reporter shot dead in Guatemala City, cameraman badly injured
Date:02/04/2009 Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the death of TV reporter Rolando Santis in a shooting attack yesterday in Guatemala City, in which his cameraman, Juan Antonio de León Villatoro, was seriously injured...

HONDURAS: Radio station correspondent gunned down in provincial city
Date:02/04/2009 Reporters Without Borders is stunned to learn of the murder of reporter Rafael Munguía on 31 March in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula, where he was the correspondent of the national, privately-owned radio station Radio Cadena Voces (RCV)...

USA: Chicago Sun-Times Media Group Files for Bankrupcy Protection
Date:01/04/2009 The owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, a storied newspaper once home to legendary columnist Mike Royko and other greats, followed its hometown rival by filing for bankruptcy protection Tuesday raising questions about whether both can survive in a brutal time for newspapers...

USA: Media groups urge court to protect anonymous speech
Date:30/03/2009 Several news media organizations, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in an Illinois appellate court this week, urging the adoption of procedural safeguards to protect the identities of anonymous bloggers...

VENEZUELA: Journalists' Association reports violation of freedom of expression at OAS court
Date:26/03/2009 William Echeverría, the President of the Venezuelan Journalist's Association (CNP), reported in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an autonomous judicial institution of the Organization of American States, 31 cases of violations of freedom of expression carried out between October and December 2008, according to a paper from the National Commission of Journalists (Conapro)...

USA: 2 sides in 'shield law' fight over media near compromise
Date:25/03/2009 A compromise version of a bill that would give journalists limited protection from revealing their confidential sources was approved by a House committee on Monday, signaling an agreement between media groups and district attorneys who have sparred for several sessions over the shield law...

USA: Liable for Libel? Massachusetts case may have chilling potential implications for news media
Date:25/03/2009 A recent ruling by a federal appeals court reversed in part a Massachusetts District Court decision, raising considerable national concern among media organizations by calling into question the long-held principle that truth constitutes an absolute defense against charges of defamation...

Latin America: Citizen Groups Organize to End Soft Censorship, Guarantee Freedom of Expression
Date:24/03/2009 Today Latin American governments rarely exercise direct censorship of the press by banning newspapers or other media outlets, reviewing material, or outright prohibiting publication...

Bolivia Questions IAPA Report
Date:19/03/2009 The Bolivian government questioned a report released by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) regarding freedom of expression here...

Watchdog: Press freedom deteriorated in Americas
Date:17/03/2009 Freedom of the press has deteriorated in the Americas, with Mexico among the most dangerous countries in the region to be a journalist, the Inter American Press Association said Monday...

US: Staples libel ruling concerns news media groups
Date:16/03/2009 Journalists who believe truth is the ultimate defense against libel suits fear that a federal appeals court has created a dangerous exception that could chill news reporting...

US concerned over Pak, supports freedom of speech, expression
Date:12/03/2009 Amidst deepening political crisis in Pakistan, the United States on Wednesday conceded that it is a difficult situation in Pakistan but said that Washington supports freedom of speech and expression...

DOMINICA: Consultation on Broadcast Act gets underway today
Date:11/03/2009 Media workers will assemble at the University of the West Indies today to host a public consultation entitled Freedom of Expression and the Right to Communicate...

US: Should Bloggers Be Afforded The Same Rights Granted To Journalists?
Date:11/03/2009 Together with the ACLU of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Freedom of Expression, we have intervened in a case pending in Buckingham County, Virginia in which a plaintiff in a defamation case retaliated against a blogger who covered his defamation suit in less than flattering terms by sending a highly invasive subpoena that demands production of the bloggers communications with his sources, IP numbers of all who posted on his web site or even READ the web site...

US: Noonan v Staples - For The Good Of The Cause
Date:09/03/2009 Defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image...

USA: Journalists warily eye Massachusetts libel ruling
Date:09/03/2009 For decades, journalists have been guided by what most considered an absolute defense to libel lawsuits: If a news report is true, it cant be libelous...

CANADA: Access to information: law and reality miles apart
Date:03/03/2009 Imagine a lawyer heading into court to argue a case without being able to read the court file or the documents being entered as evidence...

US: Congress Considers Journalist Shield Law
Date:03/03/2009 With new legislation introduced to protect reporters from naming sources in federal investigations, controversy ignites over who is covered and whether a shield is needed...

US: CSULB explores free expression
Date:03/03/2009 LONG BEACH -- Academics, artists and journalists will discuss global challenges to the freedom of expression and belief this week at the three-day Presidents Forum on International Human Rights at Cal State Long Beach...

US: Journalist shield law argued again
Date:03/03/2009 AUSTIN, Texas - Legislation to protect Texas journalists from revealing confidential sources in court went before the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee on Monday as lawmakers took up the issue for the third straight session...

US Human Rights Report Criticises Restrictions on Freedom of Expression
Date:27/02/2009 The Human Rights Report 2008 on Turkey published by the U...

NY Post cartoon sparks debate over freedom of expression
Date:26/02/2009 A political cartoon published by the New York Post earlier this month stirred the waters of an age-old debate, pitting freedom of the press against political correctness...

US Rights Report Cites Abuses in China, Russia, Iran
Date:26/02/2009 The State Departments annual report on human rights conditions worldwide issued Wednesday includes sharp criticism of China despite a suggestion last week by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the issue was secondary to broader concerns in the U...

USA: Internet Child-Protection Bill Raises Too Many Questions
Date:25/02/2009 Are you a child molester? I know Im not...

CANADA: Judge finds Ahenakew not guilty in 2nd hate trial
Date:24/02/2009 David Ahenakew, a former senator with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, has been found not guilty of wilfully promoting hatred against Jewish people...

CANADA: No fare: Atheist bus ads get booted from buses
Date:24/02/2009 Public transit authorities in the cities of Ottawa, Vancouver, and Halifax have decided to censor atheist bus advertisements...

CANADA: No fare: Atheist bus ads get booted from buses
Date:24/02/2009 Public transit authorities in the cities of Ottawa, Vancouver, and Halifax have decided to censor atheist bus advertisements...

FBI Arrests 4 Activists as “Terrorists” for Chalking Slogans, Leafleting and Protesting
Date:24/02/2009 It was only a matter of time...

US Congress presses Britain to amend 'harmful' libel law
Date:24/02/2009 Pressure on the government to reform the domestic libel law intensified last week after American legislators told Congress that cases heard in London were causing concrete and profound harm to the American people...

CANADA: Green meets read at Freedom to Read Week
Date:20/02/2009 Environmentalism and free speech both have their champions, but seldom are the issues joined in a single rallying cry...

US: Media's 'speak truth to power' gap
Date:20/02/2009 'Speak truth to power, a phrase of Quaker origins adopted by campus radicals, Hollywood gadflies and establishment journalists, has become shorthand for bravely criticizing government, big corporations and other stereotypical villains...

CANADA: Justify why libel law needs change, top court tells media
Date:19/02/2009 The countrys top judges, faced with an appeal that could establish a new defence against defamation lawsuits, have challenged Canadian media organizations to justify why journalists should be given a greater right to be wrong...

CANADA: Update libel law, lawyers argue
Date:19/02/2009 OTTAWA -- The press cannot continue to fearlessly publish tough stories which better society unless the courts modernize the countrys archaic libel and defamation laws, the Supreme Court of Canada was told yesterday...

CANADA: Native chiefs accuse CBC of hateful online comments
Date:12/02/2009 A group of Manitoba native chiefs is urging that hate charges be filed against the CBC for what it called racist and hateful comments posted on the broadcasters website...

US: Now at Reason.tv: Freedom of Expression in the Age of Obama
Date:12/02/2009 At Reason Goes Hollywood, our 40th anniversary bash held November 14-15, 2008 in Los Angeles, Reason...

CANADA: B.C. Court of Appeal rules against BCTF and HEU in freedom-of-expression case
Date:09/02/2009 The B...

US: Web 2.0 defamation lawsuits multiply
Date:09/02/2009 The Web 2...

US: Fearful erosion of liberties
Date:05/02/2009 Freedom of speech is a big deal here in America...

US: Student's Free Speech Case May Lead To Legislation
Date:05/02/2009 In his ruling on a pioneering Internet free speech case last month, U...

Canadian's jihadi videos were free speech, not terrorism, court told
Date:04/02/2009 The accused Maskinongé terrorist created videos with titles such as Jihad Academy and Mujahideen Secrets using a souped-up computer in his basement apartment in the sleepy Quebec town...

CANADA: No More Freedom of Expression on University Campuses?
Date:03/02/2009 It's come to my attention that universities are the breeding grounds for limitations of human rights; one group of people or another is constantly being treated as unequal...

US: Judge: Federal law may not protect Kilpatrick's messages
Date:03/02/2009 A Wayne County judge today said he doesnt think federal law shields text messages of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty...

US: Subpoena to blogger seeks everything, including Web site viewers
Date:03/02/2009 A Virginia-based blogger is fighting a subpoena that seeks the identities of everyone who viewed an online article he wrote about a defamation lawsuit, the Citizen Media Law Project reports...

US: The Rise of Soft Censorship
Date:03/02/2009 Among the accusations swirling around ousted Illinois Gov...

US: Censorship of art exhibit
Date:02/02/2009 When he was 21 years old, my father fled a war-ravaged Vietnam with his family by boat...

US: Media failed to examine realities of Gaza occupation
Date:02/02/2009 Any objective report card on the American media coverage of Israels war on Gaza would have a grade of C at best...

CANADA: Critics pan Montreal's cop slur bylaw
Date:30/01/2009 A move by Montreal to make it illegal to insult a police officer is drawing ridicule and free-speech warnings...

US: Campus Free Speech Policy Questioned
Date:30/01/2009 The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit group aimed at defending civil liberties in U...

US: Justice Scalia, Talmudic Scholars On Privacy, Free Speech
Date:30/01/2009 Gossip columns may plaster the internet and paper newsstands...

US: Court says private school can expel lesbians
Date:29/01/2009 A private religious high school can expel students it believes are lesbians because the school isnt covered by California civil rights laws, a state appeals court has ruled...

US: Investor Coalition Seeks Reports From Internet Service
Date:29/01/2009 Members of a coalition of investors have filed shareholder resolutions with 10 publicly-held U...

CANADA: Media lose appeal of news blackout
Date:27/01/2009 Several media organizations, including The Associated Press, lost an appeal Monday to lift a news blackout on a prominent terrorism case in Canada, but lawyers for the media said the court ruling is a partial victory for journalists reporting on preliminary court hearings...

USA: Charges Withdrawn after Controversial Message Altered
Date:27/01/2009 Charges have been withdrawn against a man who was cited for having obscene words printed on his truck...

US: Lawmakers unveil plan to prevent state police spying
Date:26/01/2009 This can never happen again...

USA: Obama revives Freedom of Information Act.
Date:26/01/2009 During the campaign for President of the United States, Barack Obama pledged to revive the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that was undone during the administration of George W...

US: Supreme Court deals death blow to antiporn law
Date:22/01/2009 The U...

US: The Freedom of Information Act is Back
Date:22/01/2009 A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency...

USA: Police say powder sent to NY media was harmless
Date:22/01/2009 Police say white powder sent in envelopes to the Wall Street Journal building in New York was harmless and probably was flour...

Pro-Hamas demonstrations in Montreal: Reasonable accommodation? How about accommodating reason!
Date:19/01/2009 The spate of pro-Hamas demonstrations in Montreal over the past weeks raises questions that should bother us as a community regardless of where one stands on the conflict in the Middle East...

US: Attorney general-designate backs shield law
Date:16/01/2009 After eight years of conflict between the Bush administration and the news media over reporters confidential sources and government secrecy, attorney general-designate Eric Holder signaled Thursday that the Obama administration will take a different approach...

US: Media ownership rules safe in FCC nominee Julius Genachowski's hands
Date:16/01/2009 THE nomination of Julius Genachowski, 46, to replace Kevin Martin as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is a hopeful step...

US: Privacy Act still misapplied against reporters
Date:16/01/2009 The ongoing dispute between Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter and former U...

US: Arguments are heard in Athens' noise law case
Date:15/01/2009 Two University of Georgia students are asking the Georgia Supreme Court to conclude an Athens ordinance against loud noise violates their constitutional right to free speech, but the countys lawyer says their lawsuit is riddled with technical flaws...

US: Dentist sues over negative Yelp review
Date:14/01/2009 A pediatric dentist in Foster City has sued two people over negative comments about her practice that were posted on the review site Yelp, accusing them of libel...

US: Fliers, posters may create problems
Date:14/01/2009 When it comes to campus safety, fliers and signs posted on college campuses might pose an issue for some universities...

US: CPJ urges Obama to assert U.S. leadership on press freedom
Date:13/01/2009 Dear President-elect Obama: I am writing as chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists to seek your leadership in reaffirming Americas role as a staunch defender of press freedom throughout the world...

US: Freedom of speech on college campuses should not be abridged
Date:13/01/2009 Freedom of speech is not exclusively the right to speak out...

US: Media advocates to push shield law again
Date:08/01/2009 Texas open government and news media advocates said Wednesday because of past groundwork and changes afoot in the state House of Representatives they are optimistic about passage of a reporters shield law, called the Free Flow of Information Act...

CPJ to Correa: Release journalists jailed for defamation
Date:11/12/2008 CPJ wrote to Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa today to urge him to denounce the jailing of two journalists for defamation and to bring his countrys press law in line with international standards of freedom of expression and rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights...

MEXICO: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You - Article 19 Mexico Launches a Nationwide Campaign for The Protection of Journalists
Date:11/12/2008 On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ARTICLE 19 launches a campaign to protect those that are at the forefront of reporting human rights abuses and informing the public about the state of the world...

CANADA: High court ponders whether access to information a right
Date:09/12/2008 The Supreme Court of Canada, in a massive legal challenge Thursday that is drawing more than a dozen interveners, will consider whether access-to-information laws, which permit the public to see documents that the state seeks to keep secret, are so restrictive that they violate freedom of expression...

Take hate speech out of Canada rights code: report
Date:24/11/2008 Hate-speech provisions should be cut out of Canadian human rights law because they end up leading to government repression, a report commissioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission recommended on Monday...

BRAZIL: Impunity in case of journalist's murder threatens freedom of expression
Date:18/11/2008 The family of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho are being harassed a year and a half after he was murdered in Porto Ferreira, in the state of São Paulo...

BRAZIL: Impunity in case of journalist's murder threatens freedom of expression
Date:18/11/2008 The family of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho are being harassed a year and a half after he was murdered in Porto Ferreira, in the state of São Paulo...

BRAZIL: Impunity in case of journalist's murder threatens freedom of expression
Date:18/11/2008 The family of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho are being harassed a year and a half after he was murdered in Porto Ferreira, in the state of São Paulo...

California Nonprofit Internews Network Joins Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! in Free Speech and Privacy Initiative
Date:29/10/2008 Internews Network, a nonprofit leader in fostering independent media and access to information around the world, has joined with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and other stakeholders to develop a global code of conduct to protect free speech and guard privacy against government interference on the Internet...

NEW YORK: Judges say no to teachers' campaign buttons, but yes to certain politiking
Date:20/10/2008 A federal judge on Friday upheld New York City's policy prohibiting public school teachers from wearing political buttons in the classroom, but said the teachers could place campaign material into colleagues' mailboxes and hang posters on bulletin boards maintained by their union, as long as they were in areas off-limits to students...

LATIN AMERICA: Regional Conference on Media Safety Concludes with a Call for Local Action
Date:20/10/2008 MEXICO - ARTICLE 19 and the International News Safety Institute (INSI) are taking the lead on creating a culture of safety for journalists in the Americas...

COLOMBIA: Journalist assaulted and threatened
Date:16/10/2008 On Sunday 5 October 2008, Mishelle Johana Muñoz, a journalist and announcer for the program Latina Estéreo in the city of Puerto Asís, Putumayo, was brutally beaten by a person who entered the facilities...

GUATEMALA: Journalist threatened near his home
Date:16/10/2008 RSF today voiced its alarm after investigative journalist and press freedom activist José Pelicó received a death threat from submachine gun-toting individuals near his home...

MEXICO: Owner of 'La Noticia' newspaper in Michoacán kidnapped and found dead
Date:16/10/2008 On the night of October 9, in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas in the western state of Michoacán, the owner of La Noticia Newspaper was kidnapped and his body later found in La Unión municipality, in the neighboring state of Guerrero to the southeast...

US: Senate battles the FOI Bill
Date:16/10/2008 Attempt by the Senate Committee on Information to smuggle a controversial clause into the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill is drawing criticism from the public...

NICARAGUA: Authorities’ harassment of NGOs threatens freedom of expression
Date:10/10/2008 Nicaraguan NGO, the Centre for Investigation and Communication (CINCO), is the most recent victim of the Nicaraguan authorities' repeated attempts to curb the activities of non governmental organisations in the country, particularly those receiving international funding, on the grounds that they may threaten state sovereignty or because of their human rights activities or alleged political affiliation...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Freedom of expression statistics confirm increase violence against the media
Date:08/10/2008 Figures compiled by the National Union of Press Workers in respect of cases of threats, intimidation and abusive prosecutions against journalists in the Dominican Republic have confirmed a increase in violence against the media, with a totally of 32 journalists being physically attacked or threatened since the start of the year...

MEXICO: National Human Rights Commission detects irregularities in investigation into assassination of journalist Bradley Will
Date:03/10/2008 <p style=text-align: justify>The Mexican National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has published recommendations directed at the Mexican government, the Oaxaca State Congress and the national and state Attorney General's Offices after having detected irregularities in the investigation into the assassination of journalist Bradley Will, who was killed on 27 October 2007 while covering conflicts that were taking place in the Oaxaca State, Southern Mexico...

CHILE: Defence Council admits State violated journalist’s freedom of expression
Date:02/10/2008 Under pressure from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Chile's State Defense Council has agreed to compensate one of Chile's top investigative journalists, Alejandra Matus Acuña, in respect of the State persecution and censorship she suffered after publishing 'The Black Book of Chilean Justice in 1999...