Americas

2013

  

Peruvian journalist convicted in criminal defamation case

Alcides Peñaranda Oropeza, editor of the Peruvian daily and magazine Integración, was sentenced on May 21 in the city of Huaraz to a two-year suspended prison sentence and 10,000 soles (US$$3,662) in damages on charges of criminally defaming Cesar Álvarez Aguilar, governor of the northern Ancash region, according to news reports.

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Journalist who reported on crime attacked in Peru

Peruvian journalist Jorge Alberto Moncada Mino was attacked by unidentified assailants in the city of Chiclayo in the northern department of Lambayeque on May 24, according to news reports. Moncada, who reports for the daily El Ciclón de Chiclayo and Radio Caliente, was entering a store near his home to buy bread when two men…

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Leopoldo Castillo, center, pauses during his daily broadcast  of 'Alo Ciudadano' Tuesday on Globovisión. (Reuters/Jorge Silva)

Globovisión quickly eases combative stance after sale

That didn’t take long. Nine days after the pro-opposition TV station Globovisión was sold to businessmen rumored to have close ties to the Venezuelan government, the station’s new leader was welcomed to Miraflores Palace for a cordial sit-down with President Nicolás Maduro.

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CPJ condemns ransacking of radio station in Bolivia

Bogotá, Colombia, May 28, 2013–An attack on a community radio station in central Bolivia constitutes a politically motivated attempt to censor its news coverage, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today as it called on authorities to investigate and apprehend the attackers.

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Colombian police display weapons confiscated during a raid on a criminal gang in the town of Tarazá. (Reuters/Fredy Amariles)

In Colombia, ‘bacrim’ pose new press threat

Next to the mayor’s office in the northern Colombian town of Caucasia sits a monument to government dysfunction: a half-built public library with broken windows, a water-stained floor, and rusting reinforcement rods protruding from concrete pillars.

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Honduras should investigate attack on two journalists

New York, May 23, 2013–Honduran authorities must conduct a full and thorough investigation into Monday’s attack on two journalists in the northern town of La Ceiba, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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As the pace of technological innovation increases, several groups try to ensure journalists are offered tips on digital security. (AFP/Jonathan Nackstrand)

Medill digital security guide helps fill journalism void

One day, every journalism school in the United States and beyond will offer a full three-credit, 15-week course in digital safety, along with more advanced classes. But that day has not yet come. Only a year ago, Alysia Santo reported in the Columbia Journalism Review that no American journalism school offered formal digital safety training.…

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Facebook joins Global Network Initiative

With more than a billion users, Facebook is not only the biggest global social network but also an increasingly important forum for journalists. In some repressive countries it has even served as a publishing platform for journalists whose newspapers or news websites have been closed down. That is why journalists and bloggers should note today’s…

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U.S. President Barack Obama and President Thein Sein of Burma meet in the White House. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

Premature praise for Burma’s press reforms

Burmese President Thein Sein made a historic visit to the White House on May 19, the latest in a series of high-level symbolic exchanges between the two nations. While Thein Sein has been regularly commended by U.S. officials for his broad democratic reform program, President Barack Obama’s praise this week overlooked a significant backtracking on…

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Two journalists shot at New Orleans parade

Two journalists were shot and wounded during a shooting at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans on May 12, 2013, that left 19 people injured, according to news reports.

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2013