New York, May 12, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists protests the recent decision of a Brazilian district judge to seize all copies of a nonfiction book by journalist and author Fernando Morais. On May 4, Judge Jeová Sardinha de Morais, of the 7th Civil District of Goiânia, the capital of the central state…
MAY 4, 2005 Posted: June 9, 2005 André Lima, Diário do Nordeste ATTACKED Military police officers attacked Lima, a photographer for the daily newspaper, while he was covering a demonstration in Fortaleza, the capital of northeastern Ceará state. The protesters opposed efforts by a public utility to install a high-voltage power line inside a poor…
APRIL 28, 2005 Posted: June 15, 2005 Jorge Kajuru, SBT LEGAL ACTION Brazilian sports commentator Jorge Kajuru was sentenced to 18 months of overnight detention after being convicted on a criminal defamation charge. He remains free while his case is under appeal before the Superior Court of Justice, Brazil’s second highest court.
New York, April 8, 2005—A Brazilian newspaper editor who denounced political corruption faces a long recovery and has gone into hiding with his family two weeks after being attacked by gunmen. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Brazilian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation. Two unidentified assailants shot Maurício Melato Barth, owner and…
MARCH 23, 2005 Posted: April 12, 2005 Maurício Melato Barth, Info-Bairros ATTACKED, THREATENED Two unidentified assailants shot Maurício Melato Barth, owner and editor of the bimonthly newspaper Info-Bairros, twice in the legs at the editor’s home in the southern city of Itapema at about 8 p.m.
MARCH 15, 2005 Posted: March 22, 2005 Leonel Lacerda, RBS TV Éverton Machado, RBS TV ATTACKED, HARASSED Four unidentified men harassed reporter Lacerda and cameraman Machado while they were covering a farmers’ protest against the state government near the town of Sarandi, in southern Rio Grande do Sul state. The men also burned the journalists’…
Overview by Carlos Lauría Journalists throughout the Americas came under increased attack in 2004 for reporting on political corruption, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Although democratic rights have been expanding in the region, press freedom has not always improved as a result.
Brazil A proposed bill to regulate the press, as well as the attempted expulsion of a New York Times correspondent, highlighted the growing tension between the Brazilian media and the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula. In August, the government submitted a controversial bill to Congress that would have regulated…
New York, January 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the January 21 attack and death threats against Brazilian journalist Lúcio Flávio Pinto, who is based in the city of Belém, in the northern state of Pará. Pinto, the publisher and editor of the small bimonthly Jornal Pessoal, said he was at a restaurant having…