Top Developments• New broadcast law sparks contentious debate, raises concerns.• In major victory, criminal defamation laws are repealed. Key Statistic 200: Tax agents who raided Clarín in apparent reprisal for the newspaper’s coverage. Press freedom advocates won two important victories as congress decriminalized defamation, and a federal court issued a ruling that, while still under appeal, could…
Top Developments• Judges in defamation cases issue sweeping censorship orders.• Ex-police officers convicted in abduction, torture of O Dia journalists. Key Statistic 44: Defamation lawsuits filed by a single congressman. Complaints target dozens of journalists for critical coverage. In a major advance for press freedom, Brazil’s highest court struck down a repressive 1967 law that criminalized broad…
Top Developments • Provincial journalists face threats from all sides in civil conflict. • Convictions gained in one journalist murder; progress reported in other cases. Key Statistic 2003: Year that national intelligence agents began spying on journalists and other critics. The strained relationship between the government and the Bogotá-based independent press worsened after news media…
Top Developments • Vibrant blogging culture emerges despite severe Internet restrictions.• Jailed journalists suffer amid inhumane conditions. Key Statistic 22: Reporters and editors in jail as of December 1. Cuba was hit hard by the global economic crisis and endured an upheaval in its highest offices, but state-controlled news media delivered superficial and skewed coverage.…
Top Developments • Correa assails news media, and regulators target critical outlets. • Media legislation could restrict freedom of expression. Key Statistic 3: Days that regulators ordered Teleamazonas off the air. Re-elected by a landslide in April, President Rafael Correa intensified his attacks on critical news media, calling them ignorant and deceitful. As Correa used…
Top Developments • Coup damages press freedom, reveals partisan media divide. • Supporters of both sides in the conflict wage attacks on the press. Key Statistic 22: Days that Radio Globo and Canal 36 were off the air due to government censorship. The June coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, along with the bitter stalemate…
Top Developments• Amid threats and attacks, self-censorship becomes more pervasive.• Congress stalls on reforms to combat violence against the press. Key Statistic 9: Journalists missing since 2005. Most had covered crime and corruption. The deepening influence of organized crime and the government’s inability to curb worsening violence left the news media wide open to attack.…
Top Developments• Ortega administration marginalizes private media.• Authorities use legal harassment, smears against critics. Key Statistic 0: Number of press conferences held by Ortega since taking office. Three decades after a revolution swept the Sandinistas into power, the government of President Daniel Ortega still cast private media as enemies and moved forcefully to curtail their influence.…
Top Developments • Authorities hold Iraqi journalist without charge or due process. • Obama, Congress send encouraging messages on press freedom Key Statistic 10: Days that U.S. immigration officials detained a VOA reporter during a visa dispute. The administration made encouraging statements in support of press freedom—including remarks by President Barack Obama on World Press…
Top Developments• Regulators strip licenses from critical broadcasters.• Government wages politicized investigation into Globovisión. Key Statistic 34: Private radio and television stations pulled from the air. After scoring a major victory in a February referendum that granted indefinite presidential re-election, President Hugo Chávez Frías and his government intensified their years-long crackdown on the private media. The government’s…