Nicaragua’s press freedom conditions have seriously deteriorated in the last year, local journalists and free press advocates told Americas Senior Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría and me during a weeklong visit to Managua. We concluded our mission on Friday and will issue a report next month on the nation’s press conditions.
New York, April 6, 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. The lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a measure last week imposing penalties for crimes against “journalistic activity,” an encouraging but still preliminary…
CPJ Washington Representative Frank Smyth had a posting on The Hill Blog on April 3 about the House’s passing of a “shield bill” to protect reporters from revealing their sources, and another bill, the “Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act,” named after the late Wall Street Journal reporter. Read Smyth’s post here.
New York, April 2, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Guatemalan authorities today to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the shooting of a two-man TV crew in Guatemala City on Wednesday. Unidentified gunmen killed veteran reporter Rolando Santiz and injured cameraman Antonio de León.
There are few street names and no addresses in Managua, a famously disorganized city whose downtown was destroyed in a 1972 earthquake and never rebuilt. To find a house, office, or government building you need directions which are only intelligible to locals. Here are couple of examples:
New York, April 1, 2009–Gunmen shot and killed Honduran radio journalist Rafael Munguía Ortiz Tuesday night in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, according to local news reports. Honduran authorities must conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into Munguía’s killing and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Daniel Coronell’s name didn’t come up in a hearing this week on Capitol Hill, even though CPJ had just learned that a Colombian court had ordered the arrest of the respected Canal Uno TV reporter and Semana magazine columnist over his work. Coronell is one of many journalists and human rights monitors who’ve lately been…