JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS

Venezuela's Supreme Court emphasized one more time that freedom of expression is not an absolute right, and established various limitations to access to governmental information, reported El Tiempo. read more »

Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Normando Hernández González and Mijail Bárzaga, who had been arrested in a crackdown on dissidents in March 2003, bring to nine the number of imprisoned journalists released by the Cuban government, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). read more »

A group comprised of universities, media, and civil and press organizations that is promoting the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information urged the Salvadoran legislature to approve in the short term "an effective law in accordance with international principles and best practices," reported El Mundo and El País. read more »

A proposal sent to Chile's Congress would amend the media finance law in order to give public funds to radio stations, newspapers, magazines and other media whose facilities or equipment was damaged during the Feb. 27 earthquake, reported UPI. read more »

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) will investigate military agression against three journalists who covered a police operation in Nuevo Laredo, in the state of Tamaulipas, reported El Universal. read more »

The pro-Chavez Necessary Journalism Movement asked the Venezuelan government to investigate the Institute of Press and Society (IPYS) and Public Space, which according to declassified documents receive millions of dollars in funding from the U.S. government, reported El Universal and El Nacional. read more »

The media has attacked the former presidential candidate for her multimillion dollar lawsuit (now withdrawn) against the government for the harm she suffered during her six-year stay as a FARC hostage, AFP reports. read more »

The first seven political prisoners released by the Cuban government landed in Madrid Tuesday, July 13. The prisoners are part of the 75 dissidents who were arrested during a crackdown in 2003, reported The Associated Press and ABC. read more »

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is concerned that Spanish journalist Paco Gómez Nadal is being threatened with loss of his residency and deportation from Panama. read more »

In the latest chapter of tense relations between the government and press in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa said he was "extremely content" with the ad campaign against the media broadcast during the World Cup, reported La Hora. read more »

Two Twitter users -- a 35-year-old woman and 41-year-old man -- were arrested last week in Venezuela, accused of using the social network site to spread "false rumors" in an attempt to "destabilize the national banking system" after the take-over of Banco Federal for liquidity problems, reported El Nacional and EFE. read more »

Judge Jesús Fernández arrived Saturday, July 10, in Honduras for a special mission to help the government of Porfirio Lobo in its investigation into the deaths of at least seven journalists this year, reported El Heraldo. read more »

The "bloodshed" continues, said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after the killing in Mexico of Marco Aurelio Martínez Tijerina, in the state of Nuevo León, and Guillermo Alcaraz Trejo, of Chihuahua, in the northern part of the country. Their deaths bring the number of media workers killed in Mexico this year to at least 10, according to RSF. read more »

Love of soccer is one thing. But how off-base is sports journalism when World Cup predictions by animals become front-page news? read more »

Vicky Peláez and her husband already are in Russia after being deported along with eight others who admitted they were undercover Russian agents, reported RPP. read more »

Ecuador's communication bill has entered, in theory, the final stretch, but ruling and opposition forces remain at odds, divided over the proposal's future, reported El Comercio. read more »

The media suffering most from the killings of at least eight journalists this year in Mexico are those in the interior of the country who are essentially defenseless against the violence, reported the Inter Press Service (IPS). read more »

Female voices rarely appear -- as sources or journalists -- in Guatemalan media, which use women only for advertising or marketing purposes, said Alva Batres, coordinator of the Presidential Secretary for Women (SEPREM) in the department of Izabal, reported Cerigua. read more »

IJNet is reporting that applications are being accepted through July 11 for 9-month fellowships from the Climate Change Media Partnership.

Aimed at journalists from developing countries who cover the environment, the fellowships will culminate in attendance of the United Nations' Conference on Climate Change in Cancún, México at the end of this year. read more »

The investigation into the 1986 death of the publisher and editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Espectador, Guillermo Cano, will have no statute of limitations as the prosecution declared the killing, still unsolved, as a crime against humanity, reported El Espectador and El Colombiano. read more »