President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the country needs a media system with less of a monopoly and more news diversity, ANSA reports.

In a TV interview, Lula said a diversity of broadcasters promotes better journalism, more cultural programming, and political debate, all of which support democratic communication. The president's statements were seen by domestic papers as a reference to Globo, the largest media company in Latin America. read more »

A new report by UNESCO and the Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship shows that police often face reprisal for independent commentary on blogs, but they believe their voices have helped diversify the discussion on security issues. Previous coverage of law enforcement was dominated by police public relations departments and professional crime reporters, but now police departments are participating in social media, the authors say. read more »

Government harassment and criminal violence are harming press freedom and weakening democracy, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) concludes in a report presented at the closure of its 65th general assembly in Buenos Aires. read more »

Portuguese-language radio stations were fooled by a satirist posing as Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Speaking with state radio in Angola, the imposter claimed to be speaking live from a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro that was embroiled in a drug war, Britain’s Guardian reports. That interview was broadcast for several days before the hoax was discovered, BBC says. read more »

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva repeated criticisms of the press, this time before approximately 3,000 sanitation workers in São Paulo, leading the crowd to boo the reporters covering his speech, Folha de São Paulo and O Globo report. read more »

Since July 31, O Estado de S. Paulo has not been allowed to publish stories involving the son of former president and current Senate leader José Sarney. read more »

The Brazilian Association for Investigative Journalism (Abraji) reported an alleged assault on Fábio Oliva, editor of Folha do Norte in Januária, Minas Gerais. The journalist says he was punched and kicked by Fabrício Viana, the city’s ex-Finance Secretary. read more »

Clashes between rival gangs in a Rio de Janeiro favela left at least 21 dead and a police helicopter and eight buses destroyed, The Associated Press and O Globo report. The sudden spike in violence, the city's worst recent oubreak, drew independent and de facto citizen journalists to the scene. Some examples: read more »

The Knight Center offers Brazilian journalists an updated version of its popular online course "Introduction to Journalism 2.0: Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Era."

The class lasts from Nov. 9 to Dec. 6, 2009 and is free of charge. Demand is expected to be high, and spaces are limited. Applications are available online and must be received by Oct. 25. read more »

The Portuguese investment group Ongoing and the Luso-Brazilian Mascarenhas Vasconcellos family have launched Brasil Econômico, seeking to fill the business journalism void left after Gazeta Mercantil's June closure. read more »

Wallace Souza is accused of ordering a series of killings and covering them on his “Canal Livre” show to boost ratings. After going missing for nearly a week, he turned himself in in his hometown of Manaus, Amazonas, CNN reports. read more »

Wellington Raulino, owner of TV Integração, was beaten by four men while crossing the Parnaíba River on a boat towards the northern city of Benedito Leite, Maranhão, where his station operates, read more »

The breaks for some 4,000 stations are part of an electoral reform package passed last week, Fernando Rodrigues reports for Folha de S. Paulo.

The small stations will receive the adjustments to compensate them for the air time they devote during campaigns to public service spots for political parties and candidates. read more »

The Brazilian journalism site Portal Imprensa shows how the country’s leading news sites responded to Friday’s announcement that Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics.

Brazilian journalists will face the challenge of monitoring seven years of work leading to the games, Izabela Vasconcelos reports for the read more »

Devanil Rodrigues da Silva, host of a police program for CNT in Londrina, Paraná, was injured in the shoulders during the attack, which occurred as he arrived at home, Portal Imprensa reports. read more »

Rafael Dias, a reporter for the Diário de Pernambuco newspaper, was struck in the newspaper's lobby by two men who identified themselves as sons of Councilman Luiz Vidal of Recife who died on Saturday, the newspaper and Comunique-se report. read more »

Joe Sharkey, a freelance writer who was aboard a business jet that collided with a Brazilian airliner in 2006, has been sued for defamation in Brazil for his blog posts and interviews about the ordeal, the AFP news agency reports, citing a first-person account Sharkey wrote for Editor & Publisher. read more »

As part of an agreement with the Inter American Press Association and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the government of the northeastern state of Bahia claimed responsibility for the 1998 death of Manoel Leal, A Tarde reports. read more »

Elena Rodríguez, a correspondent in Ecuador for the Telesur TV network, said she received a written threat on her car windshield the day after being robbed, beaten and kicked while in her car north of Quito, CRE Satelital and EFE report. She said the attack was aimed at her network, not at her. See more information in Spanish. read more »

A story in Estado de S. Paulo newspaper describes the work of Douglas Nascimento, who with a small digital camera captures scenes of abandonment in Brazil's largest city.

"Every single Saturday night, when the city is still waking up, this 34-year-old local photographer of 34 roams the most hidden corners of Sao Paulo in search of ruins, filth and degradation," the story says. read more »