“Clarification of Information” is the name of Álvaro Colom's new program, which is intended to clarify and correct news reported by news media, elPeriódico reports. A government spokesman denied the program seeks to "create antagonism" with the press. read more »

President Fernando Lugo's government has purchased ads on 51 community radio stations, none of which are allowed to air commercials and only three of which are operating with the proper legal permits, ABC Color reports. The stations deny those charges. 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 »

An unidentified person hurled a fragmentation grenade at an influential radio station, HRN, while it was broadcasting the "Tegucigalpa at Night" program. A radio technician and one other person received minor injuries from falling debris, AFP reports. read more »

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the owner of Caracas-based radio station CNB 102.3, which sought to annul the state telecom regulator’s August decision to close the station, AFP reports. read more »

Gabriel Insaurralde, a host on radio station LT 14 in Paraná, Entre Rios, was last seen Oct. 18 and was found by police in a well near his house, Clarín reports.

Investigators have not ruled out an accident, suicide, or a crime. Insaurralde’s body showed no obvious signs of violence, La Capital adds.

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 »

Radio del Sur, a 300-station public network envisioned by Caracas as a tool for regional integration, signed onto the air this week, at a time when the Chávez administration is waging an offensive against private radio outlets, BBC Mundo reports. read more »

The Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Reporters without Borders have criticized the government for canceling the broadcast license of radio La Voz de Bagua, EFE and the National Radio Coordinator report. The station is accused of inciting violence during protests in Amazonia last June. read more »

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) will train 18 community radio journalists and citizen reporters to produce higher-quality programming, and a new web-based service of the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) will allow broadcasters to share and rebroadcast stories across borders. read more »

Media owners, journalists, and opposition politicians have warned of President Daniel Ortega’s intentions to silence critics by shutting down radio frequencies, El Nuevo Diario reports. read more »

Armed men invaded the headquarters of Radio Correio in Maceió, Alagoas and robbed its employees. The action occurred while the program “Sports Debate” was broadcasting live, Gazetaweb reports. read more »

According to a complaint by the Andean media watchdog group Fundamedios, Carlos Proaño, journalist and anchor of the program Notivisión on Radio Visión in Quito, received a unidentified phone call warning him to be careful. “We know that you have the documents. If you open your mouth, we don't know what could happen." read more »

Four armed men used iron bars to smash the equipment of Diário FM, of Marília, São Paulo, after overpowering and tying up a guard, the Diário de Marília newspaper reports. read more »

Dalvison Nogueira de Souza was driving his car in Recife, Pernambuco (northeast) when two men on a motorcycle shot him, causing him to lose control and crash, Jornal do Commercio reports. Souza, who covered sports and police news for several radio stations, died at the scene, and the killers fled. read more »

Carlos Baía, director of the Journalism Department at Radio Metropolitana in the city of Barcarena (in the northern state of Pará), has received death threats after denouncing local government irregularities, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) reports via IFEX. read more »

Pardo Llada, best known for his aggressive reporting in the 1940s and 1950s, died Friday morning in Cali, Colombia, El Tiempo reports. He was hospitalized for serious stomach problems earlier this week. read more »

President Rafael Correa says that many radio and TV stations could be nationalized for having illegitimate broadcast concessions, Dow Jones reports. read more »

Some 206 private radio stations are expected to be closed by the government in the coming days, joining 34 stations in 11 states that were shut down indefinitely over the weekend, CNN International reports. (See this story and clip from the BBC.) read more »