Every country should analyze its own record on freedom of expression, and the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) should avoid an ideological focus in its analysis of media in the hemisphere, the U.N.'s rapporteur for freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, told Ecuador's El Comercio. read more »

Some 500 editors and publishers are gathered in Buenos Aires for the Inter American Press Association's Annual Assembly, taking place Nov. 6–10. read more »

Participants of an international gathering last month have released a “Plan of Action to Advance the Right of Access to Public Information.” read more »

Journalists, government workers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations from 18 countries in the Americas, met in Lima, Peru, April 28-30, and developed a “Regional Action Plan to Advance the Right to Access Information.” read more »

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of the International PEN writers organization is promoting the Freedom to Write in the Americas campaign throughout 2009, IFEX reports. read more »

The Knight Center has begun the online course in Spanish "Electoral Coverage and Democracy" taught by well-known Colombian journalist and instructor María Teresa Ronderos.

Demand was very high for only 75 spaces. Preference went to journalists from those countries where national, regional, or local elections are scheduled this year.

The print, broadcast, and online reporters and editors enrolled in the course come from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela. read more »

Despite the world economic slowdown, personal Internet use in Latin America is growing dramatically, driven by the availability of cheaper computers, an expanded broadband network, and the appeal of new features, the Miami Herald reports.

A recent marketing study (for Google) of 10 Latin American countries and Puerto Rico projected a base of 160 million home Internet users in five years, up from more than 100 million now, the Herald says. read more »

In this year-end assessment of the news business, Robert Niles of Online Journalism Review notes that the last few weeks have seen the newspaper industry rush toward "a previously unthinkable collapse." The U.S. news industry's "collective failure to accurately portray the world over the past decade has done as much, if not more, to drive readers to the Internet than any inherent attractiveness of this new medium," he says. read more »

Journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States are among the 30 winners of the “Every Human Has Rights” campaign.

The 30 winning entries now compete through popular vote for a special prize that will be awarded Dec. 6 in Paris. All the reports, including print, online, radio and TV work, are available here. Readers can vote for the best entry here.

After four days of sessions in Madrid enhanced by the presence of Spain's king and prime minister, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA)
reported that four distinct trends became apparent in the last six months: read more »

Even though journalists "suffer like dogs," Colombian writer and Nobel laureate hailed journalism as the best profession, AFP reported. He made a rare public appearance in Monterrey, Mexico, for a seminar sponsored by his New Iberoamerican Journalism Foundation (FNPI), which awarded its annual prizes this week. read more »

“Several States haven't understood that true democracy is only possible if citizens have free access to public information," Catalina Botero told the Colombian magazine Cambio. Botero, a Colombian attorney, was elected July 21 as Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. read more »