Americas

An elected New York state official is being prosecuted for his alleged attack on a photographer who was trying to take his picture, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. New York State Senator Kevin Parker, who represents Brooklyn's District 21 in the Albany-based legislature, was arrested May 8 in Brooklyn and charged with felony criminal mischief, according to the New York...

On the evening of April 12, Raphael Ramírez, editor of the national daily La Prensa, received two anonymous calls at his home in La Paz from an individual who threatened to kill him if he "did not stop publishing lies," Carlos Morales, the daily's director, has told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The following morning, an unidentified individual called Morales' home...

The Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal's decision to strike down the 1967 Press Law, a measure that imposed harsh penalties for libel and slander, is a crucial step forward in the campaign to eliminate criminal defamation laws in the Americas, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. CPJ and other groups had long urged that the anachronistic law be removed from the books. Brazil's highest...

American reporter Diane Bukowski, who was found guilty on May 1 of two felony counts of resisting, obstructing, opposing, and endangering two Michigan state troopers while covering a crime scene, is facing prosecution. Bukowski, 60, will face sentencing, which may include a fine of up to $4,000 as well as up to four years in prison or both, on June 1. Bukowski is a freelance reporter for the...

Santa María El Oro Mayor Martín Silvestre Herrera denied any connection to Sunday's murder of local journalist Carlos Ortega Samper in the northern Durango state, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting Mexican press reports. Unidentified assailants shot and killed Ortega near his house in Santa María El Oro , 320 km (200 miles) north of the state capital, on Sunday...

A Mexican journalist who was critical of local authorities in the northern state of Durango was fatally shot by unidentified assailants on Sunday. In a piece published a day before the killing, the reporter wrote that he had been threatened by local government officials. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on local and federal authorities to thoroughly and expeditiously...

A Panama City court has sentenced leading Panamanian journalist Jean Marcel Chéry to two years in prison on trespassing charges stemming from a years-long series of complaints filed by a Supreme Court justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. It has called on Justice Winston Spadafora to end his politically motivated harassment. Judge Ricardo Mazza Moreno of the Second...

Indictments came down on Wednesday in the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was shot on an Oakland street in August 2007. An Alameda County grand jury indicted the leader of the now-closed Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey, on charges that he ordered Bailey killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Associated Press (AP) reported that Alameda County...

José Luis Ortega Vidal, 42, editorial director of the daily Notisur in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz was severely injured after falling off a staircase on the morning of March 3, 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. He was attempting to flee from a former official who was threatening him and other journalists with a gun, according to witnesses quoted in local news...

Veteran Colombian radio journalist José Everardo Aguilar, known for his harsh criticism of local corruption, was gunned down inside his home in southwestern Cauca province on Friday night, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Around 7:15 p.m. on Friday, an unidentified individual posing as a delivery man entered Aguilar's home, saying he had a package of photos, according to...