Americas

A Bogotá judge has ordered the arrest of Colombian journalist Alejandro Santos Rubino, the director of weekly newsmagazine Semana, for failing to follow the court's instructions in a defamation suit, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Judge Amanda Vargas de Norato of the Penal Circuit of Bogotá issued an arrest warrant for Santos on Thursday after Semana did not follow the...

Adolfo Cerrudo, a leader of the radical pro-government Popular Civic Committees, alleged to have taken part in physical assaults on journalists, has been placed under house arrest since November 14. Cerrudo took part in physical assaults, along with 200 other committee members, against a score of journalists outside San Pedro de La Paz prison, who were there to cover the investigation into the...

The family of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho are being harassed a year and a half after he was murdered in Porto Ferreira, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. There are concerns that this is linked to their participation in the investigation of the crime perpetrated on him. After Barbon was murdered on May 5, their house was attacked and his widow, Kátia Rosa Camargo, received several silent...

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has called for justice in the killing of Vancouver journalist Tara Singh Hayer, who was murdered 10 years ago. On November 18, 1998, the then 62-year-old publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times was shot to death at his Surrey, British Columbia home. His murder remains unsolved. CJFE's Executive Director Annie Game said in a statement, "The murder of...

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed concern at attacks on news media and journalists in Nicaragua, preventing them from covering the unrest following the November 9 elections. Reporting teams from the newspapers La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario and Canal 2 planning to cover pro- and anti-government demonstrations in León were reportedly stoned and prevented by supporters of the...

A newspaper reporter has been imprisoned for two months after having been detained by military personnel when he was on his way to cover a confrontation between opposing gangs of suspected drug traffickers in Arcelia, Guerrero, southern Mexico. According to national and Guerrero-based media outlets, on September 6 a group of approximately 30 men from Mexico State arrived in Guerrero and entered...

Radio Ritmo station in the western Ecuadorian province of Santa Elena has been closed down. The close, according to the Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), came after the Telecommunications Superintendence (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SUPERTEL) acted on a resolution by the National Radio and Television Council (Consejo Nacional de Radiodifusión y Televisión, CONARTEL) which...

The recent spurt in attacks against journalists in Mexico has press freedom groups extremely worried. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on US border authorities to make the necessary humanitarian provisions for journalists who are being forced to flee into exile. In particular, it requested the immediate release of Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto—held in the Texan...

Time Inc, the largest magazine publisher in the US, announced Tuesday plans to shutter its four-year old Cottage Living magazine and its accompanying website, CottageLiving.com. The November/December issue will be the magazine’s last. Time officials said the magazine will be incorporated into another of its shelter magazines, although no details were immediately available. “Since its inception...

A federal appeals court in the US on Monday threw out a contempt order requiring fines of up to $5,000 a day against a former USA Today reporter who refused to identify sources for stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Toni Locy had been ordered by a judge to personally pay the fines unless she identified officials who discussed Steven J Hatfill, who was...