Americas

In a week of violent confrontations between supporters and opponents of Bolivian President Evo Morales's government in the departments of Santa Cruz, Cobija, Tarija and, to a lesser degree, in the city of La Paz, several media outlets and journalists have been the target of threats and attacks, according to Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS). On September 9, approximately 200 youths who oppose the...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for a review of the trial of alleged regional drug baron Ceferino García, who was acquitted by a court in Maturín, in the northeastern Venezuelan state of Monagas, on August 28 of masterminding the murder of Mauro Marcano. A radio and newspaper journalist, Marcano was gunned down outside his Maturín home on September 1, 2004. "This verdict is a victory...

The Novato Advance, a weekly newspaper in Marin County, Novato, California, will cease publication after 86 years, citing declining advertising revenues and higher expenses, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The newspaper announced Wednesday that it would publish its last issue on September 24. The paper, which has a circulation of about 10,500 and employs 18 people, has not been profitable...

The Sacramento Bee is giving buyouts to 87 employees, including 23 in its newsroom, the Associated Press (AP) has eported. It's the second time this summer the newspaper has shed jobs, as it faces significant declines in advertising revenue. The buyouts will eliminate about 7 percent of the newspaper's overall work force and 10 percent of the newsroom staff, the Bee reported Thursday. The paper...

Opposition activists in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra stormed the offices of two state-owned media outlets on Tuesday, destroying equipment and forcing them to halt broadcasts in the wake of two-week long antigovernment protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attacks and called on Santa Cruz's governor to ensure that all media can work freely without fear of...

Google has stepped up efforts to digitise dozens of historical newspapers and make scanned images of the original papers available online, the Internet search leader said on Monday, according to a Reuters report. Some details: In a blog post on the Silicon Valley-based company's website, Google said it is looking to make old newspapers searchable online by partnering with newspaper publishers to...

The editor of the New York Sun, a small five-day-a-week newspaper that professes to offer "an alternative" to the New York Times, said Wednesday the paper may close at the end of September if it doesn't receive new backing, Canadian Press (CA) has reported. The Sun was founded in October 2001 and began publishing daily in April 2002. Some details from the CA report: The Sun "has yet to achieve its...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed outrage at the way Amy Goodman, the host of the nationally-syndicated radio and TV programme Democracy Now!, and two of her producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, were manhandled and arrested by police while covering demonstrations Monday outside the Republican Party convention in St Paul, Minnesota, US. Paris-based RSF has called for an...

In an error that could have cost Apple investors millions of dollars the Bloomberg financial newswire accidentally published a 17-page obituary of Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday. Bloomberg dispatched the Apple supremo to the hereafter with the obit inadvertently published during an update, gossip blog Gawker reported on Thursday. The short-lived homage – quickly pulled – contained a...

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez called for a criminal investigation of Daniel Coronell on Thursday, alleging that the journalist broke the law by not immediately disclosing a videotaped interview that allegedly links the administration to a bribery scandal. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Colombian authorities to dismiss Uribe's request. On Thursday...