Americas

A few hours after the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) disclosed as an "unlimited tragedy" the cases of journalists and media workers recorded in 2007, on the first day of 2008, Latin America mourned its first casualty. José Fernando González, 35, Director of the radio station Radio FM Mega 92.7, was murdered in the city of Santa Bárbara, Trinidad, 150 km northeast of Tegucigalpa...

The man found who killed an Ottawa broadcaster in 1995 will appear in a Buffalo court this morning after a U.S. border officer was punched in the face. Officials of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Jeffrey Arenburg, 50, of Barrie, was on a bus crossing the border at the Peace Bridge on Thursday when the incident occurred. Arenburg, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was found not...

McLEAN, Va. — USA Today, the highest circulation newspaper in the country and the flagship of industry leader Gannett Co., announced plans today to eliminate about 45 newsroom jobs. The job losses reflect a cut of almost 9 percent to a current newsroom staff of about 500, USA Today spokeswoman Alexandra Nicholson said. They will be scattered throughout news, money, sports and lifestyle sections...

In the introduction to Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, the former South African president speaks of his deep gratitude to Richard Stengel for his efforts in editing, revising and writing parts of the 630-page opus. “I recall with fondness our early morning walks in Transkei and the many hours of interviews in Johannesburg,” says Mr Mandela of the American. Sitting in the...

Newly elected Argentine President Cristina Fernández is already a star in Santa Cruz, the southern provincial capital and hometown of her husband and former President Néstor Kirchner. Getting constant media attention, only the death of Pope John Paul II in April 2005 pushed her and Kirchner off the front page of daily El Periódico. All thanks to the huge official advertising revenue the paper

Two new pieces of legislation in the United States will help protect reporters' sources and promote Internet freedom. The US House of Representatives approved a legislation on October 16 that would bolster reporters' ability to keep their sources confidential in federal court cases. PEN American Centre said it was elated by the overwhelming (398-21) House vote, calling the Free Flow of Information

Investigating journalism in United States is expected get a much-needed boost with a new venture steered by former Wall Street Journal Chief Editor Paul Steiger. The veteran editor will launch non-profit media organisation ProPublica in January 2008 which would be dedicated to investigative reporting. The newsroom team of 24 fulltime journalists plans to carry its news for free online and will

Thirteen employees of media organisations have been killed and two disappeared in the past six months in the Western Hemisphere. According to preliminary reports presented Sunday by members of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), media freedom is increasingly under attack in the Western Hemisphere, especially in countries such as Venezuela and Colombia. Final reports will be released

The Valle del Cauca department in western Colombia has one of the highest rates of press freedom violations in the country, forcing journalists into silence, the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP) has found. According to the analysis, from 2003 to mid-2007, 50 violations were documented: 35 journalists were threatened, five of whom fled into exile; and three

The nondescript town of Oaxaca, about 520 km southeast of capital Mexico City, has been gathering a lot of international media attention for all the wrong reasons. Three distributors of the newspaper El Imparcial del Istmo were attacked and shot dead on October 8 on a highway in Oaxaca, following weeks of threats made to the paper, the National Centre for Social Communication (Centro Nacional de