On 24 March, the Mexican government introduced a telecommunications bill in the Senate that is intended to supplement existing federal telecoms legislation in force since 1995. It is officially designed to restore the balance of power between the giants in the market and the small players. However, the draft has aroused strong reactions because of its provisions that would give the government the right to monitor media content. Senators are due to start considering the proposals later today. ...

Reporters Without Borders condemns independent journalist Juliet Michelena Díaz’s detention since 7 April, three days before the publication of a by-lined report she wrote for the Miami-based independent news platform Cubanet about a case of ordinary police violence she had witnessed in Havana. Michelena, who was arrested in a heavy-handed police operation, is a member of the Cuban Network of Community Journalists (RCCC), an organization that defends freedom of information. The...

Nairobi Pinto was seized by two masked gunmen at her home in the capital Caracas, her father Luis said. He asked the kidnappers to "see sense" and release his daughter. Kidnappings, especially for ransom, are not uncommon in Venezuela, and a number of diplomats, as well as businessmen and athletes, have been abducted over the past years. While the majority of those kidnapped for ransom are released hours or days after they were taken, some kidnap victims have been killed or died...

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the conviction of three men for the murder of Alfredo Villatoro, a journalist who hosted a show on radio HRN and coordinated its programming. He was , six days after being kidnapped from his home. A Marvin Alonso Gómez and two brothers, Osman Fernando and Edgar Francisco Osorio Argujo, on 25 March, exactly 22 months after their arrest on 25 May 2012. Accepting the detailed evidence presented by the prosecution, which included DNA identification and...

Violence and threats to many Mexican journalists reporting along the U.S. border has led to less investigative and crime reporting, a phenomenon described as "self-censorship," the UA researchers found. From intimidation threats to assassinations, the daily danger faced by many Mexican journalists is the focus of a newly published University of Arizona research study. The study ranks Mexico as one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters to work. "Silencing...

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for the release of , a writer who completes a year in detention today and who began a blog in 2008 called that was openly critical of the government. Santiesteban-Prats was arrested on 28 February 2013 to begin serving the five-year jail sentence on trumped-up charges of “home violation” and “injuries” that he received at the end of a hasty and arbitrary trial on 8 December 2012. No hard evidence was produced in support of...

The journalist Gregorio Jiménez was killed and his body was found buried on Tuesday in the municipality of Las Chopas, Veracruz. The Attorney General's Office confirmed this afternoon that Veracruz state agents found the body of the reporter for Notisur and Liberal South in a grave in the Las Choapas during a special operation. Two other bodies were found in mass graves in the same place. Four people were arrested in that area of the state of Veracruz, who confessed that they were hired...

Reporters Without Borders calls on the ministry of justice and human rights to investigate freelance photographer Brian Palacio’s detention by members of the gendarmerie on 30 December in Buenos Aires, during which he was beaten and threatened. “The by the security forces during 2013 cannot continue,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The National Gendarmerie has repeatedly been criticized for its methods and must be held to account for this latest case of mistreatment....

Reporters Without Borders condemns the physical attacks on journalists that have occurred in the course of demonstrations in several provinces since the start of December by police officers demanding more pay. “We urge the demonstrators and the police to respect the work of journalists, who have often been the in connection with their coverage of the protests,” Reporters Without Borders said. We also call on the authorities to ensure that journalists are protected and to punish...

The family of Zoila Márquez Chiu, a journalist with the Linea Informativa news website who disappeared on 7 December, has confirmed that she returned to her home in the central state of Zacatecas on 23 December. She was missing for 17 days. “We are relieved to learn that Márquez is back with her family,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Officials say she did not suffer any attack but the circumstances of her disappearance are still largely unexplained. It is...