Americas

2016

  

Transition to Trump: What Obama’s Freedom of Information legacy means for press

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

Read More ›

Officials inspect a crime scene in Guatemala City in 2013. High rates of street crime and violence make it hard to determine if victims are targeted for their work as journalists. (AFP/Johan Ordonez)

Searching for answers in murder cases amid violence and corruption in Guatemala

On June 25, unidentified assailants shot and killed Álvaro Aceituno López, director of Radio Ilusión in Coatepeque, a town in southeastern Guatemala. López often criticized local government officials when presenting the news and during guest appearances on other programs. But to date, CPJ has been unable to determine if Aceituno was killed for his work…

Read More ›

Transition to Trump: First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams on Trump’s power over libel laws

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

Read More ›

Dutch journalist Okke Ornstein pictured in Panama's Renacer prison, where he is being held for criminal defamation. (CPJ/Jan-Albert Hootsen)

Jailed Dutch reporter Ornstein says Panama failed to inform him of legal proceedings

A faint smile appears on Okke Ornstein’s face as he recalls what happened last summer, when he traveled with a group of refugees through Europe to document their trip for a Dutch radio broadcaster.

Read More ›

President François Hollande speaks at the opening of the Open Government Partnership summit in Paris in December, where press freedom was added to the agenda. (Jacky Naegelen/Pool/AFP)

Press freedom on OGP agenda as authoritarianism rises

There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…

Read More ›

Travelers wait for a security check at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in November. Journalists traveling to the U.S. can face searches that can risk the confidentiality of their sources. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

Security risk for sources as US border agents stop and search journalists

French-American photojournalist Kim Badawi did not go home to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. He didn’t want to risk a repeat of November last year, when he says U.S. border security detained him at Miami airport and interrogated him in minute detail about his private life, political views, and journalistic sources.

Read More ›

Number of journalists who covered corruption who were killed in relation to their work since 1992, by country. (Mehdi Rahmati/CPJ research)

Protecting journalists who cover corruption is good for the bottom line

Corruption is one of the most dangerous beats for journalists, and one of the most important for holding those in power to account. There is growing international recognition that corruption is also one of the biggest impediments to poverty reduction and good governance. This is why journalists on this beat must be protected, including by…

Read More ›

A protester takes cover as police throw tear gas during protests in August over the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Journalists have been caught in the crossfire of Brazil's political unrest. (AP/Andre Penner)

In Brazil, journalists face injury from violent protests and accusations of bias

Felipe Souza was covering an anti-government protest in São Paulo earlier this month when a line of riot police advanced toward him.

Read More ›

Carmen Aristegui, pictured at a news conference in July, is being sued by MVS, the broadcaster she used to work for. Changes to a law on fines in civil cases is making journalists in Mexico vulnerable. (AFP/Alfredo Estrella)

Change to Mexican law leaves critical journalists at risk of steep fines

Sergio Aguayo, one of Mexico’s most prominent political commentators, said he was taken by surprise when he heard he was being sued for “moral damages.” The plaintiff, Humberto Moreira, is a former governor who faced allegations that he severely mishandled the state’s finances, was involved in graft and corruption, and had ties to organized crime.…

Read More ›

Security patrol the venues for the Rio Olympics. Journalists covering the Games can report press freedom complaints to the International Olympic Committee. (AFP/David Gannon)

IOC offers some protection but press at Rio Games should be wary of security risks

When the Rio Olympics open on Friday, the thousands of journalists covering it will have the added security of knowing a formal mechanism has been put in place to let them report any press freedom violations that take place during the Games. The creation of the reporting mechanism follows years of advocacy with the International…

Read More ›

2016