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Violence against the Press in Latin America: Protections and Remedies in International Law

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, volume 78, issue 2 (2001), pp. 275-290

Institution of author: Brigham Young University

"This article identifies a trend in international law addressing the murders of journalists in Latin America. Recent cases by international human-rights tribunals are analyzed for their holdings that murders of journalists violate the free-expression guarantees of the American Convention on Human Rights, the hemisphere's leading human rights treaty. These rulings required governments to investigate attacks on the press in good faith, punish journalists' assailants, indemnify journalists' survivors, and protect journalists working in war zones. This article concludes that this international case law, though developing slowly, offers a new weapon in the fight against vengeful and violent attacks on the press." (Abstract)