Valderlei Canuto Leandro, host of the show Sinal Verde on Radio Frontera, was murdered by unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle in Tabatinga, located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, on 1 September. Local bloggers say Canuto was known for his criticism of local politics. In May, Canuto filed a complaint claiming that Tabatinga’s mayor Samuel Benerguy had threatened him with death for reporting on corruption in the municipality.
The Metropolitan Police have served a notice of application for a production order on the Guardian seeking “all published and unpublished footage and images between 6 to 10 August with respect to the disorder within London and the area policed by the Met Police”. David Cameron had earlier told MPs that the media has a “responsibility” to immediately release footage to help police track down and punish those responsible for the violence in August. Journalists and media organisations expressed concern over the request, with broadcasters BBC and ITN maintaining that police must follow the proper procedure of obtaining a court order to avoid compromising editorial standards.
Bangladesh‘s government has passed a new broadcast law which will censor TV programmes and movies. The law, which will go into effect in three months’ time, prevents the broadcasting of content depicting non-Muslim holidays, as well as “kiss scenes” in films on foreign channels.
Medardo Flores, a Honduran radio journalist who supported former President Manuel Zelaya, was gunned down on the night of 8 September, joining the long list of journalists who have been killed since Zelaya’s forced exile from the country in a June 2009 coup. Regional finance manager of the pro-Zelaya Broad Front for Popular Resistance (FARP), Flores was shot just two days after another leading FARP figure, Emo Sadloo, was assassinated. Flores’ death brings the number of Honduran journalists killed in the past 18 months to 15.