Nepali journalist Kishor Budhathoki was brutally assaulted in eastern Nepal on 11 August. According to Republica, Budhathoki was attacked for a piece he wrote about domestic violence. He is currently in a critical condition. Budhatoki writes for The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post, and also serves as vice president of the local chapter of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, a press freedom watchdog.
Muneer Shakir, who worked for Online News Network and a Balochi television station called Sabzbaat, was killed on 14 August in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The reason for his murder is still unclear. According to the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ), Shakir is the sixth journalist to be killed in Pakistan in 2011. They also say that, despite reporting threats against journalists in provincial regions, no preventative action has been taken.
Bolivian president Evo Morales has announced a new Telecommunications, Information Technology and Communication Law that establishes new rules for the distribution of radio and television frequencies, the broadcasting of presidential messages, and authorises wiretapping in exceptional cases. Some critics say the law, which was approved at the end of July, will give the state de facto control over 67 percent of the radio and television frequencies due to the Morales administration’s close ties to indigenous and community groups. Meanwhile, journalism organisations have denounced the law, saying it undermines freedom of expression and that wiretapping will affect the public’s right to privacy.
Several major Ecuadorian newspapers ran the same cover on 10th August, titled “For Freedom of Expression”, in protest against President Rafael Correa’s increasing verbal and legal attacks on independent media. The President devoted 42 minutes of his State of the Union speech to criticism of the press, and during his weekly TV broadcast also urged the public to file lawsuits against what he called the “corrupt press”, name-checking reporter Jeanette Hinostroza for having commented on political negotiations related to appointments within the National Assembly.