Various news outlets had coverage over the weekend of press freedom in Russian in light of last week’s brutal assault on Mikhail Beketov, a Moscow newspaper editor who still remains comatose in a local hospital. The Chicago Tribune as well as the UK-based newspapers The Guardian and The Sunday Herald are running stories about the dangers of critical reporting in Russian.
In the news today is a Miami Herald editorial brief that highlights the ongoing imprisonment of Cuban journalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, even as he is set to be honored as one of CPJ’s 2008 International Press Freedom Award winners.
The Houston Chronicle reported over the weekend on the growing violence for journalists in Mexico’s border towns. The article looks at the recent murder of crime reporter Armando Rodriguez in the border city of Juarez on November 13, and how reporting on the drug trade can have deadly consequences for Mexican journalists.