MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Obama administration keeps restricting press freedoms in the name of national security, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) advocacy group said.
"The US government of President Barack Obama is continuing to prohibit officials from talking to the press. In the United States and Canada defeated were legislative reforms aimed at limiting exceptions on the part of these governments to continue restricting public information for reasons always attributed to national security," an IAPA report published Tuesday said.
In general, press freedoms in the in the Americas have sharply deteriorated, the organization said. "Freedom of the press and of expression in the [Western] hemisphere underwent a marked deterioration in the last six months due to a significant increase in direct and indirect censorship and physical attacks on journalists," the advocacy group said.
According to the IAPA, at least 11 reporters were killed in the Americas during this period - three in Honduras, three in Paraguay, two in Mexico, one in El Salvador, one in Colombia and one in Peru.
"Journalists in almost all the countries of the region suffered physical attacks, particularly in Venezuela… Physical attacks on journalists were also recorded during coverage of various election processes in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru, and street protests in the American city of Ferguson and in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil," the report said.
The IAPA is a press advocacy group based in Miami, United States. It represents media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean.
