Vardy is suing Rooney for libel over allegation that Vardy leaked stories from Rooney’s private Instagram account
Rebekah Vardy said she would “love” to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to the media, according to messages disclosed at the high court.
The court filings suggest Vardy and her former agent Caroline Watt had an ongoing relationship with reporters at the Sun newspaper and discussed at length how to leak stories to the tabloid.
Continue reading...Cost of living crisis, departure of top aides and Rishi Sunak’s rebuke dominate the newspapers on another bad day for PM
Three big stories dominate Friday’s front pages – and none of them are good news for Boris Johnson. Editors were spoilt for choice with the “big squeeze” in living standards, the “bloodbath” of departing Downing Street aides and Rishi Sunak’s less-than-total backing for his leader.
Several papers combine the stories in what the Mail calls “Meltdown in Downing Street” above an image of a forlorn-looking prime minister and the subhead, “will the last one to leave please turn out the lights” evoking the Sun’s infamous 1992 election front page.
Continue reading...Will the hit game imminently be locked behind a paywall or stay as it is? What about ads? The NYT’s head of games explains the plan
In a month of spectacular video game industry buyouts, symbolised by Microsoft’s incredible $68bn swoop for Activision Blizzard, there is one purchase that has sent paroxysms of fear across the planet. On Monday, the New York Times revealed that it had bought the viral megahit Wordle for a “low seven figure sum”. The web-based word puzzle, which launched in October, was originally intended as a gift from software engineer Josh Wardle to his partner. But it has become a viral sensation, amassing an audience of millions – and key to its appeal is the fact that it’s free, with no ads.
So what does a big newspaper like the New York Times want with a game like Wordle, and what happens next?
Continue reading...The puzzle’s global success has turned Josh Wardle into a megastar in the gaming world and bemused his family
He is the toast of New York, of London – and of a small village called Llanddewi Rhydderch.
Just four months after Josh Wardle invented the wonderfully simple and soothing puzzle Wordle, he is a megastar in the world of games and is a great deal wealthier after the New York Times acquired his creation for a seven-figure sum.
Continue reading...Creator Josh Wardle ‘thrilled’ that newspaper is taking over internet sensation
The New York Times has acquired the viral word game Wordle for an undisclosed seven-figure sum, the publisher announced on Monday.
Created by a Reddit engineer and launched in October, Wordle gives players just six guesses to determine a five-letter word that changes every day. The soothing daily puzzle has become a hit since its launch, quickly attracting hundreds of thousands, then millions, of players. Social media posts about its game of the day have become ubiquitous, along with screenshots of the game’s distinctive grid.
Continue reading...Report says heightened dangers have prompted at least six to leave and many others to develop emergency exit plans
The Chinese government is finding new ways to intimidate foreign journalists, their Chinese colleagues and their sources, and harassment has reached such a high level that at least six have left the country, according to a key report.
The methods include online trolling, physical assaults, hacking and visa denials, as well as what appears to be official encouragement of lawsuits or threats of legal action against journalists, “typically filed by sources long after they have explicitly agreed to be interviewed”.
Continue reading...Amid the derision, supportive papers try to rally around the PM but report that ‘ambitious’ Rishi Sunak is waiting in the wings
The newspaper front pages have piled the pressure on Boris Johnson as the prime minister fights for his political life over the scandal of the “bring your own booze” lockdown-era party at Downing Street.
The Mirror’s banner headline on Thursday is “Disgrace”, set below a picture of Johnson giving his humiliating apology to the Commons for “not realising” the event in the back garden of 10 Downing Street on 20 May 2020 was a party.
Continue reading...Newsroom closures and exodus from territory are result of ‘draconian’ national security law introduced in 2020
As the last news programme came to a close and anchors bade farewell to their online audience on 3 January, Chris Yeung, the founder and chief writer of Citizen News, gathered together his staff and tried to strike an optimistic tone.
“Remember our very best memories,” he said, dressed in a blue shirt with sleeves rolled up and a crimson jumper draped on his shoulders. “No one knows what will happen next. Don’t worry. Just remember the happy things.”
Continue reading...Freedom of the press might be included in some constitutions of Pacific countries, but it often only works in theory
I spent five years as the lone journalist on the remote Pacific island of Yap. During that time I was harassed, spat at, threatened with assassination and warned that I was being followed. The tyres on my car were slashed late one night.
There was also pressure on the political level. The chiefs of the traditional Council of Pilung (COP) asked the state legislature to throw me out of the country as a “persona non grata” claiming that my journalism “may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”.
Continue reading...Activists say crackdown is driven by Xi Jinping, who has ‘declared a war on independent journalism’
Chen Kun was living in Indonesia with his wife and daughter when he learned from his brother Mei’s boss that he had been “taken away for investigation” by Chinese police.
He immediately suspected it was to do with his brother’s website, a citizen news project called Terminus 2049. Since 2018 Mei, his colleague Cai Wei, and Cai’s partner – surnamed Tang – had been archiving articles about issues including #MeToo and migrant rights, and reposting them whenever they were deleted from China’s strictly monitored and censored online platforms. It was April 2020, and for the last few months Terminus 2049 had been targeting stories about the Covid-19 outbreak and response.
Continue reading...Reports say editors, board members and pop singer were held in early morning sweep as 200 officers raid office
The most prominent pro-democracy media outlet still operating in Hong Kong, Stand News, said it will shut down after police raided its offices, froze its assets and arrested senior journalists and former board members including pop star Denise Ho.
Authorities deployed an anti-sedition law in their crackdown that was drawn up under British colonial rule and had not been used for decades. A senior police officer accused the online site of “inciting hatred” against the Hong Kong government in news articles and interviews.
Continue reading...Continental media are in no mood to donner un break to the British PM, sensing the ‘beginning of the end’
For El País in Spain, his “magic has vanished”. For Libération in France he is “the only actor in the Boris Johnson show – which is, increasingly, a flop”. In Germany, Der Spiegel asked how long Britain could last being governed “almost exclusively by defiant optimism”.
As the scandals mount, the approval ratings plunge, the electoral defeats accumulate, the rebellions multiply, his trusted Brexit lieutenant jumps ship and the Omicron variant runs rampant, continental media seem – to coin a phrase – in no mood to donner un break to Britain’s beleaguered prime minister.
Continue reading...Insults to press and chairman of joint chiefs of staff recall barbs while Trump was in power
In remarks to diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday night, Donald Trump called the American media “crooked bastards” and Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, a “fucking idiot”.
The meandering, foul-mouthed speech to Turning Point USA, a group for young conservatives, was streamed by Jack Posobiec, a rightwing blogger and provocateur.
Continue reading...Journalist permitted to receive peace prize in person after judge eases travel restrictions
The Philippine journalist Maria Ressa will be allowed to travel overseas so she can accept her Nobel peace prize in person after a court gave her permission to leave the country to visit Norway this month.
Ressa, who is subject to travel restrictions because of the legal cases she faces in the Philippines, shared the prize with the Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov, amid growing concerns over curbs on free speech worldwide.
Continue reading...Analysis: Duchess of Sussex says she faced ‘deception, intimidation and calculated attacks’ and suffered a miscarriage
The privacy victory over the Mail on Sunday has seemingly exacted a toll on the Duchess of Sussex, who in vigorously pursuing the case went far further than any other present-day royal in taking on the tabloid culture.
The court of appeal stressed “no expense” was spared in fighting and defending the legal action over publication of extensive extracts of her private letter to her estranged father. As losers, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publishers of the newspaper and Mail Online, will bear the brunt.
Continue reading...ANL had brought appeal after duchess sued publisher over articles relating to letter she sent to estranged father
The Duchess of Sussex called for a reshaping of the tabloid newspaper industry and said she had been patient in the face of “deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks” as the Mail on Sunday lost its appeal in its three-year privacy battle with her over a letter to her estranged father.
Meghan sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), also the publisher of Mail Online, over five articles reproducing parts of the “personal and private” letter to Thomas Markle, 77, in August 2018.
Continue reading...Guidelines promoted use of ‘holiday season’ instead of Christmas and advised against saying ‘man-made’
An internal European Commission document advising officials to use inclusive language such as “holiday season” rather than Christmas and avoid terms such as “man-made” has been withdrawn after an outcry from rightwing politicians.
The EU executive’s volte-face over the guidelines, launched by the commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, at the end of October, was prompted by an article in the Italian tabloid il Giornale, which claimed it amounted to an attempt to “cancel Christmas”.
Continue reading...A documentary-maker has accused the Cabinet Office of defying the 30-year rule in withholding details of the MI5 exposé
The Cabinet Office has been accused of “delay and deception” over its blocking of the release of files dating back more than three decades that reveal the inside story of the intelligence agent Peter Wright and the Spycatcher affair.
Wright revealed an inside account of how MI5 “bugged and burgled” its way across London in his 1987 autobiography Spycatcher. He died aged 78 in 1995.
Continue reading...Duke of Sussex says issue needs to be tackled by policies including investment in local journalism
Prince Harry has described online misinformation as a “global humanitarian issue” that needs to be tackled by policies including investment in local journalism and cracking down on super-spreaders of false content.
The Duke of Sussex contributed to a report by a US thinktank into disinformation, which made 15 recommendations after a six-month study.
Continue reading...The Duchess of Sussex’s case against the Associated Newspapers offered much drama this week which looks set to continue
An 11th-hour intervention, an admission of forgetfulness, and an apology to the court; the potentially explosive developments in the Duchess of Sussex’s privacy case against the Mail on Sunday offered much drama this week.
And it may be far from over. Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) wants the court of appeal to overturn a judge’s ruling that the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online breached the duchess’s privacy in publishing extracts of her letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle, 77, and for the issues to go to trial.
Continue reading...