Judge says it would be unfair to stop Heard watching Depp give evidence in libel case over domestic abuse claims
Johnny Depp has failed to stop his ex-wife Amber Heard from watching him give evidence in a libel case over allegations of domestic abuse.
The actor is suing the publisher of the Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which described Depp as a “wife beater”.
Continue reading...Protective measures taken and social media erased as both question how they can operate
Journalists and lawyers in Hong Kong are scrambling to adapt as Chinese authorities set up the apparatus to enforce a controversial national security law, including appointing a hardline party official to head a new security agency.
Zheng Yanxiong, who is best known for tackling protests on the mainland, is to run the office established under the law that empowers mainland security agents to operate in Hong Kong openly and unbound for the first time.
Continue reading...Fiancee of late journalist hopes Istanbul trial will reveal circumstances of death and location of remains
Twenty Saudi officials are on trial in absentia in Turkey accused of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, almost two years after his disappearance in Istanbul shocked the world and irreparably tarnished the image of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as a liberal reformer.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, and the UN special rapporteur Agnès Callamard waited for the judges to arrive in a courtroom at the imposing courthouse complex in Istanbul’s Çağlayan neighbourhood before the trial began on Friday. Both women are hoping it will shed more light on the grim circumstances of the journalist’s death and reveal what happened to his remains.
Continue reading...Hatice Cengiz hopes trial in absentia will reveal circumstances of journalist’s death and location of remains
The fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi has told a Turkish court that all avenues for justice must be explored as 20 Saudi officials went on trial in absentia over the journalist’s gruesome killing and dismemberment in Istanbul in 2018.
Taking the witness stand on Friday morning at Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse complex, Hatice Cengiz had to pause several times to stop her voice from breaking. The absence of the 20 defendants, as well as Khashoggi’s still missing remains, weighed heavily over the proceedings.
Continue reading...Folha de São Paulo urges people who support campaign to protect country’s political future to wear yellow
One of Brazil’s leading newspapers has launched a major pro-democracy campaign as unease grows about the threat many fear Jair Bolsonaro and his most militant supporters pose to the country’s political future.
Unveiling the initiative on Sunday, the Folha de São Paulo said systematic attacks from pro-Bolsonaro extremists were putting Brazilian democracy through its greatest “stress test” since the return of civilian rule in 1985.
Continue reading...Amendments to country’s media law revoked after outcry from press
An outcry by the Afghan press over amendments to the country’s media law has seen the government call off initially approved changes.
The newly revoked amendments included a rule that would force media to reveal sources to the government without a court order.
Continue reading...Editor of news website Rappler could face prison if convicted under ‘cyber libel’ law
A verdict will be issued on Monday following the controversial trial of one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, in a case widely condemned as an attack on press freedom under Rodrigo Duterte.
A court in Manila will issue a verdict on Rappler, one of the country’s most influential news websites, its editor, Maria Ressa, and former researcher and writer Reynaldo Santos Jr on Monday. Ressa, who was arrested last year on charges of “cyber libel” for a story published by Rappler in 2012, has described the allegations as baseless.
Continue reading...Interview with author’s first husband unacceptable, says abuse commissioner
The government’s lead adviser on domestic abuse has written to the editor of the Sun to condemn the newspaper’s decision to publish a front page interview with JK Rowling’s first husband, under the headline: “I slapped JK and I’m not sorry.”
In the letter seen by the Guardian, Nicole Jacobs, the independent domestic abuse commissioner, said it was “unacceptable that the Sun has chosen to repeat and magnify the voice of someone who openly admits to violence against a partner”.
Continue reading...Newspaper drops initial defence of ‘Send in the troops’ opinion piece that called for Donald Trump to use military against protesters
The New York Times has issued a mea culpa over the paper’s decision to publish an op-ed by the Republican senator Tom Cotton entitled: “Send in the troops”.
The decision to run the piece, which advocated for the deployment of the military against protesters rallying against police brutality toward black Americans, drew widespread criticism. Dozens of Times journalists voiced their opposition, noting that inciting a heavy-handed response to the protests put black journalists, and people of color more broadly, in danger.
Continue reading...Decision to run opinion piece from Republican senator Tom Cotton sparks criticism from staff who say it puts people in danger
The New York Times’ decision to run an op-ed from the Republican senator Tom Cotton titled “Send in the troops” is drawing widespread criticism, including from Times staff.
In the piece, Cotton called for the use of US military troops to quell civil unrest, and indicated the president would be justified in doing so under the Insurrection Act of 1807.
Continue reading...As US Covid-19 death toll nears 100,000, Times presents a tribute to some of the Americans to fall victim to the disease
As the US approaches the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, the New York Times has filled the entire front page of Sunday’s paper with the death notices of victims from across the country.
In a decision the paper said was intended to convey the vastness and variety of the tragedy, the front page is a simple list of names and personal details taken from obituaries around the US.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Former newspaper executive Will Lewis allegedly played part in email deletions
The former senior newspaper executive William Lewis, on the shortlist to be the next director general of the BBC, has been accused of playing a part in the concealment and destruction of vast amounts of emails relating to phone hacking by the publisher of the Sun and News of the World, according to high court documents made public on Wednesday.
Lewis, who ended a six-year stint as the chief executive of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal this month, has been named in the case being lodged by about 50 alleged victims of phone hacking against the publisher News Group Newspapers. NGN is a subsidiary of News UK, which is run by Rebekah Brooks and ultimately controlled by Rupert Murdoch, through the parent company News Corporation.
Continue reading...Pulitzer-winning New Yorker journalist rejects claims from paper’s Ben Smith that work exhibits ‘shakiness at its foundations’
Ronan Farrow is no stranger to the rough and tumble of investigative journalism. His exposés on sexual abuse that helped to inspire the #MeToo movement have led to him to being trailed by private detectives employed by his most famous target – Harvey Weinstein – and to accusations from his former employer, NBC News, that he told “outright lies”.
Related: Shredded Trump documents and spy games: Ronan Farrow's biggest scoops
Continue reading...Across Europe to the US, the foreign newspaper verdict is Britain has performed badly
Britain’s reputation for its handling of the coronavirus epidemic has taken another global pasting after newspapers worldwide reported on what they described as confusion and internal divisions that are rapidly creating a crisis as big as Brexit for the UK.
With many diplomats admitting that soft power reputations are being forged or destroyed during the pandemic, the European press in particular is taking time to point out that the UK is experiencing the worst death rate in Europe, revealing a National Health Service that is underfunded and underprepared.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn Shafiqul Islam Kajol faces a lengthy sentence as his family worries about his exposure to Covid-19 in prison
Fifty-three days after he disappeared, Bangladeshi journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol turned up on Sunday in police custody at a border town 150 miles from where he had last been seen.
“I am alive,” he told his son by phone, the first time the family had heard his voice since his disappearance in early March, a day after a case was filed against him and 31 others under the country’s controversial new Digital Security Act.
Continue reading...PM’s roadmap announcement thrown into chaos by newspaper headlines heralding significant easing
The government was on Thursday evening urgently trying to regain control of the next phase of the pandemic crisis as it faced fierce criticism and warnings that mixed messaging was priming the public to give up on the lockdown.
Related: PM will announce modest changes to UK lockdown, says Raab
Continue reading...Egyptian government using pandemic to tighten control of media and quash dissent, rights group reports
Journalism in Egypt has effectively become a crime over the past four years, Amnesty International says, as authorities clamp down on media outlets and muzzle dissent.
As the number of coronavirus infections in Egypt continues to rise, the government is strengthening its control over information instead of upholding transparency, the London-based rights group said in a report released on Sunday.
Continue reading...Judge rules part of Duchess of Sussex’s case against Associated Newspapers be struck out
Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex have insisted her privacy claim against the publishers of the Mail on Sunday (MoS) will continue after she was dealt an initial blow when a judge ruled that part of her case should be struck out.
Lawyers for Associated Newspapers had argued last month against elements including that some words and sentences from a letter by Meghan to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, had been “dishonestly” cut out before publication in order to paint a misleading picture of the relationship between the two.
Continue reading...Duchess sues publisher of British newspapers over use of letter to father Thomas Markle
A newspaper was accused of “stirring up” issues between the Duchess of Sussex and her estranged father, Thomas Markle, then using it to justify publishing a “private and confidential” letter, a court heard.
Lawyers representing Meghan said she was distressed at the realisation that Associated Newspapers had an agenda of “intrusive and offensive” stories about her, a judge was told.
Continue reading...Ankara bans UK publication’s Turkish-language site over its links to Riyadh
The Independent has found itself caught in a bizarre tit-for-tat press freedom war between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, after the British publication’s Turkish-language site was banned by authorities in Ankara over its links to Riyadh.
The move comes shortly after Turkish authorities charged 20 Saudis over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an incident that soured relations between the two countries.
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