Category Archives: Newspapers

Woman’s attraction to chandeliers not a sexual orientation, Ipso says

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Amanda Liberty made complaint about article in the Sun mocking declaration of love for German light fitting

A woman in a long-term relationship with a 92-year-old German chandelier has been told that her attraction to historic light fittings is not considered to be a protected sexual orientation.

Press regulator Ipso made the ruling after Amanda Liberty, a woman from Leeds in her mid thirties, complained about an article in the Sun mocking her public declaration of love for Lumiere, her name for an intricate lamp she bought on eBay.

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Hungarian journalists fear coronavirus law may be used to jail them

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Reporters say measures are being used to deny them access to information on pandemic

Hungarian journalists say a new law supposedly aimed at fighting the coronavirus will make objective reporting of the pandemic harder and leave them open to facing court cases or even jail time for their reporting.

The measures, in place since Monday, have been roundly criticised for the sweeping powers they hand to the nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to rule by decree. Another part of the bill provides penalties of up to five years in prison for those spreading misinformation during the pandemic.

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US newspapers appeal to China not to expel their reporters

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Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post use open letter to urge reversal of decision

Publishers of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have pleaded with the Chinese government not to expel their reporters, in an open letter published on Tuesday.

Earlier this month at least 13 journalists from the three major US news organisations were ordered to leave China in response to what the government said was “unreasonable oppression” of Chinese journalists in the US.

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Johnny Depp’s libel case against the Sun adjourned

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Actor is suing paper over claims he was violent and abusive toward ex-wife Amber Heard

Johnny Depp’s libel case against the Sun over allegations he was violent and abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard, which was due to begin on Monday, has been adjourned to a later date.

Mr Justice Nicol made the announcement at the high court on Friday. “I have reached the reluctant conclusion that the trial does have to be adjourned,” he said.

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China: expulsion of US journalists was response to ‘unreasonable oppression’

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Beijing defends ban of 13 journalists, which has been criticised as irresponsible during coronavirus crisis

Beijing has defended its decision to expel journalists from three major US publications, saying it was responding to “unreasonable oppression” of Chinese journalists in the US, as a diplomatic row escalates between the two countries.

Speaking at a regular press briefing, the foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had been “compelled” to take countermeasures after Washington imposed restrictions on staff at Chinese state media outlets in the US.

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China-US standoff escalates as Beijing expels major US media staff

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New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post journalists among staff ordered to stop reporting and leave

China will expel US reporters of three major US news outlets, in a hugely damaging attack on foreign media coverage of the country – and an escalation of the showdown over the press between Washington and Beijing.

The decision, announced just after midnight Beijing time, requires US citizens working for the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to halt reporting and hand in their press cards within 10 days, if their credentials expire before the end of 2020.

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Donald Trump needs a media he despises to fight coronavirus | Emily Bell

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Containing the epidemic requires both reliable news coverage and truth from the president

It has taken until the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency for the existential risk this narcissistic authoritarian poses to be fully exposed. There have been other tests: the unconstitutional squeezing of immigration; the brief week or so when war with Iran felt inevitable; the imprisoning of children in cages along the United States’ southern border; not to mention the engagement with foreign governments in seeking personal gain. But it is the arrival of Covid-19, the infectious respiratory virus, that threatens a presidency reliant on a strategy of all narrative and no truth.

Trump has a core support base of people who are most vulnerable to Covid-19. Older people – particularly those who might resist taking the kind of interventionist measures being suggested – are very much at risk. Trump may have to halt his famous rallies in the middle of election season. More alien to him even than that, if containment of the virus is ever going to work he will have to build a good-faith alliance with the press to push out a unified and coherent message.

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Children as young as eight used to pick coffee beans for Starbucks

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Nespresso also named in TV exposé of labour scandal in Guatemala

High street coffee shop giant Starbucks has been caught up in a child labour row after an investigation revealed that children under 13 were working on farms in Guatemala that supply the chain with its beans.

Channel 4’s Dispatches filmed the children working 40-hour weeks in gruelling conditions, picking coffee for a daily wage little more than the price of a latte. The beans are also supplied to Nespresso, owned by Nestlé. Last week, actor George Clooney, the advertising face of Nespresso, praised the investigation and said he was saddened by its findings.

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‘Let’s burn Amber’: texts allegedly sent by Johnny Depp about ex read in court

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As actor’s libel case continues in London, high court hears details of messages allegedly sent about Amber Heard

Texts allegedly written by actor Johnny Depp contained death threats against his then wife Amber Heard, London’s high court has heard.

In November 2013, Depp allegedly sent a text to actor Paul Bettany saying: “Let’s burn Amber.” The same day, he allegedly texted Bettany saying: “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f–k her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”

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#BeKind: can Caroline Flack’s final plea be more than just a hashtag?

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Business brands promote a fundraising message of empathy following the death of the Love Island host

Scanning the magazine aisle at her local supermarket last weekend, Nikki Evans suddenly felt sick. She was stocking up on celebrity and gossip weeklies for her beauty salon when she realised that she couldn’t face buying them any more.

“It’s awful that it took the passing of Caroline [Flack] for people to stop and think ‘enough is enough’, but I re-evaluated and looked at all these magazines and I couldn’t see anything positive in them,” she told the Observer. “People come to my salon to feel good; we’re all about wellbeing and wellness, and I’m going to hand them magazines calling people trash? I’m done with it.”

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Politicians condemn press intrusion after Caroline Flack’s death

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ITV says Sunday’s Love Island will not be broadcast as calls mount for regulation of traditional and social media

Politicians have condemned press intrusion, calling for more regulation of both traditional and social media after the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack.

The former Love Island presenter is understood to have taken her own life on Saturday at her home in Islington, London. She had been charged with assaulting her partner and was due to stand trial in several weeks’ time.

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Lebanon’s financial crisis leaves its envied media industry in freefall

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Agenda-setting newspapers and TV stations facing scramble to survive amid state dysfunction

For nearly 80 years since its postwar independence, Lebanon has been a haven for regional media, giving a platform to journalism and entertainment that few other countries in the Middle East would dare to match.

Its newspapers set agendas, its TV stations tested boundaries, and its proprietors defied both war and downturn, producing content that challenged state narratives and tested the patience of the powerful.

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Political journalists boycott No 10 briefing after reporter ban

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Journalists in Downing Street walk out after Johnson aide tries to exclude some reporters

Political journalists boycotted a Downing Street briefing on Monday after one of Boris Johnson’s aides banned selected reporters from attending.

The confrontation took place inside No 10 after Lee Cain, Johnson’s most senior communications adviser, tried to exclude reporters from the Mirror, the i, HuffPost, PoliticsHome, the Independent and others from an official government briefing.

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Prince Harry loses Mail on Sunday complaint over sedated wildlife photos

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Harry told Ipso that article implied he misled public about pictures of a rhino, elephant and lion

The Duke of Sussex has lost a complaint against the Mail on Sunday over a claim by the newspaper that dramatic wildlife pictures he took in Africa did not highlight the fact the animals were sedated and tethered.

Prince Harry complained to press standards regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) that the newspaper had breached a clause of the editors’ code of practice relating to accuracy over its article about photographs he took of a rhino, elephant and a lion.

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Guardian to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms

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Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisis

The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels.

The move, which follows efforts to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and increase reporting on the climate emergency, was announced on Wednesday and will be implemented with immediate effect. The ban will apply to any business primarily involved in extracting fossil fuels, including many of the world’s largest polluters.

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Reporter who wrote book on Saudi crown prince was allegedly targeted by hackers

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State department investigates after New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard says his phone was targeted in 2018

A New York Times reporter was allegedly targeted with spyware linked to Saudi Arabia in 2018, at a time when the kingdom was targeting several Saudi dissidents around the world.

A new report by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School found that Ben Hubbard, who has written a book about Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, was targeted by spyware known as “Pegasus”, which is made by Israel’s NSO Group.

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Kobe Bryant: Washington Post reporter suspended after sexual assault case tweet

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Newspaper faces backlash after putting Felicia Sonmez on leave after post about 2003 rape allegation

The Washington Post has suspended a journalist after she tweeted about Kobe Bryant’s historical sexual assault case shortly after the basketball player and his daughter died in a helicopter crash.

Felicia Sonmez was put on leave after posting a link to an article about the 2003 rape allegation against the former LA Lakers player, with the newspaper saying her “poor judgment” in sharing the story had undermined the work of her colleagues.

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Sunday People ‘hired detectives to target Milly Dowler family’

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Papers lodged in high court civil case say family was put under unlawful surveillance

Private detectives were hired by the Sunday People newspaper to target the family of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in 2002, it has been alleged.

The claims are made in legal papers lodged as part of a civil action being taken by a range of claimants, including Prince Harry.

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Harry and Meghan in new privacy row – just hours after Canada reunion

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Couple threaten legal action over press pictures of Duchess of Sussex and baby Archie

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex began their new lives in Canada by firing a warning shot across the bows of the media over paparazzi photographs they said were taken without consent.

Within hours of Prince Harry touching down in Vancouver to join Meghan and their baby son, Archie, the couple’s lawyers were threatening legal action over pictures taken of the Duchess of Sussex while out for a stroll.

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