Egypt’s security forces raid online newspaper’s office in Cairo

Mada Masr is the last major independent outlet amid clampdown on media freedom

Egyptian security officials have raided the offices of the country’s last major independent news outlet, which has been described as the last bastion of press freedom in Egypt.

“Plainclothes security forces have raided Mada Masr’s office in Cairo,” the website tweete. “Staff are currently being held inside, and their phones have been switched off.”

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Rupert Murdoch says ‘there are no climate change deniers around’ News Corp

Murdoch was responding to a question at AGM about time given to ‘climate deniers’ by News Corp outlets in Australia

News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has said “there are no climate change deniers around I can assure you” after he was asked at the corporation’s AGM why his company gives them “so much airtime” in Australia.

Murdoch was speaking in New York on Wednesday when he received a question from a proxy for Australian activist shareholder Stephen Mayne.

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‘Climate of fear’: Nigeria intensifies crackdown on journalists

Activists warn muzzling of press under President Buhari could herald return to dark days of military rule

Fisayo Soyombo was eating an evening snack in Lagos in late October when a colleague called to warn him about a plan hatched by Nigerian government officials at a clandestine meeting to arrest him.

Hours earlier, the second in a three-part undercover series by the Abuja-based investigative journalist on corruption in Nigeria’s criminal justice system had been published.

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‘Attack on the media’: Vanuatu newspaper boss has work visa refused

Dan McGarry believes visa was rejected because of his paper’s critical coverage of government

The Vanuatu government has refused to renew the work permit of its largest newspaper’s long-serving director, Dan McGarry, in what he said was a “straight up attack on the media”.

After 16 years in Vanuatu, McGarry’s application to renew his work permit was refused on Thursday, meaning that McGarry, whose spouse and children are from the country, will have to leave Vanuatu.

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Royal experts question wisdom of Harry and Meghan documentary

Couple’s interview about impact of press intrusion could ‘just feed media machine’

The decision by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to agree to a highly emotional TV interview about their treatment at the hands of the press could open them up to further damaging headlines, according to PR experts and royal watchers.

In the ITV documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, Harry appeared to give credence to long-standing rumours of a rift with William when he admitted the brothers had “good days and bad days” and that they were following different paths.

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Paul Burrell and James Hewitt among latest phone-hacking cases

Dozens of celebrities join Prince Harry in new cases against Sun and Mirror publishers

Princess Diana’s former lover James Hewitt and her butler Paul Burrell are among dozens of individuals who have joined Prince Harry in the latest round of phone-hacking claims against tabloid newspaper publishers.

Hewitt and Burrell recently filed their cases against the publisher of the Daily Mirror at the high court, according to court filings seen by the Guardian, joining the Duke of Sussex in alleging the publisher intercepted their voicemails. Their claims will focus attention on the extent to which British newspapers targeted the royal family and those around them in the hunt for stories during the 2000s.

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Meghan: I was warned the British tabloids would destroy my life

Royal speaks of struggling to cope with her new life in interview for ITV documentary

The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she was warned before her marriage to Prince Harry that the British tabloids would “destroy” her life, as she spoke of struggling to cope with the reality of being part of the royal family.

In an interview for the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, she said the last year had been “hard” and that she had had “no idea” of what she would face.

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Prince Harry: ‘My mother’s death is wound that festers’

Duke of Sussex reveals emotional toll of following in footsteps of Diana, Princess of Wales

The Duke of Sussex has described the emotional impact of walking in his mother’s footsteps, and how dealing with her death is a “wound that festers”, in a new ITV documentary.

In an interview with ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby, Prince Harry was asked how he felt retracing the steps of Diana, Princess of Wales, during the recent southern Africa tour with the Duchess of Sussex, 22 years after his mother’s death.

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‘Toxic’ Telegraph made me feel ‘nauseous’, says Graham Norton

BBC chat show presenter explains why he stopped writing advice column

Graham Norton has said he stopped writing for the Daily Telegraph because the newspaper’s recent “toxic” political stances increasingly made him feel “nauseous”.

The BBC One chat show presenter wrote the newspaper’s advice column for 12 years before stepping down without explanation at the end of 2018. Norton has now said he decided to leave the outlet after it defended the likes of US supreme court then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh and published articles by future prime minister Boris Johnson containing falsehoods.

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Prince Harry’s lawsuit against tabloids could backfire, commentators claim

Duke of Sussex’s legal action against Sun and Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking takes attack on press up a level

Prince Harry’s move to take legal action against tabloids for alleged phone hacking is part of the royal’s ramped-up aggressive PR approach designed to send a message to the media, according to commentators.

It emerged on Friday night that the Duke of Sussex – who released a strongly worded attack on the British media for their treatment of his wife, Meghan, earlier this week – has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror.

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Prince Harry launches phone-hacking case against Sun and Mirror owners

Royal continues fight with UK newspapers after attacking treatment of his wife, Meghan

Prince Harry has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking, in an escalation of his all-out war with the British newspaper industry.

The decision follows Harry’s strongly worded attack on the British media’s treatment of his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

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Why is Meghan suing the Mail on Sunday?

Action comes after newspaper has published numerous embarrassing stories about her

The Mail on Sunday (MoS) published numerous embarrassing stories about Meghan in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry. Many of them required the cooperation of Meghan’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, who helped the newspaper produce numerous articles including staged paparazzi photos.

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Premier League appoints Guardian’s David Pemsel as chief executive

Clubs say Pemsel hired because of his ‘straightforward style and personal integrity’

The Premier League has appointed the Guardian’s David Pemsel as its new chief executive.

Confirmation of the appointment came at a Premier League meeting on Wednesday morning.

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Meghan sues Mail on Sunday as Harry launches attack on tabloid press

Prince compares wife’s treatment to Diana’s as proceedings over private letter are announced

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has taken the unusual decision to sue the publisher of the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.

The decision came as Prince Harry launched an extraordinary and highly personal attack on the British tabloid press and its treatment of his wife, saying he could no longer be a “silent witness to her private suffering”.

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Amal Clooney: give UN power to investigate journalist deaths

UK media freedom envoy speaks out after targeted killing of Jamal Khashoggi

A “glaring gap” exists in the world’s ability to investigate targeted state killings of human rights defenders and journalists such as Jamal Khashoggi, said Amal Clooney, the UK special envoy on media freedom.

She also said the UN special rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who undertook the UN’s investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, “had been forced heroically to manage a large-scale investigation with ridiculously few resources”.

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The Sun breached guidelines with Harry and Meghan story

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have received an apology from the paper after press regulator ruling

The Sun newspaper has apologised to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after the press regulator ruled it had breached accuracy guidelines in an article about an alleged staff parking ban at their home.

In a front page story headlined “NOT IN MEG BACK YARD” published in April, the newspaper claimed Prince Harry and Meghan had upset staff by imposing a ban on “low-paid staff” using a car park near Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

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Ian Paisley Jr criticised by NUJ for personal attack on journalist

North Antrim MP accused Sam McBride of lying as part of agenda to destroy DUP

Ian Paisley Jr has been strongly criticised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for personal comments he made about a reporter in Belfast.

The North Antrim MP accused the News Letter’s political editor, Sam McBride, of lying as part of “an agenda to attempt to undermine and destroy the DUP”. In a 750-word Facebook post, since removed, Paisley described the journalist as “incredibly immature, intellectually weak and a simplistic fellow”.

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Gwyneth Paltrow ‘a crucial source’ in Harvey Weinstein revelations

A new book says the actor was scared of going on the record at first but then encouraged other women to speak out

Gwyneth Paltrow has been named a key figure in the New York Times story that first catalogued a series of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and led to the film producer’s dismissal from his own company and subsequent prosecution.

In a new book titled She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey – the New York Times reporters whose story on 5 October 2017 triggered Weinstein’s downfall – Paltrow is said to have been “scared to go on the record but became an early, crucial source, sharing her account of sexual harassment and trying to recruit other actresses to speak”.

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Lebedev dinner with Mohammed bin Salman raises questions over Saudi links

Independent owner hosted Saudi leader in London last year

Evgeny Lebedev, the owner of the Independent and the Evening Standard, hosted a private dinner for the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, raising further questions about the media mogul’s links to the de facto ruler of the Middle Eastern kingdom.

Lebedev’s news outlets are being investigated due to public interest concerns over a mysterious Saudi investment made through a web of offshore bank accounts, with the UK government suggesting that the Independent and Evening Standard are now part-owned by the Saudi state. The culture secretary, Nicky Morgan, has until Friday to decide whether or not to appeal against a court ruling that the UK government missed a deadline to intervene in the deal.

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