Category Archives: Newspapers

Censorship and silence: south-east Asia suffers under press crackdown

Posted on by

Regional trend sees criminal law repeatedly weaponised to target journalists and muzzle free and fair reporting

Standing on the court steps earlier this month after spending a night in detention, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa spoke defiantly to the dozens of gathered cameras. This was, she pointed out, the sixth time she had posted bail in the space of 18 months. “I will pay more bail than convicted criminals,” said Ressa. “I will pay more bail than Imelda Marcos.”

Ressa, the editor and founder of Rappler, a Philippine online news outlet which has been highly critical of president Rodrigo Duterte, has borne the brunt of a targeted crackdown on opposition media in the Philippines, a country which just two years ago was considered something of a beacon of free press in south-east Asia.

Continue reading...

Alabama newspaper at centre of KKK outcry appoints black female editor

Posted on by

Elecia R. Dexter takes reins of Democrat-Reporter from Goodloe Sutton, who called for return of Ku Klux Klan

A small-town Alabama newspaper that drew condemnation for an editorial this month calling for the Ku Klux Klan to “ride again” has named an African American woman as its new editor and publisher, the paper has said.

On Friday, Elecia R. Dexter took the reins of the weekly Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Alabama, from Goodloe Sutton, 79, the longtime owner of the paper who wrote the incendiary editorial that brought sharp rebukes from elected officials in the state and the public.

Continue reading...

Maria Ressa: editor of Rappler news website arrested on ‘cyber-libel’ charges

Posted on by

Philippines president Duterte government accused of shameless persecution

The editor of an online newspaper in the Philippines has been arrested on charges of cyber-libel as part of what the country’s journalists’ union said was a campaign of intimidation against voices critical of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaking from the headquarters of news website Rappler on Wednesday before she was taken away by four plainclothes officers, Maria Ressa said she was not intimidated. “These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail,” she added.

Continue reading...

John Oliver: ‘Maybe Brexit is a great idea. There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that’

Posted on by

As the British comedian’s show returns, he discusses fighting fake news, why Brexit is worse than Trump’s presidency – and his attempt to convert his kids to Marmite

The Donald Trump presidency, John Oliver observed in 2017, is a marathon. “It’s painful, it’s pointless and the majority of you didn’t even agree to run it; you were just signed up by your dumbest friend,” he told viewers. “And though you’re exhausted and your whole body is screaming for you to give up and your nipples are chafing for some reason, the stakes are too high for any of us to stop.”

Activists, politicians, judges, journalists and concerned citizens are all running the race. Some have embraced the challenge and now, past the halfway point, are finding hope as they see the 2020 election on the horizon. Others have wobbled, legs buckling, consumed by the anxiety that they will never make it. Oliver, a cheerful and charming presence in a conference room at HBO’s headquarters in New York, is surely one of those runners wearing a wacky costume, pointing out the absurdity of the exercise while embodying the stamina and stoicism required to reach the finish line.

Continue reading...

Philip Green accused of racial, physical and sexual abuse

Posted on by

Businessman faces string of allegations by employees after injunction is lifted

Philip Green allegedly subjected people working in his business empire to abuse and other inappropriate behaviour that was at times racial, physical and sexual, according to a report.

A host of serious allegations were published on Friday evening by the Daily Telegraph after an injunction obtained by the businessman was lifted.

Continue reading...

Philip Green’s high court action against Telegraph dropped

Posted on by

Newspaper will now be able to publish allegations of bullying and sexual harassment

The high court has brought Sir Philip Green’s legal action against the Daily Telegraph to an end, with the newspaper saying it will publish allegations of bullying and sexual harassment against the retail tycoon “in the coming days”.

The Topshop boss had been granted a temporary injunction blocking the Daily Telegraph from publishing allegations of misconduct made by five employees, who had all received substantial payments and signed non-disclosure agreements after settling their claims.

Continue reading...

Telegraph apologises and pays damages to Melania Trump

Posted on by

British newspaper pulls article peppered with false claims about US first lady from its site

The Daily Telegraph has paid “substantial damages” to Melania Trump and apologised “unreservedly” to the US first lady after making a number of false claims about her life in an article.

The claims were made in a story entitled The mystery of Melania, which ran on the cover of last Saturday’s Telegraph magazine, but the newspaper has now said it included a number of errors about Donald Trump’s wife which should not have been published.

The piece promised to tell the truth on what it described as the “most private and enigmatic” of presidential wives after interviews with “White House insiders, Slovenian school friends and photographers”.

Continue reading...

In the digital age, how much longer can Spain’s street kiosks survive?

Posted on by

As newsprint sales fall and tourists demand keychains, the city of Barcelona is trying to keep alive the old social culture that revolves around street kiosks

For generations, the day in Spain has begun with picking up the paper from the newspaper kiosk and then reading it over breakfast in a bar. These two urban institutions – the kiosk and the bar – have been the twin pillars of any barrio, or neighbourhood.

“You have a close relationship with your clients,” says Máximo Frutos, who owns a kiosk and is vice-president of the city’s news vendors association. “I have copies of the house keys for around 15 people in the barrio, in case they lose theirs. It’s not like any other business.”

Continue reading...

The Rock says Daily Star fabricated ‘snowflake’ criticism

Posted on by

Tabloid quoted actor Dwayne Johnson as saying millennials are ‘putting us backwards’

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has claimed the Daily Star fabricated a front-page story in which the film star appeared to criticise millennials as “snowflakes”.

The story, which appeared on Friday’s front page under the headline “The Rock Smacks Down Snowflakes” and was billed as an exclusive, was picked up by news outlets around the world.

Continue reading...