Category Archives: Newspapers & magazines

Former UK supreme court head quits media freedom role over work as judge in Hong Kong

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David Neuberger was part of court panel that dismissed appeal of Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy activists

David Neuberger, the former president of the UK’s supreme court, has resigned from his role as chair of a legal advisory board to an international media freedom coalition, citing the “concern expressed” over his role as a judge in Hong Kong.

Lord Neuberger said he had been considering his position as chair of the high-level panel of legal experts that advises the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), an international NGO, for several months.

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Ex-Kansas police chief who raided local newspaper criminally charged

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Gideon Cody, former Marion police chief, is also accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information

A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct.

The single charge against Gideon Cody, the former Marion police chief, alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days. The charge was filed on Monday in state district court in Marion county and is not more specific about Cody’s alleged conduct.

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Bangladeshi journalists hopeful of press freedom as Hasina era ends

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Reporters cautiously optimistic as interim government takes over after years of intimidation and censorship

Bangladeshi journalists are hoping the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina will bring an era of censorship and fear to an end, as they prepare to hold a new interim government to account.

Arrests, abuse and forced disappearances at the hands of Bangladesh’s security forces have loomed over journalists for most of Hasina’s 15-year rule, preventing them from routine reporting for fear of writing anything that could be perceived as embarrassing for the government.

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Philippines court voids order to shut down independent news site Rappler

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Outlet, which was hit with order during Rodrigo Duterte administration, hails ruling after ‘eight years of harassment’

A court in the Philippines has voided a shutdown order that was issued against Rappler, an independent news outlet known for its scrutiny of the former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Rappler, which was co-founded by the Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Ressa, had been issued a shutdown order in 2018, during Duterte’s administration, over claims it had violated restrictions on foreign ownership in media.

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Russia frees Evan Gershkovich and others in biggest prisoner swap since cold war

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Several foreigners and Russian political prisoners released as Germany frees hitman Vadim Krasikov as part of deal

The largest prisoner swap between Russia and the US since the cold war has taken place, as 16 people were freed from Russian custody including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Several other foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners were also freed.

The exchange took place at Ankara airport on Thursday in a complicated operation in which planes arrived from and departed to multiple countries.

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Somalia arrests another journalist as press clampdown intensifies

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Detention of reporters for covering sensitive news is having a ‘chilling’ effect on free media in Somalia, say rights groups

The arrest of a journalist for reporting on drug use in the Somali military is the latest incident in an apparent clampdown on critical reporting in the country, which is having a “chilling” effect on Somalia’s media, rights campaigners said.

AliNur Salaad was detained last week and accused of “immorality, false reporting and insulting the armed forces”, after publishing a now-deleted video suggesting that soldiers were vulnerable to attacks by al-Shabaab militants because of widespread use of the traditional narcotic khat.

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Freedom safeguards for Italy’s public service media ‘urgently needed’

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EU officials ask Giorgia Meloni to guarantee independence and funding of public broadcaster amid growing worries

The European Commission has raised the alarm about the independence of Italy’s public service media and Rome’s failure to reform the country’s strict defamation law, which is widely seen as silencing government critics.

In a report issued on Wednesday EU officials identified “persisting challenges related to the effectiveness of [the] governance and funding” of Italy’s public service media, urging Giorgia Meloni’s government to guarantee both its independence and its funding.

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Russian court sentences US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison

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Reporter found guilty of spying in trial thought to have been rushed in preparation for prisoner swap

A Russian court has found the US journalist Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison, after a trial widely described as a sham.

Gershkovich, 32, denied the charges and pleaded not guilty during the secretive court proceedings in Yekaterinburg, mostly held behind closed doors. His employer, the Wall Street Journal, described the verdict as a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.

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No more ‘basket-case Britain’: Europe welcomes Starmer reset in UK-EU ties

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PM’s promise to draw line under years of fractious relations greeted with plaudits and relief by European media

Keir Starmer’s promised “reset” of the UK’s ties with the rest of Europe has drawn a positive response in European media, with one longtime journalist rejoicing that she will never again have to cover “Britain as a basket case”.

The prime minister told leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday that he wanted to draw a line under years of fractious relations with the rest of Europe. The relaunch was greeted with a sense of relief that after years of chaotic leadership in London a new age of cooperation was beginning.

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Wall Street Journal fires new chair of Hong Kong Journalists Association

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Selina Cheng says she believes her termination is linked to her taking up the position at the embattled union

The chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association has been fired by her employer, the Wall Street Journal, weeks after being appointed as the head of the embattled union.

Selina Cheng said she was “appalled” that her first press conference as HKJA chair was to announce that she had been “fired for taking up this position in a press union”.

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Russia bans Moscow Times in crackdown on independent media

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Move leaves anybody who cooperates with ‘undesirable’ news outlet liable to prosecution

Russia has classed the Moscow Times as an “undesirable organisation”, outlawing its activities inside Russia and leaving anybody who cooperates with it open to prosecution.

The Kremlin has escalated a campaign against independent media and reporting since Russia launched a military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

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Record number of journalists killed in Pakistan already this year

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Seventh and most recent victim was ambushed while driving, as most cases thought likely to be work-related

Seven reporters have been killed in Pakistan in the first six months of 2024, a record annual number with half a year still to go.

The most recent victim was Khalil Jibran, a former president of a local press club in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. He died in June when the car he was driving was ambushed by two men who dragged him out and shot him multiple times.

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Independent Muslim who beat Labour in Leicester says victory was not ‘sectarian’

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Shockat Adam says he is not a single-issue MP, but will fight on NHS and housing as well as Gaza

The man who pulled off a shock victory at the general election by ousting shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth has criticised claims that the wave of strong showings by independent Muslim candidates represents the rise of “sectarian” voting.

Shockat Adam, an optometrist, caused a huge upset by beating Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general and a familiar face in Labour’s election campaign, to become the new MP for Leicester South.

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UK political parties on track to spend £1m on election day online ads

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Digital campaigning gets round media blackout rule restricting broadcasters’ coverage while polls are open

The UK’s political parties are on track to spend more than a million pounds on online adverts on Thursday, circumventing a media blackout rule that forces television and radio stations to stop their election coverage when polls open.

British parties have traditionally ceased top-level campaign activity when voting began as they had no way to get out their message out. This is because of a longstanding broadcasting rule, enforced by the media regulator Ofcom, that states: “Discussion and analysis of election and referendum issues must finish when the poll opens.”

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Journalists refused entry to Azerbaijan energy conference ahead of Cop29

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Incident reignites concerns over crackdown on media before crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year

Western journalists were refused entry to an energy industry conference in Azerbaijan earlier this month, reigniting concerns over the state’s crackdown on the media ahead of crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year.

At least three journalists from the UK and France have told the Guardian that they felt “unsafe” after they were denied entry to the Baku Energy Week forum, despite registering with the event organisers weeks in advance.

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Closed-door trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich begins in Russia

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WSJ reporter faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on spying charges US says are politically motivated

A Russian court has begun a closed-door trial of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges that he, his employer and the US government have all described as politically motivated.

Gershkovich appeared in a courtroom in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday, his head shaven by prison authorities, after being transferred from the Moscow jail where has been held since March 2023.

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Nigel Farage attacks Mail newspapers over ‘Putin ally’ reports

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Reform UK leader accuses group of trying to stop his party breaking through into parliament

Nigel Farage has launched a stinging attack on the Daily Mail group, accusing the newspapers of trying to stop Reform UK “breaking through into parliament” by publishing reports that suggest he is an ally of Vladmir Putin’s administration.

Farage said the newspaper, which has often been supportive of him in the past, was “collaborating with the Kremlin to protect the dying Conservative party”, also lashing out at Boris Johnson for joining condemnation of his comments about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich to soon stand trial, Russian prosecutor indicates

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Wall Street Journal reporter faces ‘false and baseless charge’ and ‘sham trial’, say paper’s publisher and editor in chief

Russian authorities have indicated that the jailed American reporter Evan Gershkovich will soon stand trial in Ekaterinburg more than a year after his arrest on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the White House have decried as politically motivated.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison since last March in the highest-profile arrest of an American journalist in Russia since the cold war.

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Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo wins Italy’s prestigious Premiolino award

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Correspondent scoops ‘Italian Pulitzer’ for ‘exceptional work’ reporting on Ukraine and Israel-Gaza conflict

The Guardian international correspondent Lorenzo Tondo has been awarded the Premiolino, one of Italy’s oldest and most prestigious journalism prizes, for his reporting on the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Tondo, 42, who joined the news organisation in 2016 and covers Ukraine, the Middle East and the migration crisis around the Mediterranean, is the first Italian journalist working for a foreign publication to win the award, known as the “Italian Pulitzer”.

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Washington Post: Telegraph veteran to take over from Sally Buzbee as executive editor

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First woman in the role to be replaced by Telegraph deputy editor, Robert Winnett

A veteran of the UK’s Daily Telegraph is to become executive editor of the Washington Post, replacing Sally Buzbee, who is stepping down after three years at the top of one of the US’s most respected news brands.

Buzbee, the first woman to hold the post, will be initially replaced by the former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray, until this autumn’s presidential election. Robert Winnett, currently the deputy editor of the Telegraph Media Group, will then take over the role.

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