Category Archives: Newspapers & magazines

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by
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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.”

Continue reading...

Julian Assange: Australian MPs call on UK to block US extradition

Posted on by

Politicians from WikiLeaks founder’s home country have flown to UK to visit him in jail

Boris Johnson should block attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the US, say two Australian MPs who have flown to the UK to visit the WikiLeaks founder.

Andrew Wilkie, an independent federal MP, said the extradition of Assange, who has been charged by the US with conspiring to hack into a secret Pentagon computer network, would set a dangerous precedent.

Continue reading...

Politicians condemn press intrusion after Caroline Flack’s death

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Brazil: judge dismisses cybercrimes accusations against Glenn Greenwald

Posted on by

Prosecutors had accused the journalist of helping a group hack into the phones of local authorities

A Brazilian judge has rejected charges against the US journalist Glenn Greenwald stemming from his role in producing a series of damaging political exposés involving the celebrity justice minister of Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

Federal prosecutors last month accused Greenwald – a staunch Bolsonaro critic – of being part of a “criminal” group of hackers which had allegedly pilfered messages from the mobile phones of Brazilian prosecutors and judges.

Continue reading...

Political journalists boycott No 10 briefing after reporter ban

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Prince Harry loses Mail on Sunday complaint over sedated wildlife photos

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Guardian to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Sunday People ‘hired detectives to target Milly Dowler family’

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Johnson met Murdoch on day he signalled general election bid

Posted on by

News Corp owner was the only media baron the prime minister saw in his first three months

Boris Johnson saw Rupert Murdoch for a “social meeting” on the day he signalled his intention to seek a general election last year, according to new transparency disclosures.

Johnson saw the media billionaire on 2 September, the day when Downing Street briefed that he would be seeking an autumn election if his Brexit plans were thwarted. In the event the election was pushed back to December.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Brazilian prosecutors charge journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes

Posted on by

Greenwald accused of helping hackers who obtained cellphone messages between leading figures in anti-corruption investigation

Brazilian federal prosecutors have indicted the American journalist Glenn Greenwald for cybercrimes, alleging he “helped, encouraged and guided” a group of hackers who obtained cellphone messages between leading figures in Brazil’s mammoth Car Wash anti-corruption investigation.

The leaks, subsequently published in several stories on the investigative site the Intercept Brazil, which Greenwald co-founded, appeared to show collusion between then judge Sérgio Moro and prosecutors and exacerbated questions of political bias of the investigations. Moro was subsequently named justice minister by the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Continue reading...

Meghan gets twice as many negative headlines as positive, analysis finds

Posted on by

Guardian analysis appears to support claim Duchess of Sussex receives more critical treatment than Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Sussex gets more than twice as many negative headlines as positive ones, according to Guardian analysis of articles published between May 2018 and mid January 2019.

The analysis – which appears to support Meghan’s argument that she has faced highly critical treatment in the British press – found that of the 843 articles in 14 print newspapers since mid-May 2018, 43% were negative. Just 20% of the articles were positive, with the remaining 36% remaining neutral.

Continue reading...

Mail on Sunday could call Thomas Markle in high court defence

Posted on by

Newspaper faces legal action from Duchess of Sussex for publishing excerpts from a letter to her father

Thomas Markle could be called to give evidence at the high court against his estranged daughter Meghan, as part of her ongoing legal action against the Mail on Sunday, after it emerged that the paper’s defence appears to rely on his account.

The Duchess of Sussex is suing the newspaper for breach of copyright, invasion of privacy, and misuse of personal data after it published excerpts from a letter she sent her father complaining about how he was treating her.

Continue reading...

‘No debate, no democracy’: journalists in Nepal fight new threat to press freedom

Posted on by

Bills introduced by ruling Communist party will bring in heavy fines and the threat of jail to stifle debate, say critics

Jail terms of up to five years could be imposed on people in Nepal who post “offensive” comment on social media sites, including Facebook and Instagram in the latest move by the government to crack down on dissent.

The information technology bill, introduced at the end of December, imposes fines of up to 1.5m rupees (about $13,000) for anyone posting content deemed to promote hate crime or ridicule. It would apply to all social networking sites.

Continue reading...

‘Rogue royals’? Pundits furious over Harry and Meghan’s step back

Posted on by

Announcement by pair that they are stepping back from public life brings hysterical response

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from public life has provoked vitriolic attacks on the couple and hyperbolic predictions on what it could mean for the monarchy.

The announcement came after Prince Harry and Meghan criticised media intrusion and launched legal action against the Mail on Sunday. This, along with reports that the couple’s decision has upset the Queen, appears to have fuelled the ferocity of the reaction.

Continue reading...

Alex Duval Smith obituary

Posted on by

Foreign correspondent with a knowledge and love of Africa who worked for the Guardian, the Independent and the BBC

The journalist Alex Duval Smith, who has died of cancer aged 55, was a free spirit with a remarkable gift for connecting with others across social, language or cultural barriers.

For more than two decades she worked as a reporter and correspondent in European and African countries, for the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the BBC, Radio France International and France 24. She had a deep knowledge of and love for Africa and was a citizen of the world – with two nationalities and three languages; she had lived in almost a dozen countries.

Continue reading...