Category Archives: Media

Tanzania suspends news websites over ad referencing killings of dissidents

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Regulator says advert by publisher of the Citizen newspaper ‘likely to harm national unity’

Tanzania has suspended the online operations of a top newspaper publisher after one of its publications ran an animated advert depicting the country’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and referencing a spate of recent abductions and killings of dissidents.

The advert, published on X and Instagram on Tuesday by the Citizen, an English-language newspaper, showed a character resembling the president flipping through TV channels. Each channel showed people speaking about loved ones they had lost through disappearances.

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BBC cancels Boris Johnson interview after Laura Kuenssberg message gaffe

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Briefing notes mistakenly being sent to ex-PM meant it was ‘not right for the interview to go ahead’, says presenter

The BBC has cancelled a prime-time interview with Boris Johnson after the presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.

Kuenssberg said she sent Johnson the notes “in a message meant for my team”. The former BBC political editor said it was “embarrassing and disappointing”, adding the error meant it was “not right for the interview to go ahead”.

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Julian Assange says he ‘chose freedom over unrealisable justice’

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WikiLeaks founder says he pleaded ‘guilty to journalism’ in deal for his release and calls for protection of press freedom

Julian Assange has said he chose freedom “over unrealisable justice” as he described his plea deal with US authorities and urged European lawmakers to act to protect freedom of expression in a climate with “more impunity, more secrecy [and] more retaliation for telling the truth”.

In his first public statement since the plea deal in June ended his nearly 14 years of prison, embassy confinement and house arrest in the UK, the WikiLeaks founder argued that legal protections for whistleblowers and journalists “only existed on paper” or “were not effective in any remotely reasonable time”.

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‘Incestuous fantasy’: Netflix hit crime drama rekindles debate over Menendez murders

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Thousands, many born after the 1989 murders, have sprung to defence of Lyle and Erik Menendez since broadcast of Monsters

It was a crime that shocked and captivated a nation.

On the night of 20 August 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez, then 21 and 18, stormed into their Beverly Hills mansion, shot their father, Jose, five times at point-blank range in the back of his head, and their mother, Kitty, nine times, including in the face as she tried to crawl away. In a frantic 911 emergency call, they then claimed that somebody had killed their parents.

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Phillip Schofield says he will be ‘forever sorry’ on primetime TV return

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Former This Morning presenter says he was ‘so, so close’ to taking his own life after scandal that saw him quit ITV

Phillip Schofield has said he will be “forever sorry” in his first television appearance in more than a year since his shock downfall.

Schofield, now 62, quit ITV and admitted to having lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague at This Morning last May. His agent parted ways with him and he has stayed out of the spotlight since.

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Events arm of Economist group to stop signing tobacco sponsorship deals

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Exclusive: Move signals change of policy that was causing health groups to withdraw from conferences and disquiet within media brand

The division of the Economist’s parent group that has come under fire over its commercial ties with the world’s three biggest tobacco companies is to stop doing any “new work” with tobacco companies.

The decision follows a Guardian investigation which revealed that Economist Impact, a division separate from the newspaper that runs events and includes paid-for and sponsored content on its website, was forced to cancel a high-profile cancer conference due to a backlash from speakers and organisations over its ties with big tobacco.

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Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group raises offer to buy Rightmove to £6.2bn

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Australian group calls on Rightmove board to ‘engage now’ after fourth offer for UK online property portal

Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group has made a fourth attempt to buy Rightmove, increasing its offer to £6.2bn as it steps up its pursuit of the UK’s largest online property portal.

The Australian property group, which is controlled by News Corp, raised its cash and shares offer from the £6.1bn offered earlier this week and called on Rightmove’s board to “engage now” after it refused repeatedly to meet the suitor.

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Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins

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Poll suggests half of Congolese have not heard of deadly disease, as conspiracy theories and rumours spread

For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.

The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves.

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Walkley-award winning journalist to investigate potential issues in ABC’s Line of Fire reports

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Alan Sunderland to undertake independent review of online article and 7.30 story about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan

The ABC has appointed veteran journalist and media executive Alan Sunderland to undertake an independent review of the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reports about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan.

The Line of Fire reports concern an online article and 7.30 story by one of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Mark Willacy from the ABC’s Investigations unit.

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Phillip Schofield to return to TV 16 months after quitting This Morning over affair

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Former ITV presenter will appear in Channel 5’s Cast Away, which follows a celebrity stranded off Madagascar

Phillip Schofield is returning to television 16 months after quitting This Morning over what he called an “unwise, but not illegal” affair.

The 62-year-old, who stepped down from presenting the ITV daytime show in May 2023 after 21 years, will appear in a Channel 5 special called Cast Away, which follows a celebrity stranded on an island off the coast of Madagascar for nearly two weeks.

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Peter Jay, journalist and diplomat, dies aged 87

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Tributes paid to one of the UK’s foremost economics commentators who was also ambassador to Washington

Peter Jay, the former BBC economics journalist and diplomat, has died at the age of 87, his family has announced.

Colleagues in the political and media world paid tributes after he died “peacefully at home” on Sunday. Jay was one of the country’s foremost economics commentators of his time, spending time as the economics editor for the BBC and the Times.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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Israeli military shuts down Al Jazeera bureau in West Bank raid

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Qatari broadcaster has been ordered to close office for 45 days, months after being banned from operating in Israel

Israeli forces raided the office of Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order, the Qatari broadcaster said, with footage showing heavily armed and masked troops entering the premises in Ramallah.

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, the network reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment,” the soldier said.

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How the Elon Perry fabrication scandal shook the Jewish Chronicle

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A run of scoops from a writer who came ‘out of nowhere’ has led to intensified questions about the paper’s ownership

Elon Perry gave the impression he was a mover and a shaker.

There are the photos of him alongside Michael Gove – and taking selfies in Downing Street. And there are interviews too.

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Gambling firm appears to trivialise Lebanon pager blasts in social media post

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London-listed Evoke, which owns William Hill, apologises for post on Israeli Facebook page linking to job ads

The gambling company that owns the William Hill, 888 and Mr Green brands has apologised after one of its social media accounts appeared to make light of the pager explosions in Lebanon that killed 12 people and injured thousands.

The explosions on Tuesday were followed by walkie-talkies exploding on Wednesday, killing another 20 people.

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Ex-Trump advisers help to grow pro-Russia website that spreads misinformation

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George Papadopoulos and others involved in Intelligencer, increasingly popular source of news in rightwing circles

Amid the recent crackdown on Russian influence in American media, a group of former Trump advisers and operatives have quietly helped build a pro-Russian website that frequently spreads debunked conspiracy theories about the war in Ukraine, election fraud and vaccines.

Working alongside contributors for Kremlin state media, the former Donald Trump policy aide George Papadopoulos, his wife, Simona Mangiante, and others have become editorial board members of the website Intelligencer, which is increasingly becoming a source of news for those in the rightwing ecosystem.

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Billionaire Guy Hands’ property firm takes housing reforms to European court

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Annington Property fears recent legislation will force it to offload some of the 38,000 freeholds it owns on UK military homes

A property company founded by the billionaire Guy Hands has taken a legal fight with the UK government to the European court of human rights over fears it could lose significant sums as a result of planned housing reforms.

Annington Property, which owns the freehold of about 38,000 military homes, has filed the claim against the housing minister, Angela Rayner, over concerns that the new Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act could force it to off-load the homes well below market value. Last month it launched a challenge in the high court on the same grounds.

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Elon Musk’s X circumvents court-ordered block in Brazil

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Social media platform routes internet traffic outside of Brazil using a communications network update

Social media platform Twitter/X became accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday as an update to its communications network circumvented a block order by the country’s supreme court.

The X update used cloud services offered by third parties, allowing some Brazilian users to take a route outside of the country to reach X, even without a virtual private network, according to Abrint, the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers.

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JD Vance defends pet-eating remarks: ‘The media has a responsibility to fact-check’

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Republican VP nominee claims at Wisconsin rally that constituents told him ‘they’d seen something in Springfield’

JD Vance defended his comments about Haitian immigrants eating pets during a Tuesday rally, saying that “the media has a responsibility to fact-check” stories – not him.

The rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, came two days after the Ohio senator told CNN host Dana Bash it was OK “to create stories” to draw attention to issues his constituents care about, regarding inflammatory and unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had eaten residents’ pets.

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Guardian parent company in talks over potential sale of Observer

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Guardian Media Group announces it is in negotiations with Tortoise Media over world’s oldest Sunday newspaper

The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper.

Guardian Media Group (GMG) told staff it was in negotiations with the Observer after being approached with an offer that was significant enough to look at in more detail.

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Rupert Murdoch attends court hearing in battle over future of media empire

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Murdoch, 93, in Nevada for case that could determine which family members will control businesses after his death

A probate court in Nevada is set to begin reviewing evidence behind closed doors in a case that could determine who will control Rupert Murdoch’s media empire after his death.

Murdoch, 93, arrived at court on Monday for the hearing. Last year, he moved to change the terms of his irrevocable family trust in an effort to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, remains in charge of his cadre of newspapers and television networks, including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News Channel, according to reporting by the New York Times based on a sealed court document.

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