Category Archives: Media

Prominent US figures face backlash and firings for pro-Palestinian statements

Posted on by

From magazine editors to Hollywood agents, supporters of Palestinians experiencing widespread rebuke

A rising number of prominent US figures have faced discipline over controversial public comments they have made about the Palestinian cause, as attacks by Israel on Gaza after the 7 October massacre of Israelis by Hamas fighters intensified.

David Velasco, the editor in chief of Artforum magazine, was reportedly fired after the magazine published an open letter in response to the war.

Continue reading...

Al Jazeera journalist who lost his family in Gaza airstrike returns to work

Posted on by

Wael al-Dahdouh’s wife, children and grandson were killed in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on Tuesday

• Israel and Hamas at war – live updates

An Al Jazeera correspondent has returned to work just days after his entire immediate family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Wael al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in the strike late on Tuesday. They had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza following Israel’s warning on 13 October.

Continue reading...

Three former senior Lib Dems sue Sun and NoW publisher over phone hacking

Posted on by

Exclusive: Vince Cable, Chris Huhne and Norman Lamb claim they were targeted for stories or to 'exert political influence’

Two former Lib Dem cabinet ministers and a former party whip are suing the publisher of the Sun and the defunct News of the World, claiming that their phones were hacked for stories or to “exert political influence”, including when Rupert Murdoch was seeking approval for a takeover of BSkyB.

Journalists working at Murdoch’s newspapers are said to have unlawfully targeted the former business secretary Vince Cable as well as Chris Huhne, a former energy and climate change secretary, and Norman Lamb, a whip and sometime adviser to the then deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

Continue reading...

US asks Qatar to ‘turn down the volume’ of Al Jazeera news coverage

Posted on by

Secretary of state Antony Blinken made request of Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed during frantic trip to Doha

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has reportedly asked Qatar to moderate Al Jazeera’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas, amid concerns within the Biden administration that the channel is inflaming public opinion and heightening the risks of a wider conflict.

Blinken raised the satellite news channel’s coverage with the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, according to the website Axios, which said the US’s top diplomat had disclosed the request in a meeting with US Jewish leaders.

Continue reading...

BBC Radio 2 show loses 1.3m listeners after Vernon Kay replaces Ken Bruce

Posted on by

Mid-morning programme now heard by 6.9m people as opposed to 8.2m who tuned in before veteran’s departure in March

Vernon Kay’s BBC Radio 2 show has lost 1.3 million listeners since he took over from the presenter Ken Bruce, the latest figures show.

Bruce, 72, worked at the station for 31 years before leaving in March and joining Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) the following month. Kay, 49, took over the station’s mid-morning slot in May.

Continue reading...

How Bruce Lehrmann’s media interviews cost him his anonymity in Toowoomba rape case

Posted on by

The ‘high-profile man’ has been identified after TV appearances about the Brittany Higgins case came back to burn him

“Let’s light some fires,” said Bruce Lehrmann in June, during the first of his two-part “bombshell” interviews on Channel Seven’s flagship Spotlight program.

“Everything needs to be out there, in the open, so people can assess this for what it is.”

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Al Jazeera says Israeli airstrike killed the family of its Gaza correspondent

Posted on by

The wife, son, daughter and grandson of Wael al-Dahdouh, the bureau chief in Gaza, were targeted at a relief camp, outlet says

An Al Jazeera correspondent is mourning the loss of his entire immediate family after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

The family of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza after Israel’s warning on 13 October to those in the northern half of the territory to leave.

Continue reading...

Victorian premier Jacinta Allan accuses News Corp of using ‘sexualised imagery’ in cartoon

Posted on by

Allan says she doesn’t recall seeing a male politician being drawn in such a way

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has slammed a News Corp cartoon that depicts her naked at a fashion show, saying women should not be drawn with “sexualised imagery”.

In a cartoon published in the Herald Sun on Tuesday, cartoonist Mark Knight depicts Allan as a new nude catwalk model – using some pixelation – with the caption: “From the Commonwealth Games cancellation … the premier’s new clothes.”

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Chris Packham launches shoestring wildlife series on YouTube

Posted on by

Former Autumnwatch presenter describes 8 Out Of 10 Bats show as ‘the Sex Pistols of wildlife TV’

A new upstart is entering the big-budget world of wildlife film-making. After the BBC scrapped Autumnwatch, Chris Packham is launching his own nature show, which will be broadcast for two weeks on YouTube.

In stark contrast to the multimillion-pound Planet Earth III, which premiered on Sunday night with 97-year-old Sir David Attenborough narrating, 8 Out of 10 Bats, which begins on Monday evening, is an “anarchic” DIY operation that cost just £50,000 and features a diverse roster of teenage and 20-something naturalist presenters.

Continue reading...

New ITV rules require staff to ‘declare relationships with colleagues’

Posted on by

Policy reportedly includes sexual relationships and friendships, and launch follows Phillip Schofield’s resignation over workplace affair

ITV has drawn up strict new rules requiring staff to declare all relationships with colleagues – which could even include friendships – in the wake of Phillip Schofield’s resignation earlier this year over a workplace affair, according to a report.

The This Morning presenter quit after admitting that he had lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair, amid allegations that ITV bosses had turned a blind eye to the relationship.

Continue reading...

Sale of Telegraph newspapers and Spectator kicks off

Posted on by

Last-ditch attempt by Barclay family to shut down auction with blockbuster £1bn offer thwarted

The sale of the Telegraph newspapers and the Spectator has kicked off, thwarting a last-ditch attempt by the Barclay family to shut down the auction with a blockbuster £1bn offer.

On Friday morning, the boards of the parent companies of Telegraph Media Group (TMG), the parent company of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and the Spectator said that the advisers Goldman Sachs had launched a sales process for each of the businesses.

Continue reading...

Kirsty Wark to step down from BBC Newsnight after 30 years

Posted on by

The programme’s longest-serving presenter will leave after the next UK election

Kirsty Wark will step down as lead presenter of Newsnight after the next election, the BBC has announced.

Wark, who celebrated her 30th anniversary with the programme on Thursday, will continue presenting for the BBC on documentaries as well as on programmes such as The Reunion and Start the Week on Radio 4.

Continue reading...

Russian-American journalist detained in Russia for violating foreign agents law

Posted on by

Alsu Kurmasheva reportedly detained due to Radio Free Europe coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for Ukraine invasion

A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine.

Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday by masked Russian law enforcement agents.

Continue reading...

Netflix says password crackdown working as it adds 8.8 million new users

Posted on by

Streaming company announces plans to increase prices as profits rise, even as Hollywood strikes threaten to affect programming

Netflix announced its global crackdown on password sharing was working and unveiled plans to increase prices as it announced its latest quarterly results on Wednesday.

The streaming media company added 8.8 million new subscribers over the last three months, far better than expected and up from 2.4 million in the same quarter last year. The increase came even as a strike by Hollywood actors and writers threatened to affect the rollout of new shows.

Continue reading...

BBC building sprayed with red paint in ‘protest over Israel-Hamas coverage’

Posted on by

Palestine Action says it was behind incident in London, accusing BBC of ‘manufacturing consent for Israel’s war crimes’

A pro-Palestinian protest group has claimed responsibility for throwing red paint over the BBC’s headquarters, accusing the broadcaster of having “blood on its hands” over its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

The organisation Palestine Action identified itself as being behind the incident, which took place early on Saturday morning at Broadcasting House. It alleged that the broadcaster was “manufacturing consent for Israel’s war crimes”.

Continue reading...

Shelling on south Lebanon border kills one journalist and injures six

Posted on by

Shell, reportedly Israeli, struck group of international journalists covering clashes at border

A group of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon have been hit by shelling, with one killed and six injured. The Associated Press and Al Jazeera said the weapon was an Israeli shell.

Reuters said: “We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer Issam Abdallah has been killed. Issam was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who was providing a live signal. Our thoughts are with their families at this terrible time.”

Continue reading...

How to watch the Indigenous voice referendum results

Posted on by

Public broadcasters the ABC, SBS and NITV as well as Sky News will follow the count live, as commercial channels keep coverage to a minimum

Voters keen to know the result of the referendum on Saturday night will find blanket coverage on the public broadcasters, ABC, SBS and NITV, as well as on Sky News Australia, but the commercial networks are keeping their reporting to a minimum.

The SBS and NITV presenters, Anton Enus and Natalie Ahmat, a Mudburra and Wagadagam woman, will kick off the four-hour simulcast at 6.30pm with news and live crosses to reporters on the ground.

Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picks up seven Walkley award nominations

Posted on by

Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam and political editor Katharine Murphy among journalists named as finalists

Guardian Australia has picked up seven nominations in the 68th annual Walkley awards for excellence in journalism.

Guardian Australia dominated the short feature writing and commentary and analysis categories, taking out two of the three nominations in both.

Continue reading...

How Israel-Hamas war disinformation is being spread online

Posted on by

Case of footage from set of Palestinian film being repurposed to make false claims is far from one-off

The video shows a young boy in a black T-shirt apparently lying in a pool of blood on the ground. Above him is a camera, with a man shouting directions near him. Two men in kippahs, the Jewish skull caps, and men in green military fatigues similar to Israel Defence Forces (IDF) uniforms are gathered around him.

The clip has been viewed about 2m times on X, formerly known as Twitter. It was shared by a verified user with the caption: “Video showing Israel attempting to create fake footage of deaths.”

Continue reading...

Europe’s oldest student newspaper saved from closure

Posted on by

More than £3,000 raised to keep the Student – founded in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson at Edinburgh University – going

The oldest student newspaper in Europe has been saved from closure after its volunteer staff raised more than £3,000 in emergency crowdfunding.

A free newspaper, the Student was founded at the University of Edinburgh in 1887 by the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped, who served as its first arts editor.

Continue reading...