Opposition leader says party would change current system, in which PM has final say on who gets job
Keir Starmer has said Labour would make sure the BBC chair is independently appointed after Richard Sharp’s resignation following his failure to declare that he had helped Boris Johnson get a loan.
The Labour leader suggested the party would reform the system, in which the prime minister currently has the final say on who gets the job.
Continue reading...Different reports fly around while Fox News declines to comment on the cancellation of top TV host’s show
The exact reason behind the rightwing TV host Tucker Carlson’s abrupt firing from Fox News remains unclear, days after the star’s show was suddenly cancelled.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Carlson was fired after executives discovered vulgar text messages, including one in which he called a top executive the C-word. There were also concerns among Fox management that Carlson was acting as if he was above the network, the Journal reported.
Continue reading...PM has been accused of defending his former boss, but affair offers chance to put his own stamp on the corporation
Rishi Sunak used to work for Richard Sharp at Goldman Sachs. He brought him into government as an adviser during the pandemic. And on Friday he formally accepted his resignation as BBC chair.
Given the pair’s long relationship, Sharp’s resignation after failing to declare his role in facilitating an £800,000 loan for the former prime minister Boris Johnson might be expected to cause a political problem for the prime minister.
Continue reading...Conservative party accused of undermining broadcaster by flooding it with cronies after chair’s resignation
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to stop appointing Conservatives to key positions at the BBC after Richard Sharp’s resignation prompted criticism the party had undermined the broadcaster by flooding it with cronies.
Sharp quit as BBC chair on Friday morning after an investigation concluded he had failed to disclose key information about his relationship with the former prime minister Boris Johnson when applying for the job in 2021. Sharp helped facilitate an £800,000 loan guarantee for Johnson when he was in the running to take over the broadcaster but did not tell the appointments panel.
Continue reading...Report expected imminently will detail how Sharp came to be recommended for job by Boris Johnson
A potentially damning report on how Richard Sharp was recommended for the job of BBC chair by Boris Johnson is expected to be published on Friday morning.
Sources say the report, by the barrister Adam Heppinstall KC, could prove uncomfortable reading for Sharp.
Continue reading...Family of famed TV figure and former mayor of Cincinnati announces he died ‘peacefully’ at home in Chicago on Thursday
The talkshow host Jerry Springer, a former mayor of Cincinnati whose work was vastly influential in daytime TV worldwide, has died. He was 79.
Springer’s family said he died “peacefully” on Thursday at home in Chicago.
Continue reading...Entertainment giant wants court to overturn governor’s efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando
Disney sued Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and presumed challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday, saying he had subjected it to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation”.
The entertainment giant wants a court to overturn state efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World in Orlando. The lawsuit was filed within minutes of a DeSantis-appointed oversight board voting to override agreements made in February that allowed the company to expand the theme park and maintain control over neighboring land.
Continue reading...Bogdan Bitik was working as a fixer for Corrado Zunino, Italian correspondent for La Repubblica, who was wounded
A Ukrainian journalist working with reporters for La Repubblica has been shot dead by Russian snipers in southern Ukraine, while his Italian colleague was injured, the Italian newspaper said on Wednesday.
“Today, our correspondent Corrado Zunino and his fixer Bogdan Bitik were victims of an ambush near the bridge in Kherson by Russian snipers on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine,” La Repubblica said.
Continue reading...Abby Grossberg alleges she was subject to bullying, sexism and antisemitism while working on the former host’s prime-time show
Tucker Carlson’s abrupt departure from Fox News sent shock waves through the American political and media landscapes and immediately many US pundits linked it to the huge settlement the rightwing channel had just reached with Dominion Voting Systems.
Carlson, as a far-right provocateur, had been instrumental in the channel’s airing of conspiracy theories around the 2020 election that had often put Dominion’s voting machines at the heart of false claims of ballot rigging.
Continue reading...Designation as ‘very large online platform’ along with 16 other major names means big penalties for breaches
Twitter is among the tech firms that will face the toughest level of scrutiny under a new European Union regulatory regime for monitoring digital platforms, after warnings from Brussels that the Elon Musk-owned platform is unprepared for the new rules.
The company, which Musk bought in October 2022, has been designated a “very large online platform” under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which means complying with measures such as publishing an independent audit of its compliance with the legislation.
Continue reading...German magazine accused of putting down India with caricature depicting population overtaking China
A cartoon in the German magazine Der Spiegel poking fun at India as it becomes more populous than China has been castigated as “racist” by Indian ministers.
The cartoon shows a rickety old Indian train packed with people and swarms of passengers atop it. On a parallel track, a sleek Chinese bullet train is seen with just two drivers, looking surprised at the sight of the Indian train.
Continue reading...As one of the top proponents of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, Tucker Carlson loomed large over Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox. But messages released before the case’s settlement show Carlson apparently did not think much of Trump, or necessarily believe some of the claims he was putting on air. Here’s the Guardian’s Edward Helmore with a look back at what the Dominion case revealed about Carlson:
Tucker Carlson was once seen as untouchable. Now the most popular TV host on American cable news is at the center of a firestorm threatening to engulf Fox News and also anger Donald Trump, whose conspiracy theory-laden political cause he has long championed and who his audience loves.
Continue reading...Far-right cable news host leaves with immediate effect with interim presenters replacing him
The far-right host Tucker Carlson has left Fox News, it was abruptly announced on Monday.
“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the network said in a statement. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Continue reading...Reported detention of Li Yanhe has echoes of 2015 disappearances of five Hong Kong booksellers
Concerns are mounting for a Taiwan-based book publisher believed to have been detained in China, in a case that has echoed the disappearances in 2015 of five Hong Kong booksellers.
Li Yanhe, also known by the pen-name Fucha, reportedly travelled to Shanghai last month to visit relatives but has been uncontactable since Thursday. His alleged detention was first reported by Bei Ling, a Chinese writer and activist, who said on Facebook that he had been told by various sources that Li had been arrested by authorities in Shanghai.
Continue reading...More than 300 journalists write to Russia that arrest sends ‘dangerous signal’ about attitude to journalism
More than 300 foreign correspondents who have worked in Moscow have written to the Russian government to call for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter being held on espionage charges, saying his arrest sends a “disturbing and dangerous signal” about the country’s attitude to independent media.
Gershkovich, who was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last month on spying charges that carry a possible 20-year prison sentence, is the first US journalist detained on such charges since the end of the cold war. Both the Wall Street Journal and the US government has denied that he was involved in espionage.
Continue reading...Media giant parent Comcast says investigation by outside counsel led to departure of executive
The chief executive of NBC Universal, Jeff Shell, left the media giant on Sunday after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation, parent company Comcast said.
“I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret,” Shell said in a statement.
Continue reading...Move comes days after Fox reached a $US787.5m settlement with the voting equipment company Dominion in a separate defamation lawsuit
Lachlan Murdoch has dropped his defamation proceedings against the independent Australian media company Private Media, the publisher of Crikey.
The Fox Corporation CEO said he was ending the case in light of the settlement in the US of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News.
Continue reading...Lawyers were going to call media mogul this week, forcing him to appear in person for cross-examination
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems had planned to put media mogul Rupert Murdoch on the stand to testify this week before it reached a $787.5m settlement with Fox for its broadcasting of false claims about the company’s voting equipment after the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Dominion was going to call the 92-year-old Murdoch as its second witness, forcing him to appear in person for cross-examination before the end of the week. He would have followed Tony Fratto, a crisis communications consultant who represented Dominion after the 2020 election and contacted Fox many times to inform them they were making false claims.
Continue reading...Moscow using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets, say broadcasters
A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a state-run programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.
The investigation quotes a Danish counter-intelligence officer who claims the sabotage strategy is designed to be implemented in the event that Russia and the west enter a full-blown conflict.
Continue reading...El Faro moves its headquarters to avoid ‘fabricated accusations’ after 25 years reporting on drug wars, crime and corruption
El Faro has survived many pressures in its 25 years reporting on El Salvador’s bloody drug wars, crime and institutional corruption.
“We’ve been harassed. We’ve received death threats from drug cartels, requiring us to contract armed security guards. And we’ve had the police coming to our houses after we revealed their corruption scandals,” said Óscar Martínez, editor of the online investigative outlet. “Some of our journalists have been exiled, but we have managed to continue reporting from San Salvador.”
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