Longtime Ireland correspondent McDonald, 57, lauded after untimely death following treatment for cancer
Political leaders in Northern Ireland have led tributes to the writer and former Guardian and Observer correspondent Henry McDonald, who has died at the age of 57.
Family, friends and media colleagues expressed shock and sadness on Sunday after McDonald died at the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, where he was being treated for cancer.
Continue reading...Legislation could see companies fined millions of pounds for making unproven environmental assertions to sell their products
When the hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo car was launched in the UK in the spring of 2019, it was described as “so beautifully clean” that it “purifies the air as it goes”.
Hyundai Motor UK claimed that if 10,000 of its cars were on the road, carbon emission reduction would be “equivalent to planting 60,000 trees”.
Continue reading...The letter – also signed by thousands of subscribers – says the paper’s reporting has been used in support of anti-trans legislation
Nearly 1,000 New York Times contributors, in addition to tens of thousands of subscribers and readers of the Times, signed an open letter on Wednesday to the paper’s standards editor condemning the publication’s coverage of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people.
A second letter organized by the nonprofit Glaad (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) on Wednesday spoke against what it called “irresponsible, biased coverage of transgender people” in the Times.
Continue reading...Country’s finance ministry claims broadcaster has not fully declared its income and profits
India’s finance ministry has accused the BBC of tax evasion, saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country.
Indian tax authorities ended three days of searches of the British broadcaster’s Delhi and Mumbai offices on Thursday night. Opposition political parties and other media organisations have criticised the searches as an attempt to intimidate the media.
Continue reading...Revelation shows dangers posed by bad actors and paid operatives in democratic systems across Africa
An Israeli disinformation specialist hired to run covert dirty tricks campaigns in African elections hacked political advisers close to Kenya’s president, William Ruto, in the run-up to last year’s election, an investigation can reveal.
The interference did not prevent Ruto winning the poll, nor the peaceful transfer of power in Kenya, but the revelation highlights the growing risks posed by the involvement of bad actors and paid operatives in the relatively new democratic systems and institutions across Africa.
Continue reading...Searches come weeks after release of documentary critical of PM that was later blocked by government
BBC offices in India have been raided by tax department officials, just weeks after the release of a documentary critical of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government.
According to those working at the broadcaster, more than a dozen officials from the country’s income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, where hundreds of employees are based, to conduct a “survey”. Documents and phones of several journalists were taken and the offices sealed.
Continue reading...Marco Goecke allegedly confronted Wiebke Hüster at Hanover State Opera, furious at her verdict on a previous show
The director of a leading German ballet company has been suspended from his post and is being investigated by police after allegedly smearing a critic’s face with his dog’s excrement at the premiere of his new show after she described one of his productions as “boring” and “disjointed”.
Marco Goecke, the head of Hanover State Opera’s ballet company, has also been barred from the opera house, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday afternoon, after he confronted Wiebke Hüster, the ballet critic of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), in the interval of his latest show on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Reduced ad spends due to rising inflation and higher interest rates have battered Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate
Media conglomerate News Corp said on Thursday that it would cut 1,250 jobs after it missed estimates for second-quarter earnings due to weakness in its news and digital real estate businesses.
Rising inflation and higher interest rates are forcing companies to curb their ad and marketing spend, denting one of the major sources of revenue for companies such as News Corp, which has major publishing platforms including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, The Sun and The Times in the UK, and The Australian.
Continue reading...Cuts represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce in effort to save $5.5bn in costs and follow major job losses at other top US companies
Disney has announced a sweeping corporate restructuring that will result in 7,000 people losing their jobs as part of an effort to achieve US$5.5bn (£4.5bn, A$7.9bn) in cost savings, at the same time as revealing plans for sequels to Toy Story and Frozen.
The layoffs represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce and come after major job cuts at other US giants including Alphabet, Amazon, Ford and Meta.
Continue reading...Company temporarily restricted New York Post article in 2020 about contents of the abandoned computer of Joe Biden’s son
US lawmakers held a combative hearing on Wednesday with former senior staffers at Twitter over the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
The proceedings set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to hone in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias.
Continue reading...Man pleads guilty to manslaughter after his car hit motorcycle carrying John Williams Ntwali
A Rwandan driver has been fined 1 million Rwandan francs ($920) for involuntary manslaughter over the death of a top journalist who was critical of the government.
John Williams Ntwali, editor of the Chronicles newspaper, was killed on 18 January when a speeding vehicle rammed a motorcycle on which he was riding pillion.
Continue reading...Rise in online abuse a concern for regulator, who says investigators will be on the lookout for racist behaviour during voice to parliament referendum
Dating apps must cooperate to share information about “bad actors” using their services to abuse and harass other users, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said, as new data shows three-quarters of Australian adults reported at least one negative online experience in the last year.
Julie Inman Grant said her agency may soon issue legal notices to online dating services, compelling them to report on how they are responding to violence and threats – and also said the agency’s investigators would be actively looking out for misinformation and abuse of First Nations people during the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.
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Continue reading...Companies facing backlash amid warning of mid-contract price rises of up to 17% during cost of living crisis
Britain’s telecoms regulator is being urged to intervene over concerns that mobile and broadband operators are “lining their pockets” with £2.2bn of above-inflation price rises during the cost of living crisis.
While ministers have urged employees to show pay restraint, the mobile phone and broadband firms are facing a consumer backlash as they announce record price increases.
Continue reading...Talenthouse claims to ‘democratise creativity’, but designers who have completed commissions for top brands are out of pocket
It is a global technology platform that claims to “democratise creativity” by allowing up-and-coming artists to submit work to the world’s biggest brands.
But Talenthouse, which boasts clients including Netflix, Sony, Coca-Cola and the United Nations, has been accused of exploiting artists and failing to pay them, in some cases leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Continue reading...Financial watchdog warns over rise of ‘fin-fluencers’ targeting younger people on social media
More than 10,000 misleading financial promotions and scams aimed at consumers via social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have been identified and targeted by the financial watchdog during the past year.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the use of social media marketing channels and the rise of so-called “fin-fluencers” – particularly directing investment products at younger age groups – exploded last year, resulting in a record number of takedown notices and alerts.
Continue reading...Insiders say departure of popular BBC News presenters – with Martine Croxall also going – could prompt ageism row
Some of the BBC News channel’s most famous faces, including Jane Hill, Ben Brown and Martine Croxall, have been axed before the launch this spring of a channel that combines international and domestic news.
The trio have become familiar to UK viewers during times of political and economic turmoil and their departure could prompt a row about ageism, according to BBC insiders.
Continue reading...Muslim reporter Siddique Kappan had been charged under draconian anti-terrorism laws
Indian journalist Siddique Kappan, who was held in jail for two years without trial, has walked free after being granted bail in a case human rights groups alleged was politically motivated.
Kappan, a Muslim journalist from the southern state of Kerala, was arrested in October 2020 as he was on his way to the northern state of Uttar Pradesh to report on the high-profile case of a Dalit girl who was gang-raped and later died.
Continue reading...Two weeks on from the death of government critic John Williams Ntwali, police have failed to answer questions over the alleged road accident in which they say he was killed
Calls are growing for an investigation into the apparent accidental death two weeks ago of a prominent Rwandan journalist and government critic.
John Williams Ntwali, a regular critic of the authorities, was found dead on 18 January. According to reported police accounts, he was killed when a speeding vehicle rammed a motorcycle on which he was riding pillion in the capital, Kigali. A US senate committee said he had been “silenced”. Human rights organisations have joined other activists in raising doubts about the cause of the death of the 44 year-old editor of The Chronicles newspaper.
Continue reading...Shou Zi Chew will face legislators amid concerns over the social media app’s alleged collusion with Beijing in accessing user data
As the US legislative battle over TikTok continues to escalate, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of the video-sharing app, will make his first appearance before Congress to testify next month.
Chew will testify before the House energy and commerce committee on 23 March, Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers confirmed in a statement on Monday, as scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over data privacy concerns grows.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rami Ranger faces criticism over ‘deplorable’ comments about Pakistani journalists at the corporation
A Conservative peer has been accused of using “deplorable” and “racially charged language” in a scathing attack on the BBC’s recent documentary about the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Rami Ranger, who is already under investigation by the standards commissioners in the Lords, was criticised for comments made about Pakistani journalists at the corporation.
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