Category Archives: Media

Newspapers in US closing at rate of two a week despite efforts to halt trend

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Areas without a reliable source of local news tend to be poorer, older and less educated than those covered well


Despite a growing recognition of the problem, the United States continues to see newspapers die at the rate of two per week, according to a report issued on Wednesday on the state of local news.

Areas of the country that find themselves without a reliable source of local news tend to be poorer, older and less educated than those covered well, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications said.

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Reporter shot to death in Mexico, the 12th journalist killed there this year

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Attacks on the press have increased 85% in the three years since president Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power

Yet another Mexican reporter has been shot to death, bringing to 12 the number of journalists killed this year in the country, one of the world’s most dangerous for media workers.

Antonio de la Cruz, 47, was shot on Wednesday as he was leaving his house with his 23-year-old daughter, who was seriously injured, according to state prosecutors and the newspaper that employed him.

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BBC journalist tells court how he was chased by mob of anti-vaxxers

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Nick Watt said he was ‘very scared’ and ‘shaken’ after pursuit by protesters at anti-lockdown rally in London

A BBC journalist said he felt “very scared” and “shaken” as he was chased by a mob of anti-vaxxers in London last year.

Anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown protesters, who had been attending at rally in central London, called Nick Watt a “traitor” and shouted in his face, Westminster magistrates court heard on Wednesday.

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Philippines orders news site Rappler to close as Nobel prize-winner Maria Ressa vows to fight on

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The ‘kill’ order, which seeks to revoke the company’s certificates of incorporation, was made in the final days of Rodrigo Duterte’s rule

The Philippine government is affirming a previous order to shut down the news website Rappler, according to its co-founder, the Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa.

Rappler, which has been praised for exposing abuses of power and growing authoritarianism under the outgoing Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has faced a series of legal charges over recent years.

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Delhi police arrest Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair over tweet from 2018

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Journalists demand release of co-founder of Alt News after he was accused of insulting Hindus

The co-founder of a factchecking website has been arrested by police in Delhi weeks after he highlighted derogatory comments made by a spokesperson for Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) about the prophet Muhammad.

Mohammed Zubair, who set up the Alt News website, flagged the remarks made during a television debate at the end of May on Twitter, bringing them attention they may not otherwise have had.

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BBC’s Amol Rajan criticised for using phrase ‘pro-life’ in Roe v Wade interview

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Pro-choice campaigners say hearing the term, seen as partisan, on Today programme was ‘disappointing’

One of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters has been criticised for using the term “pro-life” to describe anti-abortion campaigners in a discussion about the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

The term, which is considered partisan, was used twice by Amol Rajan during Saturday morning’s Today programme on Radio 4, in segments about the landmark ruling ending Americans’ constitutional right to abortion.

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PRGuy unmasks himself in video with Friendlyjordies after legal threat by Avi Yemini

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Jeremy Maluta reveals he is behind pro-Labor Twitter account PRGuy17 but says he has no media experience or connection to Daniel Andrews

The man behind the formerly anonymous pro-Labor Twitter account PRGuy17 has unmasked himself, after far-right figure Avi Yemini attempted to use the courts to reveal whether the account had ties to the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews.

Jeremy Maluta told YouTuber Friendlyjordies in a video released on Friday that he has no PR or social media experience, works in an industry completely unrelated to politics or the media, and has no connections to Andrews.

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Peter Dutton asks high court for permission to appeal against defamation case loss to Shane Bazzi

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Liberal leader says refugee advocate’s May win in full federal court was a ‘miscarriage of justice’ and applies for special leave to appeal

Peter Dutton has sought leave to appeal in the high court against his loss in the defamation case he brought against Shane Bazzi, questioning whether there had been a “miscarriage of justice”.

The Liberal party leader has filed an application for special leave to appeal against his loss in the full federal court, arguing that the appeal court erred by finding Bazzi’s tweet “Peter Dutton is a rape apologist” did not convey the defamatory meaning that he “excused rape”.

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Carrie Johnson and the curious case of the vanishing Times story

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Report had claimed Boris Johnson tried to hire his now wife as chief of staff when foreign secretary, but then it was deleted

At first glance, the story appeared to be the political scoop of the weekend.

On Saturday, the Times reported claims that Boris Johnson had tried to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary.

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Sir Ringo Starr among those wishing Sir Paul McCartney a happy 80th birthday

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Ex-Beatle turned 80 on Saturday, days after a brief US tour which saw him joined on stage by Bruce Springsteen

Sir Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen and Ronnie Wood were among stars who have been wishing Sir Paul McCartney a happy 80th birthday.

The ex-Beatle turned 80 on Saturday, days after finishing a brief US tour. The milestone comes the weekend before McCartney becomes Glastonbury’s oldest solo headliner, when he takes to the Pyramid stage on Saturday.

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Eurovision 2023 should be held in Ukraine, Boris Johnson says

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Comments come after Ukrainian criticism of organiser EBU’s decision to move contest to UK

Boris Johnson has said Ukraine deserves to host next year’s Eurovision song contest and that he hopes it will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia.

The BBC is in talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about hosting the event in the UK, which came second in the 2022 contest, after the body ruled it could not go ahead in Ukraine as planned.

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Mo’Nique and Netflix reportedly settle lawsuit alleging discrimination

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The Oscar-winning comedian and actor accused the streamer of racial and sexual discrimination over a proposed comedy special

Mo’Nique and Netflix reportedly have settled her lawsuit that accused the streaming service of racial and sexual discrimination for allegedly making her a lowball offer for a proposed comedy special.

The matter has been “amicably resolved”, Michael Parks, an attorney representing Mo’Nique in the suit, told the Hollywood Reporter.

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Justin Stevens apologises to ABC staff after report finds workplace racism

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ABC’s news director emailed staff on Thursday following internal allegations over experiences of racism at the broadcaster

The ABC news director, Justin Stevens, has apologised to staff after a “disturbing” report found some Indigenous and culturally diverse staff have experienced racism at the national broadcaster.

“These things should never happen,” Stevens said in an email to all news staff on Thursday.

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Encrypted messaging apps should be regulated to tackle extremism, Victorian inquiry hears

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Experts say spread of misinformation and use of encrypted services drives far-right extremists and racism

The federal government needs to take action against encrypted messaging apps like Telegram to curb the rise of far-right extremism, a Victorian inquiry has been told.

Dr Belinda Barnet, a media lecturer at Swinburne University, told a hearing that far-right extremists had initially been sharing hateful content on mainstream sites such as Facebook and Twitter but were increasingly being deplatformed.

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Haze Fan: China says Bloomberg staffer released on bail earlier this year

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US media firm says it has not made contact with Fan who was detained in Beijing in 2020 on suspicion of national security crimes

Haze Fan, a Bloomberg News staff member in China who was detained in late 2020, was released on bail early this year, according to a statement by the Chinese embassy in Washington that was dated May and reported by the news organisation on Tuesday.

New York-based Bloomberg said in a news report that it was made aware of the embassy statement over the weekend, and that it had not been able to contact Fan.

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Brazil Indigenous agency staff strike over Bruno Pereira disappearance

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Employees walk off the job amid anger over statements criticising the former Funai employee who went missing with Dom Phillips

Employees with Brazil’s national Indigenous foundation (Funai) have launched a one-day strike, amid anger over what they say is the dismantling of a key government agency and official statements criticising Bruno Pereira, the former Funai employee who went missing along with the British journalist Dom Phillips last week.

Funai staff and related civil service employees walked off the job at 9am on Tuesday in Brasília, Florianópolis and Dourados, and others are voting on whether to launch a wider strike next week, officials with the unions said.

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Russia bans 29 UK journalists, including Guardian correspondents

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Military figures and MPs on list along with staff from most major British newspapers and broadcasters

Russia has banned 29 members of the British media, including five Guardian journalists, from entering the country, its foreign ministry has said.

Moscow said the sweeping action was a response to western sanctions and the “spreading of false information about Russia”, as well as “anti-Russian actions of the British government”.

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Journalist conviction in Zimbabwe a ‘travesty of justice’, say campaigners

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Media freedom groups say New York Times reporter’s verdict reflects press clampdown as election looms

Media freedom campaigners have criticised the conviction of a journalist in Zimbabwe for allegedly breaking immigration laws, describing the decision as “a monumental travesty of justice” that raises concerns for the press in the lead-up to elections next year.

Jeffrey Moyo, a freelance correspondent for the New York Times, was given a suspended prison sentence of five years and fined $615 by a court in Bulawayo after being found guilty on Tuesday of helping to obtain press accreditation needed by two reporters from his news organisation to enter Zimbabwe.

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BBC to pay £30,000 to Bangladeshi Labour councillor for identity mix-up

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Liza Begum said confusion with Apsana Begum who was acquitted of fraud charges ‘reflects notion all people of colour look the same’

The BBC has agreed to pay £30,000 in damages to a British Bangladeshi Labour councillor after it mixed her up with Apsana Begum in a news item about the MP facing housing fraud charges.

Pictures of Liza Begum at an event to launch Labour’s 2019 race and faith manifesto were broadcast on BBC London News during an exchange on 29 October 2020, in which the BBC London political correspondent said: “This is Apsana Begum … she faces three charges of dishonesty.”

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Palestinian reporter’s death highlights weakness of Israeli army investigations

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Fatal shooting of Shireen Abu Aqleh in May raises fresh concerns over military inquiries into deaths of Palestinians

In August 2020, 23-year-old Dalia Samoudi was killed when a bullet came through the window of her home in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, during an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid on a nearby house.

Al Jazeera reported on the incident, in which witnesses said she had been killed by an IDF soldier firing in the direction of Palestinians throwing stones. Two years later, the television network would report on the death of its longtime correspondent, Shireen Abu Aqleh, in nearly the same spot.

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