Category Archives: Media

End of an era for New Zealand media as Newshub set to air final bulletin

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New Zealand left with one state-owned, English language network as shrinking news landscape prompts fears over impact on democracy

One of New Zealand’s longest running news outlets, Newshub, will air its final bulletin on Friday, marking the end of an era for the country’s media.

In April, Warner Bros Discovery announced it would close all its Newshub news operations, including the news website, the morning television show and the 6pm television bulletin, resulting in roughly 300 job losses.

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UK political parties on track to spend £1m on election day online ads

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Digital campaigning gets round media blackout rule restricting broadcasters’ coverage while polls are open

The UK’s political parties are on track to spend more than a million pounds on online adverts on Thursday, circumventing a media blackout rule that forces television and radio stations to stop their election coverage when polls open.

British parties have traditionally ceased top-level campaign activity when voting began as they had no way to get out their message out. This is because of a longstanding broadcasting rule, enforced by the media regulator Ofcom, that states: “Discussion and analysis of election and referendum issues must finish when the poll opens.”

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China’s tech firms vow crackdown on online hate speech after knife attack

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Clampdown follows fatal stabbing of Chinese woman who tried to stop attack on Japanese mother and child

China’s internet companies have announced a crackdown on “extreme nationalism” online, particularly anti-Japanese sentiment, after a Chinese woman was fatally stabbed while protecting a Japanese mother and child in Suzhou.

Tencent and NetEase, two of the biggest firms, said at the weekend that they would be investigating and banning users who stirred up hatred.

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Journalists refused entry to Azerbaijan energy conference ahead of Cop29

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Incident reignites concerns over crackdown on media before crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year

Western journalists were refused entry to an energy industry conference in Azerbaijan earlier this month, reigniting concerns over the state’s crackdown on the media ahead of crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year.

At least three journalists from the UK and France have told the Guardian that they felt “unsafe” after they were denied entry to the Baku Energy Week forum, despite registering with the event organisers weeks in advance.

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‘You can expect everything’: what next for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?

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Site’s edge on whistleblowing is gone and its co-founder must recover, yet their resilience may make revival a possibility

As Julian Assange enjoys his first weekend of freedom in years, there appeared to be no question in the mind of his wife, Stella, about what the family’s priorities were.

The WikiLeaks co-founder would need time to recover, she told reporters after they were reunited in his native Australia, after a deal with US authorities that allowed him to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified defence documents.

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Tobacco giant accused of ‘manipulating science’ to attract non-smokers

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Leaked documents from Philip Morris reveal ‘secret’ strategy to market its heated tobacco product IQOS

The tobacco company Philip Morris International has been accused of “manipulating science for profit” through funding research and advocacy work with scientists.

Campaigners say that leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate also reveal plans to target politicians, doctors and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the multinational’s marketing strategy to attract non-smokers to its heated tobacco product, IQOS.

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Vernon Kay uses CDs to keep BBC Radio 2 show going after technical issue

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Presenter forced to improvise after track cuts out because of computer system failure

“Please don’t stop the music,” Rihanna once sang. On Thursday, producers at BBC Radio 2 scrambled to oblige as Vernon Kay was forced to use CDs to play music on the station after its digital system failed.

The radio presenter, 50, was playing Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who towards the end of his show when the issue occurred. At about 11.30am, the track cut out and he came back on air laughing. He said: “This has never happened to me, where the computer system has just failed.”

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Closed-door trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich begins in Russia

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WSJ reporter faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on spying charges US says are politically motivated

A Russian court has begun a closed-door trial of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges that he, his employer and the US government have all described as politically motivated.

Gershkovich appeared in a courtroom in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday, his head shaven by prison authorities, after being transferred from the Moscow jail where has been held since March 2023.

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From a plea deal to a 2am prison call: how Julian Assange finally gained freedom

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A lawyer’s offer, a judgment that foretold years of legal wrangling, and diplomatic pressure all played a part in the release of the WikiLeaks founder

• Julian Assange released from prison – live updates

It was, as his friends described it, the “last kick of the British establishment”. At 2am on Monday, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was woken in his small cell in the high-security Belmarsh prison, south-east London, and ordered to dress before being put in handcuffs.

It was the beginning of the end of Assange’s incarceration in Britain but it was going to be on his jailers’ terms.

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‘The grey zone’: how IDF views some journalists in Gaza as legitimate targets

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Amid a loosening of Israel’s approach to targeting, a record number of media workers have been killed in Gaza

As Israel’s offensive in Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists in recent history, its military has repeatedly said it is not deliberately targeting the media.

“There is no policy of targeting media personnel,” a senior official said, attributing the record number of journalists killed to the scale and intensity of a bombardment in which so many of Gaza’s civilians have died.

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Nigel Farage attacks Mail newspapers over ‘Putin ally’ reports

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Reform UK leader accuses group of trying to stop his party breaking through into parliament

Nigel Farage has launched a stinging attack on the Daily Mail group, accusing the newspapers of trying to stop Reform UK “breaking through into parliament” by publishing reports that suggest he is an ally of Vladmir Putin’s administration.

Farage said the newspaper, which has often been supportive of him in the past, was “collaborating with the Kremlin to protect the dying Conservative party”, also lashing out at Boris Johnson for joining condemnation of his comments about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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National Rally says it would privatise French public TV if it wins majority

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Far-right party says move would free up €3bn and that public television and radio need ‘a bit of liberty’

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally intends to privatise public television and radio if it wins an absolute majority in the French parliament in snap elections, senior party figures have confirmed.

Jordan Bardella, the party president, told France 3 public television on Sunday that his ambition was to privatise state broadcasting “in order to save money”.

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Jailed US reporter to be tried behind closed doors, says Russian court

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First hearing in trial of Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of spying, scheduled for next week in Ekaterinburg

The jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be tried behind closed doors by a Russian court later this month in a high-profile prosecution that his employer and the US government have decried as a sham.

Gershkovich, who was arrested last March in Ekaterinburg while on a reporting trip, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison for more than a year while Russia’s FSB security service says it has been carrying out an investigation into his case.

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‘It’s the front line of being British’: Clive Myrie on hosting BBC election night, and the racism he has endured

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The news anchor, who will present the programme with Laura Kuenssberg, has spoken on Desert Island Discs about the insults and threats he has experienced as a broadcaster

Clive Myrie has detailed the racism he has experienced during his broadcasting career, as he prepares to present the BBC’s general election night programme.

Speaking to Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, broadcast on Sunday, the 59-year-old listed some of the insults and threats he has endured, including being sent faeces and pictures of gorillas in the post.

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Rishi Sunak’s general election interview with the BBC: the key points

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Taxes, D-day, Farage and NHS waiting lists were all on the agenda as the prime minister jousted with Nick Robinson

Rishi Sunak was the first party leader to sit down with the BBC’s Nick Robinson for the broadcaster’s series of long-form election interviews. Here are the key points from the PM’s grilling.

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Alex Jones to liquidate assets to help meet $1.5bn Sandy Hook judgment

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The Infowars host dropped his petition for bankruptcy protection, now opting instead for liquidation of company

Infowars host Alex Jones has asked a court to sell off his assets to help meet a $1.5bn defamation judgment against him and his companies over public comments he made claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was faked.

In a court filing, Jones dropped his petition merely to go into bankruptcy, admitted that he has to pay the Sandy Hook families, and asked the judge to convert the bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 liquidation.

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Search for Michael Mosley resumes with helicopter and sniffer dogs

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Local police scour Greek island of Symi two days after TV doctor and columnist went missing

The search for the TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley has resumed on the Greek island of Symi, two days after he went missing.

Local police have confirmed that officers with sniffer dogs are scouring the island after they paused the search-and-rescue operation for the 67-year-old Briton on Thursday night.

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TV doctor Michael Mosley goes missing during holiday in Greece

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Agent says columnist and presenter has been missing since he went for a coastal hike on Greek island of Symi

A search is under way for the TV doctor and newspaper columnist Michael Mosley, who went missing after going on a coastal walk on the Greek island of Symi.

The 67-year-old, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning, was last seen when he set off hiking along St Nicholas beach at 1.30pm local time (1130 BST) on Wednesday. His wife, Dr Clare Bailey, alerted authorities after he failed to return by 7.30pm, but they were unable to locate him overnight.

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Starmer says Sunak ‘revealed character’ by lying about Labour’s tax plans – UK politics live

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Labour leader says PM’s tactics in Tuesday night TV debate show he is dishonest when put under pressure

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has been fined for speeding after being caught doing 73mph in a 60mph zone on the M1, PA Media reports. PA says:

Details of the case, dealt with under an administrative system called the single justice procedure, were revealed by the Evening Standard newspaper.

Davey wrote a letter of explanation in which he said he had tried to pay a speeding ticket issued by Bedfordshire police after he was caught speeding on the M1 near Caddington.

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Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo wins Italy’s prestigious Premiolino award

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Correspondent scoops ‘Italian Pulitzer’ for ‘exceptional work’ reporting on Ukraine and Israel-Gaza conflict

The Guardian international correspondent Lorenzo Tondo has been awarded the Premiolino, one of Italy’s oldest and most prestigious journalism prizes, for his reporting on the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Tondo, 42, who joined the news organisation in 2016 and covers Ukraine, the Middle East and the migration crisis around the Mediterranean, is the first Italian journalist working for a foreign publication to win the award, known as the “Italian Pulitzer”.

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