2005-2014

Passive news reporting that doesn’t attempt to resolve factual disputes in politics may have detrimental effects on readers, new research suggests. The study found that people are more likely to doubt their own ability to determine the truth in politics after reading an article that simply lists competing claims without offering any idea of which side is right. “There are consequences to

A three-year jail sentence has been imposed by a Damascus military court on writer and journalist Ali Al-Abdallah on a charge of “intending to harm Syria’s relations with another state” under article 278 of the criminal code. The court ruled that he would have to serve 18 months of the sentence, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The charge was based on...

New research reveals why people read fitness and fashion magazines featuring photos of impossibly thin or muscular models — models whose appearance highlight the readers’ own flaws. Many previous studies have found that people who are unhappy with their physical appearance feel even more dissatisfied when they are shown photos of models who have “ideal” bodies. “So you have to wonder: why do we...

An insensitive cartoon by a Malaysian daily showing the Japanese superhero Ultraman running helter-skelter from the massive tsunami has sparked an outrage in the country, prompting the newspaper to tender a public apology. Berita Harian newspaper, the Malay-language daily, on its front page Monday apologised for the offending caricature of the popular Japanese icon running away from an oncoming...

Al-Qaeda has launched a women's magazine Al Shamikha (meaning the majestic woman), which mixes tips on skin care with articles on 'marrying a mujahedeen' and carrying out suicide attacks. The first issue of the 30-page publication was released recently by the al Qaeda-affiliated Al Fajr Media Centre and must be ordered online. Its cover features the barrel of a sub-machine gun next to the image of...

Israel has complained to the UN over the planned screening of a controversial new film by acclaimed US film-maker Julian Schnabel at its headquarters in New York, according to the Guardian. Miral, which stars Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto as a young Palestinian girl caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict, will receive a red carpet screening at the UN general assembly hall. The film is based...

Four men have been arrested for the murder of an Al Jazeera journalist, and rebel officials claim evidence has emerged that Muammar Gaddafi's regime is sending undercover squads to carry out assassinations, the Independent has reported. The Independent was told that four men were caught in the city of Ajdabiya with evidence linking them to the death of Ali Hassan Al Jaber, who was killed near...

The jailed chief editor of the former newspaper "Gundalik Azerbaijan," Eynulla Fatullayev, has sent a letter to President Ilham Aliyev expressing hope that he will be released, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. Fatullayev's lawyer, Anar Qasimov, told RFE/RL the journalist asked Aliyev to intervene in the complicated situation around Fatullayev's case and "expressed hope he will be released as...

The ongoing newspaper phone-hacking scandal intensified Monday after the BBC's Panorama programme accused a former senior journalist of hiring a private eye to illegally obtain army secrets, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. The BBC current affairs show claimed that Alex Marunchak, former senior executive editor of the News of the World tabloid, employed a private detective to intercept...

A journalist of newswire Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has won the prestigious United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity for reportage on women's issues. Azera Parveen Rahman, principal correspondent with IANS, got the Most Promising Young Woman Journalist award for the year 2007. She was among 31 other awardees in the northern region. Rahman was given the...