2005-2014

Look at the headlines in recent months - besides those focused on industry layoffs and cutbacks, of course - and times don't look so bad for American newspaper journalism. The New York Times revealed domestic spying by the National Security Agency without court orders; the Washington Post exposed secret prisons operated by the Central Intelligence Agency for suspected terrorists and the Los...

London --- Faced with slowing sales and dipping profits, foreign media houses are increasingly eyeing India, one of the most attractive markets globally, thanks to a robust economy and easing of stiff investment rules. India's thriving media industry, which was shut for foreign firms until not long ago, today counts Britain's Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, Independent News and Media...

The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has decided to withdraw the indictments against three Croatian journalists charged with contempt. She says that “in the interest of justice and judicial economy” she’s chosen not to proceed against Stjepan Seselj, Domagoj Margetic and Marijan Krizic, who had been all charged in connection with revealing the identity, statement and testimony of a protected...

A police official in Xi'an who organized a severe beating of a reporter received a severe warning from the Communist Party plus administrative demerits. The reporter was collecting evidence that minors, who are legally banned, are allowed in a Lanjingling bar where they play video games. The attack, which took place on Friday, was reported by the Xi'an-based Chinese Business View newspaper. The...

MOSUL, Iraq -- The Iraqi informant is a new source, but his tip seems solid: The chief financier of a Mosul terrorist cell, a gas station owner, lives in the neighborhood. He is wealthy enough to afford two armed guards to accompany his son to Mosul University. Now, at 1:13 a.m., under a light drizzle, 25-year-old Lt. Mark Brogan and 13 men from his platoon crouch behind a wall, waiting for the...

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Staff members of the New Orleans newspaper that survived Hurricane Katrina are facing a continuing dilemma _ how to report objectively about a story in which they are key players. "Like our readers, we're also the ones to whom the events happened, at once narrator and subject," said Jim Amoss, editor of The Times-Picayune. "The intersection of these two roles has been...

FEELING depressed because you missed out on Google's stock bonanza? Not to worry. Just get on the company's shadow payroll. Hundreds of thousands of people have essentially done just that by starting blogs, forums or other informational sites and getting paid for posting ads on Google's behalf. And while the money they earn might not be enough for them to buy, say, a share of Google's stock, such...

After an elementary school girl was killed in Hiroshima on her way home from school last year, the Chugoku Shimbun, a major regional daily, based in Hiroshima, western Japan, has been encouraging its readers to post messages about child safety on its weblog. A mother of two elementary school-aged children wrote, "We are really feeling unrest," while a member of the Parent-Teacher Association at a...

An Internet portal that is said to hold personal files on 90 million people has caused uproar among netizens and panicked online surfers that fear the information may be made available to the public. Since early December, Ucloo.com has provided a service nicknamed "souren," meaning searching for a specific person. By paying one yuan (12 US cents) through one's mobile phone, it is possible to find...

In a move that would dramatically change the Internet, BellSouth Corp. is proposing to charge companies such as Napster Inc., Movielink LLC, Google Inc. and Vonage Inc. for guaranteed fast delivery of online content. The move could ultimately generate millions of dollars in yearly revenue for BellSouth as early as 2007. Companies that pay the new fees would be able to transmit music, video, data...