2005-2014

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan lost his diplomatic cool with a reporter on Wednesday, calling him an "overgrown schoolboy" in a show of anger at questions over his part in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. The normally unruffled Annan responded calmly at an end-of-year news conference to several questions on the $64 billion program, which he said had sometimes...

In September 2005, long-time Bush confidante Karen Hughes started her new job as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Her first official week of work was admittedly ambitious -- a "listening tour" of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. At each stop, carefully selected audiences comprised of students on U.S.-funded scholarships, women professionals, and others deemed "safe"...

The New York Times Company said yesterday that expenses related to job cuts would lower its fourth-quarter profit. The company is forecasting earnings per share of 45 to 47 cents in the quarter, compared with 75 cents in the period a year earlier, according to a statement. The estimate includes expenses of $34 million to $37 million, or 14 to 15 cents a share, for the job cuts. The company...

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Now that early-stage takeover offers are in for No. 2 U.S. newspaper publisher Knight Ridder (KRI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), interested bidders are working to build alliances as the slow-moving sale process moves into its second round, according to sources close to the process. Knight Ridder, which has a current market value of more than $4.2 bilion, has...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - 'Tis the season for adjusting online expectations and reviewing what has been hot on the Internet. JMP Securities on Tuesday raised its global advertising forecast for not only this year but for next year and beyond. The firm now expects the global online ad market to grow at a 25% clip annually for the next five years, up from a previous forecast in the low 20%...

NEW YORK -- World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee has started a blog just in time for the 15th anniversary of his invention. In his first entry, Berners-Lee remarked on how the Web took off as a publishing medium rather than one in which visitors not only read but also contributed information. "WWW was soon full of lots of interesting stuff, but not a space for communal design, for discource...

In December 2005, the country's security agents seized Trevor Ncube's passport and he spent a week virtually under country arrest. He couldn't leave Zimbabwe legally because he had no passport. Earlier this month Trevor Ncube, the publisher of South Africa's Mail & Guardian, Zimbabwe's Independent and the Zimbabwe Standard, spent a week virtually under country arrest when security agents in...

AT FIRST GLANCE, A HELP-WANTED ad posted on online job boards last week for a New York-based media buyer looks like thousands of others placed by Madison Avenue each year: "Requirements. 3+ years experience in media buying for a large advertiser or agency. Strong negotiation and analytical skills. Proven track record of exceeding goals." What makes it remarkable is its sponsor - Google - and its...

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Terrorism and conflicts across the Middle East will be major global issues in 2006, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a year-end news conference on Wednesday and he also lashed out at the media for its coverage of the oil-for-food program. Annan said he faced getting tough management reform proposals through the U.N. General Assembly and trying to solve...

The fate of the printed press will rest in your hands. Or rather, at your fingertips. In fact, you are becoming part of this media shift as you read this article -- not in print, but online. According to the latest reports from the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper readership continues to drop, going from 62.4 percent in 1990 to 54.1 percent in 2003. In an extreme case, the San Francisco...