2005-2014

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the censorship of Folha Online ( www.folha.uol.com.br/), the website of the Folha de São Paulo daily newspaper, which was ordered by a federal judge on 9 December to withdraw 165 pages from the site that had details of allegedly illegal services provided by a Canadian firm of consultants, Kroll, to Brasil Telecom. "We deplore this judicial ban, which is...

NEW YORK (AP) - Under other circumstances, 2006 might look like a pretty good year for the media industry. The Winter Olympics and a midterm election are sure to boost advertising spending, the economy is humming along and consumers seem to be spending. But these are hardly normal circumstances. The broad shift of viewers and advertising dollars to the Internet is deeply troubling to many media...

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - There was a time when Wall Street treated the CEOs of the largest media companies almost like demigods. The heads of Viacom (Research), Time Warner, News Corp., (Research) and Disney (Research) predicted that revenues from their films, television shows, cable networks, and magazines would keep pace with the swiftest growth companies. Investors nodded worshipfully and loaded up...

The sting operation by Aniruddha Bahal’s website Cobrapost on MPs taking money for raising questions in Parliament led to the suspension of MPs yesterday. However, an article in a vernacular newspaper on Question Hour had resulted in a reporter’s dismissal from his job in 1987. Prakash Gupte, who is now 65 years old, was then a sub-editor-cum reporter for Navshakti. He wrote a column on the...

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has announced that his government would restructure control over a number of state-controlled media outlets to encourage greater public participation. However, due to previous unsuccessful attempts to reprivatize a number of popular mass media sources, the president's latest initiative raises doubts about whether the restructuring would lead to the promised...

Topix.net, the Palo Alto Web site that features news stories from around the world, is expanding into the citizen journalism business, offering readers a chance to publish their own stories. The move is a part of a broader overhaul that includes the addition of public forums and the ability to comment on stories. ``The nature of news is changing as interactivity comes into play,'' said Chris...

In a speech this fall, Al Gore spoke of the "strangeness" in our political discourse. He bemoaned the "new pattern of serial obsessions that periodically take over the airwaves for weeks at a time," and the lack of desire for accountability in American journalism. On top of all this, the idea that perception is far more important than reality has become the principle of our broadcast politics...

The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) passed resolutions last week urging the UN not to discriminate against Taiwanese journalists reporting on its activities. The association's call comes after local journalists reiterated during a visit by AEJ members to Taiwan last month that the UN should respect the right of Taiwanese media to cover international conferences. Members of the AEJ...

The establishment of a Code of Practice for Jamaican journalists and media organisations as well as a Complaints Commission to adjudicate on complaints against journalists, as in other countries including the United Kingdom which has a Code of Practice and Complaints Commission, is now being considered. The Press Association of Jamaica, the national organisation of journalists, already has a Code...

MANY MEDIA BUYERS AND PLANNERS rely on ad networks more heavily today than two years ago, according to a new study by ValueClick Media/FastClick. The report was based on an August survey of 300 media executives, conducted online by Insight Express using members of the MediaPost advisory panel. Forty-two percent of media buyers and planners who use ad networks said they spent more with such...