2005-2014

George Brock, Managing Editor of The Times of London, has been elected President of the World Editors Forum, the global association dealing with issues of professional concern to senior news executives -- and the parent organization of this weblog. Mr Brock succeeds Gloria Brown Anderson of the New York Times. "WEF is the only global organisation devoted to raising and maintaining the quality of...

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, Press Council Chairman and prominent media personalities have advocated self-regulation by the media at a national round-table on "Should there be a Lakshman Rekha for News Media?" here on Wednesday. Inaugurating the meeting, Mr. Reddy advised the media to do "collective and cool introspection," besides building up its credibility. The...

It should now be easier for Indian journalists and other citizens to get public information from their government, thanks to a new law. The Indian Parliament approved the new access to information law on May 12, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX). According to IFEX, the new law follows election promises by the...

The Centre has decided to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in scientific and technical magazines and periodicals published by Indian companies. Till now, such foreign investment had to be capped at 74 per cent. Officials made it clear that the 100 per cent option is applicable only to the non-news category. The news media is still subject to a 26 per cent ceiling. The government feels...

The Government on Wednesday removed the cap on foreign investment in non-news publications. The existing investment limit, allowing a maximum of 74 per cent foreign equity in Indian entities publishing scientific/technical/specialty magazines/periodicals and journals, has been scrapped and up to 100 per cent foreign equity has been permitted, according to an official release. In case where both...

"Content is King." Remember that catchphrase and the essay by Bill Gates of almost a decade ago? "Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet," wrote the Microsoft founder in 1996, the year his company helped launch one of the first online magazines, Slate. That boom-time utterance would soon seem like a taunt to Web-only newsgathering organizations that launched...

Philip Meyer, who has studied the newspaper industry for three decades, can see the darkness at the end of the tunnel. If present readership trends continue indefinitely, says the University of North Carolina professor, the last daily newspaper reader will check out in 2044. October 2044, to be exact. "I use that as an attention-getting device," says Meyer, whose latest book, "The Vanishing...

Someone tells you they have the opportunity of a lifetime for you. A way to make money by becoming an independent business owner through Quixtar. You're not sure about Quixtar and want to learn more, so you consult your favorite Internet search engine -- Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves -- and type in the word "Quixtar." What you see next are search results, and most likely you'll just check out the...

Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post confirmed yesterday. As the bureau's second- and third-ranking official during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the...

The government is likely to decide on revision of uplinking norms for television news channels and printing of foreign newspapers in India within the next three weeks. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has already prepared a note on downlinking guidelines for all TV channels, Phase Two of privatisation of FM radio and a liberalised community radio regime for the consideration of the...