2005-2014

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York magazine agreed Tuesday to stop accepting sex ads after the local chapter of the National Organization for Women threatened protests outside the offices of the popular weekly publication. The women's rights group had accused New York of being a "marketing arm of the organized crime world of prostitution and human trafficking" because of classified ads at the back of the...

THE circulation declines of American newspapers continued over the spring and summer, as sales across the industry fell almost 3 percent compared with the year before, according to figures released yesterday. The drop, reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, reflects the growing shift of readers to the Internet, where newspaper readership has climbed, and also a strategy by many major papers...

The BBC has begun the controversial roll-out of adverts on its BBC.com international news website. BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, hopes the move will bring in an estimated £70m a year. The BBC.com ads, which started to appear from yesterday in certain key markets such as the US, are framed at the top and on the right hand side of web pages, with three major brands signed up for...

(IPI/IFEX) - The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the worsening situation for journalists in the South Eastern European (SEE) region. SEEMO is alarmed at the activities of the Croatian police against...

Two top Yahoo Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company’s role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime. Yahoo gave the Chinese government information about Shi Tao’s online activities, and he was jailed for 10 years. “While technologically and financially you are giants, morally...

They challenge your newspaper literacy, interrupt otherwise intelligible conversations, and add to the difficulty of finding your way. The culprits: India's endemic acronyms, abbreviations and initials. Bureaucrats across the world pack official reports with them, but India distinguishes itself by relishing in their everyday use, from place names to first names and even swear words. In the first...

Reporters Without Borders said today that recent developments and statements made it fear that the authorities in Kyrgyzstan lack the will to properly investigate the murder of journalist Alisher Saipov, against whom a campaign of vilification has been launched. Saipov was shot dead on the evening of 24 October 2007, close to the premises of Radio Free Europe in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh. He...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned legislation that enabled a Warsaw court on 30 October to order that the editor of national weekly Gazeta Polska, Tomasz Sakiewicz, and his deputy, Katarzyna Hejke, should be held in police custody for two days prior to the start of a libel trial on 14 December in order, the court said, to ensure they attend. “We condemn article 212.2 of the Polish criminal...

(Globe International/IFEX) - Globe International is launching a six-month project, "Protecting Journalists' Confidential Sources and Repealing the Criminal Defamation Legislation", to provide greater protection for Mongolia's media. The project, funded by the US Embassy, is aimed at promoting the media's role in contributing to transparent and accountable governance and curbing corruption by...

(PPF/IFEX) - Draconian curbs were imposed on the Pakistani media as part of the state of emergency declared by President General Pervez Musharraf on 3 November 2007. The measures to control and restrain the media included suspension of broadcasts of all international news channels as well as national private television channels throughout the country until further notice. Cable operators have been...