2005-2014

The free newspaper business in Israel is about to become a battleground as it appears that no less than three free Hebrew dailies will begin publishing within the next few weeks. Joining the incumbent Israeli, published by the businessman Shlomo Ben Tzvi, will be publications from American billionaire Sheldon Adelson; a joint team of Eli Azur, the owner of The Jerusalem Post, and Dudi Weissman...

Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its call for Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) to be allowed to resume free terrestrial broadcasting after learning that the privately-owned broadcaster will resume transmission by cable and satellite to paying subscribers on 16 July. The government refused to renew RCTV’s terrestrial broadcast licence a month and a half ago. “Since losing its terrestrial...

NEW YORK — A news site that has allowed its users to write and submit their own articles is shutting down, citing unspecified "business issues." Backfence Inc. had "hyperlocal" sites serving 13 communities in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago areas. Residents were allowed to write on any topic, including event announcements and neighborhood traffic congestion, without the meddling of...

NEW YORK: Research firm Nielsen/NetRatings announced that it will change its ratings system for Web sites, placing greater emphasis on the time viewers spend on Web sites rather than how many times a page is viewed, the Los Angeles Times reports today. EMarketer Inc. senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson told the Times that the changes won’t necessarily affect advertising decisions so much as it...

NEW YORK: United Press International is cutting 11 positions from its Washington, D.C., bureau, including its lone White House correspondent, Richard Tomkins. The move marks the first time in its history that UPI will have no one on that beat. "I have been expecting it for some time," said Tomkins, a seven-year UPI veteran who has covered the White House since 2003. "The company is not doing well...

Reporters Without Borders said today it had been shocked to learn of the murder of photographer Jorge Alejandro Castañeda Martínez, who was gunned down in Guatemala City on 5 July. The 35-year-old had just dropped his sons, aged six and four, off at their school when gunmen opened fire, shooting him a dozen times. He was talking to his wife on his mobile phone when he was killed. Moments before...

The detention of María Haydee Chicas, a journalist employed by an NGO who was arrested along with 13 other people during a demonstration in the northeastern city of Suchitoto on 2 July and charged with “terrorism” is a “grave abuse of authority,” Reporters Without Borders said today, calling for her immediate release. The El Salvador Association of Journalists (APES) said in a statement that, “the...

A letter from Tuncay Uzundal, a member of the alleged terrorist group on trial for journalist Hrant Dink’s murder, to the prosecutor in charge of the case has revived questions about the role of the police in Dink’s death. The contents of the letter were revealed last weekend by several Turkish news media including the daily Radikal in its 7 July issue. “Once again, the finger has been pointed at...

NEW YORK: Harvard University has released a study that concludes that 60 percent of American teenagers pay little attention to daily news, Reuters reports. After interviewing 1,800 people from January through March, researchers at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government found that 28 percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 said they pay “almost no attention” to daily news...

SALEM, Ore. — The nation's first law to help protect Oregon high school and college journalists from censorship by school administrations will be signed Friday by Gov. Ted Kulongoski The Oregon law makes student journalists responsible for determining the content of school-sponsored media, and gives them the right to sue schools if they feel free-press rights have been violated. It is the country...