2005-2014

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Dow Jones & Co. (DJ.N: Quote, Profile , Research), which has been in talks on a takeover by News Corp. (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile , Research), will meet with supermarket magnate Ron Burkle as Dow Jones explores its options, according to a report in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones is making a last push to try to find other potential buyers, in part, to...

There is a long tradition of rich guys overpaying for trophy media properties. But when Wall Street wizard Bruce Wasserstein nabbed New York magazine at the end of 2003, he seemed to be setting a new standard for vanity acquisitions. The Lazard banker, who owned a number of trade publications, not only paid $55 million for a title earning only $1 million a year but also bested Mort Zuckerman in...

A lighter and paper shredder helped make Mika Brzezinski the symbol of television journalism's guilt trip about Paris Hilton. Brzezinski used both to destroy a script calling for her to read about Hilton's release from jail on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program recently. Part serious, part an act, it has become an Internet sensation. More than 2 million people have watched a clip of the incident...

Iran's government has warned of a "creeping coup in the press," newspapers reported Sunday, raising concerns about a tougher line in future with media critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "There are many signs showing there is a creeping coup in the press," Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi said in comments published in several reformist newspapers. "When we talk about a...

Algeria's Criminal Court Saturday convicted Bin Sakhnoun Sa'id, a journalist, of collecting information and documents with the intention of transferring them to Israel's foreign intelligence service (Mossad), Algerian dailies Al-Khabar and Al-Fajr reported. The information included sensitive defense and economic information regarding the situation in the Al-Qabail region, legal sources revealed...

Newspapers in Bulgaria are struggling to avoid their own obit as circulation keeps on shrinking under the pressure of rivals from other outlets, official data shows. Circulation numbers for last year stood at 325.7 million copies in total against 442.5 million in 2000, according to figures from the National Statistics Institute. The gloomy trend does not seem to discourage publishers as the number...

IRNA news agency on Saturday expressed outrage at detention of reporter and three Iranian diplomats, accompanying him, for 25 years in Israeli jails and called for the international organizations to help secure their freedom. Releasing a statement to mark the 25th anniversary of kidnapping the four Iranian nationals by Israeli forces and taking them to Israel, IRNA said it is a disgrace on part of...

Baghdad, Jul 7, (VOI)- The Iraqi Society for Defending Journalists' Rights said on Saturday an Iraqi journalist was killed in the clashes that erupted between security forces and fighters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa during the last two days. "The society's office in Samawa was informed of the death of journalist Ali Watan who was working...

(CRN/IFEX) - CRNI is proud to announce the 2007 winner of the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award: Jonathan Shapiro of Cape Town, South Africa. Every year, cartoonists around the world are threatened by terrorists, government officials or affiliated goon squads. For many, the experience is intimidating and traumatizing; for a few, it is one more reason to express truth to power. Two of Shapiro's...

Press freedom organisations have heaved a sigh of relief at the release early Wednesday morning local time of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who had been held captive for over four months in the Gaza Strip. In the same breath, all have called for global action to protect journalists working in hostile environments. Johnston was abducted while on his way home from his office in Gaza City on the...