2005-2014

Scotland's Sunday Herald recently reported that Google has entered into secret deals with unnamed UK news organizations for the rights to use their material on Google News. According to the paper, "It now seems that Google has accepted it has lost the argument over carrying stories without paying for them." That would be a shocking about-face—if it's true. A Google spokesperson tells Ars that the...

(Adil Soz/IFEX) - On 17 May 2007, the National Security Committee (NSC) filed charges against the opposition newspaper "Taz'zhargan" for insulting the honor and dignity of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, following the publication of materials in the newspaper reprinted from foreign media outlets. The charges stem specifically from two "Taz'zhargan" reports reprinted from the newspaper "New York...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called for the lifting of a ban on the Arabic-language daily "al-Sudani", under a highly controversial article of criminal code procedure, over an editorial accusing the justice minister of "lying in a money-laundering case". The worldwide press freedom organisation however welcomed the release of the publisher and editor of the privately-owned paper...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 20 May 2007 murder in Baghdad of Ali Khalil, of the daily "al-Zaman" ("Time"), and the kidnapping on 9 May of the journalist Salam Duhi al-Sudani. "Less than three days after the death of two journalists working for the US television network ABC, the profession is once again in mourning for this murder," the worldwide press freedom...

New York, May 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by news that Ethiopian authorities released three New York Times journalists on Monday after detaining them for five days. Nairobi Bureau Chief Jeffrey Gettleman, photographer Vanessa Vick, and videographer Courtenay Morris were arrested May 16 by soldiers in the town of Degeh Bur, the Times reported today on its Web site. The...

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today about attempts by the authorities in the state of Western Australia to blackmail the management of The West Australian newspaper. Attorney-general Jim McGinty threatened to withdraw state advertising and to not implement a proposed shield law protecting journalists’ sources unless editor Paul Armstrong is fired. "We condemn the Western Australia...

New York, May 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Philippine government to undertake a thorough and timely investigation into today’s shooting death of freelance photographer Dodie Nuñez. Local media reports said Nuñez was shot by three men who used a motorcycle to intercept the minibus in which he was riding in the town of General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite province. Initial...

New York, May 22, 2007—A freelance photographer on assignment for Time magazine in insurgency-hit southern Thailand was injured in a bomb blast today, according to news reports. Australian Philip Blenkinsop was among seven people injured by the improvised explosive device, which detonated in Yala province. The bomb was planted near the body of a man who had been murdered by suspected Muslim rebels...

Some 54 Chicago Tribune newsroom staffers want to take the newspaper's buyout offer -- far short of as many as 100 jobs that the newspaper publisher said it wants to eliminate companywide, sources said Monday. But workers from other departments were also eligible to put in for the buyouts, which could eliminate the need for layoffs. Newsroom employees expect to find out by next week if they will...

May 21, 2007 · The news value of a Texas newspaper story about two married attorneys accused of extorting thousands from the wife's lovers overshadows privacy concerns about the article, a federal appeals court ruled last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans (5th Cir.) affirmed the decision by a lower court judge who dismissed a lawsuit accusing the San Antonio Express-News of invading...