2005-2014

A Venezuelan judge on Wednesday sentenced a journalist critical of President Hugo Chavez to house arrest for defaming an army officer in a case her supporters denounced as political persecution, Reuters has reported. FIREBRAND COLUMNIST: Venezuelan columnist Ibeyise Pacheco speaks to supporters in front of a banner reading 'Freedom of Expression' before turning herself in, in response to a warrant

The Indian media and entertainment industry will grow at 19 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach Rs 837.4 billion by 2010 from Rs 353 billion at present, a study has said. Low media penetration in lower socio-economic classes and low ad spends are factors that would drive growth for the industry. WE THE MEDIA: NDTV's popular We the People programme. Subscription revenues are...

Australia's newspapers, radio and TV stations are set for a major shake-up that critics warn will reduce diversity and make more viewers pay for sport, Australian Associated Press (AAP) has reported. Communications Minister Helen Coonan used a speech in Sydney Tuesday to outline the federal government's planned changes to media laws and its vision for the new digital media era. SETTING THE AGENDA

The Nepal government has freed journalist Bhawana Prasain, who had been detained since February last year and allegedly tortured in police custody for suspected links with Maoists. Prasain was released following a Supreme Court order, reports said. SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS: Nepali girls give the Maoist salute as they hold rhododendrons, the country's national flower, during celebrations for the...

Islamabad - After a recent row with Afghanistan over cross- border infiltration of Islamic militants, Pakistan banned two Afghan TV channels Thursday for airing their contents in south-western Balochistan province, accusing them of anti-Pakistan propaganda. The ban was imposed on Pushto and Persian language Tolo and Ariana TV channels by the state-run Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority...

Does the mainstream media depict Islam unfairly? According to a new Washington Post poll, 46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam. The Post attributes this fact to "political statements and media reports that focus almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists." It may have been the extremists who hijacked the airplanes, but it was the women and the children who flooded the...

ISLAMABAD, March 16 (Online): Terming the press freedom in Pakistan still a goal to be achieved Peace Council of Pakistan in its report 2005 said that incidents of unidentified men rampaging tend ransacking newspaper offices in various cities and subsequent official apathy to catch the culprits are only signs of the hostile environment in which Pakistani journalist function. According to a Report...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said that the failure of the United States to respond to calls for independent investigation of cases where journalists and media staff have been killed by US soldiers is encouraging a culture of impunity in the killing of media staff. CRUEL JUSTICE: José Couso's funeral procession. José Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network...

Newspaper proprietors and employees should get nervous. Craigslist, the classified advertising website known as the "killer" of newspapers in the US, predicted yesterday it will see exponential growth in the UK. The company, which takes 8 million new classified ads worldwide every month, has sites dedicated to 12 UK cities, including Oxford which was launched last month. Craigslist ads are free...

A cartoon appearing in the al-Sabah daily on March 2 highlights an increasingly prominent feature of Iraq's post-Saddam media. Depicting the malign hand of a writer (with serpent like fingers) using Iraqi blood as ink, the cartoon tries to expose the sectarian affiliations and motives of many Iraqi journalists and reporters. For al-Sabah, the Iraqi media, far from trying to reverse the descent...