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The Government has proposed a policy that could ban cross-media ownership in the country. Information minister Mutahi Kagwe confirmed that the policy, which is contained in the broader Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) framework, was discussed and passed by the Cabinet last week. "We are asking ourselves whether we should allow one person to own a newspaper, TV station and four FM...

17 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian state-run media are reporting that President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has decided to allow CNN to resume operations in Iran following an apology by the U.S.-based news network for misquoting Ahmadinejad, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported. Iranian authorities on 16 January banned CNN journalists from working in Iran after the broadcaster, during a live translation of a...

BEIJING (AFX) - China had a total of 111 mln Internet users as of the end of 2005, against 94 mln a year earlier, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said in a report. The Internet information center said Internet expenditure in China surpassed 100 bln yuan for 2005. This was the first time spending data has been released. CNNIC also said China's Internet users spent an average...

TEHRAN - The US-based news channel CNN has been banned from working in Iran for having mistakenly quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying his country is seeking nuclear weapons, a government official said Monday. During CNN's simultaneous translation of a press conference by Ahmadinejad Saturday, the president was quoted as saying that "we believe all nations are allowed to have nuclear...

Look at the headlines in recent months - besides those focused on industry layoffs and cutbacks, of course - and times don't look so bad for American newspaper journalism. The New York Times revealed domestic spying by the National Security Agency without court orders; the Washington Post exposed secret prisons operated by the Central Intelligence Agency for suspected terrorists and the Los...

London --- Faced with slowing sales and dipping profits, foreign media houses are increasingly eyeing India, one of the most attractive markets globally, thanks to a robust economy and easing of stiff investment rules. India's thriving media industry, which was shut for foreign firms until not long ago, today counts Britain's Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, Independent News and Media...

The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has decided to withdraw the indictments against three Croatian journalists charged with contempt. She says that “in the interest of justice and judicial economy” she’s chosen not to proceed against Stjepan Seselj, Domagoj Margetic and Marijan Krizic, who had been all charged in connection with revealing the identity, statement and testimony of a protected...

A police official in Xi'an who organized a severe beating of a reporter received a severe warning from the Communist Party plus administrative demerits. The reporter was collecting evidence that minors, who are legally banned, are allowed in a Lanjingling bar where they play video games. The attack, which took place on Friday, was reported by the Xi'an-based Chinese Business View newspaper. The...

MOSUL, Iraq -- The Iraqi informant is a new source, but his tip seems solid: The chief financier of a Mosul terrorist cell, a gas station owner, lives in the neighborhood. He is wealthy enough to afford two armed guards to accompany his son to Mosul University. Now, at 1:13 a.m., under a light drizzle, 25-year-old Lt. Mark Brogan and 13 men from his platoon crouch behind a wall, waiting for the...

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Staff members of the New Orleans newspaper that survived Hurricane Katrina are facing a continuing dilemma _ how to report objectively about a story in which they are key players. "Like our readers, we're also the ones to whom the events happened, at once narrator and subject," said Jim Amoss, editor of The Times-Picayune. "The intersection of these two roles has been...