News

THAT old fox Rupert Murdoch has frightened the chickens again. He recently barked that the newspaper industry’s "rivers of gold" – by which he meant the revenues from classified advertising – were drying up. Panic has ensued in some henhouses. In Media File recently, I wrote about how Knight Ridder, the second largest newspaper chain in the United States, had been forced to put itself up for sale...

Even the best newspapers sometimes have difficulty covering themselves with the same high-quality journalism they offer readers on other topics. Newspapers such as The New York Times could better serve readers by seeking innovative ways to cope with the complicated problems and perceived problems involved in covering themselves. And I have some thoughts on that. Two caveats are in order, because...

CEBU CITY–THE KAPISANAN ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) in Cebu together with other media groups will start holding training programs on how to use firearms next year. Alarmed by Thursday’s killing of radio reporter George Benaojan, KBP-Cebu president Edward Abad said yesterday he was endorsing the plan to arm the media. Abad, who manages ABC-21 here, said Benaojan’s death convinced him that...

Here are the latest trends in news, and they aren't looking good. First, and possibly most frightening, is that we are seeing the rise of ideological, not fair and accurate, programming. Most obvious is the FOX network, owned and run by arch conservatives, and shown by many media critics, like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, as having a corresponding conservative agenda. Some analysts predict...

MoveOn.org has launched a petition drive to protest job reductions at the Los Angeles Times and three other Tribune Co. newspapers – cutbacks that the liberal activist group says threaten the papers' ability to deliver "strong watchdog journalism." MoveOn organizers said Friday, a little more than 24 hours into their Internet campaign, that they had collected 17,125 signatures to protest cuts that...

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- The NAM News Network (NNN) will be launched in the first quarter of next year, said Information Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir. He said the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) which had been entrusted by the NAM (Non-Alignment Movement) to make it a reality, was working hard towards that deadline. "God willing, it will be launched in February or...

The highest paid chief executives in the US media industry are in the cable sector, according to Advertising Age magazine's latest annual salary survey. Comcast Corp President-CEO Brian L Roberts’ total compensation for 2004 was $33.5 million, making him the highest paid CEO in that country. Comcast Corp President-CEO Brian L Roberts with $33.5 million p.a. is the highest paid chief executive in...

Nov. 30, 2005 - A British government crackdown on government leaks may have backfired by calling world attention to an ultrasensitive secret memo whose alleged contents have embarrassed President George W. Bush and strained relations between London and Washington. The document allegedly recounts a threat last year by Bush to bomb the head office of the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera. U.K...

It emerged last week that the U.S. Department of Defense has been selling the war to Iraqis by covertly planting fake news in their media; paying Iraqi newspapers to run favorable stories. And as a top Pentagon official admit that "transgressions" may have occurred in a secret military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish information favorable to the U.S. mission in IRAQ, an article by...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time Friday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation. In a statement, the command said the program included efforts, "customary in Iraq," to purchase advertising and...