News

The American Society of Newspaper Editors is planning to remove "paper" from its name and expand its membership to include editors of online-only news websites and journalism educators. The society’s board of directors unanimously recommended these and other changes that will be considered by ASNE members at a meeting during the group’s convention in Chicago next April, ASNE President Charlotte...

A Catholic newspaper in Malaysia may have just two more weeks in print unless the government backs off a threat to close it down over its use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian god, Reuters has reported. The newspaper says that it is a victim of politics and that the government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years since independence from Britain is stoking religious conflict in a bid to...

The New York Times will launch an 'Instant Op-Ed' feature next month that will allow the paper's website to post immediate expert viewpoints on breaking news. "Our Op-Ed now is very rapid response, but it is at the most the next day," Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal told Editor & Publisher. "We are looking at a way to take advantage of the expandability of the Internet, the back and forth...

Guardian News & Media will launch a newswire serving the Arab region in the first quarter of next year. The Arab-language news service will be provided through Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq, based in Qatar, which will translate up to 15 stories per day for use by media outlets in the Middle East region, Brand Republic has reported. Some sketchy details: [ Link] Tim Brooks, managing director of Guardian...

Cholpon Orozobekova, editor-in-chief of leading Kyrgyzstan newspaper De Facto, is seeking political asylum in a European country. She was forced to emigrate with her husband—also a well-known journalist in Kyrgyzstan—and their two small children because of several criminal charges against her, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported. Orozobekova, 33, worked as a freelancer for RFE...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to open the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2009, the global summit meetings of the world’s press, to be held in Hyderabad, India, from March 22-25, 2009. The events, organised by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and hosted by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), are expected to draw 2,000 newspaper publishers...

The activists of Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch (JJM) on December 14 burnt copies of a newspaper to protest the publication of "corrupt practices of ministers" in the Jharkhand government. The activists collected the copies of Dainik Jagaran from its advertising office at Albert Ekka Chowk here and set them on fire, police said. JJM leaders said: "The protest was against the publication of a news...

The News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority has announced the “guidelines for telecast of news during emergency situations”. The guidelines have been “spontaneously accepted” by all 14 broadcasters running 22 news channels, the Indian Express reported. The guidelines stipulate that no ‘live’ contact can be made with perpetrators of the crime, their hostages/victims and security...

The Press Council of India (PCI) has said it would involve stakeholders on evolving guidelines on media coverage of events like the Mumbai terror attack. Council chairman, Justice GN Ray, said in New Delhi on December 15 that PCI would organise a seminar, tentatively scheduled for January next year, in which representatives from the media, government and armed forces and others would participate...

The editor-in-chief of Alerte Info, an internet news magazine, has been arrested in Côte d’Ivoire and detained for allegedly reporting that at least three people were killed during a prison riot in Abidjan recently. The police picked up Ebenezer Viwami, over the weekend for interrogation, his staff revealed. “Our editor-in-chief was arrested by the police in front of MACA prison, where he was...