News

The online version of VG, the biggest-selling tabloid newspaper in Norway, had the latest news flashes on the death of Anna Nicole Smith, of course. But a little down the page was something else — oil company earnings reports. The financial headlines link readers to E24, an online business “newspaper.” Not many tabloids feature business fare on their front pages, and perhaps even fewer papers...

(Adil Soz/IFEX) - The free expression situation in Central Asia remains disturbing for many reasons, including: undemocratic legislative restrictions, attacks on journalists, arbitrary court rulings, obstacles to registering new independent media outlets, and illegal restrictions imposed on the receipt and distribution of information. Throughout the region, defamation and insult, insulting high...

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Up to a week ago, Guinea's private radio stations were broadcasting dramatic first-hand accounts of violent street clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces. But since President Lansana Conte decreed martial law on Feb 12, non-government broadcasters are either off the air or playing innocuous music as media freedom becomes another casualty of the military...

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Few adults in the United States agree with the use of anonymous sources in journalism, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. Only 28 per cent of respondents think the practice is ethical. In the early 1970s, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein relied on an anonymous source—known as "Deep Throat"—to provide information and context on a series...

Most Indian news websites score extremely low when it comes to being responsive to its users, a recent survey has found. According to a User-Friendly Index developed by online research consultancy firm JuxtConsult based on 32 individual usability criteria, the most user-friendly news website is Aajtak with a score of 0.656 on a scale of 1.0. Timesofindia.com was fourth with an index of 0.625...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has categorised as "confusing" the manner in which a new warrant was issued on 7 February 2007 for the arrest of Freddy Muñoz, the Colombian correspondent of the pan-Latin American television station Telesur, who was freed on 9 January after being held for 50 days. Charged with providing logistical support for a 2002 bombing by guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of...

A journalist has been stabbed to death in northern Nicaragua, police in the country said today. Police spokesman Omar Flores told The Associated Press that Danilo Torres Rodriguez was found dead yesterday in his home in Esteli, 65 miles north of Managua, the capital. Police believe the 54-year-old’s killers stole his vehicle and then abandoned it in another part of the city, but they have no...

A newspaper editor was shot dead by an unidentified man in the southern Philippines town of Mindanao this morning. Reports said Hernani Pastolero, 64, editor of the weekly paper Lightning Courier was sipping coffee in front of his house in Sultan Kudarat town on Mindanao island when gunmen shot him twice in the back of his head on Monday morning. Volunteers carry the body of Hernani Pastolero, 64...

February 18, 2007 -- The magazine publishing world was abuzz last week as the latest circulation numbers showed continued weakness - meaning more editors are surely on the hot seat. Magazines - like television and other Old-Guard media - are seeing readers and advertising dollars follow consumers online. "What's hurting magazines the most is the loss of readers of its printed pages to the Internet...

At a party to celebrate the launch of its latest title Look last week, IPC chief executive Sylvia Auton told staff: 'This year will be our biggest ever.' Such occasions are not renowned for plain speaking, but there was some substance behind Auton's corporate platitudes. 'The UK market has simply never been tougher,' she said, adding that the internet is about to make life even harder. Hours...