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(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has urged parliament not to back a proposal for criminal law modification, which passed its first reading on 7 February 2007, three articles of which pose a very serious threat to freedom of expression and the press. The worldwide press freedom organisation also wondered what prompted this development, when the tendency in most of the American continents has been towards...

NEW YORK: "AntiBrennan," as he branded himself, was happily blasting away at his contentious, litigious arch-enemy on NJ.com, raining down such pejoratives as a "litigation terrorist," "Billy the Baby," and a "paranoid-delusional, over-paid-under-worked sicko." But then NJ.com -- a joint venture of New Jersey newspapers including the Star Ledger, The Trenton Times and The Jersey-Journal --...

London’s freesheets are now engaged in rubbishing each other over the litter they have been indirectly creating in the city. News International said the attacks on it showed that Associated was “rattled” by the success of thelondonpaper, which recorded a January circulation figure of 436,435 – a rise of 6.19 per cent on December – compared to 400,997 for London Lite, which was up just 0.07 per...

It seems all’s fair in the newspaper war over UK’s online audience. Newspapers are stretching advertising limits, and not everyone is liking it. The complainant said that the poster advertisement, which is part of a campaign to promote last week's launch of the new-look Times Online, was “irresponsible” and should not be shown where it can be seen by children. An ad for the new Times Online...

The financially-ailing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reached tentative contracts with bargaining units from its 11 different labour unions, lifting a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the future of the 220-year-old daily, the newspaper reported. Votes on the three-year contracts, which would run from January 2007 to March 2010, will take place in the next two weeks, said Newspaper Guild President...

A Belgian court has ruled that Web search leader Google Inc. may not reproduce extracts of Belgian press reports, upholding an existing injunction, news agencies reported on Tuesday. Google, the owner of the world's most-used search engine, must pay 25,000 euros ($32,500) a day until it removes all Belgian news content, the Brussels Court of First Instance ruled, according to a Bloomberg News...

China's advertising expenditure via television, newspapers and magazines reached 386.6 billion yuan (49.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006, up 22 percent on the previous year, according to the Nielsen Media Research. Television remained the most favored medium among advertisers, accounting for 81 percent of the total ad expenditure on the three key forms, said Nielsen. Advertisements for medicines...

(APN) ATLANTA – The US military has dropped the controversial subpoenas of two journalists, independent journalist Sarah Olson, who interviewed Lt. Ehren Watada for Truthout.org, and Gregg Kakesako of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, after Watada signed a stipulation agreement with the military. Olson still won’t say for sure whether she was going to refuse to testify, but it appears she would have...

Despite an almost 6 percent decline in sales, Cosmopolitan closed out the second quarter of 2006 as the biggest newsstand seller moving just over 1.9 million copies issue, down from almost 2.1 million copies in the second half of 2005, according to the latest FAS-FAX analysis released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Celebrity weekly, People came in second with almost 1.6 million copies...

Reporters Without Borders hailed the release today of Li Minying, the former director of the newspaper Nanfang Dushi Bao, three years before completing a six-year sentence for alleged corruption. He was arrested in January 2004 at the same time as the newspaper’s manager, Yu Huafeng, who is serving an eight-year sentence. The newspaper’s news editor, Cheng Yizhong, was also detained in 2004 but...