News

"Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion," warns Allan Thompson. "The media is not there, they don’t have — or don’t devote — the resources to cover the Darfur story in a systematic way. It’s remote, it’s difficult, but so are lots of other stories they do devote resources to." The veteran journalist and assistant professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communications has had Rwanda on...

The story of the gay sheep is an example of the distortion that can result when science meets the global news cycle. Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay. Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story. Dr. Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why...

A Malaysian blogger, sued for alleged defamation by a pro-government newspaper, said Thursday the popularity of his online journal has turned it into a watchdog of the local media and its conduct. The libel suit by the New Straits Times newspaper against Ahirudin Attan has stirred a storm of protests by commentators who have said the action is a blow to free speech and an attempt to intimidate...

Los Angeles Times Editor James E. O'Shea unveiled a major initiative Wednesday to combine operations of the newspaper and its Internet site — a change he said was crucial to ensuring that The Times remains a premier news outlet. O'Shea employed dire statistics on declining print advertising revenue to urge The Times' 940 journalists to throw off a "bunker mentality" and view latimes.com as the...

CineMaya Media Group, the leading South Asian media, entertainment and advertising company that also publishes the North American edition of Indian Express, has been acquired by Caltas Fitness. 'We are extremely pleased to have been acquired by Caltas Fitness,' said New York-based CineMaya CEO Sunil Hali Wednesday. 'Our company has experienced more than 30 percent growth in each of the three...

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Times Editor James E. O'Shea unveiled a major initiative Wednesday morning designed to expand the audience and revenue generated by the newspaper's Web site, saying the newspaper was in "a fight to recoup threatened revenue that finances our news-gathering." O'Shea employed dire statistics on declining advertising to urge the Times' roughly 940 journalists to throw off a...

(CEMESP/IFEX) - One of the factions involved in the current leadership struggle in the Liberian House of Representatives has threatened to prevent journalists from covering their activities for what they term as "biased coverage" of the ongoing leadership crisis in that body. The lawmakers accused three radio stations - internationally funded Star Radio, Catholic-run Radio Veritas and privately...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu to end criminalization of insult and libel laws in Romania, which could lead to journalists being jailed. "Romania must be careful not to retreat into the shadows of its political past by allowing bad law to remain on the statute books," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information wrote to Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei on 22 January 2007 asking him to intercede on behalf of Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman (better known by his blogger pseudonym of Kareem Amer), whose trial is due to start on 25 January in Alexandria. Held since 6 November 2006, he faces up to nine years in prison for...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of planned job cuts in the U.S. media sector surged 88 percent last year and that trend will likely continue as readers shift from print to online services, a study on Thursday showed. For all of last year, the media industry announced 17,809 job cuts, up sizably from the 9,453 cuts announced the prior year, according to the job outplacement tracking firm...