United States

An assistant professor of journalism at Western Washington University, whose reporting on a Chicago murder case helped free a man convicted as a teenager of the 1993 crime, does not have to turn over her notes to the police officers accused of framing him, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled, according to Seattle Times. The details: [ Link] U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman also ruled that the...

Muslims and low social economic standing groups are portrayed too negatively in the US media, pluralities of Americans feel. Negative coverage of the black and Hispanic communities trail closely behind, a new study has revealed. When asked about coverage of Muslims in the news, 40 per cent of the younger generations and 24 per cent of those 65 years and older believed it was too negative. The...

A new online tool has been released in the US that tries to add political context to news stories. Poligraft, released by the Sunlight Foundation, scans news articles for the names of donors, corporations, lobbyists and politicians and shows how they are connected by contributions. The tool is easy to use: Just submit the URL or text of a news article, and Poligraft creates a sidebar containing...

Media conglomerates News Corp and Time Warner Inc posted improved quarterly results on Wednesday, riding a recovery in advertising sales and several quarters of cost cuts, says a Reuters report. The results, which came a day after CBS Corp's strong quarterly report, sent media shares higher even as analysts pointed to an uncertain outlook due to the possibility of a dip in the global economy. "The...

The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of Gen Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, has been denied permission to join US troops fighting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Defence Department spokesman Col David Lapan told reporters that freelance writer Michael Hastings was rebuffed when he asked to...

US newspaper publisher McClatchy Co has reported that second-quarter revenue fell 6.4 per cent, as advertising and circulation continue to suffer. The revenue decline, however, was an improvement from steep drops during the worst of the recession. It's also the latest sign that the weak advertising market that has hurt most media companies is slowly reviving. Other newspaper publishers, including...

The board of the Audit Bureau of Circulations approved a series of changes to US newspaper rules to coincide with other broad modifications set to take effect in October. The new policies include fresh standards for newspaper subscriptions that include digital editions while addressing the growing market for paid content across multiple platforms, such as e-readers and mobile apps. The board's aim...

The US State Department has reversed its decision to deny a visa to a leading Colombian journalist whose reporting has been highly critical of the country's US-allied president. Morris, his wife and their two children can now travel to Harvard for a yearlong Nieman Foundation fellowship for mid-career journalists. "Happy, happy! This was terrible," a relieved Hollman Morris, an independent TV...

Two Norwegian journalists are facing trespassing charges after they were arrested snapping photos of the New York estate where Chelsea Clinton is expected to get married, says Huffington Post. Thomas Bjorn Nilsson, 43, of New York, and Kjerste Sortland, 41, of Snorova, Norway, were charged with a violation after they were stopped around 2 p.m. Wednesday on the Astor Estate in this picturesque town...

New York Times Co posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and for the first time in three years increased revenue as advertising stabilised and readers paid more for its newspapers. The publisher on Thursday said advertising revenue was about flat in the second quarter, raising hopes among investors that the newspaper business might recover after a prolonged slump, according to Reuters...