Americas

Sun-Times Media Group Inc plans to close 12 weekly newspapers in suburban Chicago and has asked its union employees to take a cut in compensation as part of cost-cutting measures brought on by declining advertising revenue, the Associated Press (AP) has eported. The company, which publishes the Chicago-Sun Times, also wants to lay off up to 15 employees in suburban newsrooms, a union official told...

Hearst Corp, one of the largest US publishers, is seeking a buyer for its Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper within 60 days after losing $14 million last year amid dwindling circulation and advertising revenue, according to news reports. The privately held magazine and newspaper publishing company will seek a buyer for the 145-year-old daily newspaper, as well as its interest in a joint...

The Chicago Tribune is said to be making changes to its dramatic new redesign just three months after it was rolled out, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The Tribune announced on January 8 that it would bring that section back while making indexes clearer, toning down bold fonts, and adding new local sections. The newspaper in late September debuted a new format that it said was bolder and...

Press freedom groups have expressed shock at the December 30, 2008 announcement that Cláudio Orlando "O Ratinho" do Nascimento, like Claudino "Xuxa" dos Santos Coelho before him, has been granted a partial release for "good behaviour." The two men, known members of a Rio de Janeiro gang, were sentenced in 2005 to 23 years and six months in prison for the June 2002 murder of TV Globo reporter Tim...

A group of unidentified individuals bought off copies of the Perú 21 newspaper from newsstands in the district of Chosica, east of Lima, on January 3 ostensibly to stop the public from learning about allegations of fuel trafficking involving authorities and 27 police officers in the district, the Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has reported. According to journalist Elizabeth Salinas...

Every lawsuit that has been brought by members of the Universal Church against journalist Elvira Lobato, who works for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, has thus far been won by the journalist, the ssociação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) has reported. Winner of the 2008 Esso Journalism Award, the most important prize given to Brazilian news people, the reporter was targeted with...

The Uruguayan Senate has approved a bill that provides for modifications to several articles of the country's press law, in addition to articles in the Criminal Code. The modifications include significant elements affecting defamation and the offence of "insult to authorities" (desacato), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has reported. The bill was unanimously approved...

Masked gunmen in the Mexican city of Monterrey opened fire and tossed a grenade at the Televisa network's studio as it aired a nightly newscast. The assailants left behind a message warning the station about its coverage of drug gangs. During a live broadcast at 8:35 p.m. on Tuesday night, at least five masked gunmen riding in two pickup trucks fired high-caliber weapons and tossed a grenade...

Bolivian President Evo Morales is planning to launch a state-run daily newspaper later this month which would act as a counterbalance to the "anti-government" local media, Reuters has reported. "The state's going to have its own newspaper and I've told the media team that we should launch it on January 22," Morales was quoted as saying by the official news agency ABI on Sunday. During a radio...

The number of newspapers in the US offering some form of user-generated content has doubled up. Overall, 58 per cent of newspapers offered some form of user generated content in 2008 compared to 24 per cent in 2007. In fact, 58 per cent of newspapers allowed for user generated photos in 2008, while 18 per cent accepted video and 15 per cent articles. The number of newspaper websites allowing users