Americas

President Hugo Chávez's government is about to acquire a majority stake in Globovisión, a privately-owned TV station that is critical of his administration. By acquiring the shares of some of the station’s directors, the government says it will be able to control 48.5 per cent of its capital, according to Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF). Federal Bank chairman Nelson Mezerhane stepped in last month...

Canwest Limited Partnership, publisher of the largest chain of English-language dailies in Canada, grew overall revenue on the strength of newspaper print advertising, which offset a decline in digital media, its new owner reported Thursday, according to Editor & Publisher. The details: [ Link] Postmedia Network Inc., which closed its purchase of the Canwest papers on July 13, reported fiscal...

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...

Reporter José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández was released from a Cuban jail and arrived Friday in Madrid, becoming the 11th independent journalist to be freed by the Havana government this month. “My colleagues and I warmly hugged each other upon arrival, sharing our happiness for regaining freedom and our sorrow for leaving Cuba,” Izquierdo Hernández told New York-based Committee to Protect...

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...

Cuban journalist Alfredo Pulido López was released from jail and landed Thursday in Madrid, bringing to 10 the number of imprisoned reporters freed and sent to Spain as part of an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government. “I am extremely happy to regain my freedom, but I also feel sad for leaving my country,” Pulido López, left, told New York-based Committee to Protect...

Despite being the most popular website in America, consumers don’t like Facebook, according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report, produced in partnership with ForeSee Results. Facebook scored 64 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, which puts its satisfaction even lower than IRS e-filers. This puts Facebook in the bottom 5 per cent of all measured private sector...

An independent photographer and documentary filmmaker was detained and assaulted and his camera was confiscated by officers from the National Institute for Migration in Mexico. Irineo Mújica Arzate was documenting on July 16 a police action in Soltepec, Puebla, to detain undocumented Central American workers who were travelling by train to the United States, the Center for Journalism and Public...

Luis Hernández Núñez, an XEJTV Canal 5 cameraman in Mexico, was injured on July 15 when a bomb was set near a federal police convoy by individuals associated with organised crime. Four people were killed and at least 10 were injured in the attack in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) has reported. The incident took place around 8:00 p.m. at the 16 de...

The US Senate on Monday passed a bill to shield US journalists, authors, and publishers from "libel tourists" who file suit in countries where they expect to get the most favourable ruling.The popular legislation headed to the House of Representatives, which was expected to approve it and send the measure to US President Barack Obama to sign into law despite misgivings from key US allies, Agence...