International

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has created a new category in its 2008 World Young Reader Prize awards to encourage the use of newspapers to help people learn to read. The Newspapers & Literacy award will honour a project that helps improve basic reading and writing skills. Projects can target a wide variety of audiences, including parents, families, immigrant populations and young...

CNN is entering YouTube territory with iReport.com, a new website built entirely on user-produced news. Unlike CNN's own properties—where only iReport submissions that have been handpicked by editors and checked for accuracy ever make it online or on air—the new site will be wide open, allowing users to post whatever content they choose, says a Reuters report. Some details: The new site looks and...

Ninety-five journalists and other media workers were killed worldwide because of their professional activities in 2007, with Iraq and other conflict zones accounting for more than two-thirds of the deaths, the World Association of Newspapers said Thursday. Forty-four journalists and other media workers were killed in Iraq last year. Somalia was the second deadliest place for journalists, with...

The last three years have been incredibly dangerous ones for journalists — the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) report on media deaths Deadly Stories 2007 highlights the range of risks that they face all over the world. “This year’s report again shows the tragic attacks on reporters, photographers, translators, delivery truck drivers and all other media workers remain at record levels...

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf has agreed to open the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008, the global summit meetings of the world’s press, to be held in Göteborg, Sweden, next June. The events, organised by the World Association of Newspapers, are expected to draw more than 1,500 newspaper publishers, managing directors, CEO, chief editors and other senior...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has launched a new website to support and promote the use of cross-media audience measurements that will allow publishers to provide a more complete picture of their reach than print circulation alone. The website for the Media Measurement Initiative Task Force contains the latest research and insights regarding the rapidly changing landscape of online...

Violence against journalists in 2007 reached extreme levels for the third year in succession with 171 confirmed deaths, just below the record set a year ago, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Conflicts in Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia have proved the most dangerous for journalists in a year that has confirmed the high rates of killings in recent years and “tragedy...

An end to the legal persecution of journalists is an essential step towards providing human rights protection around the world, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said. The IFJ, which is the world’s largest journalists’ group, said Monday that governments which use criminal defamation and other legal restrictions to silence critical reporting undermine the role of media in...

After a decade of watching newspapers and rival wire services shrink, The Associated Press, the 161-year-old news cooperative, is refitting itself to handle the 24-hour news cycle it helped create. “You have to adjust to the marketplace,” said Jim Kennedy, The A.P.’s vice president for strategic planning. “The new generation of consumers has completely different habits.” To feed those habits and...

Consumer and corporate Internet usage could outstrip network capacity both in North America and worldwide in a little more than two years, says a new study. Young boys and girls surf in the internet in Carlsbad in California, October 2007. Nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video in May and viewed more than 8.3 billion video streams, according to...