Companies

Journalists at Le Monde, one of France's most highly respected dailies, went on strike for only the second time in the paper's history Monday in protest at heavy cuts in newsroom staff. Le Monde, read by 2 million people everyday, is one of the country's most influential newspapers with extensive contacts in the French establishment and an unwaveringly intellectual tone. A new management team told...

Shareholders of Thomson Corporation and Reuters have approved plans for the Canadian firm to buy the British-based media and information group and create the world's biggest provider of financial data. The approval in separate shareholder meetings in Toronto and London clears the way for completion of the deal on April 17, the two firms said. A statement issued from Thomson's operations...

Al-Jazeera is quite badly hit—it is facing mass departures owing to its English channel's alleged anti-American bias. Three three senior journalists have quit in recent times, more are said to be in the queue. Dave Marash, the most high-profile US journalist on Al-Jazeera's English language service, left the channel last week, attacking its narrowing world view and increasingly anti-American...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Friday called on the management at the Associated Press (AP) to reconsider the proposed sale of its French service in a deal that they say could seriously undermine its quality and objectivity. Journalists working for the AP French service, which provides news for French media, held a one day strike on Thursday, shutting down the wire in protest of...

Advertising expenditures for newspaper websites in the United States increased by 18.8 per cent to $3.2 billion in 2007, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Spending on newspaper websites has now grown to account for 7.5 per cent of all newspaper ad spending last year (up from 5.7 per cent in 2006). For last year’s fourth quarter, advertising...

Google shareholders will propose that the Web search company take steps to ensure freedom of Internet access and establish a review of its operations' effect on human rights, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. A Reuters report said that in one proposal expected to be submitted at the company's 2008 annual meeting on May 8, shareholders will ask Google to commit to certain standards...

Journalists and newspaper employees Thursday held a demonstration outside UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's residence in New Delhi to demand interim relief under the wage boards set for them, the Press Trust of India (PTI0 has reported. The demonstration was held under the banner of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees Organisations, which also sought "proper" functioning of the...

Several top US newspaper publishers will devote online advertising space to a new network that wants to make it easier to place ads on hundreds of newspapers' websites at a time, says a Reuters report. The network, quadrantONE, said it will get space from 138 sites and represent more than 250 newspapers. Publishers joining the network include AH Belo Corp, McClatchy Co, Media General Inc and EW...

Dow Jones & Co, recently bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has struck a deal with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to distribute news from the Paris-based agency through its Dow Jones Newswires unit, replacing a partnership of more than 40 years with the Associated Press (AP). Dow Jones Newswires will also expand its global editorial staff as part of a broader investment in financial news, the...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the print media has been allowed to overcome the shortage of capital being faced by the newspaper industry in the country, a Press Trust of India (PTI) report has said. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B), PR Dasmunsi on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that several Indian companies engaged in publishing newspapers and...