Canada ranked 18th on this year’s annual press freedom index from Reporters Without Borders. Along with Germany, it was one of only two G8 countries to make the list’s top 20. Most of the countries deemed to have the best freedoms are in Europe, with Iceland at the top. The U.S. ranked 48 (immediately behind…
Media freedom is increasingly under attack in the Western Hemisphere, especially in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, said the Inter American Press Association. At least 13 employees of media organizations were killed and two disappeared in the past six months in the Western Hemisphere, said the association, which promotes free expression in the Americas. The group…
A longtime editor of the Wall Street Journal is creating a new kind of journalism, backed by a couple of wealthy donors. Paul Steiger is forming a group of investigative journalists who will give away their work to media outlets. “The plan is to do long-term projects, uncovering misdeeds in government, business and organizations,” said…
There have been many calls on blogs, journalism sites and various public speakers for more, not less, stories about the so-called Jena 6 (six Americans involved in an incident of noose-hanging then beatings). The issue struck me as not critical to Canadians especially just now, with so many other big issues here and around the…
An Associated Press story takes a look at increased surveillance and censorship in China in the lead-up to the Communist Party Congress next week. “”For China’s 162 million web users, surfing the Internet can be like running an obstacle course with blocked websites, partial search results, and posts disappearing at every turn,” said the story…
American authorities have now detained Iraqi news photographer Bilal Hussein, who worked for the Associated Press and is a Pulitzer Prize winner, for 18 months. The AP’s web site today has a special feature on Hussein, which includes a long list of links with comprehensive information:The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned Associated Press photographer…
Reporters Without Borders and “Chinese Human Rights Defenders” says their new joint study “reveals how that country’s government censors the Internet and how the Internet Information Administrative Bureau controls the leading news websites.” Reporters Without Borders calls China the world’s biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissident. Reporters Without Borders also has a petition, announced in 2001,…
Irving family companies control most of the media in New Brunswick. Now, they’re in court trying to stop an upstart from setting up a competing newspaper. CBC has a story about the case, and the Irving company’s complaint that a former publisher is using confidential information obtained while he worked for them to go into…
Today’s New York Times has a piece about how American broadcaster ABC is reshaping its news cast for the Internet. There are some differences, and some innovations. Excerpts:Executives at the broadcast networks know they have opportunities online that they do not have on television — namely, to take chances by testing new forms of news…
“The screams from newsrooms are those of panic,” Jim Lehrer, the well known American public television anchor, told a group of university students at Northwestern. Journalism is going through an “unpleasant” revolution, he said — but argued that the demise of mainstream media may be exaggerated. Lehrer is a guy usually worth listening to, imo.…