Jim McDowell, northern editor of Dublin-based Sunday World, suffered severe cuts and bruising to his head and body after being punched and kicked to the ground by four men yesterday evening.

The 60-year-old ex-rugby player and boxer believes drug dealers were behind the brutal attack which happened during a visit to the Continental Market.

?They came at me from behind ? they didn?t even take me face on. I was trying to get up and they beat me back ( Read more... )
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Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) posted underlying profits of £201 million for the year to October 4 - down from £262 million after it was hit by the steep slump in advertising revenues amid the recession.

But its Daily Mail title bucked the wider gloom in the industry, with adjusted profits maintained at the second highest level on record for the newspaper.

This helped its Associated Newspaper national arm achieve a "very satisfactory result", according to DMGT, ( Read more... )
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His investigation, pictured, into the environmental damage done by the world's cheapest vegetable oil, palm oil, beat news reports from the BBC, Channel 4, Wall Street Journal and The Daily Telegraph's coverage of the MPs' expenses scandal, which was commended.

Published in the Saturday magazine on 2 May, "The Guilty Secrets of Palm Oil" also won the environment category at a ceremony at the Park Lane Hotel organised by foreign correspondents based in London. The 3,000-word ( Read more... )
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Far greater than the ideological differences that have traditionally set apart the great national titles, this divergence in opinion ? over whether the written word should be a free commodity or one that is charged for ? will set the news industry at each other?s throats.

The battle lines became clearer last week, as Rupert Murdoch?s senior executives proclaimed from the ramparts, or at least from the luxury hotels of western Europe, their determination to erect a pay ( Read more... )
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Defending the comments left by BellaMack, a spokesman says staff "cannot be expected to be automatons", but admits the moderator "was reminded of guidelines". So who is the mischievous BellaM? Step forward Isabella Mackie, or, as her birth certificate records, Isabella Rusbridger, daughter of Alan, editor of The Guardian. As she wrote in one thread: "Eff me, I'm famous. But not in a good way. Or maybe in a good way. Depends."

Sun never sets on name typos

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It's been a rocky fortnight for the PCC since it published its findings into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. MPs were furious it concluded there was "no new evidence" to support The Guardian's story that reporters at the Murdoch-owned tabloid had intercepted thousands of private phone messages. Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor, called it "worse than pointless" and resigned from the PCC's code of practice committee. Mark Lewis, a lawyer who gave evidence to the media select committee, ( Read more... )
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In this podcast recorded at The Independent Woodstock literary festival Dame Ann Leslie, recognised as one of the 40 most influential journalists of our time ('Killing my own Snakes'), talks with The Independent's award-winning correspondent Robert Fisk ('The Age of the Warrior') and BBC's renowned foreign reporter Martin Bell ('The Truth that sticks - New Labour's Breach of Trust'). They discuss whether reportage is indeed a 'lost art'.

The PCC said today it had not found any proof to support a story by the Guardian newspaper in July this year which said the practice to secure sensational stories was widespread at the News of the World tabloid.

In response, the Guardian described the PCC's report as complacent, saying the organisation did not have the "ability, the budget or the procedures to conduct its own investigations"

The report by the Guardian newspaper dominated the headlines for days ( Read more... )
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And take them they do. Dozens of the now-free paper are snatched from Phil's blue tin stall during the time we spend discussing his life as one of London's endangered landmarks: the street corner newspaper vendor. We talk about the changes he has seen: the rival papers that have come and gone; the increase in stress among commuters; and his feeling that the country has gone to the dogs. But the most significant change happened suddenly last month when the Standard cut its cover price to nothing. ( Read more... )
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The judges said Hari is "a force to be reckoned with. He's quickly established himself as a leading commentator." Receiving the award, Hari said: "The only gay award I've ever been nominated for before was 'Worst Dressed Gay Man In Britain', and I was beaten by David Furnish, so I am really chuffed by this."

It is the fifth major award Hari has won in the past two years. Hari shared his award with Dame Joan Bakewell.

That?s Letts of the Daily Mail who describes John Prescott as ?having the manners of a flatulent caveman?, lampoons Speaker John Bercow as a ?ludicrously orotund midget?, and depicted Lord Sugar, on the grand occasion of his admission to the Upper House, as ?television?s runtiest little rooster?.

So, Nick Griffin? ?He?s quite camp in some ways and then there?s the eye, he has almost the look of a starling with a sort of beak and those bird-like eyes, I?m not sure there?s ( Read more... )
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And it is against this backdrop that Index on Censorship will next week release a report Free Speech is Not for Sale: The Impact of English Libel Law on Freedom of Expression, a document it hopes will convince politicians of the urgent need to change the law on what you can write or broadcast without being liable for defamation damages. It is attempting to find out how many media super-injunctions are in existence in Britain, and estimates a figure of between 20 and 50.

The Index research ( Read more... )
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For the Wall Street Journal ? which denies it has become more "tabloid-y" under Rupert Murdoch's ownership ? it was a moment to wallow in the "Media industry's trials and Tribune-ations."

The headlines were black. These are dark times for newspapers everywhere in the developed world, after all, as the slow ebb of circulation figures has been suddenly and shockingly compounded by a collapse in advertising revenue brought on by the recession. The spectacular bankruptcy of ( Read more... )
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Associated Newspapers said it has entered a period of consultation over the future of the newspaper, "which may result in closure".

A consultation will take place with 36 London Lite employees before a final decision is made.

Steve Auckland, managing director, Associated Newspapers Free Division, said: "The latest development in the London afternoon free newspaper space dictates that we look again at the future of London Lite.

"Despite ( Read more... )
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His decision was prompted by the unexpected success of Plague Over England, his play about John Gielgud's conviction for cottaging which recently transferred to the West End. The day before we meet, contracts were signed to turn it into a film, for which de Jongh will write the screenplay. Many are the journalists currently leaving to "pursue other projects", but few can look forward to such a dazzling one. "I want to be creative now," he declares. "Plague Over England has been a transformational ( Read more... )
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Another 1,000 complaints poured into the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) yesterday about comments made by the Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir. Normally, that level of reaction to one story would be a record but yesterday it was a sign that things were slowing down, after a weekend when 21,000 complaints caused the PCC website to crash.

The comedian Stephen Fry and illusionist Derren Brown, who have a million Twitter followers between them, led the online charge. Charlie Brooker, presenter ( Read more... )
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The piece, published in the Daily Mail on Friday, prompted 21,000 complaints, the PCC said.

The commission said it would write to the Mail for a response even if Gately's family did not make a formal complaint.

The article was published the day before the funeral of the gay Boyzone singer, who died on the Spanish island of Majorca.

It sparked a furious reaction, with widespread discussions on social networking sites, such as Twitter, which encouraged ( Read more... )
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Columnist Jan Moir argued that the death of Gately, who was in a gay marriage, struck "another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships".

In spite of a coroner's verdict that he had died of natural causes, following a build-up of fluid on his lungs, Moir wrote: "Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one."

Respondents to the Mail's website voiced outrage. One condemned the article as an "odious piece of vile trash"; ( Read more... )
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The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, hailed a "great victory for free speech" and said lawyers had "caved in" over a gagging order.

It means details of a question tabled by Labour MP Paul Farrelly regarding the effect on whistleblowers and press freedom of other specific injunctions can be published.

Despite the question being on yesterday's Commons order paper and on the Parliamentary website, the newspaper reported this morning that it had been ( Read more... )
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Here?s an exchange that?ll bring glorious memories of the year 2002 flooding back: ?You know my new phone?? ?Yeah.? ?It?s got a camera in it.? ?You?re kidding me.? ?Honest. On my mum?s life.?

Prior to this bizarre technological leap forward, mobile phones pretty much stuck to their brief of, well, being phones, with the added thrill of text messaging for those of us perched on the cutting edge. But embedding a lens in the underside of a phone kicked off a series of rapid ( Read more... )
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