Palestinian Journalists Targeted, Killed Amid Israel’s Onslaught on Gaza

Israel’s ongoing shelling of the Gaza strip has killed at least six Palestinian journalists over the past few days, press freedom watchdogs say.

On Tuesday, journalist Saeed al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of Al-Khamsa News, was killed while reporting, along with two other members of the press. “Unfortunately, they have sent a warning notice to the Hiji building just now that it will be bombed,” al-Taweel said shortly before being killed, according to Al Jazeera. “The area has been evacuated entirely. Women, men, the elderly, kids have all completely fled the area.”

Russia expels POLITICO reporter

Eva Hartog, POLITICO Europe’s reporter in Moscow, has been expelled from Russia after 10 years reporting in the country.

Russia’s foreign ministry told Hartog last Monday that her visa would not be extended and gave her six days to leave the country. Hartog was told the decision had been made by the “relevant authorities,” but was given no additional information about how the ruling was made.

A mission for journalism in a time of crisis

No former period, in the history of our Country, has been marked by the agitation of questions of a more important character than those which are now claiming the attention of the public.” So began the announcement, nearly 200 years ago, of a brand-new newspaper to be published in Manchester, England, which proclaimed that “the spirited discussion of political questions” and “the accurate detail of facts” were “particularly important at this juncture”.

Now we are living through another extraordinary period in history: one defined by dazzling political shocks and the disruptive impact of new technologies in every part of our lives. The public sphere has changed more radically in the past two decades than in the previous two centuries – and news organisations, including this one, have worked hard to adjust.

I'm a journalist ... and I'm here to help

For as long as I can remember, I have been trying to pick the lock of the truth with words.

It has been an enterprise with mixed results. As a journalist who can recognize an SOS no matter how well it is disguised, I have answered many calls for help over the years.

This may come as a surprise to those who — in these Trumpian days of lies and madness in high office — revile reporters and the entire news industry, but it’s true nonetheless: Journalists remain the Hail Mary option for a lot of ordinary people in trouble. After the doomed court case, the feckless appeal, the dubious letter to the MP, the scribbler is often the last resort of the hopeless.

Luxembourg Puts Journalist and Whistleblowers On Trial for Ruining Its “Magical Fairyland” of Tax Avoidance

LUXEMBOURG IS TRYING to throw two French whistleblowers and a journalist in prison for their role in the “LuxLeaks” exposé that revealed the tiny country’s outsized role in enabling corporate tax avoidance.

The trial of Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet, two former employees of the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and journalist Edouard Perrin began Tuesday.

Obama’s Gift to Donald Trump: A Policy of Cracking Down on Journalists and Their Sources

ONE OF THE intellectual gargoyles that has crawled out of Donald Trump’s brain is the idea that we should “open up” libel laws to make it easier to punish the media for negative or unfair stories. Trump also wants top officials to sign nondisclosure agreements, so they never write memoirs that upset the boss. Trump is so disdainful of free speech that he has even vowed to use the Espionage Act to imprison anyone who says or leaks anything to the media that displeases him.

The capitalist model for journalism is failing

The news this week that Rogers will send 200 of its TV, radio and publication workers packing is just the latest in a series of corporate media contractions that are bringing the entire system to the brink of collapse and forcing hundreds of media workers out of jobs across the country.

Just five companies -- Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor, and TELUS -- control nearly 90 per cent of Canada's media landscape.

Journalism Isn't Dying - It's Being Murdered

This weekend, a few of my friends and I will be getting together for what will be a small gathering of recent journalism grads. It's the first in a while; in the two years since my own graduation, I could count the number of reunions on one hand. The reason, it seems, is that there's a constant air of sadness.

When we see each other this weekend, the topic of choice will no doubt be the Postmedia cutbacks. It will likely be a sad conversation.

2 New Movies About Why the Powerful Are Trying to Kill Journalism

Ted Cruz holds professional journalists in such contempt that, in the aftermath of CNBC’s Republican debate, he says future debates should be moderated instead by “real journalists”—like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Marc Levin. They at least know the difference between policy, entertainment, and making a quick buck—so there would be no “gotcha” questions about nutritional-supplement companies that exploit Christian customers or finicky doubts about how cutting taxes on the very rich by $6 trillion could possibly raise revenues.

How John Baird bungled Mohamed Fahmy's release

Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy wasted no time in blasting the Harper government just 18 days before the federal election for overstating its role in securing his recent release from an Egyptian jail.

“When a Canadian citizen is in prison and caught up in a case so complicated, related to terrorism, the most efficient and senior officials in the Canadian government should intervene from day one," Fahmy told Canadaland’s Jesse Brown in an extensive interview on Sept. 28.

Free Speech Gets the Death Penalty

In June, the US Department of Defense released its "Law of War Manual," within which the Pentagon states clearly that journalists may be "unprivileged belligerents," which leaves those reporting on the military in any capacity open to be treated the same as spies - or even terrorists.

"Unprivileged belligerent" is a legal term that can be applied to combatants (people who are not soldiers in a state-sanctioned military) in a conflict, who are given even fewer protections than combatants openly participating in war.

State-Targeted Iranian Journalists Show Distress, Canadian Study Finds

TORONTO — Many Iranian journalists who have been the targets of state-sanctioned aggression are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, a Canadian study has found.

The symptoms are especially severe for those who have been arrested by Iranian government agents, according to the study being released Thursday.

Canadian journalist resigns over paper's refusal to publish his story

Pulitzer winner claims he was unable to tell of anger about Arctic discovery

An award-winning Canadian photojournalist has resigned from his newspaper because of its “refusal to publish a story of significant public interest.”

Paul Watson, winner of Canada’s only Pulitzer, announced on his blog on Tuesday (7 July) that he had quit the Toronto Star. He wrote:

House Intelligence Chair Suggests Snowden Reporters Are Criminals

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on Tuesday ratcheted up the rhetoric against journalists who publish documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, suggesting they are "fencing stolen material."

Rogers was questioning FBI Director James Comey at an Intelligence Committee hearing, where he pursued a line of inquiry that seemed to reference reports by former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and others -- as Comey hesitantly played along.

Glass houses, Mr. MacKay

Recently, I was awarded the Peter G. MacKay Award for sub-standard and cowardly journalism by Canada’s justice minister.

Touched as I was, I’ll have to turn the honour down. The column for which I was given the award simply doesn’t qualify — at least not in my sub-par opinion.

Besides, I have learned over time that judgements about journalism from politicians or government agencies are tricky matters.

Were Journalists Deliberately Targeted In Egypt?

Several news outlets and press freedom groups are raising the question of whether journalists have been deliberately targeted in the bloodshed currently engulfing Egypt.

Wednesday saw at least three journalists shot dead, and several others wounded, beaten and detained.

Bubbling up throughout the day was the contention that reporters and other journalists were being singled out.

State-snooping scandal prompts warning to journalists: protect sources better

MONTREAL - A scandal over state snooping on journalists in the United States is prompting media-watchers to consider new techniques to protect sources.

Anonymity of sources is considered sacrosanct among journalists and essential to their safety, reputation, and ability to act as public whistleblowers.

But journalists are lagging behind when it comes to protecting sources in the digital era, critics say.

Journalist recovers video of his arrest after police deleted it

A Miami journalist has recovered video of police officers arresting him after it was deleted from his camera. The man was covering a police effort to evict Occupy Miami protestors. He plans to file a complaint with the police department and with the United States Department of Justice.

On January 31, Miami police evicted Occupy Miami protesters from their downtown campsite. On hand to cover the action was photojournalist Carlos Miller. Along with protestors and other journalists, he was pushed down the street by a line of police in riot gear. He tried to circle around the block to return to his car, but he found his path blocked by a second line of police officers.

The police weren't arresting the other journalists around him, so Miller said he assumed he would be allowed to cross this second line of officers to return to his car. But when he approached one of the officers, he was stopped and placed under arrest. Upon his release the following morning, he found that several videos he had taken, including the one documenting his arrest, had disappeared.

Miller has since recovered some of the missing video, and it appears to back up his story. Though some crucial sequences are missing, the video shows Miller approaching a female police officer, who blocks his path and then calls other officers over to help arrest him.

"You were given a dispersal order, sir, and you were told you were gonna be placed under arrest," she told Miller in the video. "We don't want to have to hurt you," she said.

'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At Hearing By Order Of House Republicans

WASHINGTON -- In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Initial reports from sources suggested that an ABC News camera was also prevented from taping the hearing; ABC has since denied that they sent a crew to the hearing.

Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment had been taking place in room 2318 of the Rayburn building.

HuffPost has obtained exclusive video of the arrest of Josh Fox. Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, can be heard at the end of the clip asking Republican Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) to halt the arrest and permit Fox to film the public hearing. Harris denies Miller's request as Fox is escorted out of the hearing in handcuffs.

Is It Journalism’s Job To Check The Facts For Us?

Why yes, yes it is!

People have been hopping over a recent piece by the New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane in which he asks whether reporters should be fact-checkers.

“The New York Times Does Not Know What Journalism Is Or What a Journalists’ [sic] Job Is,” says one angry writer. “Fourth Estate Sale! Everything Must Go!” writes a cleverer one.

The tone is one of surprise. Of course this is what journalists should do, they seem to say, isn’t it what we pay them for?

Though there are several interpretations of what checking facts actually entails, the answer is still mostly no. Lawyers check occasional stories that editors deem especially sensitive to legal difficulties, but newspaper journalists don’t. Some magazines have fact-checkers—Eye Weekly used to have some good ones, Toronto Life still does—but many don’t.

This is not to say newspaper journalists don’t check their facts. But if you’ll allow me a little semantic specificity, that’s a different thing. Fact-checking is by definition a separate stream, a re-reporting of a story, in effect, by someone who does not take the same things for granted the writer might. Though not flawless, it’s a very good system, and it’d be just great if newspapers could do that. But they’re already losing the race for immediacy, so it’s not likely, at least not until they realize they’ve already lost that race and start running ones they can win. Let’s return to that.