Tag: media

Brazil court suspends Telegram app in neo-Nazi probe

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — A Brazilian court on Wednesday ordered the countrywide suspension of messaging app Telegram after its parent company failed to provide data sought by authorities on neo-Nazis operating on the network, officials said. The move came after a spate of violent school attacks, at least one of them linked to exchanges on a group with anti-Semitic leanings. Justice Minister Flavio Dino said the court had fined Telegram a million reais […]

Twitter drops ‘state-affiliated’ tags for media accounts

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Friday 4/21/2023 Twitter has dropped “state-affiliated” and “government-funded” labels from media accounts, according to a review by AFP on Friday of many high-profile pages on the platform. Many major media outlets from Western nations, Russia, China and other countries that previously had either of those tags no longer displayed them, according to AFP. They included the accounts of National Public Radio in the United States, China’s official Xinhua […]

Fox faces stain of ‘disinformation engine’ despite settlement

by Anuj CHOPRA Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Fox News averted a potentially humiliating defamation trial after a last-minute settlement Tuesday, but it took a reputational beating that observers said was unlikely to spur the influential broadcaster to tame its “disinformation engine.” The network, one of the most powerful and profitable in the United States, agreed to a $787.5 million settlement in a lawsuit launched by voting technology company Dominion over its coverage […]

Fox News settles defamation case for $787.5 mn

Wilmington, United States | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 by Susannah WALDEN with Peter HUTCHISON in New York Fox News reached a $787.5 million settlement Tuesday in a defamation case brought by voting technology company Dominion that alleged the network knowingly aired false claims linking its machines to a conspiracy to undermine the 2020 US presidential election. The agreement to end the case avoided what most experts suggested would have been a damaging, high-profile trial for […]

New Zealand public radio threatens to quit Twitter

Wellington, New Zealand | AFP | Monday 4/17/2023 Radio New Zealand became the latest broadcaster to threaten to leave Twitter on Monday, after the social media platform labelled the public broadcaster “government-funded”. RNZ’s head of content said it could join US counterparts National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, who both quit Twitter last week in protest at the tag. “Not only is our editorial independence protected by the law, we guard it vigorously,” head […]

US airman arrested over Pentagon documents leak

by W.G. Dunlop Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — FBI agents on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets — including about the Ukraine war. Broadcast live on TV networks, the dramatic arrest was the culmination of a weeklong investigation — fueled by intense media coverage — into one of the most damaging leaks of classified information since the 2013 dump of National […]

News presenter generated with AI appears in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — A Kuwaiti media outlet has unveiled a virtual news presenter generated using artificial intelligence, with plans for it to read online bulletins. “Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday as an image of a woman, her light-coloured hair uncovered, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt. “I’m Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of […]

After backlash, Twitter now calls NPR — and BBC — ‘government-funded’

Washington, United States | AFP | Sunday 4/10/2023 Twitter has backtracked after an uproar for labeling the US radio network NPR as “state- affiliated media” and now calls it “government-funded.” Elon Musk’s social media network has also applied that new label to the BBC, which is funded predominantly by British households paying a license fee. Britain’s beloved national broadcaster has reached out to Twitter for clarification, news reports said. The change in how Twitter refers […]

BBC urges staff to ditch TikTok over data fears

  The BBC said Monday that it had told staff to delete Chinese-owned video app TikTok unless it was needed for business reasons, with Western institutions increasingly taking a harder stance over data collection fears. The British broadcasting giant reported that it sent staff a message on Sunday saying: “We don’t recommend installing TikTok on a BBC corporate device unless there is a justified business reason. “If you do not need TikTok for business reasons, […]

Three Ecuador TV stations receive letter bombs, one explodes

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Letter bombs addressed to journalists were sent to three TV stations in violence-plagued Ecuador Monday, one of which exploded without causing casualties, officials and the outlets reported. The prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the crime of “terrorism,” without stating why the three stations were specifically targeted, or by whom. In the port city of Guayaquil, journalist Lenin Artieda of the Ecuavisa private TV station received an envelope […]

US Supreme Court treads carefully on landmark tech law

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a landmark case that could transform the internet by scrapping decades-old legal protections for tech companies, but gave no indication that a clear majority would opt to rework the law. In a two-and-a-half-hour session, the nine justices targeted their questions on better understanding the so-called Section 230, a US law that was signed in 1996 at the dawn of the internet era and before the creation […]

Disney lays off 7,000 as streaming subscribers decline

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Entertainment giant Disney said Wednesday it was laying off 7,000 employees, in CEO Bob Iger’s first major decision since he was asked back to lead the company late last year. The layoffs follow similar moves by the US tech giants that have laid off thousands of workers as the economy sours and companies dial back a hiring spurt that began during the height of the pandemic. “I do not […]