Journalists attacked by mobs, detained in Cairo

Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press, Cairo, Egypt | Fri, 02/04/2011 9:58 AM | World

Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on Thursday, and two dozen were detained by security forces.

Among the many detained were correspondents for The New York Times, Washington Post and Al-Jazeera. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said late Thursday that in just the past 24 hours it had recorded 24 detentions of journalists, 21 assaults and five cases in which equipment was seized.

Both foreign and Egyptian journalists were targeted in attacks that have "intensified to levels unseen in Egypt's modern history," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.

"This is a dark day for Egypt and a dark day for journalism," said Joel Simon, the group's executive director. "Egypt is seeking to create an information vacuum that puts it in the company of the world's worst oppressors."

BBC foreign editor Jon Williams said via Twitter that security forces seized the network's equipment in a Cairo Hilton hotel in an attempt to stop it broadcasting. Many international news organizations have been using the Ramses Hilton overlooking Tahrir Square as a base to cover the mayhem.

Two Fox News Channel journalists were severely beaten by a mob near Tahrir Square on Wednesday. Correspondent Greg Palkot and cameraman Olaf Wiig had retreated to a building, but someone threw a firebomb inside and the men were attacked as they rushed out, said Michael Clemente, Fox's senior vice resident for news.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT said one of its reporters, Bert Sundstrom,was stabbed Thursday. The network said it's unclear what happened but that when an editor called Sundstrom's cell phone a man answered in Arabic that the reporter was in the hands of the Egyptian government. SVT said Sundstrom was seriously injured but described his condition as stable.

The Sunday Times newspaper's foreign affairs correspondent, Marie Colvin, said armed men gathered outside a home where she was interviewing the family of a protester who'd been shot.

The men of the family locked her in a nearby shop and then helped her through shoving, shouting crowd to a car, she said.

Douglas Jehl, foreign editor for The Washington Post, said on the paper's website that Cairo bureau chief Leila Fadel and photographer Linda Davidson were held by military police and released. Their translator, Sufian Taha, and driver, Mansour el-Sayed Mohammed Abo Gouda, were believed to remain in custody, Jehl wrote.

Pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera said three of its journalists were detained by security forces, four were attacked and another was missing. It reported Thrsday night that the arrested journalists had been released.

Egyptian authorities have complained the network's coverage was slanted in favor of protesters and could encourage unrest.

Al-Jazeera also said equipment was stolen and destroyed during the 10 days of protests and its broadcast signal was disupted across the Arab world.

ABC News correspondent Brian Hartman and a crew were carjacked as they returned from Cairo's airport after retrieving equipment. They were driven into a narrow alley and surrounded by angry men, one in a police uniform who said, "So help me God ... I am going to cut off your head," he said in a story posted on ABC's website.

The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain said in a joint statement that the "attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable."

Government spokesman Magdy Rady on Wednesday denied government involvement in attacks on reporters and said officials welcomed objective coverage.

"It would help our purpose to have it as transparent as possible. We need your help," Rady told The Associated Press. However, he said some media were not impartial and were "taking sides against Egypt."

Journalists to launch News Corp's iPad newspaper

The Associated Press, Los Angeles | Thu, 01/13/2011 1:57 PM | Lifestyle

Stop the presses - completely. The world's first iPad newspaper, The Daily, is prepping for launch.

Journalists have been hired and are in place at multiple U.S. bureaus, including Los Angeles and New York.

The formal announcement of the digital publication owned by News Corp. will be made at an event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Jan. 19, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said the event will be attended by Steve Jobs, chief executive of iPad-maker Apple Inc., and Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp.

The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Details are scant, including how much a subscription to the tablet-only paper will cost, if there is indeed a fee, but the name at least implies it will come out once a day. It will cover general news, culture and entertainment and will include video.

The publication is a bold attempt by Murdoch to rewrite the business of journalism, as revenue from print circulation and advertising has plunged and growing advertising sales on websites have not made up the difference.

At an investor's conference last month, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey called The Daily a "small bet" because costs were limited mainly to a modest editorial staff. By contrast, printed newspapers also have such costs as newsprint, ink and delivery.

Carey touted the benefits of tablet computing technology.

"We didn't want it for a PC," he said. "We think the tablet, you know, is a unique experience. You can design something that takes advantage of that experience, takes advantage of the multimedia capabilities of it, the technological capabilities of it. I think it could be an interesting product."

News Corp.'s other digital initiatives are setting the pace in a struggling industry.

The Wall Street Journal's website has required a paid subscription for 14 years and now has nearly 450,000 electronic subscribers, according to the latest report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The newspaper charges $3.99 per week for an iPad subscription, which includes access to its website. News Corp. won't say how many people are paying, but more than 1 million have downloaded the app for free (it contains some preview material, but full access is restricted).

In Britain, since July, News Corp.'s The Times of London and Sunday Times require at least a one-pound payment to access content beyond the front page online. While online visitors have plummeted, Carey has been upbeat about the financial prospects of the new model, though he acknowledged the businesses will take years to build.

The company's push toward paid content comes as its MySpace entertainment site, which is free to users, has lost hundreds of millions of dollars annually and moved this week to slash half of its staff, or about 500 people.

Newspaper publishers view the iPad and other tablets as a golden opportunity because they can sell ads and subscriptions at higher prices than they have been able to get on websites, though those rates are still lower than for print.

User behavior so far has indicated that reading on the iPad is more of a "lean back" experience akin to perusing a print newspaper.

Apple is the clear leader of the tablet makers, selling an estimated 13 million iPads since its launch in April, but a bevy of electronics makers including Motorola Mobility Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Dell Inc. showed off their tablets last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Technology research firm Gartner Inc. expects that 55 million tablet computers will be shipped this year.

The New York Times offers a free iPad version of its newspaper. Installed on about 1.5 million tablets, the app will require a subscription later this year when the Times also will start charging to read multiple stories on its website.

USA Today, which boasts the most print subscribers in the U.S., also is counting on its iPad app to help lift its advertising revenue, which has been declining for the past four years. The newspaper, owned by Gannett Co., has no plans to charge users of the iPad app, which has been installed on about 1.25 million tablets.

Police investigating Palu journalists attack

Dina Indrasafti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/31/2010 2:13 PM | National

The police say officers are currently investigating the assault of several reporters after the Independent Journalist's Association (AJI) office in Palu, Central Sulawesi, was attacked on Thursday.

"The investigation has been underway. We have questioned 6 witnesses and conducted interrogations. The officers are going after a youth group but we haven't determined individual identities," National Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said in Jakarta on Friday.

Investigators took into evidence the physical examination results of the four reporters who were assaulted in the incident, Boy said.

According to Boy, a group of almost two dozen men clad in local youth group uniforms attacked the AJI office on Thursday after an unfavorable story about the National Youth Committee (KNPI) was published.