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20 July 2012 | Al Jazeera

U.S. news media to be monitored to prevent leaks

Leon Panetta, the U.S. Defence Secretary, has ordered senior Pentagon officials to begin monitoring major U.S. news media for disclosures of classified information in an effort to stop the release of government secrets in the wake of a series of high-profile leaks. Reports about U.S. cyber warfare against Iran, procedures for targeting fighters with drones and a double agent who penetrated an armed group in Yemen have angered U.S. lawmakers. Some have charged the leaks were timed to benefit President Barack Obama's re-election bid. In addition to the media monitoring, the Pentagon said it had taken a number of other steps in recent months to improve information security. The measures included improved training for handling classified information, the publication of a manual with clear instructions on what constitutes an unauthorised disclosure and the creation of an online security incident reporting system.

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20 July 2012 | The Guardian

Pressure on Rupert Murdoch to resign

Major shareholders will renew their push for media mogul Rupert Murdoch to resign as News Corp chairman at the company's annual meeting later this year. Eighteen major shareholders have now signed a letter calling for Murdoch to step down from the company he has spent 60 years creating. News Corp has been rocked by revelations of widespread phone hacking at its UK newspaper subsidiary. Earlier this year a UK parliamentary committee said Murdoch was "not a fit person" to run an international business. The campaign has been organised by Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) and members of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF). CBIS organised a similar protest at last year's annual general meeting. Murdoch received the support of 86% of voting shareholders but the majority of independent votes went against key board members including his sons Lachlan and James, who ran the UK newspaper business.

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20 July 2012 | The Guardian

Sun journalist arrested in hacking investigation

News reporter Rhodri Phillips of the ‘Sun’ newspaper was arrested on Thursday by police from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta, which is investigating breaches of privacy including computer hacking. News International chief executive Tom Mockridge confirmed in an email to staff that he was "afraid that another of our journalists from the Sun has been arrested this morning". The man is the seventh person to be held under Operation Tuleta.

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20 July 2012 | The Guardian

Struggle between The Financial Times and The Times of India continues

A new battlefront has opened in the long war between The Financial Times and The Times of India over the use of the Financial Times trademarked name. The launch by The Times of India of a new supplement called the Financial Times has prompted the chief executive of The Financial Times, John Ridding, to hit back with a full-page advert in another newspaper. The Times of India has been using the Financial Times name for almost 18 years but, after a legal fight, has been required to carry a disclaimer stating that it was "not in arrangement with The Financial Times, London". That disclaimer is missing from the new supplement. The Financial Times has a content-sharing agreement with the Indian Express, which has led to The Times of India suing the Express in order to stop it from using "FT" or "Financial Times" in its paper. The matter is pending in the Bangalore high court.

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20 July 2012 | V3.co.uk

Olympics media centre to host datacentre and start-up incubator

The Olympics press and broadcast centre will house a datacentre and start-up incubator following the Games, according to an announcement by iCity, the association that will lead the post-event transformation of the site. iCity is now the preferred bidder by the London Legacy Development Corporation to create a long term legacy use for the media centre. It plans to use the centre for media studios, university facilities and a new digital academy will also be part of the site. The transformative project will see the creation of 4,600 jobs on the Olympic Park site. The press and broadcast centres are two of the most digitally connected buildings in the world. It pledged to invest £350m more to advance the digital infrastructure even further - double the amount committed by the government already.

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20 July 2012 | The Independent

BBC news accused of gender bias

The BBC has been accused of being "testosterone-fuelled" after nine times as many male experts than women were shown on its flagship nightly news bulletin. Researchers from City University London carried out a study over a week watching the BBC's Ten O'Clock News. It said almost all the experts were men and only one woman featured on the programme on one night last month. "I saw the news on June 13 and I was actually shouting at the screen 'where are the women.'" Said anti-discrimination campaigner, Miriam O'Reilly.

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