Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Swedish and Norwegian newspapers on Friday said they would refrain from the tradition of publishing April Fools’ Day jokes this year over fears that it might spread “fake news”. Magnus Karlsson, editor-in-chief at the daily Smalandsposten said on its website that he doesn’t want the newspaper’s …
Read More »Magufuli sacks minister after he condemns Tanzanian TV intrusion
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP | Tanzania’s information minister was fired on Thursday after he criticised an ally of President John Magufuli who had stormed into a television station accompanied by armed men. The sacking comes amid an uproar over the incident at one of Tanzania’s main private broadcasters, …
Read More »Mexican journalist gunned down before his family
Coatzacoalcos, Mexico | AFP | A Mexican journalist was shot to death on Sunday while leaving a restaurant with his wife and son in Veracruz state, an area that journalism groups consider one of the country’s most dangerous for reporters, a state commission reported. The dead man was identified as Ricardo …
Read More »Iconic US newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin dies at 88
Washington, United States | AFP | Jimmy Breslin, a brash, colorful award-winning reporter and newspaper columnist who took on the high and mighty and championed the underdog, died Sunday at the age of 88. His wife Ronnie Eldridge confirmed his death, The New York Times reported. Breslin had been recovering …
Read More »Tanzanian TV journalists suspended over fake Trump news
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP | A top Tanzanian television presenter has been suspended, along with eight fellow employees of the main state-run channel, for relaying fake news in which US President Donald Trump praised his Tanzanian counterpart. In the fake news item, run this weekend, Trump describes Tanzania’s President …
Read More »Shuttered: EU ditches summit ‘family photo’
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU has ditched the traditional “family photo” of leaders at Brussels summits as it seeks a more modern image for the bloc, European sources said. Until the end of last year, the 28 European Union leaders gathering for their regular meetings would pose together …
Read More »Gambian journalists pressure govt after attack on reporter
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Journalists in The Gambia on Tuesday urged the country’s new leadership to uphold their pledge to respect media freedom after a violent public assault on a reporter by President Adama Barrow’s supporters. Kebba Jeffang, a journalist for Foroyaa newspaper, was hit, scratched and insulted at …
Read More »South Africa weighs social media measures to fight fake news
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s state security minister said Sunday the government is considering a move to regulate social media in an effort to curb the proliferation of what he described as “false” information. “The false narrative in the social media, it’s one of the challenges that …
Read More »Zimbabwe journalists arrested over ‘in bad shape’ Mugabe health report
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Two Zimbabwean journalists were arrested Friday over a newspaper report that described President Robert Mugabe as “in bad shape” when he flew to Singapore for what officials called a scheduled medical check-up. Editor of independent newspaper NewsDay Wisdom Mudzungairi and journalist Richard Chidza were released …
Read More »President Oprah? Winfrey doesn’t rule out 2020 run
Washington, United States | AFP | Media mogul Oprah Winfrey did not say she was running for president, but she didn’t rule it out either, raising the unlikely prospect of a titanic celebrity-on-celebrity duel with Donald Trump in 2020. In an interview with Bloomberg TV that aired Wednesday, host David …
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