San Francisco, United States | AFP | Apple looks to begin a fresh reinvention on Monday as it rolls out Hollywood stars for its new streaming television service, part of a broad shift of direction for the California technology giant. Having seen a pullback in the once-sizzling smartphone market, Apple …
Read More »TAX DISPUTE: URA closes Observer
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Revenue Authority-URA has sealed off the offices of The Observer at Tagore Crescent in Kamwokya Kampala for reported non-tax compliance. A team of URA enforcement officers stormed the offices on Wednesday afternoon and locked the main gates with seals. The Observer has confirmed …
Read More »UCC orders Daily Monitor to shut website
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s communications regulator on Wednesday ordered the country’s main independent newspaper the Daily Monitor to shut down its website. In a letter to the newspaper’s managing director, the head of the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Godfrey Mutabazi, said the Daily Monitor had failed to register …
Read More »COMMENT: Selling Africa’s good news stories
How to stop negative Africa stereotypes that feed western hunger for one-dimensional narratives COMMENT | SHAYERA DARK | Project Syndicate | Anywhere in the world, freelance journalism is an extreme career choice. The job requires withstanding pitch rejections, ignored queries, stolen story ideas, and delayed payments. It means reconciling oneself …
Read More »Fake health news
Fake health news: How it can lead you to make dangerous decisions Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | Fake health news can do real harm. Here’s how to spot the difference between false stories and verified information. Sleeping with raw, sliced onions in your socks can release toxins from your …
Read More »EU countries split over copyright overhaul
Bruxelles, Belgium | AFP | Divisions between EU countries could delay or derail plans to overhaul copyright law, an ambition that has set up a battle pitting media firms against internet giants like Facebook and Google. The European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission had planned to meet …
Read More »Trump campaign firm pleads guilty in Facebook data case
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A UK consultancy working on Donald Trump’s US election campaign pleaded guilty and was fined by a London court Wednesday over its refusal to release personal data it secretly hoovered off Facebook. The social media giant has admitted that Cambridge Analytica — a political …
Read More »Fact checking fibbing politicians works, study finds
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Researchers in Australia say that fact checking can reverse the views of even the most dyed-in-the-wool partisans, and over time could cause voters to shun an often-lying candidate. Scientists from the University of Western Australia, the United States and Britain found that Aussies did change …
Read More »Journalist arrested and ‘violently beaten’ in DR Congo: media NGO
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A journalist was arrested and “violently beaten” in Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday for covering a meeting of opposition presidential hopeful Martin Fayulu, a media rights group said. Rodrigue Ndakazieka, described as a “journalist-technician” with a Kwilu province radio station, in the west …
Read More »COMMENT: Assault on news media
These five mundane dangers confronting the profession could be more dangerous than the physical attacks COMMENT | ALEXANDRA BORCHARDT | The brutal torture and murder of the US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has focused attention on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to have ordered the killing. …
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