Paul Farhi

Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini ruled that Michael Pack overstepped his authority when he fired the board of an agency that helps dissidents and journalists in repressive countries and sought to replace it with his own slate of directors, including himself.

The White House launched an extraordinary attack on Voice of America, saying the federally funded but independent news service had promoted Chinese government propaganda in its reporting about the coronavirus outbreak.

America’s two largest newspaper publishers will merge in an effort to combat declining circulation and plunging advertising revenue, but will still face pressure to cut costs at hundreds of already cash-strapped publications around the country. The $1.4 billion purchase of McLean (VA)-based Gannett by GateHouse Media, based in Pittsford (NY), will create a conglomerate that will own more than 250 daily newspapers and hundreds of weekly and community papers.

The family of the Covington Catholic High School teen from Kentucky who was involved in an encounter with a Native American advocate at the Lincoln Memorial in Jan filed a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post on Feb 19, seeking $250 million in damages for its coverage of the incident.

President Donald Trump is ramping up his efforts to make a public case for his border wall as the partial government shutdown is now in its third week, planning a prime-time address Jan 8 and a visit to the border Jan 10. Some Democrats responded to the news of Trump’s address with concern that he would mislead the American people about the situation at the border.

Judge Timothy Kelly ruled in favor of CNN and reporter Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Donald Trump, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that the Trump administration had taken away from Acosta. Judge Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the administration from keeping Acosta off White House grounds. Judge Kelly ruled that Acosta’s First Amendment rights overruled the White House’s right to have orderly news conferences.

Print isn’t dead. But the soaring cost of newsprint is contributing to the slow death of America’s newspapers. A months-long spike in the price of paper, driven by federal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Canadian suppliers, is slamming newspapers at a time when the news about the news industry wasn’t very good to begin with.

They’ve become a facet of almost every news broadcast, as familiar as the anchor sitting behind a desk. Within moments of the start of a newscast or panel discussion, the info-billboards on the lower third of the TV screen begin their silent unfurling. The on-screen banners known as chyrons (kai-rahns) were once flat, artless labels that were about as exciting as an airport arrival-and-departure board. But in an era of shrinking viewer attention spans, chyrons seem almost to have come to life and achieved self-awareness.

Based on the photographic evidence, living conditions inside government-run detention centers for immigrant children separated from their parents in south Texas look reasonably orderly and clean. But there’s a major catch: All of the photographs depicting life inside the facilities have been supplied by the government itself. There’s been no independent documentation; federal officials, citing the children’s privacy, have barred journalists from taking photographs or video when they’ve been permitted inside.

The TV news has a familiar feel to it in west-central Pennsylvania. News stories broadcast on WJAC, the NBC affiliate in town, have appeared on nearby station WATM, the ABC affiliate. And many of those stories are broadcast on WWCP, the Fox station here, as well.