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Stories of interest
Bangladesh tribunal orders 3 journalists held until trial in 2024 uprising case
By Julhas Alam
The Associated Press
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday asked authorities to keep three journalists jailed until their trial in a case involving a mass uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from office in 2024, lawyers said.
During the student-led uprising, hundreds of people were killed, and Hasina was later sentenced to death on charges of crimes against humanity. She fled to India two years ago and was tried in absentia.
The tribunal asked that Mozammel Babu, editor-in-chief of private Ekattor Television, its principal correspondent Farzana Rupa and Shyamal Dutta, editor of daily Bhorer Kagoj and former general secretary of the National Press Club in Dhaka, remain jailed.
After they appeared before the tribunal on Monday, the judge fixed Oct. 25 for the next court proceedings and asked the investigators to submit their findings against the journalists.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Washington Post ordered to reinstate Black opinion writer fired after Charlie Kirk posts
By Corey Williams
The Associated Press
An arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate a Black opinion writer fired over social media posts about violent white men following last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk.
The ruling Thursday said the newspaper did not have sufficient cause to terminate Karen Attiah, who at the time was the last Black full-time member of the Post’s opinion desk. The arbitrator, Sarah Miller Espinosa, also ordered the Post to award Attiah full back pay and lost benefits.
After Kirk’s killing, Attiah, the founding global opinion editor for the Post and the newspaper’s only Black female opinion writer, made several posts to her Bluesky account.
One post read: “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence.”
“If anything, the rush to coddle violent white men is self-protective — that we know they are not used to feeling vulnerable and mortal — and will react violently out of fear. And we will all suffer,” read another post.
Attiah was emailed a termination letter on Sept. 11, accusing her of “gross misconduct.”
Read more here. Shared by Adolphe Bernotas, Doug Pizac.
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Pentagon Spokesperson Admits There’s a Secret Blacklist of Journalists
Nick Turse
Intercept
U.S. Central Command maintains a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office, according to an official with CENTCOM public affairs. The disclosure comes amid a failed war in Iran, a “cover-up” of U.S. casualties from that conflict, and repeated refusals by CENTCOM to address questions about civilian deaths in Iran, including the killing of a family recently disclosed by The Intercept.
The CENTCOM official who revealed the existence of the list threatened that this reporter could be added to it for calling the command too often.
“You’ll be put on a list of people to disregard,” Richard Allee, an executive assistant with CENTCOM public affairs told this reporter. When asked for clarification — “You have a list of people to disregard?” — he confirmed it with an emphatic: “Yes.” When asked which reporters or outlets were currently on the list, he replied: “I’m not privy to give you that information.”
Read more here. Shared by Richard Chady.
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Britain tells TikTok and other platforms to remove videos glorifying dangerous driving after deaths
By The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government Monday urged TikTok and other social media companies to take down viral videos “celebrating” dangerous driving, after two police officers and five young men were killed in a crash when a car was driven down the wrong side of the road.
British media reports suggest that one of the people who died in the Volkswagen on Saturday may have previously posted such a video.
U.K. Defense Minister Luke Pollard said the government has told TikTok and similar platforms to “step up” and remove such “awful content.”
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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TikTok Settles With U.S. Over Child Privacy Concerns for $400 Million
By David McCabe
The New York Times
TikTok on Friday reached a $400 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department that accused the company of illegally gathering children’s information.
The 2024 suit, filed under the Biden administration, claimed that TikTok had gathered data from users under the age of 13 without parental permission. The suit accused TikTok of knowingly allowing children to create accounts and of failing to honor parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts.
TikTok violated federal privacy law along with a 2019 agreement with the government in which the app promised to take steps to protect children’s privacy, according to the government.
Under the settlement announced Friday, TikTok will pay $300 million. The Justice Department also asked the court to eliminate the 2019 agreement, after which TikTok would pay the government an additional $100 million, according to a Justice Department news release.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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New Zealand moves to ban social media for under-16s
By Ben Strang
AFP
New Zealand's government introduced legislation on Monday to ban under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok.
Australia implemented world-first legislation banning children from social media in December, with the UK, France and others following suit.
Under New Zealand's proposed law, firms like Meta could be fined up to 10 percent of their global revenue if they fail to comply.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Celebrated Photographer Jay Maisel Dies at 95
By Pesala Bandara
PetaPixel
Jay Maisel, the influential American photographer who was the subject of the 2018 documentary Jay Myself, has passed away.
Maisel, an acclaimed photographer known for his commercial and editorial photography — particularly his masterful use of colour and light — died at the age of 95. News of his death was shared on social media by photographer Stephen Wilkes, who was Maisel’s mentee.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Maisel studied painting and graphic design at Cooper Union, Manhattan, before transferring to Yale University. He began his photography career in 1954 and went on to shoot five Sports Illustrated swimsuit covers, as well as the first two covers of New York Magazine.
One of Maisel’s most famous photographs appeared on Miles Davis’ seminal 1959 record Kind of Blue which remains the best-selling jazz album of all time. His moody, blue-drenched portrait of Davis blowing into his trumpet became an indelible image in jazz history, demonstrating how a single frame can capture the exact mood of a sound. However, Maisel was perhaps best known for his photographs of everyday life, which captured light, color and movement with an extraordinary sense of spontaneity.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Research Firm’s Founder Explains $6 Million Payment to Fired Forbes Editor
By Benjamin Mullin
The New York Times
The founder of a research firm explained on Monday why he paid $6 million to Randall Lane, the former top editor of Forbes, who was fired last month after the media outlet learned of the transaction.
Mr. Lane, the former chief content officer of Forbes, received the multimillion-dollar payment “in recognition of the services and guidance” he provided to RJ Shook, the founder of Shook Research, including helping him sell the firm last year, Mr. Shook said in a statement to The New York Times.
Mr. Lane helped forge a partnership between Forbes and Mr. Shook’s firm after the two men met in 2011, Mr. Shook added. Shook Research provides rankings of financial advisers to Forbes, which uses the data to compile some of its popular and lucrative lists.
“My actions were taken with the best intentions, but ultimately the payment was a mistake,” Mr. Shook said. “I deeply regret that this has raised questions about the integrity and independence of Shook’s rankings.”
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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New York Times tests out AI-generated search summaries
By Max Tani
Semafor
The New York Times has begun testing its first generative AI tool for readers, a step the publication hopes will improve its troubled search feature but which has also alarmed some of the paper’s journalists.
In recent weeks, the paper has quietly rolled out a new search page for a small subset of visitors that responds to queries with excerpts and relevant links to Times stories, as well as AI-generated summaries of Times reporting. It’s the news arm’s first test of AI-generated text that is unmediated by a Times journalist or editor.
The paper has experimented with other AI features in recent months across its non-news sections. Wirecutter, the Times’ review site, recently began testing an AI search feature called Wirecutter Finder, which points users to AI-generated summaries and tips based on the site’s recommendations.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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One battle after another: A warrior for press freedom in the time of Trump
By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times
There’s a case to be made that David McCraw is the tip of the spear defending press freedoms under attack in the United States today.
McCraw is the lead newsroom lawyer for The New York Times, which is defending itself and the news industry’s freedom from government interference on multiple fronts.
In March it won a lawsuit over new Pentagon policies restricting reporters’ access, though the fight continues as the Department of Defense weasels around the ruling with additional restrictions.
The newspaper rebuffed a $15 billion defamation suit brought by President Donald Trump. It also blocked subpoenas of phone records of reporters who revealed shortcomings of the Air Force One airplane donated by Qatar.
“It’s unfortunate that the government sort of believes rights are a game of whack-a-mole,” McCraw said. “We win one, and something else pops up, and we’re going to have to go after that one as well. It’s not the way it should be, but it’s the way it is.”
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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