One-third of U.S. owners of smartphones or tablet computers said they had downloaded news apps in the previous 30 days, according to newly released results from a Nielson survey. Still, news apps came in fifth, behind games, maps/navigation, music, and social networking apps.
One year after the Jan. 8 shooting in Arizona that prompted NPR and other media outlets to incorrectly report that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been killed, Poynter looks back at how so many journalists got it wrong. Poynter even named the false reports of Giffords' death the worst error of 2011.
Despite Peruvian President Ollanta Humala's campaign promise to decriminalize press crimes, the number of jail and probation sentences against journalists continue to rise in the Andean nation, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) claimed on Jan. 5.
Brazilian television broadcaster Rede TV! broke its contract with journalist Rita Lisauskas on Jan. 5, 2012 for "revealing proprietary information about the channel," according to the column Zapping in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. In December 2011, the anchor for the television news magazine "Rede TV! News" was suspended after she complained on her Facebook page about late salary payments at the broadcaster, reported the newspaper O Jornal.
The Colombian magazine Semana warned that a proposal backed by the Venezuelan and Ecuadorean governments is aimed at weakening the Organization for American States' (OAS) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
On Jan. 6, Brazilian police accused a 16-year-old boy of allegedly killing journalist Laércio de Souza in Salvador, Bahia, reported Correio 24 horas.
The same day that the International Press Institute (IPI) named Mexico the world's most dangerous country to practice journalism, an armed gang killed journalist Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino in the border state of Nuevo León on Jan. 6, reported Proceso.
A Brazilian reporter said he was attacked by the mayor of Ipu, a city in the northeastern state of Ceará, while covering a city council meeting on Jan. 6, reported the website Crato.org.
Tired of bloggers and aggregators profiting from their work and investments, the Associated Press, The New York Times Co., the Washington Post Co., and 26 other U.S. news organizations have launched a company aimed at tracking the online, unauthorized use of copyrighted content, reported the Associated Press.
The Online News Association (ONA) announced that it is joining mounting opposition to the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), arguing that the bill "would inappropriately shut down websites, disrupt the free flow of legitimate information and limit Americans from fully exercising their First Amendment rights," not to mention put at risk the future of social media and user-generated content, ONA said in a letter from its president dated Thursday, Jan. 5.
Journalists in Mexico and Ecuador had little to celebrate this year as they recognized Journalists' Day this week, according to the newspapers La Vanguardia and Hoy. Mexico, considered one of the world's most dangerous countries to practice journalism, remembered the seven journalists killed in 2011 on Jan. 4. Ecuador remembered a difficult year for freedom of expression on Jan. 5, following President Rafael Correa's aggressive stance against the media.
The Dominican online newspaper Diario Digital RD denounced a cyber attack against its Google and Twitter accounts, Facebook profile, and damage to its subscription database, reported the publication on its website.