160-year-old Vatican newspaper succumbs to coronavirus

 The Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, which Pope Francis has jokingly called “the party newspaper”, suspended printing for only the third time in nearly 160 years on Wednesday due to the coronavirus.
 The paper, which was founded in 1861, will continue publishing online and most of its staff of about 60, including 20 journalists, will work from home, editor Andrea Monda said.
“A newspaper and the paper on which it is printed are inextricably intertwined so it sad that this is happening but the reality is that we are all facing a crisis,” Monda told Reuters.
Wednesday evening’s edition will be the last for the time being. The newspaper’ print run of about 5,000 is disproportionate to its wider influence in reflecting Vatican opinion on international affairs and Church matters. It is followed by many ambassadors. (Reuters)

CBC’s closure of local newscasts amid the coronavirus crisis is a shame

Robert Hurst, one time president of CTV News, writes in an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail:

"Shame on the CBC for closing its local newscasts amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is a moment when news gathering and reporting is a critical public service. This is a moment when citizens need and crave information.

The CBC says it is “pooling our resources” into one core national news offering. What poppycock! Those resources are already pooled into the CBC News operation.

"What the CBC is actually doing is eliminating more than 75 hours a week of original local news reporting at a time of crisis.

"PEI Premier Dennis King is justifiably angry. The CBC is the only local newscast in Charlottetown and King says it is a “critical partner.”

"Across the country, thousands of local stories will now go unreported. For example, the failings of Ontario’s Telehealth emergency service will get only a passing mention on CBC News Network while that important story leads local newscasts. The CBC’s national audience will not have much interest any more in the Lynn Valley Care Centre, where 4 people have died from the coronavirus. But people in North Vancouver will want more, much more. Thankfully CTV and Global are active and vibrant in British Columbia."

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China expels American journalists

China announced on Tuesday that it would expel American journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It also demanded that those outlets, as well as the Voice of America and Time magazine, provide the Chinese government with detailed information about their operations.
The announcement comes weeks after President Trump limited the number of Chinese citizens who could work in the United States for five state-controlled Chinese news organizations.
The announcement, made by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came weeks after the Trump administration limited the number of Chinese citizens who could work in the United States for five state-controlled Chinese news organizations to 100.  LINK

Australian Associated Press: News agency to close after 85 years

The national news agency Australian Associated Press said Tuesday it will close in late June, its 85 years in business vanquished by a decline in subscribers and free distribution of news content on digital platforms.

“The saddest day: AAP closes after 85 years of excellence in journalism. The AAP family will be sorely missed,” AAP Editor-in-Chief Tony Gillies said in a tweet.

Sydney-based AAP was started in 1935 by newspaper publisher Keith Murdoch, father of News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch. It is owned by Australian news organizations News Corp. Australia, Nine Entertainment Co., Seven West Media and Australian Community Media.

The agency is renowned for its fair and impartial reporting and its extraordinary reach across rural and urban Australia. The surprise decision by its owners to close the agency comes amid a brutal consolidation in the industry and raised an outcry both from its staff and from many Australians who view it as a pillar of a free and fair press.

“When you have such an important institution such as AAP coming to an end, ... that is a matter of real concern,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Parliament. (AP)

Subway must pay CBC $500,000 for failed defamation lawsuit over chicken

Sandwich chain Subway has been ordered to pay the CBC $500,000 in legal costs following its failed bid to sue the public broadcaster for defamation.
In his decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ed Morgan attributed much of the length and complexity of the legal battle to the approach taken by the fast-food chain.
Subway had sued the CBC for defamation over a Marketplace report in February 2017 that focused on the amount of chicken in its chicken sandwiches. The world's largest fast-food operator sought $210 million in damages.

The CBC succeeded in November in having Morgan dismiss the action pre-trial under so-called anti-SLAPP legislation, which aims to protect free speech on matters of public interest. The company, Morgan noted, went all out in fighting the CBC's dismissal motion.

"Its materials were overwhelmingly aimed at the issue of truth in the news magazine item that was the subject of the suit — an issue which goes to the heart of the merits of Subway's defamation claim, but is only relevant in a minor way to the SLAPP criteria," Morgan said. "The motion turned into a massive undertaking to which CBC, as moving party, was compelled to reply."
Both Subway's approach and the CBC's response required a "Herculean lawyering effort" resulting in a "monument to high-end legal work" in complex litigation, Morgan said. However, the effect was one of extending and complicating what was intended to be a relatively quick procedure, the judge said.
The result, Morgan said, was that CBC racked up a total of $800,000 in legal costs that reflect the "large-scale undertaking" the anti-SLAPP motion became.