(Press Gazette) Former Labour minister Denis MacShane has called for the Freedom of Information Act to be extended to apply to media organisations. MacShane told the Commons the Act needed to be reviewed as many requests were designed to just seek out "sensationalist tittle-tattle".

(CJR) If by the end of 2011 a meaningful agreement is reached between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, there will be few if any laurels due to an international press for covering the process with disciplined objectivity. [..]

(The Hoot) Journalists are supposed to search for information, put it in context and if it has layers of complications, then interpret it without taking sides. That is quintessential journalism because benefits accrue to the reader who pays to buy the newspaper. [..]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned about a blanket ban by China’s Central Propaganda Department on reporting by any media, including the state-owned Xinhua News Agency, of an explosion in western China that killed seven people. The ban was issued immediately after the explosion in Aksu City, Xinjiang, Uyghur Autonomous Region, on August 19. [..]

(CJR)“When you build the data yourself, you can be fairly certain no one else is going to have the story.”

(The Atlantic)Last February I got an offer from Kroll, one of the world's largest private investigation firms, to go undercover as a journalist-spy in the Ecuadorian Amazon. At first I thought I was underqualified for the job. But as it turned out I was exactly what they were looking for: a pawn.

(AP) A court ordered one of Venezuela's leading newspapers on Tuesday to stop publishing photographs depicting blood, guns and other violent images and warned it could face a hefty fine for having published a photo of bodies in a morgue.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned about a new ban by China’s authorities on the reporting of a milk powder product suspected of bringing on the development of puberty in babies. [..]

(CJR) Day Two stories go a step farther in drawing connection to climate change

(NYT)