The uprising in Egypt has claimed its first journalistic victim. Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a photographer with the newspaper Al-Ta'awun, died last night in hospital from gunshot wounds sustained seven days before.

Mahmoud is thought to have been shot by a sniper while filming confrontations between security forces and demonstrators from the balcony of his home in Cairo's Qasr al-Aini district, which is adjacent to Tahrir Square.

Sources: CPJ/Wall Street Journal

News International's new strategy for dealing with the increasingly bad publicity generated by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal smacks of dirty tricks.

(See Dan Sabbagh's first report on the matter, posted here on Wednesday, and his second, posted yesterday, here).

Together, these reports suggest that News Int, far from aiding the process of investigation and acting as transparently as possible in the face of mounting criticism, is engaged in further obfuscation.

It appears to be trying to minimise its culpability by revisiting its previous "rogue reporter" defence by encouraging the view that the fired assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson, is the new rogue.

At the same time, it seems to be erecting a smokescreen by seeking to spread the scandal beyond its Wapping headquarters to other newspapers.

It strikes me as bizarre that it has chosen to muddy the waters by putting the London Evening Standard in the frame.

The Standard has been under new ownership since January 2009. But, under its previous proprietorship, there was never the slightest whiff of evidence that its staff were involved in phone-hacking.

I must declare an interest, because I write a weekly media column for the Standard, but I would not hesitate to condemn the paper if I was to discover it had sanctioned reporters or investigators to intercept voicemail messages.

I am sure that the current editor, Geordie Greig, would do the same. It's just not in his DNA to do anything underhand.

I am equally certain that his predecessor, Veronica Wadley, would not have blessed phone-hacking activities.

So News International's executives will do their company - including their boss, Rupert Murdoch - no favours by slinging mud at the Standard and its staff, both past and present.

I understand that News Int's new PR supremo, Simon Greenberg, made a very odd phone call on Wednesday to the Standard's managing director, Andy Mullins, about hacking allegations supposedly linked to a former member of the Standard reporting staff.

Evidently, Greenberg viewed the making of the call as "a matter of courtesy." He was tipping off the Standard that News Int was about to issue a public statement in which the paper would be linked to phone-hacking.

News Int sources indicate that the statement was the result of the company being contacted by "two major news organisations" about the former Standard reporter's link to phone-hacking.

But the Wapping story doesn't quite add up. It has never issued equivalent statements about hacking in the past.

Nor has The Times more or less simultaneously run online news reports about hacking allegations.

Whatever the intention of the call, the Standard's senior staff were outraged that the paper was named for seemingly no good reason by News International.

Their upset was all the greater because Greenberg used to work at the Standard as its sports editor before going over to "the other side" by acting as a PR, first for Chelsea football club and then for Fifa's failed World Cup bid team.

Nor should we overlook the fact that Greenberg was head of sport and associate editor at the News of the World from September 2000 until 2002. In other words, he was there at a time when phone-hacking was supposed to have been happening.

That is not to say, of course, that Greenberg would have been aware of what newsroom staff were doing.

There is also a belief within the Standard that the reporter (whose identity is being concealed due to his being ill) was one of Greenberg's protégés. I am given to believe that this is not so.

Greenberg has only been at News International for five minutes. It is a shame if has he allowed himself to become so quickly embroiled in defending the squalid business of phone-hacking.

It does him and his company no credit to divert attention from the News of the World's journalistic dark arts by engaging in questionable PR spin.

Dominican Republic journalist Francisco Frías, editor of Cabrera FM and the digital newspaper Prensa Libre Nagua, was shot by police while covering a funeral.

Frías, who took bullets to the stomach and an eye, had previously been threatened by a police captain while covering a conflict over land.

There have already been eight reports of violence against journalists in the country in 2011, with the majority perpetrated by the authorities.

Source: Knight Centre

Profits at the New York Times Company's in the final quarter of 2010 fell 26% compared to the same period the previous year largely due to declining print advertising. Ad revenue dropped more than 7%.

The company said digital advertising revenue grew by 11%. But that accounts for just 15% of the company's total revenue. Some 43% comes from print ads. Most of the remainder comes from circulation.

The full-year results, which showed a profit of $108m (£67m), benefited from cost-cutting.

Source: NY Times More details: NY Times Co/Yahoo News

Metro International, the Swedish-based publisher of free daily newspapers in over 100 cities around the world, has made a profit for only the second time in its history.

The company posted a net profit of €4m (£3.4m) in 2010 compared to a loss of €21.7m (£18.3m) in 2009.

Chief executive Per Mikael Jensen said the company's performance had "improved quarter by quarter" since the final three months of 2009.

The best growth was in Sweden, Canada, Hong Kong, Russia and Latin America, while advertising sales in France, Holland and Denmark were weak.

The fourth quarter of 2010 was crucial, with sales jumping 15% to €70.5m (£60m), up from €5.9m (£5m) in the same period the year before.

Metro international was launched in Sweden in 1995 and is published in 19 countries. The only previous year it has returned a profit, albeit a small one, was in 2006.

NB: Copies of the Metro distributed in Britain and Ireland are published by Associated Newspapers - and have made bumper profits for years.

Sources: AFP/The Local/Newspaper Innovation

I was talking to journalism students in Preston yesterday when BBC Radio 4's The Media Show was broadcast. So I've only just heard it.

It was riveting stuff, especially during Steve Hewlett's rigorous questioning of the Press Complaints Commission's chair, Baroness (Peta) Buscombe, over phone-hacking matters.

There were several interesting moments, and I've chosen just three that illustrate her difficulties in defending the PCC's role as the scandal escalates.

Example one: she was asked whether or not the PCC had been misled in 2009 by the News of the World's denials that hacking was restricted to a single rogue reporter.

She refused to agree until, after being pushed, she finally said: "It sounds now as as if we weren't fully informed."

That is a major admission.

Example two: Buscombe was pressed hard about the contradiction in the PCC's 2009 report in which it criticised The Guardian for its hacking revelations, yet failed to condemn the News of the World.

She said this was due to a lack of evidence that could be substantiated. "We were in a similar position in that sense to the media select committee," she said.

Hewlett interrupted by pointing out that the select committee's withering conclusion was that News International had suffered from "collective amnesia" about hacking. He said to her: "You didn't say that."

Her answer: "We have to be extremely responsible about what we do."

So, I wonder, was it "responsible" to criticise The Guardian for telling what turns out to be the truth?

Was it responsible for the report to caution The Guardian for its "obligations under the code [editors' code of practice] requiring it to take care not to publish distorted or misleading information"?

Finally, example three (and, potentially, the one with legal implications): Buscombe was questioned about being sued for libel by the lawyer, Mark Lewis, in June last year over remarks she made about him at a Society of Editors' conference (full story here).

In November, the PCC and Buscombe made a formal statement of regret at the high court and paid damages to Lewis (story here).

But, asked by Hewlett about the case, she was oddly reticent, saying she was not prepared to talk about it "on air." She even refused to say she had paid damages to Lewis and his costs, though she did stress that had not meant to impugn his reputation.

During the cross-questioning, she disputed that she was "forced into court" and said there "was no question of apologising."

But then came an extraordinary exchange. In explaining that her Society of Editors' speech was based on "evidence that we had been given" (about Lewis).

She said: "I made a statement, which I thought was absolutely the right thing to do at the time..." Hewlett interrupted: "Which turned out to be wrong."

Buscombe replied: "We don't know yet whether it was wrong. We have no idea, and that is why we have had to be so careful..."

I have to say my eyebrows shot up at that. For her sake, I hope Lewis wasn't listening.

Anyway, if you have half an hour, listen to the full show here. There's also Alan Rusbridger talking about Julian Assange.

Politicians may rail against the national press but, in general, they show a warm appreciation for weekly newspapers.

The latest manifestation of this local press love-in involves the Teesdale Mercury, the paper that serves the Barnard Castle area in County Durham.

In yesterday's Commons debate on the future of the Forestry Commission, Labour's Bishop Auckland MP, Helen Goodman, spoke of "the inestimable Teesdale Mercury" for its campaign to prevent a local forest, Hamsterley, from being sold off.

The paper's "Hands off Hamsterley" campaign, which was launched last Wednesday, is aimed at retaining full public access to County Durham's largest forest.

In praising the paper, Goodman said: "Why should people pay for what they already own? The forest is a place for free spirits. Those spirits will not quenched by this pathetic, mean, small-minded government."

Teesdale Mercury's chief reporter Trevor Brookes said that, despite assurances, there is no guarantee "in the small print" that the public will retain access following a sale.

Editor Adrian Braddy added: "Since launching the campaign we have been inundated with letters of support from readers."

A gunman shot dead a woman who distributed newspapers in Mexico's border city of Ciudad Juárez because his drug cartel bosses thought she threatened their control over street vendors.

Maribel Hernández was was attacked on on Monday while driving a vehicle bearing a newspaper company's logo. She had worked as a distributor for El Diario and PM for the past five years/

The police detained a member of a gang connected to the Juárez drug cartel who said he had received 3,000 Pesos (£150) to kill Hernández.

Source: Washington Post

Vietnamese journalist Le Hoang Hung has died from severe burns after being attacked in his home. A man doused him in chemicals and set him on fire.

Hung, a reporter with the newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer), died at the Ho Chi Minh City hospital at the weekend after being attacked on 20 January.

His wife, Tran Thi Lieu, said he had received threatening text messages. He had written about official misconduct in the Mekong Delta, including instances of cross-border smuggling.

Source: CPJ

An Indian journalist was gunned down by two masked men outside his home after receiving death threats related to an article he had written. A note found near his body stated: "If you don't stop publishing news, you will die."

Umesh Rajput was a reporter with the Hindi-language daily Nai Dunia and lived in Raipur, in the central state of Chhattisgarh.

His death has been linked to a story he wrote about a man who developed an eye infection after an operation. Police are said to be questioning a female health worker.

Source: Reporters Without Borders

I complained recently about a regional newspaper's revamp because it aped sensationalist tabloids in terms of its choice of front page typography and grim content.

So I'm delighted to see that the redesigned weekly that serves
London's regenerated Docklands area - titled, needless to say, The Docklands - has avoided that trap.

Its new look, unveiled at a launch party last night in Canary Wharf, is anything but sensationalist. As this front page indicates, it is deliberately restrained and serious (despite that picture of the mayor, Boris Johnson, with his mouth open as usual!) But it certainly isn't boring. Flipping through the 64 pages of the e-edition, I note that the news agenda is positive and uplifting. And it is packed with interesting information.

So well done to its publishers, Archant, and the editors and journalists responsible for putting the paper together.

Evidently, reporters equipped with laptops and mobile phones have been given the freedom to work on their patch, thus overcoming the problem of Archant's publishing headquarters being several miles away.

Editor Malcolm Starbrook explains that news conferences have changed too, with "some reporters in the office and others taking part via conference call from home or on location."

Archant's London editorial director Bob Crawley said: "The Docklands was launched five years ago and, while successful, was in need of a design update and, more importantly, a content refresh to better reflect the vibrant community it serves."

Source: The Docklands

The New York Times has revisited the News of the World phone-hacking scandal with some new revelations drawn from one of the current legal actions.

It centres on a story that appeared in three newspapers in February 2006 about the private life of actor Ralph Fiennes.

According to the NY Times report, two papers - the Sunday Mirror and the Mail on Sunday (here) - obtained their articles by paying the woman, Cornelia Crisan, to kiss and tell.

But the paper claims that the News of the World "took a sneakier approach" to steal the story by hacking into the voicemail messages of Crisan's press agent, Nicola Phillips, who was then working as an assistant to the publicist Max Clifford.

The details of the hacking are to be made public as part of Phillips's lawsuit against the NoW's publisher, News International. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.

The NY Times says that evidence in her case suggests that Ian Edmondson - the News of the World's assistant editor (news) who was fired last month - had a central role in the hacking operation.

According to people familiar with the case, new documents support allegations that Edmondson specifically directed the private investigator under contract to the News of the World, Glenn Mulcaire, to gain access to Phillips's phone.

Mulcaire and Edmondson are named as co-defendants in Phillips's legal action. The NY Times reports:

"Reached by telephone, Ms Phillips, 30, refused to comment or to disclose any details of the suit, saying she did not want to jeopardise her court case."

Mark Lewis, the lawyer representing Phillips, also refused to discuss the particulars of the case. And Edmondson, speaking through his lawyers, denied any wrongdoing.

The Phillips action is just one of many facing News International. Among other celebrities suing Rupert Murdoch's company, or threatening to sue, are actor Sienna Miller; her stepmother, the interior designer Kelly Hoppen; actor Steve Coogan; sports agent named Sky Andrew; and TV presenter Chris Tarrant.

Source: New York Times

The Daily Mail & General Trust is to relocate its printing operation to a new greenfield site in Essex.

It would allow the company to upgrade its printing presses and, it says in a statement on its website today, "to reconfigure them more efficiently."

The plan envisages a three-and-a-half year transfer of its presses from its current south London print works in Surrey Quays further down, and across, the Thames to Thurrock. It will cost between £45m to £50m.

The new plant will have the capacity to print full colour 128-page copies of the Daily Mail and 160-page issues of the Mail on Sunday.

A DMGT spokesman said: "We are constantly searching for ways to produce our copies more efficiently. The plan to move to Thurrock is part of this process and it is expected to deliver significant savings once implemented."

DMGT's consumer media division, A&N Media, will retain four print sites in Britain.

DMGT opened the 11-acre Surrey Quays plant in 1989. But, in recent years, it has become increasingly surrounded by mainly residential property development.

So expect the company to cash in when the site becomes free in four years' time.

Whatever else you do today, try to put 10 minutes aside to read A True Story Of Daily Mail Lies by Juliet Shaw.

I won't attempt to carry a précis because the devil is in the detail of the enticement and subsequent catalogue of falsehoods.

Don't give up half way through because the legal dénouement is especially important to grasp.

However much we may rail against the iniquities of the libel law, Ms Shaw's story shows why the public do not share our enthusiasm for press freedom.

WikiLeaks is spawning, please forgive the pun, lots of leak-a-like sites. Clones are springing up across the world, as ReadWriteWeb reports here, with examples in Belgium, the Balkans, the Philippines, Israel and Indonesia.

And Reuters lists more in Europe, including OpenLeaks.org, whose principal creator is Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a German who was once Julian Assange's closest collaborator.

One of the latest is based in the United States, localeaks, which has been developed by a journalism college student. It provides a drop-box for whistleblowers to leak information on behalf of 1,400 American newspapers.

It has launched in advance of a possible "in-house submission system" planned by the New York Times.

Sources: ReadWriteWeb/Yahoo News