Times Reporter Recounts Time Jailed in Zimbabwe

Woman ordered to pay $2.5M for online defamation

(NEWSER) - In what could end up being very bad news for outspoken bloggers across America, a federal judge has decided that a blogger was not acting as a journalist when she accused an Oregon lawyer of acting unethically and illegally as a trustee in a bankruptcy hearing. The judge denied Crystal Cox's request for legal protections customarily offered to journalists, and a jury subsequently ordered her to pay $2.5 million for defaming lawyer Kevin Padrick and his company. More»

2008 diplomatic cable said president could die in '3 to 5 years'

(NEWSER) - WikiLeaks' latest spill is a 2008 US diplomatic cable that says Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer that's spread and "will cause his death in three to five years," Reuters reports. The 87-year-old longtime Zimbabwe leader was apparently advised at the time to resign the presidency; Mugabe last year denied cancer rumors and his office had no comment on the cable, written by the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe. More»

Alois Mabhunu should learn fate of appeal today

(NEWSER) - A Zimbabwe policeman has appealed the jail sentence he received for daring to use a toilet that had been reserved for Robert Mugabe. Homicide detective Alois Mabhunu has been languishing in a police detention barracks for a month after relieving himself on the forbidden crapper at a trade fair, CNN explains. Other officers guarding the toilet tried to stop him, and Mabhunu initially obliged. But later, apparently unable to fend off nature's call any longer, he pushed past them into the john. More»

Calling a lie a 'lie' isn't the same as 'taking sides': Glenn Greenwald

(NEWSER) - Anderson Cooper has been using the word “lie” a lot in recent days while describing statements made by Mubarak and his regime. Despite the fact that the statements he’s describing are “factually false,” his liberal use of the word “lie” has gotten Cooper mocked and questioned by fellow journalists, writes Glenn Greenwald on Salon . Those critics have ultimately acknowledged that the statements he’s calling “lies” are, in fact, lies—but even so, they question Cooper’s “opinion-making” and wonder whether or not he should be “taking sides.” More»

A former Guardian editor shares some advice

(USER SUBMITTED) - Some 15 years ago, a British writer drummed up a list of "commandments" for journalists. Tim Radford, former science, arts, and literature editor at the Guardian, pulled together 25 thoughts in response to a question he asked himself: "What is the most important thing to remember about writing a story?" Answer: "To make someone read it." The Guardian shares his still-sage advice to would-be scribes. A sampling:

• The most important person in your life is your reader.