Media and Broadcasting Policy

International monitoring body the OSCE has warned that government plans in Britain for a new media regulator risked undermining the freedom of the press.

Google agreed to pay a $7 million fine in the United States on Tuesday for stealthily collecting data from private Wi-Fi hotspots in a mapping service slip that irked an array of countries.

In the end it took an act of Congress, but US television advertisers are finally required to do something parents have been pleading for for decades: turn down their excessively loud ads.

The head of the US agency that regulates telecommunications is calling for an easing of the ban on using mobile phones and other electronic devices on airplanes during takeoff and landing.

Iran on Saturday brushed aside newly-imposed US sanctions over media censorship, which it said was essential to preserve "moral values" in the Islamic republic.

Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship.

US telecom networks took a hit from superstorm Sandy, which knocked out some emergency call centers in the northeast, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.

US regulators voted Friday to begin a process to reallocate some of the broadcast spectrum to meet surging demand from smartphones, tablets and other devices that use the wireless Internet.

Emmett Burns on Sunday reversed course on Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's gay marriage advocacy. Maryland Delegate Emmett Burns on Sunday reversed course on Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's gay marriage advocacy. Burns, who is also the pastor and founder of the Rising Sun First Baptist Church, had informed Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti that the team should not allow Ayanbadejo to advocate in support of a gay marriage law on the November ballot in Maryland. ?Upon reflection, he has his First Amendment rights,? Burns, a Democrat, told the Baltimore Sun. ?And I have my First Amendment rights. ? Each of us has the right to speak our opinions. The football player and I have a right to speak our minds.? Burns' actions prompted Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe to pen a response in which he called Burns ?mindfucking obscenely hypocritical,? ?closed minded? and ?totally lacking in empathy.? (Related: Chris Kluwe goes after lawmaker attacking Brendon Ayanbadej

Myanmar said it had abolished media censorship on Monday in the latest in a series of rapid democratic reforms, delighting journalists who lived for decades under the shadow of the censors' marker pen.

The United States said on Thursday it was "very concerned" about freedom of the press in Egypt after authorities moved to put on trial two critics of new President Mohamed Morsi.

The Russian parliament on Wednesday voted to approve a contentious bill that activists fear will introduce Internet censorship by blacklisting sites deemed as undesirable.

The Russian parliament was Wednesday set to vote into law a contentious bill that activists fear will introduce Internet censorship by blacklisting sites deemed as undesirable.

The US Supreme Court on Friday refused to consider reimposing a government fine on the CBS television network over Janet Jackson's exposed breast "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl.

The Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated fines leveled for a blurted broadcasting of curse words and TV series' bare buttocks shots, effectively quashing American TV indecency standards.

Veteran Lebanese politician, diplomat, and press baron Ghassan Tueni died in hospital early on Friday aged 86, his newspaper An-Nahar announced.

The world's richest woman Gina Rinehart has increased her stake in Australian media group Fairfax, the company said Monday, as she lashed out at the chairman after being denied a board seat.

Google's online search and advertising services are under scrutiny by regulators in Argentina and South Korea, the company has confirmed.

Google on Thursday blamed the Federal Communications Commission for dragging out an investigation into Google's "Street View" online mapping service gathering data from private wireless hotspots.

A case involving a fine over a "wardrobe malfunction" which exposed pop superstar Janet Jackson's breast during the 2004 Super Bowl broadcast was appealed to the US Supreme Court Wednesday.