Online journalists now jailed more often than other media

By Nate Anderson

If you think it's tough to be a blogger because your Google AdWords revenue has been in the toilet lately, the Committee to Protect Journalists wants to remind you that Internet journalist—including bloggers—can and do suffer much more around the world. According to the group's new report, Internet journalists now make up the largest single group of imprisoned journalists.

Of the 125 journalists imprisoned around the world for doing their jobs, 45 percent are "bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors." China continues its ten-year winning streak when it comes to tossing writers into jail, with Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan next in line.

The numbers are down slightly from December 2007, but CPJ notes that the arrests are hitting freelancers the hardest. Without the resources of a major media company behind them, lone bloggers and freelance writers often lack the resources to mount a vigorous defense when they are detained.

Data source: CPJ

"The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door they are alone and vulnerable," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "All of us must stand up for their rights—from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups. The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse."

The results of angering a regime can be severe; CPJ's complete capsule summaries of the detained journalists contain story after story of lives utterly changed by publishing information or opinion that displeased the government. In Burma, Nay Phone Latt wrote a blog of his own and ran several Internet cafes, but he irritated the Burmese ruling junta by publishing online caricatures of various generals. He was hauled away on January 29, tossed in jail, charged with "causing a public offense," and sentenced to 20 years and six months in jail during a closed trial.

The US makes the list, too, for its treatment of journalists in Iraq. According to CPJ, "US military authorities have jailed dozens of journalists in Iraq—some for days, others for months at a time—without charge or due process. No charges have ever been substantiated in these cases." This is the fifth straight year that America has made the list.

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Tribune Co. Taps Lazard,Weighs Filing for Chapter 11

By DENNIS K. BERMAN, SHIRA OVIDE and MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG

Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, in a sign of worsening trouble for the newspaper industry.

Samuel Zell

In recent days, as Chicago-based Tribune continued talks with lenders to restructure its debt, the newspaper-and-television concern hired investment bank Lazard Ltd. as its financial adviser and law firm Sidley Austin to advise the company on a possible trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter say.

A Tribune spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation. Tribune owns eight major daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun, plus a string of local TV stations.

A spokeswoman for Lazard didn't respond to requests for comment. Representatives of Sidley Austin couldn't be reached for comment.

Tribune's latest actions underscore the deepening distress enveloping Tribune and other newspaper publishers. Their businesses are being battered by dwindling advertising sales, and many are carrying debt loads that are unmanageable in current market conditions. Industry insiders expect some papers will need to fold in coming months or seek protection from creditors to reorganize.

Tribune has been on wobbly footing since last December, when real-estate mogul Samuel Zell led a debt-backed deal to take the company private. Tribune has stayed ahead of its $12 billion in borrowings with the help of asset sales. Now, however, shrinking profits are tightening the noose.

The company's cash flow may not be enough to cover nearly $1 billion in interest payments due this year, and Tribune owes a $512 million debt payment in June.

One of Tribune's most pressing concerns: The company is likely to be in violation of debt terms that limit borrowings at the end of the year to nine times its adjusted profits. The ratio stood at 8.3 at the end of the second quarter, before Tribune reported an 83% decline in operating profit for the three months ended Sept 28.

Violations of such debt covenants have become commonplace for newspaper companies as their profits have ebbed. Lenders so far have been willing to give the companies a pass in exchange for higher interest rates and other concessions, but Tribune has little wiggle room. Terms of the company's debt already are so loose and its financial standing so unsteady that a covenant waiver may not help.

To be sure, a restructuring outside of bankruptcy court remains an option for Tribune. Executives have indicated that its talks with lenders are amicable, and it remains possible the two sides can agree to rework the company's borrowings on their own, as other newspaper publishers are doing.

Tribune's hiring of Lazard, meanwhile, brings it a firm experienced in debt restructuring, and one that has become a go-to adviser for newspaper companies in financial distress.

Even as its financial performance worsens, Tribune has some options. A sale of its Chicago Cubs baseball team is under way, and Tribune owns valuable stakes in businesses including the cable-TV channel Food Network.

Tribune already has auctioned off pieces of the company, including the Long Island, N.Y., daily Newsday to raise cash. Now, frozen credit markets have depressed sale prices.

Selling off more newspapers may not be a viable alternative because buyers are scarce and Tribune may be better off holding onto the profits from its papers.

—Jeffrey McCracken contributed to this article.

Write to Dennis K. Berman at dennis.berman@wsj.com, Shira Ovide at shira.ovide@wsj.com and Matthew Karnitschnig at matthew.karnitschnig@wsj.com

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Obama may spell end of blank cheques for Israel

Agence France-Presse

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel can no longer expect "blank cheques" from Washington once president-elect Barack Obama's administration takes over in January, a former US ambassador to the Jewish state said on Sunday.

"The era of the blank cheque is over," said Martin Indyk, director of the Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute who is considered close to incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

"The Obama administration intends to be engaged, using diplomacy to try to bring about a safer and more peaceful place, that is different from the seven years of the (George W.) Bush administration," he said on public radio.

"President Obama surely will want to work with Israel on this (Middle East) agenda. But there are obligations on both sides (Israel and the Arabs). Both sides will have to respect these obligations," Indyk said.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a "long conversation" with Clinton earlier this week and welcomed her nomination in Obama's team, his office said. She vowed to work for peace and stability in the Middle East.

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