The Princess Diana picture mystery - well part of it - is solved. The picture is one of a number published in the Daily Star on pages 1, 2 and 3 in the early 1980s.

Andrew Morton, then the Star's royal correspondent and, of course, more famously her biographer, has emailed me to explain what happened:

"I was given the task of trying to identify the boy in the picture. I went to St Thomas's hospital and spoke to James Colthurst who, as I later discovered, was on the ski trip. He gave nothing away.

But I later found out that the young man was Adam Russell, the great-grandson of former prime minister Stanley Baldwin, and now a deer farmer in Dorset.

Like me, he is a Leeds United supporter which I discovered when I interviewed him for my book, Diana, Her True Story.

The picture was taken when they were both injured during the skiing holiday, which was organised by a number of Old Etonians. They kept each other company while the others went skiing and, at the end of the holiday, Adam was somewhat smitten. But absolutely nothing happened.

When they got back to London they kept in touch. On one occasion, Adam and James Colthurst hung huge L plates on the front and back of Diana's first car, a Honda Civic.

In the summer of 1979, Adam completed his language degree at Oxford and decided to spend a year travelling. He left unspoken the fact that he hoped the friendship between himself and Diana could be renewed and developed upon his return.

When he arrived home a year later it was too late. A friend told him, 'You've only got one rival - the Prince of Wales.'

If Adam had been a little more forthright about his feelings before he left Oxford, the history of the British monarchy might have been very different."

So there we are. We now know the man. But the oddity of the picture turning up in the Mirror Group files and being marked "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED" remains an outstanding mystery.

I think Mike Molloy, quoted in my previous posting, is probably correct in his supposition.

A recent picture of the ever-smiling John Jenkinson. Photo: courtesy of Brian Bass

Unless you worked at Mirror Group in the 1960s through to the early 1990s, it is unlikely that you would have heard of John Jenkinson, who died aged 84 on new year's day.

He shunned the limelight. Yet John, affectionately known to his colleagues as JJ or Jenks, was one of the Mirror titles' secret weapons in the national newspapers' circulation war.

He was the man who ran the Mirror's promotions department with the kind of skill and commitment that endeared him to six Daily Mirror editors (including me), four Sunday Mirror editors and eight People editors.

Oh yes, plus a couple of editors at The Sporting Life and those at the long-defunct weekly, Reveille.

JJ was brilliant at one of the most demanding jobs in tabloid newspapers. He had ideas. He made seemingly impossible requests from editors and publishers work. And he was well organised. To put it simply: he delivered. And he did it to deadline.

Attention to detail was a hallmark of John's work. He was also renowned for his integrity, even-handedness and loyalty towards his staff.

In his early years with the Daily Mirror, it's fair to say that he had it pretty easy because the paper's sales were rising steadily towards the record-breaking 5m mark. These were days in which the Mirror could do no wrong.

Even so, under taskmasters such as Cecil King and Hugh Cudlipp, there was considerable pressure on him to put together a string of memorable promotions. These included the famed debutantes ball and the boom cities initiative plus the National Pets Club, the National Youth Orchestra, various touring beach shows and the hugely successful launch of the Mirror Dinghy. Oh, and not forgetting the Mrs Britain and Bride of the Year events.

Jenks in his Mirror heyday

With the launch of The Sun at the end of 1969, JJ came under pressure to compete with a rival that set out to lure Mirror readers by using innovative weekly promotions. The Sun was also more aggressive in using TV adverts.

But JJ rose to the challenge by ensuring that the Mirror ran regular in-paper competitions and other editorially-driven events. One of his most memorable innovations was a readers' offer that resulted in 100 people taking a day-trip to America on a specially chartered Concorde.

When the Daily Star and The Sun started the newspaper bingo craze, the dependable JJ assumed responsibility for running bingo games across all the Mirror Group titles. And, unlike The Sun, there was never a mistake in the numbers. In 1985, his Who Dares Wins contest resulted in a Mirror reader winning the £1m cash prize.

He was a quietly spoken, unassuming man with a core of steel. During my own time at the Mirror, I witnessed John standing up to Robert Maxwell by refusing to do his bidding.

He got away with it because Maxwell was convinced - not least by one of John's greatest admirers, the late Richard Stott - that he was an invaluable asset. The Mirror's veteran photographer, Kent Gavin, summed him up by saying: "He was a one-off, a legend."

The former Daily Mirror editor, Mike Molloy, said: "John was one of very few true gentlemen of newspaper publishing - a delightful, skilful and talented man. It was a pleasure to work with him."

And Peter Moeller, his second in command as promotions manager, said: "Even a roll call of his achievements spanning the glory days of Fleet Street cannot quite define the quality of the man.

"There are many among us who have cause to remember him for acts of kindness and generosity, his instinctive understanding of problems and the discreet way in which he so often squared the circle to make things happen.

"He embodied the DNA that was at the very heart of the relationship between the Daily Mirror and its readers in an era that is now itself history."

I am also reminded of JJ's other talent, for keeping up with the alcoholic intake of Mirror journalists in the Stab. It never stopped him from turning up next morning, immaculately suited, and ready for business.

John Jenkinson was born on 9 April 1928 in Tooting, south London, and went to a local school. At the outbreak of the second world war, he was evacuated to Chichester before completing his education at a technical college in Victoria.

After a brief flirtation with a theatrical career, he joined the Daily Mirror in Manchester in 1958 after catching the eye of the publicity manager, Donald Robery, while acting as compere for a "Mirror Girl" competition, an obligatory part of the paper's summer promotions in northern seaside resorts.

He became northern publicity manager but, in 1961, moved to London as promotions manager in charge of the Sunday Mirror's National Exhibition of Children's Art. He was also involved with arrangements for the opening of the new Mirror Group headquarters at Holborn Circus. He was soon promoted to run the major promotions as publicity director for all Mirror titles.

After a 34-year career with the group, he retired in 1992, still at the top of his game.

He spent much of his retirement indulging his passion for theatre in company with his wife, Zoë, who he met in the 1950s at a theatrical club. She died four years before him.

The debate over US gun laws in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre continues to rage and has taken some surprising media turns.

Most controversial of all was the decision by an upstate New York paper, the Journal News, to publish the names and addresses of handgun permit holders on 22 December with an accompanying map. That led to a fierce backlash, as reported in The Guardian four days later.

The gun owners of Westchester and Rockland counties complained that it put them in danger. Non-gun owners in those areas said it gave thieves a guide to which houses to avoid, thus putting them at risk of burglary.

One blogger retaliated by publishing the names and addresses of the Journal-News staff. Many others then did the same.

The Journal News obtained the list of gun permit holders through a freedom of information request and its publisher, Janet Hasson, defended the decision to publish:

"We knew publication of the database would be controversial, but we felt sharing as much information as we could about gun ownership in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings."

After the row broke out, one county, Putnam, defied state law by refusing to hand over its gun data despite the paper's freedom of information act request.

And there has been continuing criticism of the paper ever since, with several people being quoted (examples here in the Washington Post and here in the Christian Science Monitor).

But, as another Washington Post article published yesterday, pointed out, there has been no rise in the number of burglaries in the Journal News circulation area.

Asked it here had been a spike in break-ins, a chief at Rockland county sheriff's office said: "Not that I'm aware of."

An extremely unfortunate juxtaposition

It is astonishing that any paper, let alone one in Connecticut close to Newtown, could make this mistake, but the Stamford Advocate certainly did.

It ran the story headlined "A different Sandy Hook Elementary opens" next to an advert for a gun show.

When Jim Romenesko publicised the fact, the paper's publishers, the Hearst Connecticut Media Group, responded quickly.

Its executive editor, Barbara Roessner, issued a statement saying: "Our newspapers should not be running gun ads - including ads for antique and collectible gun shows - next to stories about Sandy Hook.

"It's insensitive, and it shouldn't have happened. It was an oversight, and we apologise for it. We have taken steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Sources: The Guardian/Wikipedia/Mediaite/Poynter/Washington Post/Christian Science Monitor/Jim Romenesko/Stamford Advocate

Updated 3.30pm: This previously unpublished picture of Princess Diana, taken prior to her marriage to Prince Charles, is being hyped into one of the great revelations of our time.

One of the reasons is that the so-called "intimate" picture, discovered among the Daily Mirror's old photographic archive, is marked: "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED."

The other reason is commercial. Its significance is obviously being talked up because it is about to be auctioned in the United States.

It shows, as you can see, the then teenaged Lady Diana Spencer lying back in the lap of a young man who is reading a book. On the window stands a bottle of whiskey (how scandalous!)

Probably taken in 1979 or 1980 in a Swiss ski chalet, it carries the date of 26 February 1981 on the back. That was two days after Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Diana to Charles.

I would guess that it was sent in, or sold, to the Mirror, possibly by the person who took it. Then again, it might have been given to the paper by someone else. The then Mirror picture editor, Len Greener, is baffled. He says he would never have written across a picture just in case of future publication (and it isn't his handwriting). He has no memory of the photo.

Similarly, the Mirror's veteran royal photographer, Kent Gavin, cannot recall having seen it. Perhaps another old Mirror hand will know more.

Insert par, 3.30pm: The Mirror editor at the time, Mike Molloy, who has a good memory for images, says he definitely did not see the picture "and everything came through me." He is convinced it was a Sunday Mirror picture and that the reason for its non-publication stemmed from the establishment backlash against that paper's editor, Bob Edwards, after he had published a story about Prince Charles's alleged dalliance with someone on the royal train (see here).

There could have been other reasons for the 10x8" black and white image not being used. For copyright reasons? Maybe. To avoid embarrassing Diana and Charles? Perhaps. Because the unidentified young man complained? Another possibility.

The other question - how comes it found its way into a US auction? - is easier to answer. It fell into the hands of the New York-based Caren Archive when it acquired the Mirror's photo library seven years ago.

Its owner, Eric Caren, told the Daily Mail: "My guess is that it was a privately taken photograph that the Mirror purchased but, for some reason, did not publish… I don't know if it was pressure from the royal family or an internal decision."

And who is the young man? "Sources" cited by the Mail suggest it could be Rory Scott, an early suitor of Diana's. The paper also points out that one of Diana's closest male friends at the time was James Colthurst.

He evidently once recalled going on a skiing holiday with her and is quoted as saying of the trip: "She slept on the sofa bed. It was fun. There were lots of pranks - Diana was great company - lovely, outgoing and frivolous and she enjoyed practical jokes."

Anyway, should you wish to obtain the picture, it will be auctioned by RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire, later this month.

One of its executives, Bobby Livingstone, told AFP it would usually sell for around $1,000 "but because it has that (not-to-be-published) marking on it, we expect it to go for much more." Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Sources: AFP via The Australian/Daily Mail/Auction Central News

I have never been a Jim Davidson fan. I didn't like his gags or his political views. Once forced to sit through one of his live stand-up performances, I thought his act stank. That said, the rest of the audience seemed to love it and I certainly admired his professionalism

I am concerned on his behalf, however, after seeing today's national newspaper coverage of his arrest. Consider these front page headlines:

"Jim Davidson is arrested by Savile inquiry detectives" (The Times); "Davidson is arrested in Savile abuse investigation" (Daily Telegraph); "Savile cops nick nick TV's Jim" (Daily Mirror); "Nicked Nicked: Davidson arrested by Savile cops" (The Sun); "Davidson arrested by Savile police" (Daily Mail); "Jim Davidson arrested by Savile police" (Daily Express); "Jim Davidson nicked by Savile sex case cops" (Daily Star).

There is no problem about accuracy. As every paper properly reported, Davidson was detained by Metropolitan police officers investigating alleged offences by Jimmy Savile "and others."

According to The Guardian news story, officers working on the investigation, codenamed Operation Yewtree, explained that because Davidson's arrest fell under the "others" strand of the investigation it meant that the alleged offences are not connected to Savile.

Furthermore, the alleged offences do not involve underage girls. Every paper quoted his solicitor, Henri Brandman, as saying that the two women complainants were "in their mid-twenties" at the time of the alleged incidents some 25 years ago.

The arrest has already had a negative effect on Davidson's career. As the Daily Mail reports, he has pulled out of the forthcoming TV show, Celebrity Big Brother.

Of wider concern though is the public perception generated by the link of Davidson's name with Savile's in the headlines and intros to the stories. It is highly likely to damage the man's reputation.

Since we know that the accusations against Savile relate to child abuse, or paedophilia as many papers prefer to call it, readers may well assume that the alleged offences against Davidson fall into that category.

Until, or unless, people took the trouble to read down far enough to reach Brandman's statement, the situation was unclear.

I am not prejudging the matter. I am not absolving Davidson. Similarly, I am not taking issue with the complainants and their rights to complain. Nor am I blaming the newspapers. We don't want to have people arrested in secret.

But I am seeking to highlight the problem facing any individual, especially a high-profile person or an "ordinary member of the public" caught up in a high-profile case, who is arrested in such circumstances.

Publicity is then guaranteed. And it is obvious that the term "arrest" creates a climate of suspicion, tending to foster a no-smoke-without-fire reaction among the public.

Then there is the specific matter of the catch-all term "Savile cops." Should the police not have created a separate squad/operation to consider historic sexual abuse allegations that are not child-related?

This is not to suggest that complaints by adults are not serious. But surely they are in a different category to those involving children.

I also remain unconvinced that a formal arrest is really necessary in every case. Is there not a way of questioning people under caution without calling it an arrest? The answer, of course, is that it can be done and is done. The police take statements from people all the time without arresting them.

Please do not see this as a special plea for celebrities. And do not view it as a desire to inhibit the public's right to know. It may seem like a small point, but it isn't to the individuals who figure unjustly in headlines.

Here is The Sun's new, and unusual, TV promotional ad. It features a girl - minus front teeth - urging people to "smile through the pain" of the dark and miserable month of January.

After several lines of poetry, she sings: "Let's focus on the things that make life fun", and ends with the slogan: "Get involved with The Sun's big smile giveaway."

The ad, says Campaign magazine, is part of a campaign to promote a range of bargains, including holidays for just £9.50. It started running the promotion in the paper last month (see here).

Evidently, The Sun will also be sending out a so-called "smile squad" to towns across Britain to purvey random acts of kindness, from paying road toll charges to providing cups of tea. That has the smack of 1950s promotions by the Daily Mirror and Daily Express about it. Still, none the worse for that.

The magazine quotes Nick Stringer, News International's marketing communications director, as saying: "We needed an idea that could amplify everything that's great about The Sun at a time of year when people need a pick-me-up."

And Nils Leonard, creative director at the Grey London agency, which made the ad, said: "Nothing like a singsong to get us through our darkest month. The Sun's 'big smile giveaway' is perfectly fronted by a toothless superstar."

Sources: Campaign/YouTube/The Sun

In November, Brazilian investigative journalist Mauri König was the recipient of a press freedom award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Now he is in hiding after receiving death threats.

The threats to him and his newspaper, Gazeta de Pova, followed his reporting of alleged corruption by police in his home town of Curitiba. One caller said "the police were out there to get him".

After König contacted the CPJ, it agree to help him and his family. Other Latin American and Brazilian organisations, including the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) and the Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI), have also provided assistance.

When König accepted his award in November he spoke of the need for Brazil's government to make the protection of journalists a priority.

Both the CPJ and the International Press Institute (IPI) have called on the Brazilian government to ensure the safety of König and his family.

IPI's deputy director, Anthony Mills, said. "It is the role of journalists to hold those in power accountable to the Brazilian public. They must be able to do without fear of retribution."

Sources: The Guardian/CPJ/IPI/Transparency International/Bloomberg News

James Foley pictured in Aleppo in early November, he was kidnapped later that month. Photograph: Nicole Tung/AFP/Getty Images

The family of freelance American reporter James Foley have revealed that he was kidnapped at gunpoint in Syria on 22 November, 44 days ago.

Foley, an experienced war reporter aged 39, was seized by four armed men in the town of Taftanaz, in the northern province of Idlib, according to witnesses. His driver and translator were later released.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions.

He was working for the international news website GlobalPost, and had contributed video material to the news agency AFP the day before he disappeared. He is known to American TV viewers through his work for leading TV channels.

Foley's family, which had earlier asked media groups not to report the kidnap in the hope that a low profile would assist in efforts to free him, broke their silence to reveal his plight.

"We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he's okay," said his father John Foley. "Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed."

Foley, who also contributes major US TV channels, was working for the international news website GlobalPost.

His family has launched a website (www.freejamesfoley.org) and a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/freejamesfoley) to highlight his case.

Foley has been kidnapped before. He was held for six weeks in Libya after being captured in April 2011 by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

The reason for the journalists' abduction in Syria remains unclear. It is not known if their abductors are financially motivated, seeking a ransom, or if they are linked to Islamist groups, rebels or pro-regime forces or sympathisers.

Large parts of northern Syria are controlled by rebel groups that form part of the Free Syrian Army or are made up of jihadists, including foreign fighters.

AFP's chairman, Emmanuel Hoog, said the organisation was doing its utmost to secure Foley's freedom. He said:

"We are in constant touch with his family and loved ones, while reaching out to a range of contacts and doing everything we can to facilitate his release.

He is a professional journalist who is absolutely neutral in this conflict. His kidnappers, whoever they may be, should free him immediately."

And GlobalPost's chief executive, Phillip Balboni, also called for Foley's release. He issued this statement:

"We have been working intensively with many parties in the United States and in the Middle East to secure Jim Foley's freedom so he can return home to his loving family

Jim is a brave and dedicated reporter who has spent much of the past year covering the civil war in Syria, believing like so many of his colleagues that this is a very important story for the American people to know more about. We urge his captors to release him."

Sources: UPI/AFP via Hindustan Times

A journalist is reportedly among 11 Egyptians detained by the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He has been identified by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) as Dr Ahmed Gafar, who works for the newspaper Al-Ittihad.

His daughter, Maryam Ahmed Gafar, said he was arrested in Dubai on 14 December but doesn't know why. She said the authorities also shut down a media-training company and seized documents from its offices.

According to a report in The National, the paper published in Abu Dhabi, the detainees belonged to a branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and were involved in illegal activities.

In Cairo, there was a protest outside the UAE's embassy calling for the release of the detainees, who include teachers, a pharmacist, an engineer and a businessman.

Sources: ANHRI/NZ Week/The National

Don McCullin: 'No one cares about real human beings...' Photograph: Katherine Rose

Note the comments about Don McCullin having already returned from Syria. I cannot fathom how I missed The Times's report on 13 December. Sorry to everyone, including Don.

The award-winning war photographer Don McCullin may be 77 but he refuses to retire. So he is now heading for Aleppo in Syria. Why, to use his phrase, is he about to "sleep in a derelict house and slosh around the Turkish border with poor old refugees?" He explained to The Observer:

"I just want to keep in touch with myself. I don't want to become complacently comfortable."

In an interview in today's Metro, he also says:

"Not many pensioners would take on such a challenge. I want to see what's going on there."

What may prove to be his last assignment comes at a time when a documentary film, called McCullin, is being shown in cinemas. It was made by his former assistant, Jacqui Morris, and her brother David.

In the film, McCullin's photographs of various conflicts - taken for the Sunday Times and The Observer some 30 years ago - are shown as he explains how and why he took them. After seeing a preview last June, Peter Preston wrote about an image, taken in Biafra, which made the audience wince:

"Too searing, too dreadful for comfort? Only if your own snug cocoon of ignorance is more important than feeling humanity's pain."

That view is certainly shared by the thoughtful, often mournful, McCullin who has spoken often about his own inner conflict: is it right to make a career from illustrating the misery of others?

As he tells Metro's Ann Lee: "I feel guilty because I've made a success out of my photographic life."

Another observation to Lee, about his disgust for celebrity contamination of the media, also merits attention:

"No one cares about real human beings. It's all about privileged celebrities who are able to look after themselves. We must think about people who don't have these fortunate opportunities".

See Peter Bradshaw's review of McCullin

Sources: Metro/The Observer

On the evening of March 13 1965, a man whose face was soon to become one of most famous in the world walked unrecognised into Hanratty's Hotel in Limerick.

Che Guevara, for it was he, had been forced to spend a night in Ireland when his plane made an unscheduled stopover at Shannon airport after developing mechanical trouble. He had been flying with Cuban government officials and friends from Prague to Havana.

Though a writer in Ireland's (now defunct) Sunday Tribune described the surprise visit by the Latin American revolutionary as "one of the great missed scoops of Irish journalism" one reporter was on hand to interview Guevara. That was Arthur Quinlan, the self-styled "Shannon airport correspondent" who died, aged 92, just before Christmas. And his story duly appeared on the front page of the Limerick Leader.

Some 33 years after that historic meeting with Guevara, Quinlan wrote about the experience, explaining that he had been warned in advance that Guevara would avoid an interview by saying he didn't speak English.

So Quinlan drew on his knowledge of Guevara's Irish ancestry to coax him into talking. At the airport hotel Quinlan told him: "Anybody whose maternal grandparents were Lynches either speaks Gaelic or English. Which is it to be?"

Guevara, according to Quinlan, "returned my smile and suggested that we walk out by the lagoon behind the hotel."

But the "missed scoop" claim has some relevance because Quinlan admitted: "I did not learn very much from him for he would not speak on politics or where he had been."

Later, it emerged that Guevara was returning from a covert mission to the then Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He had led an unsuccessful intervention in the country's civil war (see his Wikipedia entry).

Instead, Guevara talked of his Irish background. He was born in Buenos Aires in 1928, the first child of Ernesto Guevara Lynch whose own mother, Ana Isabel Lynch, was the daughter of Irish immigrants from Co Galway who left around the time of the Irish famine.

And that was it. Interview over. Guevara and his friends travelled into the city of Limerick, accepting Quinlan's advice to go to Hanratty's hotel. "He was three sheets to the wind when he got back to the airport," said Quinlan. He "was also festooned in shamrock, as it was coming up for St Patrick's Day… so you can take it that he enjoyed himself in Limerick."

Two years later, Guevara was captured and executed in Bolivia. International fame followed as the dead revolutionary was accorded legendary status, with his iconic stylised image being transformed into an emblem of rebellion.

And Quinlan? Well, he proved to be something of a journalistic legend by interviewing a host of celebrities during the years when Shannon, the last runway in Europe, was a major transatlantic fuel stop.

Many years after Guevara's death, he even managed to score a Cuban double by interviewing Fidel Castro. "His guards weren't going to let me near him until I mentioned that I had interviewed Dr Guevara," said Quinlan. His persistent references to Che as "doctor" did the trick. And he ended up showing Castro how to make Irish coffee.

In a freelance career spanning 50 years, Quinlan worked for several papers, notably the Irish Times, and made regular broadcasts for RTÉ. He also edited the Limerick Weekly Echo for several years.

He interviewed every US president from Harry Truman to George Bush Senior and many Soviet leaders, including Andrei Gromyko. Among his royal interviewees were Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, King Zog of Albania, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Monaco's Prince Rainier with his wife, Grace Kelly.

His interview with George Bush was a classic. He managed to get a few words with him at 4am when the president visited the duty free shop. Bush's brief statement on the Middle East situation, which Quinlan transmitted to global news agencies, amazed US journalists.

Why, they wondered, had Bush given such an interview to a mere Irish "stringer"? Quinlan was in his 80s before he finally retired. And Shannon itself has been in a sort of retirement for a long time.

The last big story to emanate from the airport occurred in 1994 when Russia's president, Boris Yeltsin, stopped off in order to greet Ireland's prime minister, Albert Reynolds.

To Reynolds's great embarrassment, Yeltsin never left the plane. Yeltsin said he was asleep and was never woken. Some people suggested he was too drunk. His daughter said he had had a heart attack.

The result was that Reynolds was left standing on the tarmac at Shannon. Why didn't he call on Quinlan?

Sources: Saoirse32/Irish Times/Wikipedia/Society for Irish Latin American Studies/Irish Examiner/Wikipedia

The ban imposed by Hamas on Palestinian journalists in Gaza from co-operating with the Israeli media has outraged an international press freedom watchdog.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) registered its shock at last week's order in a critical statement calling for it to be lifted:

"This is the first time the Palestinian authorities have issued such a ban, which poses a serious threat to freedom of information.

It will also create problems for the not insignificant number of Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip who work for Israeli TV stations and newspapers. We urge the Hamas government to rescind this order."

As The Guardian reported, the Hamas government in Gaza issued its ban on journalists co-operating or working with Israel's media due to its "hostility." It said "offenders will be prosecuted."

The prohibition affects the correspondents of Israeli papers, such as Ma'ariv, and could be extended to the international media. It has already introduced a system of permits to restrict entry by foreign journalists.

Sources: The Guardian/RSF

A New York Times journalist has been forced to leave mainland China after the authorities failed to issue him with a visa. Chris Buckley, a 45-year-old Australian who has worked as a correspondent in China since 2000, rejoined the Times in September after working for Reuters.

The NY Times applied for Buckley to be accredited, but the authorities ignored numerous visa requests. So Buckley, his partner and their daughter flew yesterday (31 December) to Hong Kong.

The paper is also waiting for its new Beijing bureau chief, Philip Pan, to be accredited. He applied in March but his visa has yet to be processed.

These problems come amid government pressure on foreign news media over investigations into the delicate subject of the finances of senior Chinese leaders. Corruption is widely reported in China, but top leaders are considered off limits.

On the day that the NY Times published a long investigation into the riches of the family of prime minister Wen Jiabao, both its English-language website and its new Chinese-language site were blocked within China, and they remain so.

In June, the authorities blocked the English-language site of Bloomberg News after it published a detailed investigation into the family riches of China's new top leader, Xi Jinping. Chinese financial institutions say they have been instructed by officials not to buy Bloomberg's computer terminals.

According to research by the New York-based press watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Chinese authorities have exerted growing pressure on international news outlets. In May, Al-Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan was forced to leave the country.

China's ministry of foreign affairs declined to comment on Buckley's forced departure.

"I hope the Chinese authorities will issue him a new visa as soon as possible and allow Chris and his family to return to Beijing," said Jill Abramson, the NY Times's executive editor. "I also hope that Phil Pan, whose application for journalist credentials has been pending for months, will also be issued a visa to serve as our bureau chief in Beijing."

The Times has six other accredited correspondents in China, and their visas were renewed for 2013 in a timely manner. They included David Barboza, the Shanghai bureau chief, who wrote the articles about Wen's family.

Sources: New York Times/CPJ

Paywalls are becoming increasingly prevalent at newspaper websites across the United States. Eleven of the country's largest-selling 20 newspapers are either charging for access or have announced plans to do so.

They include America's top four titles: the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Gannett, the largest US chain, expanded its paywall to almost all of its 80 groups over the last 12 months. Other chains charging for content include Tribune and MediaNews while McClatchy and EW Scripps will do so this year. Last month, the Washington Post said it was exploring the idea of rolling one out in 2013.

More than 35% of US newspaper readers are regularly discovering some restrictions in their online surfing, though most papers allow visitors to access several articles for free before hitting a wall. This so-called "metered model" is the most popular form of charging.

In 2012, all of the major Canadian newspaper publishers also decided to throw in their lot with the paywall crowd. Postmedia Network is planning to expand its digital subscription plans to its entire chain. Quebecor's Sun Media division has already erected a wall.

The Globe and Mail introduced a paywall in late October. Soon after, the Toronto Star announced it would do the same early this year.

The north American industry's lodestar is the New York Times. Since March 2011, when it introduced its metered model, it has signed up 566,000 digital subscribers to either the Times or its sister publication, the International Herald Tribune.

According to a recent Bloomberg story, the investment firm Evercore Partners, the NY Times's digital subscriptions will show a yield of about $92m (£56.6m) in 2012.

That represents about 12% of the total $768.3m (£473m) the Times is expected to earn in subscription revenue in 2012. More significantly, the digital subscription revenue – alongside a price rise on print copies – will make 2012 the first year the Times has earned more from circulation than from advertising, which is expected to pull in about $715m.

Critics complain that the Times, and other papers, could make more from advertising if they didn't have a paywall, because far more readers would read far more content.

But a Globe & Mail writer argues that the price of static online ads, which appear on most news sites, has been falling for years. This makes it difficult for them to fund journalistic content.

While advertising rates vary wildly from site to site, a presentation last May by Mary Meeker of the investment firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, noted that CPMs – the cost of getting an ad in front of 1,000 readers – was $3.50 (£2.20) for a desktop web ad while the CPM for mobile ads is about 75 cents (50p).

If so, it means that even a popular article that is viewed 100,000 times might pull in only $350 on a website, and just $75 if viewed on a mobile device. Hence the decision to build paywalls.

Some specialist titles, such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, have been developing proprietary information and business tools. But that approach hasn't worked for most general interest papers.

As the Washington Post's chief executive, Donald Graham, pointed out last month most of the paper's print readers are based in the District of Columbia, while most online readers access the Post from elsewhere.

He said: "The reason we haven't adopted [a paywall] yet is that we haven't found one that actually adds to profits. But we are going to continue to study every model of paywall and think about that, as well as think about keeping it free."

Most are simply hoping for the best, says there Globe writer, because they don't believe there is much of an alternative.

He quotes Postmedia's CEO, Paul Godfrey, as saying: "Newspapers are realising you can't spend millions on content and give it away for free. I think we're at the point where pay metered systems will be put in all over the world."

Sources: Globe & Mail/Bloomberg/paidContent/CNET/NetNewsCheck

Roy Greenslade pays tribute the former Times editor on the day his death was announced