Radio Netherlands Worldwide wins three awards at New York Festivals

Radio Netherlands Worldwide was among the winners with three English-language programmes at the prestigious New York International Television and Radio Festivals 2010. The radio documentary ‘The Lonely Funeral’ was crowned with a gold medal. The radio programme ‘The State We’re In’ won two awards, a silver medal for ‘Babah’s Day In Court’ and a bronze medal for ‘Otto and Lucy’. The festival received entries from over 30 countries. The awards were presented during a ceremony in New York on 24 September 2010.

A gold medal was awarded to programme maker Michele Ernsting for ‘The Lonely Funeral’, a documentary about a poet and a civil servant who create an extraordinary ritual for people who die alone in Amsterdam. Their shared respect for the dead forges an unlikely friendship.

www.rnw.nl/english/radioshow/lonely-funeral

Programme makers Jonathan Groubert and Greg Kelly of the radio programme ‘The State Were In’ won a silver medal for their report entitled ‘Babah’s Day In Court’. Babah Tarawally’s world was turned upside down by Charles Taylor’s war in Sierra Leone. He musters the courage to go to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to see to make what he calls “his confrontation with history”.

download.omroep.nl/rnw/smac/cms/tswi_section_a_15_august_2009_redux_newest_20090818_44_1kHz.mp3

The bronze medal went to programme maker Chris Chambers of the ‘The State We’re In’ for his report entitled ‘Otto and Lucy’, featuring a young British man with Downs Syndrome and his mother as they talk openly and funnily about his quest to discover the sexual side of love.

www.rnw.nl/english/radioshow/right-sex

New York Festivals

The NYF International Television and Radio Broadcasting Awards, also known as the Radio ‘Oscars’, are presented to outstanding radio productions from all over the world. Each year hundreds of entries are judged by various panels of international experts for a number of criteria, including production level, presentation, originality, and creativity.

Voting has started

It seems as though we have been waiting a long time for voting to start in the People’s Choice category, “Best Coverage of Climate Change”. We launched the 2010 AIBs, international media excellence awards, on 12th April 2010 and were excited to announce our two new categories – one for “Best Children’s Factual Programme/Series” and the other the People’s Choice.

The People’s Choice is a radical departure for the AIB, since it will be the first time that an award has been judged by online viewers rather than a panel of distinguished broadcasters. We had lots of questions to consider before launching it: “Would broadcasters want to submit their work to be judged by online viewers?”, “Would we have enough entries?”, “Would we attract a big enough online audience?”. But we felt that with the increasing convergence of broadcast and online media it was important to reflect this with an award that involved the online community and the new ways that broadcasters need to engage with their audience and obtain direct feedback. We also felt that the chosen subject for 2010, climate change, attracts such wide interest and even controversy, that viewers will be drawn to watch the short list and make their own choice.

The first set of questions, about broadcasters’ involvement, has been satisfactorily answered with a high quality field of entries from which it was difficult to chose the short list. The resulting short list contains strong entries from major broadcasters such as the BBC, CNN and Sky, as well as important contributions from China (Phoenix Satellite TV) and the United Nations – not forgetting the Belgian entry from VRT.

Now we are excited that a small selected group are trying out our system in a “Premiere” viewing of the entries and that general voting will begin next Monday. We will be building up the campaign to involve the largest possible number of viewers from all over the world during the next month.

If you are not part of the Premiere viewing that is currently going on, why not instead have a look at some of the interesting entries that did not quite make the short list? Click here to view them.

S4Ms VPMS at Public Broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk

After an EU-wide RFP German public broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk (SWR) chose Cologne based company Wellen+Nöthen as general contractor for the project „tapeless production“ in Stuttgart. S4M – Solutions for Media provides its Video Production Management System (VPMS) as central Media Asset Management System for the public broadcaster.

SWR’s new building in Stuttgart will provide modern production technology for TV, Radio and the Internet concentrated under one roof in a 22,000 m2 location.

In this way SWR will be able to produce different TV formats in a future proof way. Surrounded by several production areas and technical service rooms like control rooms, Video- and Audio Editing Suites, the studios are the core of the new building.

As convenient Media Asset Management (MAM) System VPMS acts as a cross-functional control unit for broadcasting processes within the infrastructure of video server, editing and graphics. A key component is VPMS’s web based Media Center that provides for easy and effective central controlling. The complete system is constructed for HD, controls single as well as mass ingest of tapeless media (XDCAM HD, P2, files of all kind), integrates seamless with SWR’s Newsroom System and provides powerful interfaces to the according production planning, scheduling and file transfer systems.

With VPMS SWR decided in favour of a highly scalable and cross media solution that will also be able to meet the broadcaster’s future requirements.

Suedwestrundfunk (SWR)
Suedwestrundfunk (SWR), the joint regional public broadcasting agency of the German Federal States of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz, has three main locations in Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz. SWR ist he second largest member of Germany’s association of public broadcasters (ARD). SWR’s broadcast region includes more than 55.600 km² with about 14.7 million inhabitants.

S4M – Solutions for Media GmbH
The Cologne-based company S4M – Solutions for Media, a subsidiary of Arvato systems and RTL Television, develops and distributes specialized software solutions for the broadcast and new media industry. Customers in 30 countries around the world use S4M systems for commercial airtime sales, video content management, program planning, rights licensing, ratings evaluation, or production planning. S4M also offers customers professional consulting services based on its experience and knowledge of media and information technology.

Second Al Jazeera Cameraman Arrested by ISAF in Afghanistan

Al Jazeera Network calls on ISAF for the immediate release of two of its cameramen arrested over the last 72 hours. Al Jazeera views this escalation as an attempt by ISAF leadership to suppress its comprehensive coverage of the Afghan war.

The latest arrest of Al Jazeera channel cameraman, Mr. Mohamed Nader, occurred in Kandahar at 4am (Afghanistan time) September 22nd. An account by his wife states that she was woken when ISAF troops raided their home during the night when they stormed the house; the troops then proceeded to arrest her husband, Mr. Nader, forcibly removing him from his bedroom, and continued to search the house, in addition to taking possession of their valuables. A press release issued by ISAF confirms that they were responsible for the arrest and terms Mr. Nader as a “Taliban facilitator”. Al Jazeera strongly opposes this claim and stands behind the innocence of Mr. Nader.

Just over two days ago, Mr. Rahmatullah Nekzad, a freelancer working for Al Jazeera channel and AP, was arrested in the same manner in the Ghazni province by ISAF forces. The ISAF press release alleges that Mr. Nekzad is a “suspected Taliban media and propaganda facilitator,” which Al Jazeera believes is an alarming and unusual classification used by ISAF to intimidate the press. Al Jazeera also strongly opposes Mr. Nekzad’s arrest and stands behind his innocence.

The arrests follow a recent pattern of escalation by ISAF and coalition forces to target Al Jazeera journalists in Afghanistan. Recently, Al Jazeera’s offices and bureau chief Samir Allawy in Afghanistan were also threatened and contacted on many occasions for Al Jazeera to change its editorial policy. The response from Al Jazeera is that it will continue to maintain its coverage on the basis of fair and impartial journalism in line with its Code of Ethics and will not bias its coverage in favor of any party or coalition despite pressures being imposed on it.

As part of their work cameramen and crew need to have contact with all sides of those involved in a particular issue, which in this case includes ISAF forces, the Afghanistan government as well as the Taliban. These contacts should not be seen as a criminal offence but rather as a necessary component of the work that journalists undertake.

Al Jazeera calls for the immediate release of both its cameramen as it sees these arrests as a curtailment of the freedom of expression that hinders the Al Jazeera Network from undertaking its newsgathering and journalistic work. It also calls upon officials from ISAF and the Afghanistan government to provide an immediate explanation for the arrests and holds them responsible for the safety of both of Al Jazeera’s cameramen.

BBG appoints Director of Office of Cuba Broadcasting

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) appointed of Carlos A. Garcia-Perez as the director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). The OCB is the entity that supervises Radio and Television Martí’s Spanish-language broadcasts of news and information to Cuba.

“As we observe potential changes in the political and economic landscape in Cuba, it becomes even more important that Radio and TV Marti present a trusted source of objective news and information about events in Cuba, and related U.S. policies,” said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson. “Garcia-Perez is a strong leader with a commitment to the editorial competence and professional journalism required of all BBG broadcasters.”

Garcia-Perez brings rich experience in international business and law having represented clients in the United States and several Latin American countries.

“I am honored to serve in this important position,” said Garcia-Perez. “Providing reliable news and information about Cuba, the U.S. and the world to the people of Cuba is more critical than ever.”

Carlos A. Garcia-Perez is a shareholder in the Litigation and Trial Practice Department of Goldman Antonetti & Cordova, P.S.C., one of the largest law firms in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. His practice is heavily concentrated in the areas of commercial law including litigation, distribution agreements, arbitration, and business acquisitions. Garcia-Perez also provided advice and counsel for commercial, real estate and financing transactions and disputes pertaining to trademarks, copyrights and contracts.

Garcia-Perez received his J.D. at Hofstra University School of Law, Hempstead, New York in 1988 and his B.A. in Economics and International Relations at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1985.