Page 38 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

WELCOME
All of human life is there. It occurred to me that if a
single person were to shortlist all the entries submitted to
the 2012 AIB International Media Awards he or she
would find the best and worst of humanity in these
programmes. 2012 was no exception. Sitting safely in our
chairs, we accompanied rebel forces in their final push
for liberation, saw the ravages of civil war close up, went
inside the real lives of African migrants in Europe,
explored autism through the eyes of Rosie, felt the far-
reaching human fallout of nuclear contamination, followed
closely as a misreported death in Malaysia was unravelled,
appreciated the risks that women in some parts of the
world face when they press for greater rights, saw how a
seriously disabled 12-year old found solace and fame
through tennis, had our eyes opened with new standards
for coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics, reached
the edge of squeamish when science and mystery
merged to embalm one of our contemporaries, were
astounded at the pioneering mobile citizens'
broadcasting network. And much more besides.
More than once the judges' comments read 'contained
brutal pictures that needed to be seen by the world' or
'so hard hitting that it became difficult to listen'. What
made it ultimately bearable and a positive experience to
view and listen to all these amazing programmes was
the way producers had given structure to the reality they
covered or – in many cases – uncovered: by using an
exceptional narrator, an original device to tell the story,
high levels of creativity, risk taking, innovative editing.
Whatever the formula - when it worked and gripped the
viewer and listener, that was the winner. So just like in
previous years, the programmes entered in the 2012 AIB
International Media Excellence Awards took us to the
edge of our seats and imagination, entertained, educated
and inspired us. When the film clips were shown of the
finalists in the 18 AIBs categories there was a hush in
the room and there’s no doubt that the content
showcased each year is remarkable.
Every year, our judges are a key element in the AIBs –
they all have a vast range of experience in different
aspects of broadcasting and are drawn from all over the
world. So my special thanks go to those media
professionals who served on the international judging
panel and gave their time and expertise so generously
this year.
As a not-for-profit organisation, AIB cannot organise
these awards without the support and involvement of the
industry. I therefore extend my special thanks to our
sponsors – Eurosport and RTG TV – for their generous
support of the AIBs in 2012. And I would like to thank our
host for the evening, Evgenia Altfeld, for contributing to
make the 2012 AIBs a great experience.
38 | ISSUE 1 2013 | THE CHANNEL
THE JUDGES
Steve Ahern, CEO, IMBA, Australia | Robert Bell, Executive
Director, WTA, USA | Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO and COO,
twofour54, UAE | Nicolas Bourdon, Marketing & Communications
Director, EVS, Belgium | Ivo Burum, Executive Producer, Burum
Media, Australia | Puruesh Chaudhary, President, AGAHI
Foundation, and Ambassador to CIME, Pakistan | Linden Clark,
Manager, Radio New Zealand International, New Zealand |
Annabel Croft, Presenter, UK | Alex Daquo, Editorial Deputy
Director, Eurosport, France | John Dunlop, Market Development
Specialist, Arqiva, UK | Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, UK |
Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann, Head, Culture Department, Deutsche
Welle, Germany | Eduardo François, Executive Director, Illuminati
Films, Brazil | Malcolm Fried, Managing Director EMEA, Bloomberg
TV, UK | Mihai Gadea, CEO, Antena 3, Romania | Jeffrey Gedmin,
CEO, Legatum Institute, UK | Rut Gomez Sobrino, Presenter/
Producer, RNE, Spain | Flora Gregory, Journalist/Filmmaker, Al
Jazeera, UK | Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel, UK |
Lorelei Harris, Editor, RTÉ Radio, Ireland | David Hochner, CEO,
SatLink, Israel | Barry Houlihan, General Manager, Mobile
Interactive Group (MIG), UK | Carlson Huang, Vice Manager and
English Programme Host, RTI, Taiwan | Amir Jahangir, CEO,
Mishal Pvt. Ltd, Pakistan | Abubakar Jijiwa, Director General,
Voice of Nigeria | Richard Kastelein, Partner, Agora Media, UK |
Oleg Kupriyanov, Deputy Chairman International Relations, Voice
of Russia, Russia | John Maguire, Director of International
Development, France 24, France | Vivien Marles, MD InterMedia
Africa, Kenya | Michael McCluskey, CEO, ABC Radio Australia,
Australia | Michael McEwen, Director General, NABA, USA |
Marcus Metzner, Head Marketing & Communications, arvato
Systems, Germany | Rohana Mohamed, VP Network Programming
& Promotions, Channel NewsAsia, Singapore | Nicky Ness,
Controller, BFBS Radio & SSVC, UK | Alexey Nikolov, Deputy
Editor in Chief, RT Channel, Russia | John Ogden, Network
Director, The Spectrum Radio Network, UK | Alpesh Patel, CEO,
Mi-Fone, UAE | Julia Ragona, Chief Broadcast Operations Officer,
RFE/RL, Czech Republic | Dick Rempt, CEO, TalentsMedia, The
Netherlands | Lior Rival, VP Sales & Marketing, RRsat, Israel |
Paul Robinson, President, International, A Squared Elxsi
Entertainment, UK | Philippe Rouxel, VP Marketing, GlobeCast,
France | Simon Spanswick, CEO, AIB, UK | Helen Stehli,
Producer, SRF, Switzerland | Fedor Strizhkov, CEO, RTG TV,
Russia | Amir Tajik, Production Manager, Press TV, Iran | Jeff
Trimble, Executive Director, Broadcasting Board of Governors,
USA | Nigel Wilkes, Group Manager, Panasonic, UK | Tom
Wragg, Global Broadcast Summit, UK |
THE HOST
Evgenia Altfeld is a producer and presenter with Russian Travel
Guide TV.
Evgenia is an experienced political journalist and has worked in
the news departments of TV5 and Rossiya
TV, both as a field reporter and a news
anchor. She became the press secretary for
the Governor of St Petersburg region in 2009
and returned to TV in 2011 when she joined
Russian Travel Guide TV. Evgenia speaks
Russian, Spanish and English and counts
travelling and yoga amongst her interests. SIMON SPANSWICK CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The AIBs 2012