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IN BRIEF
PHAROS
IMPROVES FLOW
For over ten years Pharos
has constantly developed its
Mediator, Playtime and Pilot
desktop broadcast manage-
ment solutions to offer a
next-generation platform to
better manage the flow of
media through broadcast
facilities. At the Video
Forum & Broadcast Live
2008 in London (January 30
- February 1) Pharos will
showcase the latest additions
to its desktop media manage-
ment, automation and
control systems: the Mediator
Library Management
module, Playtime studio
tools and additions to Pilot
desktop control.
NEPAL EXCESSES
According to the Federation
of Nepalese Journalists, one
journalist was killed, one
abducted and 652 cases of
excesses against media
workers and media houses
were recorded following the
start of a democratic system
of governance in the country.
The study by the FNJ was
carried out between April
2006 and December 2007.
During this period, 55 media
institutions were closed
down and information
collection and flow was
stopped in 33 cases.
BURMA RAISES
SATELLITE FEES
Burma’s government has
introduced immense
increases in the cost of the
annual licence for satellite
TV receivers. From 1
January, the fee increased
from 6,000 kyats (around
US$5) per annum to one
million kyats. The new fee is
around three times the
annual salary of a Burma
primary school teacher,
according to the Kyodo news
agency. Observers suggest
that the fee increase is part
of an attempt to prevent
Burma’s citizens from
accessing news from
abroad.
The heads of five of the largest
international broadcasters have
called upon governments to
honour the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights
and "end any and all practices
that hamper the rights of people
everywhere to receive and impart
information."
At their annual meeting in
Hilversum, Netherlands, directors
of the BBC World Service,
Deutsche Welle, Radio France
Internationale, Radio Netherlands
Worldwide, and Voice of America
issued an unprecedented joint
resolution denouncing growing
trends towards media restrictions
and attacks on journalists in
many of the countries to which
they broadcast.
While acknowledging that
each broadcaster has had
different experiences, they spoke
with one voice about a common
concern, the "grave and rising
threats to the right to gather
information and communicate it
across national borders."
Jan Hoek, Director General of
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
who currently chairs the group of
five broadcasters, said, "Our
most important objective is to
inform people without access to
diverse media sources and
viewpoints, who lack reliable and
independent information. In a
progressively polarised
environment where the media in
many countries are encountering
fierce curbs on their freedom to
publish, we need to stand
together to meet the needs of
those millions of audiences
worldwide who have come to
depend on us as a vital source of
trustworthy information."
According to several press
monitoring organisations, press
freedom has been on the decline
in many countries in recent
years. The Paris-based
Reporters Without Borders has
tracked an increase in the
number of journalists killed at
work each year since 2002.
The five international
broadcasters reach hundreds of
millions weekly by radio,
television, and the Internet.
Programmes are produced in 60
languages and broadcast
worldwide through thousands of
affiliate radio stations, television
channels, and cable systems.
France digital
France will use two separate
standards for digital radio broad-
casting - T-DMB, based on the
Eureka 147 standard in use in
the UK and other parts of the
world, and Digital Radio Mondiale.
The announcement will help the
country's plans to develop a
commercial launch of digital
radio in 2008.
However the French Digital
Radio Association had hoped that
DAB+ would be adopted in the
country instead of T-DMB which
it says increases costs two or
three times over DAB+. DRM will
be the standard for frequencies
up to 30MHz, while T-DMB will
be on Band II and L-band
channels. France becomes the
first country to mandate DRM as
a broad-casting standard. French
media regulator CSA is expected
to advertise tenders for digital
radio services with the first
launches at the end of 2008.
In Australia, media regulator
ACMA has invited applications
for licences to operate digital
radio muxes in each state capital
city. There will be two muxes
available in Sydney, Melbourne
and Brisbane and one in
Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. It is
possible that DAB+ will be the
standard rolled-out in Australia.
12
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JANUARY08
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THE CHANNEL
Media restriction
condemned
THE CHANNEL
|
GLOBAL BRIEFING
Tracking
everywhere
Audience survey company
Médiamétrie is rolling out a new
system using inaudible tones
embedded in TV broadcasts that
give a richer view of the pop-
ularity of shows by demographic
group and format. Ultimately, the
aim is to track select volunteers
beyond their living rooms and TV
sets to radio, personal computers,
mobile phones and perhaps
video game consoles that double
as tiny TV sets, giving
broadcasters and advertisers
valuable data on consumer
habits wherever they are.
DW Forum
The first Deutsche Welle Global
Media Forum will take place in
Bonn, 2-4 June 2008. The
philosophy driving the initiative is
that those working on the future
have to think in networks - and
in global dimensions. The forum
will address topics such as crisis
prevention via media
intervention; reading between
the lies - perception and
prejudice in the Middle East;
journalism training in post-
conflict states. Details online at
www.dw-gmf.de.