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Pakistan demands conduct code
The Committee to Protect
Journalists is greatly concerned
by pressure being exerted by the
Pakistani government on
broadcasters to sign a 14-page
government-mandated ‘code of
conduct.’ Station owners say they
have been told that if they do not
sign the agreement, they will not
be allowed to return to the air. All
broadcasters, minus the official
TV channel, have been silent
since they were shut down on
November 3, soon after
President Pervez Musharraf
suspended the country’s
constitution. The Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (PEMRA) has been
meeting individually with
members of the Pakistani
Broadcasters’ Association and
owners of FM radio stations. So
far, about 15 broadcasters have
apparently agreed to sign on to
the new restrictions, and are now
back on the air. Pakistan’s four
major independent news
broadcasters—Ary OneWorld, Aaj
TV, Dawn TV, and Geo TV, all
owned by larger parent media
companies—have not reappeared
on cable yet. Some are reaching
viewers via streaming Internet
and satellite transmission.
International broadcasters like
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JANUARY08
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THE CHANNEL
THE CHANNEL
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GLOBAL BRIEFING
the BBC and CNN have been off
the air since the constitution was
suspended. Only official Pakistan
TV has been allowed to remain
on the air throughout the crisis.
Russia outlines
broadcasting strategy
Vizrt graphics for CCTV
Single-card
solution
The Russian government has
approved its TV and radio broad-
casting development strategy for
2008-15 and an action plan for
its implementation. The plan
envisages approving a package
of TV and radio channels that will
have to be broadcast across the
entire country, drawing up and
adopting national priority
standards in the sphere of TV
and radio broadcasting, improving
the procedure for licensing broad-
casters, taking account of digital
technologies and digitising
archive material.
The federal targeted programme
"The development of TV and radio
broadcasting in Russia in 2008-
15" will include a cost estimate
for the transition to digital broad-
casting. Free channels will be
financed through advertising; other
channels will broadcast and
financed by subscription.
The TV and radio broadcasting
development strategy envisages
lifting restrictions on channels
being operated by one broadcaster,
and relations between a broad-
caster and a platform operator
will be regulated by contract.
PANORAMAdtv, the video
products division of Wohler
Technologies, has released the
HDCC-200A HD/SD-SDI dual-
channel, closed-caption encoder/
decoder bridge, a compact
modular solution that simplifies
closed-caption encoding of two
independent SD and/or HD
sources. Compliant with all
broadcast standards and CEA-
608/708, the HDCC-200A adds
convenience and flexibility to
digital and multiformat broad-
cast and production workflows.
Today's digital production and
transmission workflows require
straightforward yet flexible
handling of captioning data for
both SD and HD source material.
To meed this need worldwide,
said Wohler CEO Carl J. Dempsey,
they approached one of the
world's foremost closed-
captioning experts, Elio Deluca
of Europa Australia. The result is
the HDCC-200A, which provides
state-of-the-art processing
functionality for SD, HD, or
hybrid workflows. The product is
the perfect, cost-effective tool for
US broadcast and production
facilities that must comply with
the new FCC requirements.
Vizrt is delivering graphic
systems Viz|artist and Viz|trio
to China's CCTV to design and
create graphics for the 2008
Olympics. The graphics will be
used in studios and in the field
during the games.
As CCTV awarded the design
contract to Vizrt's partner,
Reality Check from Los
Angeles, many graphics shown
in CCTV during the Olympics
will be based on Vizrt's
software.
Vizrt won both the "normal"
graphics and virtual
enhancement contracts in
2007. The deals will be
recognized over the two first
quarters of 2008.
IN BRIEF
VOA INCREASES
OUTPUT
The Voice of America’s Urdu
service added 7½ hours of
radio news broadcasts daily,
in response to the emergency
situation in Pakistan. As the
protests in Burma escalated
in September, Radio Free
Asia and VoA both doubled
their Burmese broadcasting
hours. In December VoA's
Somali Service added an
afternoon broadcast. The
Broadcasting Board of
Governors expressed deep
sadness over the death of
VoA journalist Alisher
Saipov, shot and killed in
Kyrgyzstan in October – a
fearless journalist, with
impeccable skills and deep
knowledge of the region.
MEDIA LAWS IN
AFRICA
UNESCO has released a
study on media laws in ten
African countries. ‘Media
Legislation in Africa: A
comparative legal survey’ is
available online. Guy Berger,
head of the School of
Journalism and Media
Studies at South Africa’s
Rhodes University, led the
research effort which looks
at Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria,
Senegal, South Africa,
Tanzania and Zambia and
compares the laws of those
countries with each other
and international standards.
CNN EXPANSION
CNN Worldwide is increasing
its staff of correspondents by
10% as part of a US$10m
newsgathering investment.
CNN said it would not renew
its contract for news from
Reuters and instead bolster
its own news resources. The
investment focuses on the
expansion of CNN’s UAE
bureau. CNN is also hiring
staff in Johannesburg and
Mexico City and plans
operations in Afghanistan,
Belgium, India, Malaysia,
Nigeria, the Philippines,
Poland, Kenya and Vietnam.