Page 6 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2012
Basic HTML Version
OASYS expands reach in US and As-Pac
THE CHANNEL
|
MEDIA MARKETS
the pioneering developer
of IT-based automated playout
solutions, has appointed Nick
Lim as Director, Americas and
Asia Pacific Sales. Mark
Errington, CEO, OASYS said that,
based in the US, Lim will be
responsible for expanding the
company's distribution network
and developing sales
opportunities in the target
territories.
Nick Lim has over 30 years of
sales and marketing experience
in the IT and TV industries,
working for companies such as
IBM, Dynatech, Pluto Technologies,
SeaChange, Front Porch Digital,
and operating his own marketing
consultancy. Lim said that he
sees OASYS, with its 20 years in
business, as one of those
technology innovators who
create new paradigms in
functionality and value – in the
case of OASYS providing
broadcasters a powerful,
compelling and flexible platform
to reach their audiences.
Channels can be commissioned
in days, yet are reliable enough
to run for years. With a small
Reporters Without Borders has
for the first time compiled a list
of the world’s 10 most dangerous
places for the media. They were
in 2011: Manama, Bahrain;
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Cairo’s
Tahrir Square, Egypt; Misrata,
Libya; Veracruz State, Mexico;
Khuzdar, Pakistan; the Manila,
Cebu and Cagayan de Oro
metropolitan areas on the
islands of Luzon and Mindanao,
Philippines; Mogadishu,
Somalia; Deraa, Homs and
Damascus, Syria; Sanaa’s
Change Square, Yemen.
In 2011 the Arab Spring was
at the centre of the news. Of the
total of 66 journalists killed in
2011, 20 were killed in the Middle
East. A similar number were
killed in Latin America, which is
very exposed to the threat of
criminal violence. For the second
year running, Pakistan was the
single deadliest country with a
total of 10 journalists killed,
most of them murdered. China,
Iran and Eritrea continue to be
the world’s biggest prisons for
the media.
2011 saw a dramatic surge in
the number of arrests, from 535
in 2010 to 1,044 in 2011. There
were many cases of journalists
being physically obstructed in
the course of their work, and for
the most part they represented
attempts by governments to
suppress information they found
threatening.
The 43% increase in physical
attacks on journalists and the
31% increase in arrests of
netizens – who are leading
targets when they provide
information about street
demonstrations during media
blackouts – were also significant
developments in a year of protest.
In January 2012, French
reporter Gilles Jacquier (above)
was killed in an attack in the
Syrian city of Homs.
06
|
ISSUE 1 2012
|
THE CHANNEL
footprint and great energy
efficiency, a single playout server
from OASYS replaces a rack full
of equipment required for legacy
automation. The system is
capable of broadcasting multiple
simultaneous outputs, multiple
languages, and subtitles, with a
self-contained graphics system
for channel branding and
information display. Customers
of OASYS automated playout
solutions include the BBC,
Euro1080 and RTV, Doordarshan,
INX and Whats On India, TBN,
YLE, Spiegel TV and Ajman TV.
Most dangerous places
for journalists
AJE crowd-
sourcing
Using cutting edge mobile and
social media technology,
has carried out one of
the largest ever crowdsourcing
initiatives in a single survey of
Somali people. The channel has
sent 5000 SMS messages across
Somalia through partner
Souktel, asking people to reply
stating how the conflict in the
country has affected their lives.
Responses are being
translated to English thanks to
the African Diaspora Institute
and volunteers from around the
world. The texts are then being
presented on a map of Somalia on
the Al Jazeera English website
using technology from the crisis-
mapping organization Ushahidi
and crowdsourcing platform
Crowdflower. They can be
browsed under social, political,
and economic categories.
As Al Jazeera English celebrates
five years of news broadcasting
and Al Jazeera Arabic fifteen
years on air, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu said that apartheid could
have ended sooner had Al
Jazeera existed at that time. In
September 2011 the network
named Shaikh Ahmed bin
Jassim Al Thani (below) as new
Director General after Wadah
Khanfar stepped down from the
role after eight years, saying that
he had accomplished his vision
for Al Jazeera to be a globally
recognized media institution.
