Matthew Amroliwala is the presenter of
Global
, the flagship
programme on BBC World News, broadcast Monday to Thursday
from 1500 to 1630 GMT. He joined the BBC’s international news
channel in September 2014 from the UK service, where he had
been the lead presenter for over a decade.
Matthew joined the BBC in 1989. Before he
started anchoring news coverage in the
studio, he worked in the field as a foreign
correspondent, a political correspondent
and as a news reporter.
THE HOST
Thank goodness for journalists. Thank goodness for good journalists.
Thank goodness for journalists who don’t easily take ‘no’ for an
answer and who go that extra mile in their research. Journalists
who get emotionally caught up in their story but manage to present
the facts dispassionately, clearly on the big or small screen. Oh,
and what facts these are. All of us who carried out the initial
evaluating of entries submitted in the 2014 AIB International
Media Excellence Awards at times felt as though we were suffering
from post-traumatic stress disorder. When just watching ‘the
facts’ was harrowing enough – imagine how those much closer to
the story must have felt in uncovering and investigating them.
Eerily, in figures
The AIBs
2014 were a repeat from 2013: 18
categories, 102 shortlisted entries. And yes, looking at some of the
topics covered – riots, refugees, revolutions, rape, exploitation of
children, human trafficking, corruption, racism, medical malpractice,
environmental damage – the world is still a pretty unpleasant
place, for many of its inhabitants, some or most of the time.
Investigative journalism shows us that inhuman things exist in our
midst that we didn’t know and sometimes would rather not know.
What’s more, the journalists who lift our safety blanket often get a
bad press for doing just that. But when they do their job well, and
shine a spotlight on what needs stopping, changing and cutting
like a cancer from our midst, they have the power to make others
sit up and listen – and act. It takes a special type of person to do
that and I salute these journalists’ determination and courage.
In a way,
The AIBs
mirror our world. We hear and see entries from
all parts of the globe, and besides exposing the dark side of
humanity we also glimpse man’s amazing and uplifting
achievements in a variety of fields, educating and entertaining
others. Just look at the strongest entries in the ‘Live Sports
Coverage’, in ‘Science’ or ‘Children’s Factual’ – exuding warmth,
exuberance and intelligence. Sometimes a story that sounds not
very exciting on paper then on viewing completely draws the
viewer in and gets under his/her skin, leaving a lasting impression.
The key lies in the way producers give structure to the reality they
encounter: by using an exceptional narrator, an original device to
tell the story, high levels of creativity, risk taking, innovative
editing. There is no one magic formula – and luckily creativity and
innovation are still around in abundance.
It is important for me to remind you that
The AIBs
are run on an
entirely self-funding, not-for-profit basis. We hold these awards
specifically to recognise the work of outstanding producers and
broadcasters around the world. AIB organises these awards with
the support and involvement of the industry and I’d like to give
special thanks to those media professionals who served on the
international judging panel and gave their time and expertise so
generously this year. Our judges are a key element in
The AIBs
–
they all have a vast range of experience and are from all over the
world. They had the hard task to determine the outright winner
among a strong field of finalists in each category. I also extend my
particular thanks to our sponsor – EUTELSAT – for their generous
support of
The AIBs
in 2014. And I would like to thank BAFTA and
our host for the evening, Matthew Amroliwala from the BBC.
Make a note in your diary to enter the 2015 AIBs this year - the
closing date will be 22 July.
THE JUDGES
THE
10
TH ANNUAL AIBS
SIMON SPANSWICK CHIEF EXECUTIVE
TheAIB
s
2014
INSPIRINGCREATIVITY
Faisal Abbas, Editor-in-Chief English online, Al Arabiya MBC |
Neeraj Arora, EVP Head of International Business, MSM Asia
Limited/Sony Entertainment Network | Tim Ayris, Director
Channel and OEMSales EMEA, thePlatform | AmadouBa
,
Co-
Founder and Executive Chairman, AllAfrica Global Media Inc |
Hannelie Bekker, Founding MD, Wananchi Programming |
KlausBergmann, Director of International Relations, Deutsche
Welle | Graeme Blundell, The Australian | Jenny Buckland,
CEO, Australian Children’s TV Foundation | Fernando Calvino,
CEO/Owner, Señal Internacional | Catherine Cano, Executive
Director News Programs, CBC/Radio-Canada | Rahul Chopra,
SVP Global Head of Video, Newscorp | EugenCojocariu, Head,
Radio Romania International | James Cridland, Radio
Futurologist | Verona Duwarkah, Group Executive: Television,
SABC | Anastasia Ellis, Head of Europe TV, Bloomberg |
GeraldineFiliol, Deputy Managing Director, Eurosport | David
Finch, VP Europe, News Republic |Marco Frazier, Senior Vice
President Global Distribution, AMC/Sundance Channel Global
| Angela Fung, Deputy Head of Phoenix Chinese Channel,
Phoenix Satellite TV | Mihai Gadea, CEO, Antena 3 | Lee Gal,
Chief Producer, i24 News | Sumit Grover, Director, Pixel Party
| Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel | Sven Herold,
Global Head CreativeDevelopment, Shell |CarlsonHuang, Vice
Manager and English Program Host, RTI | Richard Jacobs,
Business Development Director, Babcock International Group
| Emmanuel Josserand, Marketing Director, Civolution |
Bettina Klauser, Head of Press and PR, N-tv | Cheryl Knapp,
Series Producer, Wild Kratts | Nathalie Lenfant, Marketing
Director, France Medias Monde | Marcus Metzner, Head of
Marketing Services and Communication, arvato Sysyems |
John Momoh, CEO, Channels TV | Alexey Nikolov, Managing
Director, RT Channel | H Nwana, Executive Director, Dynamic
Spectrum Alliance | Lemi Olalemi, Deputy CEO, TVC News |
Lindsey Oliver, CEO, Africa Media Distribution | John O’Loan,
CEO, iO Media Group Europe | Nenad Pejic, Editor-in-Chief,
RFE/RL | JonathanPerelman, Vice President, Motion Pictures
| Helen Stehli Pfister, Producer/Editor, SRF | Tom Porter,
Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 | Libby Powell, CEO, Radar
| Paul Robinson, CEO, Creative Media Partners | GillianRose,
Managing Director, PBS | Alla Salehian, CEO, TIMA | Vatche
Sarkisan, Director of Program Review, MBN (Alhurra/Radio
Sawa) | Ruth Sloss, Director of Programming, Spafax | Simon
Spanswick, CEO, AIB | Lek Hwa TAN, VP English Current
Affairs, Channel NewsAsia | Htar Swe TIN, Editor South East
Asia and Burmese Service, BBC |
