Page 8 - The Channel Issue 2 2010

IN BRIEF

SUPPORT FOR JORDAN'S JMI

Prime Minister Samir Rifai has pledged his government's support for the Jordan Media Institute founded by HRH Princess Rym Ali. JMI was founded to develop the Jordanian media sector and is the first institute specialised in the Information and Communications field. It provides state of the art training facilities for journalists and offers a Master's degree in media studies.

RRI IN ITALIANON EURANET

Radio Romania International is contributing a weekly news and current affairs production in Italian to Euranet. The European radio network Euranet comprises international, regional, local (public and commercial) radio stations and produces/broadcasts on air/online content on European issues under a service contract with the European Commission. RRI also produces Euranet content in English, French, German, Spanish and Romanian. RRI's Head Eugen Cojocariu is a Euranet Vice Presidents, charged with development and distribution of the network.

TVNATCENTREOF EVENTS

When Polish President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash near Smolensk, TVN News & Services Agency was at the centre of events that followed the catastrophe, providing 24/7 services including live stand-up positions, ENG crews, SNG trucks, editing, and TV studios. When Poland battled with the worst floods in decades, and during the Polish presidential elections, the agency provided services to clients worldwide, among them APTN, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, ARD, ZDF, CNN, ITN, RTL, NBC, NTV, Mediaset.

Iran jams satellite entertainment

China jails reporter for talking to foreign media

THE CHANNEL | MEDIA MARKETS

Like most international broad-casters Radio Prague relies on government subsidy for its funding. In the wake of the global economic crisis, this was recently cut by 15% by the Czech government. Miroslav Krupicka, Radio Prague´s Director, said the station faced a difficult situation as shortwave coverage – which is still important for Radio Prague – had to be reduced. As a result, Radio Prague will have to rely more on other platforms and new technologies. Krupicka says “Radio Prague has long been on the web, on satellite and a range of rebroadcasting platforms. But the move made us re-think our strategy. We have to promote our web products more effectively. Currently podcasting seems to be the hit and we want to build on that.” Recently Radio Prague has launched its profile on Facebook in a move to attract new listeners.

RadioPrague rethink

08 | ISSUE 2 2010 | THE CHANNEL

BBC Monitoring reports that Iranian jamming of Persian-language TV channels from abroad appears to have been extended to include a popular entertainment channel. Farsi 1 TV, originally broadcasting on the Hot Bird 6 satellite, has attracted large audiences since its launch one year ago but has been criticised by conservative elements for its "immoral" programming.

Iran Sat News, a blog that has followed developments in

Iranian and expatriate satellite broadcasting for a number of years, said this was the first time that the Iranian government had targeted its jamming on an entertainment channel with no political content. Previously it had limited these attacks to some US-based channels and the BBC and VOA.

Although ownership of satellite dishes is illegal in Iran, officials admit that there is a large audience for foreign-

based channels. The number of people in Tehran who watch foreign TV channels via satellite is said to be around 45%. Dubai-based Farsi 1 is a joint venture between Murdoch's News Corporation and the Afghan media group Moby, headed by Saad Mohseni. The channel's output is a mixture of Western, Latin American, Turkish and Korean soap operas, dramas, comedy and music, all dubbed into Farsi.

As reported by Japan's Kyodo agency, a district court in Xinjiang has sentenced ethnic Uyghur journalist Gheyret Niyaz, 51, to 15 years in prison for "endangering state security" after he spoke to foreign media about last year's riots in the western Chinese province. Gheyret was a reporter with the Xinjiang Economic Daily when he was detained last October. He was also an administrator of the Uyghur website "Uighur Online." The ethnic clashes that erupted

between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the city of Urumqi in July last year left some 200 people dead. It was the worst ethnic unrest China had seen in decades. Uyghur activists say the bloody rioting started after a peaceful protest was met with a violent response from the Chinese police. According to the US-funded radio station Radio Free Asia and other reports, Gheyret spoke to the foreign media after the clashes and allegedly criticized Chinese authorities for their handling of the violence.

McCluskey succeeds

Dr Michael McCluskey is the new Chief Executive of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's international radio service, ABC Radio Australia. He succeeds Hanh Tran, who takes up a senior editorial role with the ABC. In a career spanning more than 25 years with the ABC, McCluskey has worked as a reporter, producer, presenter, programme manager, international advisor and local radio manager. Broadcasting in

eight languages across Asia and the Pacific, ABC Radio Australia is the partner to Australia Network TV and media capacity building collaborator with ABC International Projects.