The first session looked at content. International broadcasters spend heavily on technology for production and distribution, but should they look more carefully at the content of their transmissions?
David Lowen, former Managing Director of Euronews, spoke of the role of news in cross-border broadcasting; international programming specialist Valerie Geller described how to create compelling content; and the conference heard about the business of running specialist niche channels, such as the newly-created best-of channel German TV. The session concluded with a consideration of rights and regulations, including the issue of piracy. Simon Twiston-Davies of CASBAA was a speaker in this section.
Two key sessions at the AIB conference followed – What Cost War? looking at how in the Iraq war broadcasters took decisions on resource allocation and the human issues of safety in the field; and International Public Diplomacy, the Media and the People, studying the relationship between governments who fund international broadcasting as part of their public diplomacy strategies and the editors who would rather remain independent, and the likely reaction of audiences to new services planned by the USA and France. Speakers included ITNs Michael Jermey, Brian Conniff of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, Ahmad Fawzi of the UN and Ian Ritchie of news agency APTN.