7 December 2015
Globecast has today announced that Philippe Bernard has been appointed as its new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Olivier Barberot. He brings a wealth of international experience and has a track record for sales and customer relations expertise.
Philippe Bernard will drive Globecast’s strategy to position the company as a fully global and integrated media solutions provider that addresses the changing needs of markets and customers, as a complement to its position as the largest international independent teleport operator and satellite services provider.
“I’m honoured and grateful for the opportunity to lead this exceptional company with dedicated, talented and creative professionals,” said Philippe Bernard. “Globecast is a leading company in the broadcast and media industry, with multi-cultural employees passionate about their work and driven by the desire of offering the best quality and bespoke media solutions to its customers. Broadcasters and media companies are having to respond to evolving consumer viewing habits, and Globecast is perfectly positioned to help them take advantage of new market opportunities. We will keep providing customers with greater access to our expertise.”
Globecast’s position in the market is underpinned by its global reach, supported by Media Centres in key locations around the world. This unique combination enables it to deliver an end-to-end solution offering for everything from media preparation to VoD logistic, playout and international distribution – in a truly unified manner across all its territories.
Philippe Bernard joins Globecast from the Orange Group, where has served as EVP of Quality, Customer Experience & Sales since July 2013. Prior to that he was CEO of Transpac, before joining Orange Group as VP of Orange Business Solutions, based in the UK, and went on to take over the European Sales and Customer Relations Division. He is a graduate of the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique.
4 December 2015
A group of the world’s leading international broadcasters say that freedom of information and access to fact-based, verifiable journalism is critical to peace.
The statement, issued on behalf of the representatives of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) [Australia], British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) [United Kingdom], the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) [US], Deutsche Welle (DW) [Germany], France Médias Monde [FMM], Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) [Japan] and Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW), said:
“We, the members of the DG7, at our annual meeting this year in Tokyo November 30-December 1, have reaffirmed our support for global freedom of information and expression, articulated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
The DG7 comprises publicly funded international media organizations from seven democratic nations: Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, represented by their respective directors general or chief executive officers.
Following the recent attacks in Paris and ongoing extremist violence in many parts of the world, including the Middle East and North Africa, the African Sahel, and South Asia, we condemn the contributing role of information as a weapon of terror and tool for recruitment of extremists.
We further note the continued decline of media freedom around the world as documented by international organizations such as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders.
It is in this environment that we renew our call for unfettered access by citizens everywhere to free flows of fact-based, verifiable journalism. This we do in recognition of the critical role freedom of information and freedom of expression play in supporting peaceful and prosperous societies.” (Source: BBG press release)
3 December 2015
On December 5, 2014, investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova was arrested by Azeri officials on charges that are widely recognized as retribution for her reporting on corruption among Azerbaijan’s leadership. In September, she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.
RFE/RL marks Ismayilova’s first year behind bars with an RFE/RLive Hangout that will provide an update on her case, and discuss developments relating to investigative journalism in the former Soviet states, including tools reporters are using and the efforts of those in policy positions to support them. A new initiative sponsored by RFE/RL and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that aims to continue Ismayilova’s work will be announced.
RFE/RLive: Khadija Ismayilova’s First Year in Prison
and the Investigative Journalism Landscape in Eurasia
Friday, December 4, 2015
Washington, D.C.–11:00 a.m. / Prague–5:00 p.m.
Join the event live on YouTube,
and on Facebook or Twitter using hashtag #RFERLive
Johann Bihr is the Head of Eastern Europe & Central Asia at Reporters Without Borders. He graduated from Paris’s Sorbonne University in 2007 with a degree in International Relations, and has worked for humanitarian NGOs in Central Asia.
John M. Donnelly joined Congressional Quarterly in 2004 and is now a senior writer, covering defense and foreign policy issues. He worked previously at Defense Week, where he won many awards for investigative journalism. He has written for numerous other publications, from the Los Angeles Times to the Economist magazine, and has been featured on broadcast news programs, including ABC World News Tonight and NBC’s Meet the Press. Donnelly has been active in the leadership of the National Press Club since 2001 and chairs its Press Freedom Committee. In June 2015, the National Press Club awarded Khadija Ismayilova its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. He also served on the Standing Committee of Correspondents of the U.S. Congress, which accredits reporters. He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
Ilkin Mammadov, the Director of the Azerbaijani Service, joined RFE/RL in 2004, where he has covered major news events for the Service while playing a lead role in launching several of its signature programs on FM, TV, and the web. Prior to joining RFE/RL, he worked for Internews-Network and for several local TV stations in Baku, Azerbaijan. Mammadov holds an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baku State University.
Kyle Parker is a member of the senior professional staff of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he oversees the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to his service in Congress, Kyle spent eight years on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe focusing on democracy, rule of law, and human rights in the post-Soviet space. From 1998 to 2006, Kyle worked in the non-profit sector promoting relations with the countries of the former Soviet Union through high-level political exchanges and Track II diplomacy.
Drew Sullivan is the director and editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an organization he founded together with investigative reporting centers, media outlets, and reporters from a dozen countries. In 2004, he founded the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and served as its editor and first director before the center became an independent, locally run organization. He also founded the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development organization with programs in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Sullivan was a reporter or editor on work that won the Online Journalism Award for investigative reporting, the first- ever Global Shining Light Award, and other prizes.
Daisy Sindelar (Moderator) is RFE/RL’s European Regional Director. She specializes in the examination of ordinary people and the challenges they encounter living in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and is particularly interested in the problems facing women, children and minorities. Based in Prague, she has also reported from Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Source: RFE/RL press release)
3 December 2015
The event that will bring together prominent politicians, foreign policy experts and media executives from around the world will take place on December 10, 2015 – ten years since RT’s flagship English-language news channel aired its first broadcast.
The conference, titled “Information, messages, politics: the shape-shifting powers of today’s world,” will explore a wide range of pressing international issues, including Middle East security, the state of geopolitical power balance, the battle of media narratives, the role of Russia on the world stage, tradeoffs between information privacy and security at the time of a global terrorist threat, the evolution that the international news landscape has undergone over the last decade and the role of media in addressing the challenges facing the world today.
Among the speakers and panelists are Ken Livingstone, recently appointed to co-chair the opposition defence review in the UK and a mayor of London at the time of the 2005 terrorist attacks; former Interior Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Cyril Svoboda, who led the negotiations on Czech accession to the E.U.; U.S. politician and the Green Party’s 2012 candidate for President of the United States Jill Stein; German statesman and ex-VP of OSCE Willy Wimmer, president of pan-Latin American news network teleSUR Patricia Villegas, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who headed the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, the country’s main foreign military espionage organization; noted CIA whistleblower Raymond McGovern, and RT’s own editor in chief Margarita Simonyan.
RT aired its first broadcast from the Moscow studios on December 10, 2005. Since then, what was once a single channel, has grown into a global news network, bringing a fresh perspective on current events around the clock to over 700 million people in 100+ countries in English, Arabic and Spanish, with additional content available online in Russian, German and French. RT is the winner of the Monte-Carlo TV Festival for Best 24-Hour Newscast, the only Russian TV channel with three International Emmy nominations for news coverage, and the #1 TV news network on YouTube with nearly 3 billion views.
The conference will take place in Moscow’s historic Metropol Hotel from 9:30 to 16:30 on Thursday, December 10, 2015. To find out more about the event, press accreditation and how to attend, please go to http://conference.rt.com/ or contact: Anton Konyaev, aakonyaev@rttv.ru , +7 (499) 750-00-75 ext. 2390. (Source: RT press release)
1 December 2015
Committed to shaping mature media assets through adopting latest technologies, Sky News Arabia has developed linear, digital, mobile and radio broadcast services to provide a wide selection of mediums for disseminating up-to-date news. The network’s strategy to provide a holistic multiplatform offering is based on its vision to drive interactive conversations with audiences and offer them a platform to voice their perspectives and opinions.
The only news organization that comprises television, radio, mobile and website services in the region, Sky News Arabia has recently upgraded its online portal, launched a WhatsApp mobile feature, and introduced a radio broadcasting service that takes its innovative content to more than 50 million households across the Arab world and beyond.
The network has to date attracted nine million downloads on its App, 3.4 million followers on Twitter and seven million fans on Facebook.
The beta version of the network’s upgraded portal features a qualitative enhancement in form, content and ease of use. Offering a sophisticated interface, the revamped online platform seamlessly interconnects the television channel with the smartphone app and social networking sites. The website is easily accessible via computers, tablets and PCs, enabling visitors to effortlessly keep in touch with the latest news. Sky News Arabia is seeking to double the number of website visitors over the next few months.
Beyond the online portal, Sky News Arabia’s WhatsApp service provides subscribers with instant breaking news updates, photos, videos, and feeds on their mobile phones.
Furthermore, Sky News Arabia has recently launched its own radio broadcasting service in the UAE on 90.3 FM. The service provides live news bulletins 24/7 covering a wide range of Arab and international news developments in real time – focusing on politics, economics, sports, art and culture. According to IPSOS MediaCt, 67 percent of Arab radio listeners in the UAE tuned in to radio stations in 2015, making the country one of the fastest growing markets for radio broadcasting. Sky News Arabia also provides radio news bulletins on channels in several Arab countries including Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.
In effectively integrating traditional and digital media platforms, Sky News Arabia is well geared to increase its accessibility, responsiveness and reach while reinforcing its vision to emerge as the preferred integrated platform for accurate and unbiased reportage. (Source: Sky News Arabia)
