22 March 2011
On Saturday 26 March, the BBC Russian live weekend programme, Pyatiy Etazh (Fifth Floor), broadcasts from the studio in Bush House, London, for the last time. Airing at 18.30 GMT (21.30 Moscow time), the final programme signals the end of the BBCs 65-year history of traditional radio broadcasting in Russian.
In a week of special programming in the run-up to this milestone date, BBC Russian is featuring special multimedia content, looking back at the radio journalism that has made the BBC a household name, from Vilnius to Vladivostok, and also looking at future shape of media.
Head of BBC Russian, Sarah Gibson, says: This is a sad time for all of us at BBC Russian. We are also proud of the unique heritage our broadcasts have left behind – in the hearts and minds of millions of radio listeners. As we move on, we will continue to serve our audiences through online and mobile services. Our website bbcrussian.com will continue to bring global stories to the Russian audience, and put Russian stories in a global context.
The BBC started regular Russian-language broadcasts to the Soviet Union on 24 March 1946. Throughout the years, the BBC radio brought independent news and analysis to Russian-speaking audiences. In its special programming, BBC Russian looks again at the key stories it has covered – reporting the cold war and the perestroika, the attempted putsch of August 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the two Chechen wars and Beslan, the Russia-Georgia conflict and everything else that has mattered to its audiences in the region.
Highlights from the 65 years of broadcasting also include the BBC voices that have been well known to listeners, ground-breaking interactive interviews with Margaret Thatcher and Paul McCartney, both speaking to audiences in the Soviet Union, as well as unique archive material such as Joseph Brodskys first radio interview, hours after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.
Key Russian media, political and business personalities share their views of the BBCs work over the years including the businessman and owner of The Independent, Alexander Lebedev, leading Russian journalists such as Yevgeniy Kiselyov, Dmitriy Muratov, Leonid Parfyonov, Vladimir Pozner and Mikhail Rykhlin, human-rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, writer Dmitriy Bykov, and President of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow Sate University, Yasen Zassurskiy.
The BBC looks at what its broadcasts to the Soviet Union, and then to Russia and other post-Soviet states, meant for the people in those countries, and its influence. Putting its work in the wider context of foreign broadcasting, BBC Russian also looks at how the Western views of the importance of broadcasting to the USSR and post-Soviet states changed over the years, and what these changes mean for politics and the media in Russia. Another focus looks at how the media in Russia is changing, the role the internet is playing in the current media landscape, and the rapid changes in media consumption.
The BBC is closing three of its Russian-language radio programmes – Ranniy Chas (Dawn), Utro na Bi-bi-si (Morning with the BBC) and Vecher na Bi-bi-si (Evening with the BBC). However, BBC Russian will continue to produce BBSeva, Vam Slovo and Pyatiy Etazh which will be available for listening via the website bbcrussian.com as well as for FM partners outside Russia.
BBC World Service is also stopping its short- and medium-wave broadcasts to Russia in English.
22 March 2011
euronews and Thailand Cable TV Association (TCTA) announced today the signing of a major distribution agreement.
From now, the 500 cable operator members of TCTA can offer euronews to all their subscribers.
In the next weeks, 3.5 million Thai homes will be able to access to the independent news channel in English. Operators will also be able to add the Russian and the Arabic service of euronews to their basic package.
euronews is already available on cable in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.
Philippe Cayla, Chairman of the Executive board of euronews said: “Thailand is now the most important country for euronews in Asia. We are especially proud to have been chosen by the Thailand Cable TV Association on the basis of the independence and the fair coverage of international news provided by the channel. Euronews will extend its coverage of Asian news and in particular of Thailand.”
21 March 2011
As Nowruz celebrations begin in Iran tonight, RFEs Radio Farda will ring in the Persian New Year with the 200th episode of its popular satire show Pas Farda and live-streamed concerts by famous Iranian artists banned from performing inside the country.
As a special treat, “Pas Farda” host Farshid Manafi will be joined on the air tonight by Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi, the hosts of VOA’s hit television show Parazit.” “Parazit” and “Pas Farda” have become hugely popular in Iran, as both programs have pushed the limits on critical satire in Persian-language media.
“This year, we have assembled some of Irans most popular journalists, presenters, and musicians for our Nowruz broadcasts, said Radio Farda Director Armand Mostofi. Our listeners will get a truly unique spectacle, one that they cannot get inside Iran.
In addition to appearances by Hosseini and Arbabi, “Pas Farda’s” 200th broadcast will feature Farshid Manafi’s signature sketches, discussions about the past decade of culture, politics, and sports in Iran, and an interview with the acclaimed Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani.
In the coming days, Radio Farda will also be live streaming several Nowruz concerts from Dubai. Many Iranians travel to the Emirate to celebrate the New Year and to attend concerts by artists that have been banned from performing in their home country. Broadcasts will include shows by popular singers Homeira, Sattar, Ebi and the multi-talented Shadmehr.
Radio Farda’s radio and satellite broadcasts are routinely jammed by Iranian authorities, and its website is filtered. Most recently, Radio Fardas voicemail system was flooded with thousands of robo-calls that played snippets of a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Despite these extensive censorship efforts, an increasing number of Iranians are turning to Radio Farda, and the station continues to be a leading source of news and cultural reporting. In February, Farda’s website logged more than 20 million pages views, 8 million of which came via proxy servers.
21 March 2011
AIB condemns the murder of Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber in Libya. Ali was travelling in a car to Benghazi having covered a protest in a town near Benghazi which was apparently ambushed.
Ali was shot three times, according to Al Jazeera reporter Tony Birtley, once through the heart. Ali was rushed to hospital but did not survive his injuries.
Wadah Khanfar, Director General of Al Jazeera Network, said the organisation “will not remain silent” and work to bring the killers to justice.
Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO, said “AIB condemns this brutal attack on a member of the world’s media. It demonstrates the dangers facing news crews covering events in Libya as they attempt to bring news to citizens around the world. This murder follows concerted attempts by the Gaddafi regime to try and prevent access to news by jamming broadcasters including Al Jazeera, Alhurra and Al Arabiya in the region. AIB calls on the Gaddafi regime to cease all actions against international news organisations.”
15 March 2011
Bloomberg Television continues to provide around-the-clock coverage of the massive human and economic toll of the natural disaster in Japan. Television reporters Sara Eisen(@saraeisenfx), Mike Firn and Margaret Conley are on the ground in Japan, covering what’s at stake for the $1.1 trillion Japanese economy, as well as the fear and distress of a population increasingly worried about the mounting death toll, power outages and possibility of nuclear meltdown.
Since Friday, Bloomberg Television’s team of over 12 reporters and producers have been dispatched around the country, with Tokyo-based TV reporter Mike Firn reporting from Chiba – home of Japan’s oil refineries and oil port – as well as near Fukushima nuclear plant. Bloomberg Television has also been making use of Bloomberg’s more than 140 print reporters based in Tokyo.
On Friday, Bloomberg Television was the first cable news network to report, at 12:51 am ET, minutes after the earthquake struck at 12:45 am ET, that a major earthquake had hit Japan. London-based anchor Linzie Janis reported (5:51 am CET) the news. On Sunday, March 13th, Bloomberg TV was live in the U.S. at 7:00pm ET with a simulcast based out of Bloomberg Television’s Hong Kong-based bureau.
Bloomberg News’ team of 146 Tokyo-based reporters is covering all angles of the implications from the disaster, including the economy, government and energy and how the effects play into the global economy. Two Bloomberg News reporters are currently stationed about 50 kilometers from the nuclear reactor sites.
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