12 August 2010
As millions of Muslims await the start of the holy month of Ramadan, VOA’s Hausa Service will be among the first in Nigeria to broadcast the official announcement of the start of the annual fasting and prayer season.
The holy month of Ramadan begins in Nigeria when the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, who leads the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, confirms reports that the new crescent moon has been sighted, an event expected Wednesday but perhaps as late as Thursday.
Muslims from around the country have been urged to call the palace when they see the new moon. A committee of experts will evaluate the reports.
A Hausa Service reporter will be in the Sultan’s palace for the announcement, and is expected to speak with a member of the Moon Sighting Committee, as well as get reaction from people gathered at the palace for the event.
VOA’s Hausa Service has four daily broadcasts and a weekly audience estimated at approximately 21 million listeners in the region on shortwave and AM with a website that features live and on-demand audio broadcasts. The Hausa program line-up includes integrated newscasts, discussion shows, diverse stringer reports, interviews, feature programs, and special reports covering a wide variety of issues.
Visit the Hausa Service website, http://www1.voanews.com/hausa/news/, for a Ramadan timetable that will include the timing of breakfast and when Muslims are expected to cease eating, drinking and sex.
In addition, the Service will be running a series of special programs all month, including a call-in show that will allow listeners share their Ramadan preparations.
12 August 2010
The appeal is being made by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) – an umbrella organisation of 13 UK humanitarian aid agencies.
The UN says four million people have been affected by the floods, and at least 1,600 have died.
Donations can be made by phone, post, at Post Offices and banks.
The TV and radio appeal was presented by journalist and former British hostage in Lebanon, John McCarthy.
The DEC said aid from its members was now reaching more than 300,000 survivors.
DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said the appeal was crucial “because of the scale of the tragedy”.
Aid agencies are already working in the region, distributing clean water and food parcels, but “they want to scale up their work, so this is the way of going to the public and saying ‘please help’,” Mr Gormley said.
The DEC charities are ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Care International, Cafod, Christian Aid, Concern, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.
12 August 2010
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) met on July 30, 2010 in closed session in Washington, D.C and agreed to the following items by consensus:
Cuba Broadcasting. Governors Ashe, McCue, and Perino are requested to conduct “listening tour” of Congress regarding the future of broadcasting to Cuba during the month of August 2010 and report their observations back to the Board. Other Governors are welcome to provide background materials to support these efforts.
Use of Social Media. Governors Lynton, McCue, Meehan and Perino are requested to organize information-gathering sessions on the use of social media as a part of BBG-sponsored United States international broadcasting. These Governors will propose an agenda, speakers list and a target date for the session in November 2010 for the approval of the BBG Chairman in consultation with fellow Governors.
VOA Persian News Network (PNN). Governor Wimbush is requested to chair a working group with other Governors designated by the BBG Chairman in order to gather information concerning the current strategy and operations of PNN and to make recommendations to the Board concerning PNN’s mission and performance.
Open Meetings. The BBG will look for opportunities to hold open meetings to the extent that it can responsibly do so while protecting the integrity of Board processes and the BBG’s statutory mandate.
WikiLeaks. By resolution, the Board authorized the Director of the Voice of America to proceed with reporting on the disclosure of classified documents available on the WikiLeaks website in a manner that is consistent with the VOA Charter and the BBG’s statutory mission, and to balance this effort with due consideration for the laws and executive orders applicable to the use, disclosure, and transmission of classified information by federal employees.
12 August 2010
On August 4 Egyptian company Nilesat, a leading satellite operator in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, launched the Nilesat 201. The new satellite will transmit 300 additional television channels and bring HDTV and 3D television to the region, as well as carrying IPTV and broadband services.
The Nilesat 201 will allow hundreds of new media channels to be delivered to 40 million households in the region, adding to the existing 560 TV and 100 radio channels already available. Wide coverage is ensured as a result of uplink stations in Cairo, Dubai, Amman, Doha, Riyadh, and Beirut.
Anas El Fekky, Egyptian Minister of Media, said, This new satellite offers a tremendous opportunity to increase the availability on broadcasting and communications services in Egypt. We Egyptians are already proud to have one of the most diverse and vibrant media landscapes in the region, with over 500 independent newspapers, magazines and journals in the printed press alone. The Nilesat 201 will help us to bring even more choice and quality of media to the Egyptian people. This step is important as it shows Egypts ability and desire to lead the entire region in media, as it does in other fields such as information technology, encompassing all new tools of globalisation and communications. Egypt will continue to play a pioneer role to propel the region to greater heights of modernity.
General Ahmed Anis, CEO of Nilesat, added: Nilesat 201 will make a significant contribution to boosting the development of the dynamic broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Nilesat 201 is the third satellite to be owned by Nilesat and was developed in response to the huge demand and market growth of TV channels in the MENA region. The project cost around US$237m and the satellite has a design life of around 15 years. The Nilesat 201 is launched from Korou, French Guyana, by the Ariane space launcher and was manufactured by French company Thales Alenia Space.
12 August 2010
Pharos announces a major extension of training support at its UK headquarters in Reading. Managed by technology specialist Elaine Jarvis, the expanded resource is geared to providing hands-on training at Pharos offices or at customer sites.
Elaine joined Pharos recently from Viasat Broadcasting. She commenced her broadcast career in 1979 as an on-air assistant at BCTV in Vancouver, progressing in 1983 to senior video tape engineer at TV-AM in London, to IndiEdit as an editor in 1988 and to Viasat in 1994 as a transmission controller.
“Pharos produces a highly coordinated range of broadcast content management control solutions centred on Mediator which allows practically every element of television and radio channel operation to be handled efficiently,” Elaine comments. “I first became familiar with Mediator while working at Viasat. We began using the system in June 2006 and I later ran a three-month training course for the transmission department. Mediator is controlled from networked desktop computers displaying Web-style pages. These give operators the exact information they require to perform each aspect of their duties quickly and confidently. Mediator is very easy to drive whether approached from a task-specific perspective or in total. Once incoming content has been ingested into the system, everything is handled on-screen. A huge improvement on the old days of moving tapes and disks physically to and from a library, and hoping your content arrived in a playable form.”
Also supporting the Pharos training resource is Andy Benning who recently rejoined the company from Miranda. Andy’s focus will be on providing an information bridge between the Pharos development team and colleagues in sales and other departments, ensuring that all Pharos staff have a good understanding of the company’s capabilities.
Founded in 1997, Pharos has pioneered collaborative desktop workflow and integrated third-party infrastructure management. Pharos solutions today handle millions of media assets across hundreds of television channels and an increasing number of new media distribution networks. Pharos is an open company embracing open standards. Pharos software architecture, integration and support services enable disparate broadcast and IT processes to be unified across the enterprise. The unique Mediator content management platform, with its integrated Playtime playout and Pilot control options, provides efficient tools to deliver multi-format content globally.
