30 June 2009
Entries are arriving at the AIB head office in the UK for the 2009 AIBs – the fifth annual international media excellence awards.
Many broadcasters and production companies have contacted us to ask for an extension to the entry deadline – so we’ve responded!
The closing date for the 2009 AIBs is now Friday 31 July 2009.
Full details of how to enter are in the entry booklet you can download using the link below, and if you have questions, call us on +44 20 7993 2557 or e-mail awards2009 [@] aib.org.uk.
23 June 2009
Al Jazeera Englishs documentary, Two Schools of Nablus, has won the UK Royal Television Societys Educational Television Award in the category of Adult Training.
The RTS awards ceremony recognises excellence in the areas of Programme Making, Television Journalism, Sport, Education, Craft & Design, Technical Innovation and Student Journalism.
Two Schools of Nablus is an observational documentary following the personal stories of teachers and students of two schools in Nablus in the West Bank. The documentary depicts stories of the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances showing the pressures and stresses of life and learning under an occupation. The documentary follows two head teachers and their staff at King Talal Boys School and Hajja Rushda Girls School to show how they teach and inspire their pupils while dealing with over-crowded classes, imprisoned students and teachers under increasing stress. There is nothing ordinary about the daily experiences of two schools in Nablus.
This documentary was directed by Tom Evans and executive produced by Ingrid Falck, both of Flashback Television in cooperation with Al Jazeera English Channel.
23 June 2009
Euronews has gained 31 million homes in the USA, and with distribution in Brazil and Chile, now has distribution in eight Latin American countries.
Euronews in Spanish is now broadcast everyday on the US channel HITN-TV (Hispanic Information and Telecommunication Network) from 10:30 to 11:00pm (US Eastern Time Zone). HITN-TV is available all over the country on both American satellite platforms: Dish Network and DirecTV. Distributed on the basic and Latino programming packages of the two platforms, Euronews now reaches 30 new million digital households by satellite. Euronews reaches one million digital homes via the broadcast of HITN-TV on these cable and IPTV platforms.
“The multilingual aspect of euronews allows the channel to expand all over the world. With its Spanish and Portuguese versions in particular, euronews is perfect to offer a different perspective on world news in Latin America. In North America, euronews already broadcast in English, now benefits 15% of the US population which are Hispanic. For the first time euronews is broadcast in Spanish in the USA and reaches an additional 31 million homes. With the latest developments in North and Latin America, euronews is now available worldwide to more than 291 million homes” said Philippe Cayla, Chairman of the Executive board of Euronews S.A..
23 June 2009
As videos, pictures, e-mails and calls from Iran poured into the Voice of America (VOA), the U.S. international broadcaster introduced a two-hour Special Report to keep its millions of viewers informed.
“With the Iranian government crackdown on media operating inside the country, the Persian News Network (PNN) has become a lifeline to our audience, allowing them to know the latest events unfolding there,” said Alex Belida, acting director of PNN, which reaches nearly 30 percent of Iranian adults every week by satellite television.
Special Report is preempting regularly scheduled programs, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Tehran time, at least for this week. PNN also recently introduced a daily breakfast show, The Morning Show, from 7:00-8:00 a.m. Tehran time. The programs examine events in Iran in the aftermath of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s declared victory, the ensuing protests and the global reaction to developments in Iran.
VOA’s coverage is drawing an overwhelming reaction from inside Iran. Direct visits to PNN’s Internet site (http://www.voapnn.com) from inside the country increased over 800 percent since early June.
Citizens of Iran have sent thousands of videos and pictures – over 300 videos in one 24-hour period – depicting events inside the country. Videos are shown on PNN after careful review. (You can see the latest videos from inside Iran by going to: http://www.VOANews.com/persian/_-electionprotests.cfm or by going directly to PNN’s YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/PNNVideo).
PNN’s viewers have also sent thousands of e-mails, and posted comments on PNN blogs, Facebook, a dedicated YouTube channel, Twitter and other social media sites. Callers have phoned in to various PNN shows.
VOA’s PNN has the largest combined radio and television audience of all international broadcasters in Iran, with nearly one in three adults in Iran watching or listening to PNN broadcasts at least weekly. Research indicates 96 percent of Iranians daily watch TV, which is the preferred medium for getting news and information.
23 June 2009
The Broadcasting Board of Governors increased television, radio and Internet transmissions of the Persian-language programs of the Voice of America (VOA)’s Persian News Network and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Radio Farda to fight jamming and signal interference in Iran.
“Despite accusations about foreign media, our broadcasters are simply reporting the news, increasingly by drawing upon the eye-witness accounts of Iranians themselves,” said D. Jeffrey Hirschberg of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees both VOA and RFE/RL. “This Iranian interference with our television and radio signals is against international agreements and, most importantly, an injustice to the Iranian people.”
Jamming of satellite television broadcasts has increased in recent weeks beginning in May and twice in June including interference with BBG and other broadcasters’ satellite uplink and downlink signals. To combat this censorship, VOA’s Persian News Network (PNN) television programs are now beamed through five satellites with six different distribution channels.
Shortwave transmissions of Radio Farda were increased beginning June 21 as part of an effort to counteract jamming by the Iranian government. With the recent shortwave additions, the most popular morning and early-to-mid evening hours have at least five simultaneous transmissions and ten at peak times. The shortwave jamming of international broadcasters began on June 14.
As well reported, use of the Internet new media has been an information lifeline for many Iranians during the aftermath of the elections. Visits to VOA’s PNN website and RFE/RL’s Radio Farda website the weekend of June 20 were both over 400% more than at the start of the month.
Iranian government censorship of external news sites has increased. VOA’s PNN and RFE/RL’s Radio Farda have seen a 200% growth in use of proxy servers and web censorship circumvention software from the day before the Friday election to three days later. Over the weekend, the response to the VOA and RFE/RL Persian-language Web sites has been so great that our proxy service reached full capacity, resulting in some visitors not reaching the site. We are adding additional infrastructure to handle this increased traffic.
To better serve their audiences in Iran with breaking news of events as they unfold, VOA and RFE/RL implemented a number of program expansions in the last week including:
– VOA added a one-hour morning satellite TV news program and replaced two hours of its normal evening program line up with a two-hour Special Report on the latest developments inside Iran following the disputed Presidential election. – RFE/RL extended its evening and midnight news magazine shows from 30 to 90 minutes, and is interrupting non-news programming as necessary with breaking updates. – VOA established a new Twitter account in Persian, which attracted over 3,500 followers in less than a week. PNN’s main Web site, plus its YouTube, related blogs and Facebook pages all increased their postings of news, video and viewer comments. PNN has received, verified and broadcast hundreds of user-generated videos from inside Iran. – RFE/RL posted a special blog to follow the election and aftermath, which is updated with photos, videos and comments from inside Iran. Radio Farda is also providing instant updates and analysis on its website, and Twitter.
VOA Persian News Network: Reaching nearly 30% of adults each week, VOA broadcasts seven hours of original TV programming daily, including a new one-hour breakfast show added to cover the aftermath of the election, repeated for a full 24 hours on satellite and streamed online. VOA simulcasts four hours of TV programs on medium wave and shortwave radio and produces a one-hour daily radio program.
RFE/RL Radio Farda: Broadcasts 24 hours a day on shortwave, medium wave and satellite, and streams online. Seventeen hours is live news, including evening and midnight magazine shows, and seven hours (off-peak) is music.
More than 30% of Iranians tune in to BBG broadcasts at least once a week.
