30 December 2007
Winners announced!
The AIB announced the winners of its 2007 Media Excellence Awards at a gala
evening in London on 20 November. 150 media executives, journalists, editors,
regulators and satellite operators from every continent gathered at
Clothworkers’ Hall in the City of London for the AIB Diner Pensant hosted
by Mishal Husain, one of the anchors on BBC World.
The winners are:
Clearest coverage of a single news
event radio
BBC World Service for Israel-Lebanon war
described by the judges as classic war reporting
combined with an almost perfect blend of frontline access and compassion for the
ordinary people caught up in the conflict
Clearest coverage of a single news
event television
CBS News for Among a Resurgent Taliban
an outstanding report offering exclusive coverage with
high production values with the judges paying particular tribute to Lara
Logans bravery
Best topical programme television
NDTV 24×7 for UP vs AIDS
a powerful piece of television dealing with a
difficult subject; well filmed and edited and bringing an understanding of the
scale of a problem thats been ignored for a great length of time
Best topical programme radio
BBC World Service for Ghana:
African Perspectives
an exceptional piece of radio that was inspiring
yet dealt with a highly difficult subject – abortion
Gear of the year
Omnibus Systems for iTX
using commoditised IT equipment, this solution is
scalable and integrates a great number of functions allowing multi-skilled
operators to take control
Most innovative partnership
Radio New Zealand International
Radio New Zealand International has undertaken work
with local partners to provide audiences across the Pacific region with
information and topics to connect at all levels in their own language
Most creative
marketing concept
Joint winners: SW Radio Africa and France 24
SW Radio Africas use of SMS text messaging to beat
the censors enables the station to reach an audience under the most difficult
censorship conditions
France 24s launch campaign was very well thought
through and well executed, with a unique use of animation to bring in younger
viewers
Most innovative cross-media production
BBC Global News for Generation Next
These nine days of special programming on television,
radio and online was well executed, providing interesting topics for a
hard-to-reach market
AIB International channel of the year –
television
Bloomberg Television
consistently high quality and punching above its
weight, successfully marrying specialist material with more mainstream coverage
of news and current affairs
AIB International station of the year –
radio
Radio New Zealand International
Radio New Zealand International has proved it has the
ability, clarity of vision and resources to deliver something thats valued by
audiences throughout the region
AIB International radio personality of
the year
George Arney of BBC World ServiceEurope
George Arneys slightly quirky approach reveals great
truths about how people live their lives. He also takes listeners behind the
scenes with some of the planets most powerful leaders
AIB International television
personality of the year
Lyse Doucet of BBC World
one of the leading presenters and journalists on
international television today highly professional and able to convey the news
with just the right measure of confidence
Download the AIB Awards magazine
here.
19 December 2007
WORLDSPACE Satellite Radio has appointed Roberto Zaino as content director for the company’s Italian subsidiary. WORLDSPACE Italia is expected to bring mobile satellite radio services to the Italian marketplace with after-market receivers available for cars late next year and in certain Fiat car models as original equipment in late 2009.
Zaino is known in Italy as a pioneer of the radio broadcasting industry having began his career with the launch of Radio Milano International over 30 years ago. Throughout the years, Zaino has produced numerous, innovative programmes for radio, television and film. His most recent accomplishment was with RTL 102.5, where from 2005 to 2007, he increased daily listenership at this privately-owned station from 3.6 to over 5.5 million, according to Audiradio Data.
Zaino also founded and for 11 years ran his own media production company where he worked on numerous broadcast projects for both radio and TV. His love of contemporary Italian art led him to establish Amnesia Editions – an art catalogue publishing house. Zaino also organised over 100 contemporary art exhibitions in Italy and throughout Europe, and applied his radio savvy to produce Art Made in Italy, a multi-part series showcasing major Italian artists, which ran in over 120 markets worldwide. Zaino’s accomplishments also include writing and directing four short films and authoring three books. He has also won many radio awards including three for best original program in 1997, 2003 and 2005
“I am very excited at the opportunity afforded me by WORLDSPACE Italia. I look forward to using this great new technology’s vast capacity to offer a wide variety of unique programming to our Italian customers who today yearn for radio that steps outside the traditional mould,” said Roberto Zaino.
“We are very pleased to have Roberto join the growing WORLDSPACE Italia team,” said Alexander P. Brown, co-COO, WORLDSPACE Satellite Radio. “His knowledge of the Italian radio industry and the radio consumer, coupled with his innovation and creativity in the broadcasting arena, is just what we need as we prepare for launch in the Italian marketplace in late 2008.”
19 December 2007
A global media forum has called on the United Nations Secretary-General to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Journalists in peace and war.
The third World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF3), meeting in Kuala Lumpur, made the call after hearing that 2007 was already the bloodiest year on record for journalists deaths, with at least 172 news media staff killed so far as a result of their
work. The forum, which brought together broadcasters, journalists, policy makers,
academics and others, noted the importance of freedom of expression to human rights.
It urged states to implement in letter and spirit UN Resolution 1738, adopted by the
Security Council in December 2006. The resolution calls on states to end impunity for
those who kill journalists and other news professionals, to investigate incidents of
violence against news media, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The forum also called for greater efforts to preserve the worlds endangered
audiovisual archives.
It urged broadcasters throughout the world to cooperate with the Archives at Risk
group, which brings together several leading organisations, and called on industry
partners and institutions to sponsor and support archive preservation projects, via the
Archives at Risk initiative.
The group on Archives at Risk was created in February 2006 after the second meeting
of the World Electronic Forum (WEMF2) in Tunis in November 2005. Its members
include the United Nations, UNESCO, the World Broadcasting Unions, the European
Broadcasting Union and the International Federation of Television Archives,
FIAT/IFTA.
WEMF3 also said broadcasters must maintain their core values and principles in the
face of rapid technological change. It was possible to hold on to core values of good
journalism such as accuracy, objectivity and ethical reporting in spite of embracing
new media technology, the forum said.
Broadcasters should strive to embrace and harness the new media and new
technological platforms to benefit fully from all the new opportunities they provided through increasing flexibility of media consumption, interactivity, participatory
communication and access.
In this changing media landscape driven by market forces, it was critical to support
and strengthen public service broadcasting and community media which played a
crucial role in informing, educating and empowering citizens, the forum said.
Calling for action to bridge the accessibility divide, the forum urged Information &
Communications Technology (ICT) regulators around the world to consider having
wireless Internet access free, initially in main cities, as a public service.
It called on broadcasters to use innovations in technology to serve the consumers of
their services with special needs, such as the sight and hearing impaired and the
elderly.
Among the speakers were leading representatives of Aljazeera English, the BBC,
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Japans public broadcaster NHK, the Korean
Broadcasting System, Radio Netherlands, Young Asia Television and regional
broadcasting unions from Africa, the Arab world, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North
America and South America.
WEMF3 was an event of the World Broadcasting Unions and was organised by the
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting
Development (AIBD) and the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre
(AMIC). It was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(SDC) and the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) as cooperation partners.
The first and second World Electronic Media Forums were held in conjunction with
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which was held in two phases
in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005).
19 December 2007
Margarita Simonyan, since 2005 editor-in-chief of Russia Today TV news channel broadcasting in English, has been appointed editor-in-chief of Rusiya Al-Yaum TV channel. In her new post, Margarita Simonyan will be responsible for the work of both English language Russia Today and Rusiya Al-Yaum, broadcasting in Arabic.
Aidar Aganin has been appointed Deputy Editor-in-chief of Arabic Channel.
10 December 2007
World opinion is divided on the importance of press freedom, according to a BBC World Service poll of 11,344 people across 14 countries.
While an average of 56% across all countries think that freedom of the press is very important to ensure a free society, 40% believe that social harmony and peace are more important, even if it means controlling what is reported for the greater good.
56% of people in the 14 countries polled think the press and media in their country is free to report the news accurately without bias. Only 19% say there is little or no media freedom in their country.
Private and publicly funded news organisations receive similar ratings from the public when it comes to reporting the news honestly and accurately. 39% of people across all countries say publicly funded news agencies are doing a good job, while 43% say the same for private news organisations.
However, in some countries the poll shows concern over the ownership of private media. Strong majorities in Brazil (80%), Mexico (76%), USA (74%), and Great Britain (71%) believe that the concentration of media ownership in fewer hands is a concern because owners political views emerge in reporting.
Importance of Press Freedom vs Performance of News Organisations
Of the countries where press freedom is most highly valued, Western developed countries are more critical of how honestly and accurately the news is reported, including Germany (28% average rating for good performance of public and private media), Great Britain (29%), and the USA (29%) whereas Venezuela (44%), South Africa (49%), Nigeria (58%), and Kenya (61%) rate the media performance more positively. (See diagram below).
In countries where social stability is more highly valued, those surveyed in India (61% good performance) and the UAE (52%) believe the news is being reported honestly, contrasting with a more negative view of press performance in Russia (27%), Mexico (28%), Brazil (31%) and Singapore (37%).
The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firms GlobeScan Incorporated and Synovate. Fieldwork took place between October 1 and November 21, 2007.
GlobeScan President Doug Miller comments, While people generally support a free media, the Western view of the necessity of a free press to ensure a fair society is not universally shared across all regions of the world.
The poll was commissioned as part of a season of programmes to celebrate BBC World Services 75th Anniversary.
A total of 11,344 citizens in Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Venezuela were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone between October 1 and November 21, 2007. Polling was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firms GlobeScan and Synovate and their research partners in each country. In 6 of the 14 countries, the sample was limited to major urban areas. The margin of error per country ranges from +/-2.5 to 4.4 percent.
