9 May 2007
The Russia Today TV channel has officially announced an expansion of its coverage in Europe. Starting May 3, more than 750,000 viewers in Belgium and the Netherlands will have an opportunity to watch Russia Today.
Such leading satellite TV operators as CANALDIGITAL (Netherlands) and TV VLAANDEREN (Belgium), which broadcast via Astra 19,2 satellite, became partners of Russia Today.
According to signed agreements, RT news programmes will be included into two packages of CANALDIGITAL and TV VLAANDEREN, broadcasting on the 67th and 62nd channels respectively.
The deal in Belgium and the Netherlands will bring Russia Today’s total audience in Europe closer to a record 16 MLN viewers – more than a 30% growth in less than six months.
“The pay TV market in Western Europe is traditionally highly competitive. TV operators in Europe always choose the most interesting and actual content. The fact that RT is now available both in the Netherlands and in Belgium shows the implicit growth of the Europeans’ interest to the news coming from Russia,” – stressed Sergey Lisnevsky, the Head of RT Distribution Department.
9 May 2007
Deutsche Welle director general Erik Bettermann has appointed Rainer Sollich (39) as the new head of the international broadcaster’s Arabic programmes. Sollich took up his new role on 1 May.
The Arabic programme of DW-RADIO can be heard in the Arab world via satellite, FM partner stations and via short wave. It is also available on the internet (www.dw-world.de/arabic).
In the framework of a cooperation agreement with Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, listeners in eleven capitals in the Arab world have been able to listen to Deutsche Welle programmes in Arabic on Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya’ FM frequencies.
3 May 2007
Russia Today TV, the 24 hour-a-day news channel from Moscow, is the latest broadcaster to enrol in the AIB.
Russia Today is demonstrating its strategic support of the international broadcasting industry and the AIB – the industry’s trade association – by choosing Gold Membership.
“We’re delighted to welcome Russia Today TV to the AIB,” says Simon Spanswick, the Assocation’s CEO. “Since its launch in December 2005, Russia Today TV has developed its service and today provides a window on events across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States that is unmatched in international television.”
2 May 2007
The Indonesian-American Friendship Society (PPIA) and the Voice of America (VOA) announced a PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program today. The cooperative program will provide opportunities for promising young Indonesian journalists, and radio and TV broadcasters to gain six months practical experience with the VOA Indonesian Service in Washington, DC.
In announcing the program, Tantowi Yahya, Chairman of the PPIA said, “PPIA is very pleased to be working with the Voice of America to bring this golden opportunity to young Indonesians who want to build their careers in Indonesia’s broadcasting industry.”
The PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program will provide transportation to the U.S., basic living expenses, health insurance, and other benefits. The program is open to recent university graduates in fields related to journalism and broadcasting and to those with no more than three years of experience in broadcasting or print media.
Norman Goodman, Chief of VOA’s Indonesian Service observed that, “The PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program is a win-win situation. It will bring fresh, talented Indonesian journalists and broadcasters to contribute to VOA’s Indonesian programming and then they in turn will play a part in Indonesia’s broadcast industry.”
Further information about applying for the fellowship program can be found by going to www.VOAIndonesia.com . The first participants will be selected in October 2007 and are expected to begin their experience with VOA in early 2008.
Established in 1959 as Lembaga Indonesia-Amerika (LIA), the Perhimpunan Persahabatan Indonesia-Amerika’s (PPIA) mission is to foster closer friendship ties between Indonesians and Americans through mutual appreciation of one another’s culture. PPIA is a nonreligious, nonpolitical, nonprofit organization.
The Voice of America and the VOA Indonesian Service are both celebrating 65 years of broadcasting this year. VOA is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
2 May 2007
Al Arabiya news channel announced the launch of the Atwar Bahjat Award, an annually awarded prize that will recognize outstanding achievements by female journalists. The 2007 award was presented by MBC Chairman, Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim bin Ibrahim to Samia Nakhoul, Middle East Bureau manager at Reuters during this years Arab Broadcast Forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The award comes as a symbolic gesture to the living memory of Atwar Bahjat, who sadly made the ultimate sacrifice while covering her beat in Iraq, said Sheikh Waleed. I hope this award will help recognize and stimulate the efforts of female journalists all over the world, especially those covering the regions hotspots.
Al Arabiya committed to bringing its audience closer to the truth- paid a heavy toll covering the situation in Iraq, adds Sheikh Waleed. 11 staff were killed and several offices targeted several times by suicide bombing attempts, but this didnt deter journalists like Bahjat, determined that people needed and indeed, deserved a credible, fact-based reportage.
The inaugural award recipient, Samia Nakhoul, was among several female Arab and international journalists nominated by different independent organizations and press unions. She was unanimously selected to receive the award.
Nakhoul has covered some of the worlds hottest locations, including most of the conflict the Middle East region has witnessed in the past few years. She is a leading name among the Arab journalist community, having managed Reuters Gulf before moving to head-up the whole Reuters team in the Middle East.
Samias name is familiar to anyone working in a newsroom in the region, commented one of the journalists who presented the award. Shes a model journalist who is always very active on the ground filing a story a day from very different locations and always taking part in different forums, debates and media events.
Nakhoul started her career with Reuters Beirut bureau in 1987, covering West Beirut during the final years of Lebanons civil war. Her stories covered everything from the daily street battles of the various militias as well as following leads into the abductions and assassinations of several western civilians and diplomats and politicians.
Samia then went on to cover the 1991 Gulf war from Iraq and moved to Cairo in 1992 where she specialized in covering Islamic movements.
Samia Nakhoul and three photographers received serious injuries on April 8, 2003 while covering the invasion of Iraq from the Palestine hotel. Two of her colleagues also lost their lives that morning.
I commend Nakhoul and her female colleagues across the world. This award will serve to encourage more such professionalism, and we look forward as a viewing audience to reaping the benefits of objective, rigorous journalism that exposes the truth no matter the consequence, concludes Sheikh Waleed.
