27 June 2005
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed his concern regarding the combined five year prison sentence handed down to a Russian journalist by a Smolensk court. Nikolay Goshko, deputy editor-in-chief of Odintsovskaya Nedelya, was found guilty of libeling three Smolensk officials in 2000. As a result of this conviction, his previous suspended prison term for an unrelated offence nine years ago came into force.
“It would be alarming to see both the severity of the sentence, and the possibility to combine speech offences with crimes totally unrelated to journalism, become a precedent for the future, and thus amplify the chilling effect on journalism,” Mr. Haraszti wrote in a letter to the Russian Minister of Justice. “Criminal libel laws have been rarely used in democratic Russia,” said Haraszti. “However, this sentence proves that if a country’s laws criminalize speech offences, there will always be a court that will apply those provisions”.
Mr. Haraszti invited the Russian authorities to join international efforts in decriminalizing defamation and handle the offences of libel and insult only in civil courts. The Representative suggested an interim remedy – before full decriminalization was achieved – could be a moratorium. He also said that he would closely follow Mr. Goshko’s appeal to a higher court and expressed his hope that his prison sentence for libel would be reviewed.
27 June 2005
Luis Ramirez, Beijing correspondent for the Voice of America (VOA), has received a Human Rights Press Award, one of Asia’s top annual journalism award programs.
Ramirez was recognized for his report on the residents of Hanyuan County in Sichuan Province who were protesting against the Chinese government’s decision to place a hydroelectric dam in their area without properly compensating the farmers for their land. Ramirez also reported on the government’s crackdown against the protestors. In his report, Ramirez described how he evaded possible detention and expulsion by Chinese authorities by slipping past heavily armed soldiers and police when he went to “catch a glimpse of the gigantic dam project and the towns and villages that are to be flooded.”
The Awards are sponsored by Amnesty International Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club-Hong Kong for reporting in Asia. Amnesty International presents the awards to journalists to recognize excellence in human rights journalism that has made a significant contribution to the public’s greater awareness and understanding of human rights issues. The competition included a record number of nominations from news organizations including the Financial Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, CNN and BBC.
Ramirez, 37, has been VOA’s Beijing bureau chief since August 2003. He formerly served as VOA’s West Africa correspondent in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he covered West and Central Africa. Along with providing news on coup attempts, political assassinations, child labor, and ethnic and religious unrest, he covered elections in nations including Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria and was on the scene to bring news of the difficult return to peace in Sierra Leone. Ramirez joined VOA in 1999 after spending six years reporting for an all-news radio station in his hometown of Los Angeles, California, where he won several awards for his news coverage.
27 June 2005
GlobeCast announced on 21 June that it is delivering MTV Networks European channels on the HOT BIRD satellite platform to cable and satellite television providers across Europe, with an MTV-dedicated transponder aboard the HOT BIRD 6 satellite. The channels include music and entertainment brands such as MTV European, MTV France, MTV Netherlands, MTV Portugal, Nickelodeon Europe, Game One and VH1 Europe.
GlobeCasts solution for MTV Networks includes connectivity from the broadcasters UK facility in Camden to GlobeCasts London gateway at Brookmans Park, as well as uplink and space capacity on HOT BIRD 6 for downlink at control rooms throughout Europe. HOT BIRD 6, located at 13ºE, provides ideal European coverage and reaches millions of homes via cable operators and DTH operators such as TPS (France).
GlobeCast CEO Christian Pinon said, GlobeCast is pleased to be providing MTV Networks Europe with a transponder on HOT BIRD 6. GlobeCast has a longstanding relationship with MTV and is proud to be delivering this leading broadcasters programming to millions of households across Europe.
27 June 2005
Harris Corporation announced on 21 June that Cordillera Communications, the owner of 11 television stations throughout the United States, has selected Harris automation solutions for a centralization project in Montana and for stations in California and Colorado. Among reasons Harris was selected, Cordillera Communications cited Harris’ strong after-sales support and its ability to provide scalable and cost-effective systems that can meet the needs of medium- to smaller-market broadcasters.
To increase operational efficiency among three Montana stations, Cordillera is establishing a central “hub” at KXLF, a full-power station in Butte. At the hub, content will be ingested, prepared and distributed to another full-power station, KBZK in Bozeman, and a low-power station, KXLH in Helena. Harris will provide ADC playout automation, digital ingest and satellite ingest solutions. At KOAA in Colorado Springs, Harris will upgrade an existing ADC system to automate playout of an independent weather channel that is operated by the station as well as regular programming. The upgraded ADC system is being configured so that Cordillera can add new revenue streams in the future. At KSBY in San Luis Obispo, California, Cordillera has selected Harris to provide a new ADC-100 system to replace an antiquated manual system. Harris also will provide on-site installation and training.
“Cordillera works in very small to medium-size markets, and because budgets are not what they are in larger markets, we are forced to stretch our dollars and require that new products, such as our automation system, work with legacy systems,” said Andy Suk, Cordillera’s director of broadcast engineering. “With Harris, that is possible. It is proven technology, and we know going in that the support we’ll need is available. Harris’ innovation with digital ingest is also very important to our operations. We looked at other suppliers and found Harris was willing to tailor a solution for smaller markets and make it cost-effective for us. It is an exceptional system architecture.”
The relationship between Harris Corporation and Cordillera Communications dates back several decades and has included the purchase and installation of transmitters and other broadcast products. Suk views the strength of Harris as its willingness to take responsibility for seeing system issues through to resolution. “I like having a single point of accountability as there is with Harris,” he said. “If there is an issue, I know Harris will be an active part of the solution.”
Harris is the world’s leader in playout automation, with its systems controlling more than 7,000 channels. Among other benefits, Harris automation gives broadcasters a smooth and cost-effective path to total content delivery systems – the key to being able to deliver multiple channels of programming over any network to any type of receiver with maximum efficiency in the future.
21 June 2005
Harris Corporation announced that Macmillan Media, the multimedia production, media training and broadcast services provider in Northern Ireland, has installed an innovative networking system that connects its new broadcast center in Belfast with Ulster Television (UTV), the Independent Television franchise holder for Northern Ireland. The system, which combines digital microwave radio technology from Harris’ Microwave Communications Division and NetVX(TM), an award-winning, high-speed, integrated networking platform from Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division, is far more cost effective than the leased fibre connection alternative. Macmillan Media’s studios produce regional news output for Good Morning Television (GMTV) and other British broadcasters.
Owner and founder Michael Macmillan said, “It is essential that we present news bulletins which reflect GMTV’s highly successful national program content. The combined expertise of Harris Corporation’s Broadcast and Microwave Communications Divisions offered an opportunity to install a compelling blend of modern technologies. The capabilities we now have in our new broadcast centre enable us to meet the high standards set by our clients.”
Macmillan wanted a wireless connection between its new facility and UTV to take advantage of its line-of-sight proximity. Macmillan approached Charlie Day, managing director of UK-based broadcast equipment supplier “The UK Office,” who recommended Harris’ microwave radios. Macmillan now uses the microwave link to deliver two channels of television programming to UTV, including live contribution services for GMTV each morning.
Harris’ Microwave Communication Division has a wide range of point-to-point digital microwave radios designed for rapid, easy deployment of short, medium and long links. A wide range of frequency bands and protection configurations also are available for voice and data applications. At the hub of Macmillan’s system is Harris’ NetVX, which is equipped with two MPEG-2 codecs configured to deliver two channels of 4:2:2 contribution quality video over ATM on the E3 link. “Part of Harris’ value proposition is its ability to draw upon products from any of Harris’ four divisions and combine them in ways that provide exceptional long-term value and innovation for our customers,” said Jim Denny, vice president and general manager of Harris Broadcast Communications Division’s Networking & Government Solutions business unit. The Broadcast Communications Division has installed more than 100 NetVX systems worldwide, proving the platform’s flexibility, ability to evolve to support new services, and cost-savings potential.
Harris leads the wireless backhaul industry with its newest product family, Truepoint(TM), the first universal platform for point-to-point digital communications. TRuepoint’s modular, software-selectable architecture supports both PDH and SDH applications, enabling service providers to address multiple applications and deliver multiple services throughout their networks.
