16 November 2016
The BBC’s Thai language service launched today the website – bbcthai.com – to expand on its presence in social media and further strengthen BBC’s news and current-affairs offer to Thai-speaking audience, in Thailand and around the world.
BBC Thai was created in July 2014 as a Facebook service in response to the military coup in Thailand, and is now is in the unique position of moving from being a social only offer to engaging with users directly on a BBC platform.
Via its social-media and new online presence, BBC Thai aims at attracting a digitally savvy and young audience, while continuing to be a source of impartial and independent news for a country were the media still faces restrictions.
The development is a result of the funding boost for the BBC World Service announced by the UK Government last year and is part of the World Service’s biggest expansion since the 1940s. Along with national, regional and international politics, bbcthai.com will cover business, culture, health, technology, science and entertainment – as well as women’s issues and social affairs. It offers free content from BBC Learning English.
During the past two years BBC Thai Facebook page has generated over 1.3 million interactions a month and has 1.65 million fans (November 2016), mostly in Thailand. BBC Thai also uses Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, YouTube and other social media to reach its audience.
BBC Thai has expanded its team in London and its Bangkok office, to enhance its ability to produce original digital content. Its newly appointed Editor, veteran Thai journalist and broadcaster Nopporn Wong-Anan, will lead the teams. He said:
“I am excited and proud to be part of the digital transformation of BBC Thai as it has moved from being a social-only service to its own new platform, bbcthai.com. Via this new, mobile-first website we will serve Thai-speakers looking for independent, accurate and balanced news, information and analysis, for which the BBC is known. BBC Thai’s presence on the social-media scene will continue to expand.”
The service will also bring innovative formats to engage its audience and has partnered up with BBC’s task-forces that drive the organisation’s digital innovation – BBC Connected Studio and BBC News Labs. The team explored themes of participation and interaction with the local Thai creative industry in Bangkok and Chiang Mai this summer.
BBC Thai is part of BBC World Service. (Source: BBC press release)
15 November 2016
The Broadcasting Board of Governors today released its annual impact numbers which show the agency had its largest ever increase in its weekly worldwide audience to 278 million people, up from 226 million in 2015. These increases occurred across all platforms with digital platforms seeing the largest percentage growth, followed by radio and television.
“The unprecedented growth we’ve seen this year further illustrates the need for U.S. international media particularly in parts of the world where access to balanced, impartial news is severely limited or non-existent,” said BBG CEO and Director John Lansing. “In media markets increasingly dominated by disinformation and propaganda, more and more people are turning to BBG networks for fair, accurate, fact-based reporting.”
The increases include gains in highly competitive media markets that are of strategic importance to the United States. Digital audiences increased from 32 million to 45 million while those for radio rose by 27% to 130 million. Television audience also grew, increasing 23% to 174 million.
In addition to weekly audience size, the BBG measures its impact using quantitative, qualitative, digital and anecdotal data on a wide range of factors including program quality and credibility, engagement with the news process, and audience understanding of current events. Key accomplishments include:
- MBN’s Raise Your Voice-Iraq developed new television programs encouraging Iraqis to share their thoughts and opinions on extremism and the underlying causes of terrorism. This programming provides firsthand accounts of the realities of life under ISIL, including the pain and suffering of families and communities.
- RFE/RL and VOA actively engaged online in providing alternatives to Russian disinformation. In FY 2016, RFE/RL’s DIGIM, the social media arm of Current Time, received 120,000 average weekly engagement actions on Facebook and VOA Russian averaged 45,000 per week.
- VOA and RFA increased their social media outreach in Southeast Asia with huge gains in video viewing and engagement on Facebook and YouTube. VOA Vietnamese averaged 2.7 million video views weekly on YouTube, and RFA averaged over 600,000.
- OCB hosted a two-day conference on internet freedom in Cuba. The event convened a broad spectrum of digital innovators and independent journalists from Cuba and elsewhere to exchange ideas and provide important information about the state of the internet in Cuba.
To learn more about the BBG’s performance measures, the 2016 Performance and Accountability Report, along with the BBG’s 2016 audience overview and explanation of research methodology are available here.
(Source: BBG press release)
15 November 2016
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), operator of the world’s first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, tonight was named “Satellite Operator of the Year” during the 2016 Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) presents BroadcastPro Selevision Awards. The result was announced during a ceremony in Dubai.
Nominees were judged by a panel of experts across the MENA region on their work toward improving communications in the Middle East and North Africa and the lives of the people living there. Intelsat, as well as other operators in the region, enable voice communication, provide Internet access to fiber-lacking areas and give access to education or healthcare to those in remote locations.
“This award recognizes Intelsat’s continuing leadership as the innovator in space-based communications. In 2016, Intelsat delivered on the promise of high throughput satellite (HTS) technology when it launched the first two satellites in the Intelsat EpicNG network, providing immediate benefits to users,” said Shahrokh Khanzadeh-Amiri, Managing Director, MENA, Intelsat. “The launches established Intelsat as the first operator to implement a backward-compatible, open architecture HTS platform. Intelsat EpicNG will support the growth of telecom operators, service providers and media organizations with higher performance, improved economics and simplified access.”
Intelsat has also continued to give communities access to affordable, high-quality and reliable television/video programming. Intelsat 36, which has now entered service, bolsters the penetration of high definition programming for viewers in the broader Middle East and Africa regions.
The ASBU presents BroadcastPro Selevision Awards cover a broad range of categories to reward excellence in various fields across the broadcast workflow, from production and post-production to traditional broadcast and new media platforms.
(Source: Intelsat press release)
14 November 2016
Arab Satellite Communications Organization – Arabsat – participates in AFRICACOM Conference & Exhibition held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 15-17 November 2016.
Eng. Khalid bin Ahmed Balkhyour, President & CEO of Arabsat, stated that “Through our participation in this show, we are looking forward to presenting our services provided to the African continent, as our 5th generation satellites are covering the entire African continent broadcasting TV, telecommunications and Internet satellite services. Arabsat satellites also broadcast dedicated bouquets over North Africa and other dedicated bouquets over the whole African continent including TV & telecom broadcast, in addition to the existence of several ground satellite stations inside Africa connected to the European and the Asian satellite ground stations to provide Internet services and mobile networking. ARABSAT will also showcase the capabilities of its 6th generation satellites, scheduled to be launched next year which will provide extra massive satellite capacities covering the whole African continent and its potential market with full in Orbit – back up.”
Balkhyour concluded that “We are currently working hard on several important strategic projects to operate many of our new orbital positions and keep up with our customers increasing needs, maintaining Arabsat status as the best choice to provide customers’ needs in satellite broadcasting & Telecommunication services.”
(Source: Arabsat press release)
3 November 2016
12th annual AIBs reward factual programme makers from across the world
The 12th annual awards for factual television, radio and online productions – known as the AIBs – were awarded at a glittering gala dinner in London on Wednesday 2 November hosted by Mark Barton, anchor on Bloomberg Television. Sponsors of the AIBs 2016 include global satellite communications company Eutelsat and broadcast consultants MediaGuru.
As well as rewarding programme makers, the Association for International Broadcasting presented its Founders Award to Abdul Rahman Ramadhan (right) who for more than 35 years has been an unsung hero of news and documentary-making in Africa. He is “The Sound Man” who, working for Camerapix alongside the late legendary photojournalist Mohamed Amin, captured the sounds of war, famine and genocide across Africa. Abdul was the sound recordist who worked with the BBC’s Michael Buerk, who brought news of the Ethiopian famine into homes around the world. This led to the creation of Band Aid and the global Live Aid pop concert. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to recognise the work of Abdul Rahman Ramadhan,” said Alexey Nikolov, Managing Director of RT and Chairman of the AIB’s Executive Committee. “He has worked tirelessly in the most challenging of situations to bring the sounds that illustrate the news to viewers across the world. He has put his life in danger on many occasions and yet shows no sign of hanging up his headphones. Abdul is a worthy recipient of the important AIB Founders Award.”
Alongside the presentation of the Founders Award, the global panel of judges of this year’s AIBs rewarded programme makers in 14 countries, ranging in size from an Argentinian radio station to major TV networks such as the BBC.
Key themes among the entries were the migrant crisis in Europe and in particular the effects on children. There were also a range of productions covering issues around so-called ISIS, including the radicalisation of youth in western European countries. The judges praised the work of nominees, describing productions variously as “bold”, “engaging”, “compelling” and “comprehensive”.
The Association’s Innovation award was presented to the Private Engineering Office of Qatar for its ground-breaking TV and film archiving project that is preserving Qatar’s audio-visual archives on a scale unmatched anywhere in the world.
“We had the largest crop of entries in the 12-year history of the AIBs,” commented Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Work from broadcasters and production companies on every continent was considered by our shortlisting team. Then our experts in the international jury evaluated which work was the best of the best. Some of the decisions were immensely close as the programmes we saw and heard in the shortlist were all of the very highest standard.”
With results in 17 categories ranging from news journalism to children’s factual, sport to investigate documentary, the AIBs cover the entire range of factual TV, radio and online production genres. There is an overall winner in each category and there are also special commendations that the judges said represented excellent work.
The list of winners appears below.
The AIBs open for entry again in April 2017.
Winners list
TELEVISION JOURNALISM – sponsored by MediaGuru
Winner – The Children of War – BBC News
Highly commended – Desperate Journey – PBS NewsHour
Highly commended – Paris Terror Attacks – CNN
RADIO JOURNALISM
Winner – Burmese Election Special – BBC Burmese
DOMESTIC CURRENT AFFAIRS
Winner – My Son the Jihadi – True Vision Productions for Channel 4
Highly commended – My Jihad – VRT
Highly commended – Chemsex – Vice
RADIO CURRENT AFFAIRS
Winner – ISIS: Young, British and Radicalised – Snappin’ Turtle Productions for BBC Radio 1
Highly commended – Corruption K: Cristina in the Dock – Radio Mitre
Highly commended – Alvin Hall Goes Back to School – WNYC & Public Radio International
SHORT FEATURE
Winner – On Assignment – Vicky’s Story – ITV News and MediaZones
Highly commended – Right to Fight – The Guardian
Highly commended – Winners – BBC World Service
SPECIALIST
Winner – It Ends with Murder – The Body in the Freezer – Danish Broadcasting
Highly commended – The Sound Man – Africa24 and Camerapix
Highly commended – The Special Needs Hotel – Lambent Productions
RADIO INVESTIGATIVE
Winner – Documentary on One: The Case That Never Was – RTÉ Radio 1
Highly commended – The Unfinished Story of Fighting FGM in Egypt – BBC Arabic
Highly commended File on 4 – Tennis – Game Set and Fix? – BBC/Buzzfeed
ONLINE
Winner – 6×9: A virtual experience of solitary confinement – The Guardian
Highly commended – Back in Touch – On Our Radar in partnership with New Internationalist
Highly commended – China’s Science Revolution – BBC News
SCIENCE
Winner – Iceman Reborn – Nova – WGBH
Highly commended – Secrets of the Brain – TERN International
INNOVATION
Qatar Private Engineering Office for the Old Films Archive Project
FOUNDERS
Abdul Rahman Ramadhan
CHILDREN’S
Winner – Checker Tobi – Bayerischer Rundfunk
Highly commended – Know Zone – The Mediae Company
SPORT
Winner – Formula 1 – Whisper Films and Channel 4
Highly commended – Rugby World Cup Final – ITV Sport
RADIO CREATIVE FEATURE
Winner – The Battle of Britain at 75 – TBI Media with Snappin’ Turtle Productions for BBC Radio 2
Highly commended – Growing Up Without a Dad – BlokMedia
SHORT FORM JOURNALISM
Winner – Brussels Divided: Molenbeek after the Terrorist Attacks – The Guardian
Highly commended – Syria: Witness to an Airstrike – CNN Worldwide
Highly commended – VTM News – Train of Hope – Medialaan
TV INVESTIGATIVE
Winner – ISIS: The British Women Supporters Unveiled – Channel 4
Highly commended – 101 East: Murder in Malaysia – Al Jazeera English
Highly commended – Spotlight – Selling Northern Ireland – BBC Northern Ireland
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Winner – Children on the Frontline: The Escape – Channel 4
Highly commended – Kaos Hatti – Kos Island – TRT
Highly commended – We Love Gaza – RT
RADIO PERSONALITY
Viny Agrawal – MyFM 94.3, Indore, India
TELEVISION PERSONALITY
Hala Gorani – CNN International
