5 May 2005
At the 3rd International Radio Meeting in Mexico City (4-6 May), organised by Radio Netherlands with Mexican partners, Director-General Jan Hoek set out in a speech how he sees the role of the European public broadcasters.
Here are extracts from his speech:
“Our public media is under increasing pressure from commercial competitors. Some large commercial radio and TV networks feel there is no-longer a place for public-financed media. Their lawyers and lobbyists believe that public broadcasting should be marginalized so that it only serves an elite.
I disagree. Commercial broadcasting is primarily interested in the consumer, and only those consumers that have purchasing power. Public broadcasting, if it is doing its job, should be to the benefit of the citizen.
It is the job of public media, and Radio Netherlands in particular, to help citizens to understand our complex world. We think there are aspects of life in Europe, which are of interest to people all over Latin America. But we also believe that many of the issues that you are currently facing with integration, national identity and freedom of speech are very relevant to Europeans.
We have a long way to go. Most Europeans know more about the daily life of movie stars in Hollywood than they do about the culture of neighbouring countries. Yet, we can also see that communities that become isolated from the outside world and society very quickly radicalize. These days, radicalization is quickly linked to extremism, terror and intolerance. There are too many recent examples in Europe and Latin America where people, many of whom are from the media, have given their lives because they said what they believed.
In Europe, we live with several paradoxes. We have become global witnesses and voyeurs to politics, everyday life, disasters and catastrophes. But we do not have an adequate European forum, in which this new European experience can be debated in a proper democratic way.
There is still a huge and growing imbalance in the information flow between North & South, and especially East and West. It is too easy to get lost in a sea of sound bites and uncut press conferences. There may be content, but there is little discussion of context. Again, television, but particularly radio has an important role to stimulate sensible debate, especially when the interests of the citizen do not run parallel with commercial interests. No country has prospered where the media is smothered by the government or filtered by purely commercial interests.
At Radio Netherlands, we spend a lot of time and effort following the emerging democracies in Latin America. Even a small country can act as a catalyst for a discussion; putting issues on the table that larger countries either deliberately ignore or dont think have mass appeal.
We must recognise that media has a social responsibility, as well as being there to please our stock-holders or stake-holders. All of us here in this room have an enormous power to influence public opinion. And we must use it to search for balance, being critical when things go wrong, but also constructive to show that there are alternatives to a spiralling circle of poverty, misery, disease and maybe war.
It is very easy to be destructive. No-one can guarantee the world will be a better place. But through dialogue we can and should make the best effort to try.”
5 May 2005
From 1 May Deutsche Welle has a second rebroadcasting partner in Iraq: Radio Alnas is rebroadcasting parts of the Arabic programme of DW-RADIO.
Four hours of DW programming daily is being rebroadcast in the evening, on MW 594 KHz which can be received nationwide. From June 2005 these programmes will also be on FM in Baghdad and in surrounding areas. Radio Alnas takes the DW signal via the Nilesat satellite.
DWs first rebroadcasting partner in Iraq was Radio Schatt Al-Arab in Basra.
5 May 2005
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, media watchdog Reporters without Borders says European countries should be doing more to respect press freedom, not least by eliminating prison sentences for media offenses.
In its annual report, the group slammed an increase in “formal questioning of journalists, searches of media premises and seizures of documents” in Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy. It said France had taken “a dangerous step backwards” by creating new press offenses punishable by prison sentences. The organisation also expressed concern about “extra powers of requisition” granted in 2004 to police, state prosecutors and examining magistrates, which do not require a judge to be present during searches of journalists’ homes.
4 May 2005
The fourth annual AIB Global Media Business Conference – taking place in Montreal on 6 and 7 June 2005 – offers a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities.
Download the sponsorship pack
here, and contact Anver Anderson to discuss the opportunities for your company to raise its brand profile
4 May 2005
The official conference hotel in Montreal is the Hotel Gouverneur Place Dupuis, just a few minutes walk from the CBCs studio complex in the city. We have negotiated special rates with the hotel and you can download the hotel booking form which includes the discounted rates
here.
Find out more about the hotel by following the link below.
25 April 2005
Radio Netherlands’ Latin American department is organising an international radio conference in Mexico, together with the Mexican network of public broadcasters. The theme of the congress is regional integration, the influence of the media on this process and national identity. The congress is taking place from 4th-7th May 2005 in the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City, and is primarily intended for media representatives in Latin America.
Over four days, media specialists and politicians will hold readings and seminars in Spanish. The speakers will include Cees Hamelink (Professor of Communications and Media at the Free University in Amsterdam), Armand Mattelart (Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Paris), Sergio Ramirez Mercado (Nicaraguan foreign minister during the Sandinist years) Dante Caputo (former Argentinian foreign minister and main author of the UNDP’s most important report on democracy in Latin America) and Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chavez (Suffragan Bishop of San Salvador and former assistant to Bishop Oscar Romero)
At the same time, eight workshops will be given on a variety of themes, including the influence of integration processes, corruption in the region and the media’s ethical responsibilities. The congress can be followed through video footage on the conference website: www.informarn.nl
Countries support integration process in order to strengthen regional ties and also to increase their influence on the international community. José Zepeda, head of Radio Netherlands’ Latin American department, explains: “Regional integration processes can have a positive influence in developing countries, at least if they apply the right politics. Regional integration can help promote democratisation. Encouraging integration processes is definitely a task the media should be involved in.”
Another important topic at the conference is the dialogue between different integration processes, for example the dialogue between the European Union and Latin America.
Radio Netherlands’ Latin American department is collaborating with the “Red Nacional de Radiofusoras y Televisoras Educativas y Culturales de Mexico”, the network of Mexican public broadcasting organisations.
