2 December 2003
DW TV has won the German Business Film Award for the ninth time.
Ulrike Sommer, freelancer for DW-TV, was awarded first prize for her half-hour feature “Career à la française ? Women at the Top of French Business” in the category “Documentary films on business and economic trends in the social market economy.”
The award-winning film is part of the series “At the top ? Businesswomen in
Europe.” This series portrays top women managers and entrepreneurs from Germany, France and Poland. Next March, all three features will be broadcast by Deutsche Welle as a series in German, English and Spanish.
30 November 2003
The situation at Radio for Peace International in Costa Rica has gone from bad to worse. Not only is the station requested to leave the campus of the University for Peace, with chains having bee placed on the main gate and armed guards posted, the University has now cut off water and power supplies.
RFPI station chief James Latham stated that RFPI staff did not intend to leave the station premises. He said that if food were blockaded too, the staff would be forced into a hunger strike. RFPI volunteers have been supplying food through a hole in the fence that surrounds the university site.
“We are not moving until this whole thing is over,” stated Latham.
30 November 2003
Pro-Hezbollah Lebanese satellite TV channel Al-Manar has been pulled off the air in Australia while the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) investigates whether it has broken new anti-terrorism laws
The ABA is investigating Al-Manar “for possibly funding terrorism,” the report said. Al-Manars director of foreign news Ibrihim Musawi, based in Beirut, denied the channel had been seeking donations for Hezbollah. “We do ask for donations, we do put an ad to help get donations for the Palestinian people and I believe this is something completely legal and legitimate – they are not terrorist organizations,” he said.
Al-Manar is available by subscription on Television and Radio Broadcasting Services (TARBS) World TV service, which was established in 1995 to provide television and radio services within Australia and internationally.
30 November 2003
It seems that Radio Netherlands were expecting to have to make government-imposed cuts of 4.5 to 6.5 million euros over the next five years, plus the 2.5 million euros that RNW had been planning for. Accustomed as all state-funded international stations are to having savage cuts imposed, this seemed to be breaking all bounds.
So there was some relief, when it all turned out to be a misunderstanding. But even so, a cut of 4.5 to 6.5 million euros is no small burden for a relatively small station. Maybe negotiation can bring this huge demand down a little.
30 November 2003
Serhiy Sholokh, the general director of Radio Kontynent, which relays international stations, believes that he is being intimidated. He thinks that the state authorities are out to close his station down, and he feels no easier as he is a witness in the case of the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who formerly headed the information service at Radio Kontynent.
Sholokh said that he is under surveillance. He said that for this reason he has decided “not to return home and, given the question of my personal safety and the fatal outcome for my colleague Heorhiy Gongadze, to go into hiding for some time.”
30 November 2003
The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) consortium has unveiled a new, 100 US dollar participation option called DRM Supporter. Created to foster rapid DRM adoption and implementation in markets worldwide, the DRM Supporter label is designed for companies and individuals interested in any aspect of digital radio, from broadcasting to manufacturing, publicity and sales.
It offers broadcasters, publishers, content providers and others a novel way to showcase their DRM involvement. DRM Supporters will receive implementation information and the rights to display a DRM Supporter logo, and will be listed on DRM’s web site.
