To mark Human Rights Day, the BBC calls on Iran to end harassment of BBC News Persian staff

10 December 2021

To mark Human Rights Day, the BBC calls on Iran to end harassment of BBC News Persian staff

The BBC has today (10 December) marked International Human Rights Day by calling upon Iran to end the escalating cross-border harassment and threats towards BBC News Persian journalists and staff. The call to end the harassment of BBC News Persian journalists comes as the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to journalists at risk, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

For over a decade, Iran has conducted a campaign of harassment and intimidation towards BBC News Persian journalists and their families in Iran. This has included death threats towards BBC journalists and their families in London, an asset freeze, as well as online harassment and gendered attacks on women journalists. Their family members in Iran have been arbitrarily detained, held in degrading conditions, interrogated and ordered to tell their relatives to stop working for the BBC, and faced other forms of discrimination because their relatives work for the BBC.

In the past year, threats against BBC News Persian staff and Persian-speaking journalists outside Iran have escalated. Death threats and threats of extra-territorial harm have been made towards BBC News Persian staff in London, leading to police involvement and protection. Journalists working for other organisations, and others perceived to be critics of the Iranian authorities have been abducted from other countries and returned to Iran, to be imprisoned and (in at least one case) to face the death penalty.

Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC News International Services and Director of BBC World Service, said:

“It was after the escalation of persecution in 2017, when the Iranian judiciary imposed a freeze on all assets of BBC News Persian staff in Iran, that the BBC initiated its first ever UN complaint in relation to the protection of BBC journalists, and has continued to engage with UN Special Mechanisms since. This asset freeze has served to deprive BBC News Persian staff and their families of property, including their ability to sell or rent assets. The asset freeze serves as a financial sanction and penalty on BBC News Persian staff for doing their journalistic work, and it also sanctions their families.”

Concern has been raised about Iran’s treatment of BBC News Persian by the UN Secretary-General and successive UN Special Rapporteurs. For example, in March 2020, a group of UN experts made a joint statement condemning Iran’s harassment of BBC, raising concern of indications that:

“… the Iranian authorities are prepared to use force extra-territorially, in violation of international law. Harassment, surveillance, death threats against journalists, within and outside domestic boundaries violate international human right law, including the right to physical integrity, the right to life and the right to freedom of expression.”

Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Jennifer Robinson (Doughty Street Chambers), Counsel for BBC World Service, said:

“Today marks a historic moment, with the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to journalists for their work. Our clients from BBC News Persian receive threats of death and violence simply for doing their jobs, and we know from Iran’s past actions that it is willing to take cross-border and deadly action to silence journalists. Many more BBC News Persian journalists are enduring other forms of systematic harassment, including their families being targeted, their assets frozen, and abuse online. We call on the international community to take immediate, robust action to ensure Iran is held accountable, and BBC News Persian journalists can report without fear.”

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said:

“The continuing campaign of harassment against journalists at BBC News Persian and their families by the Iranian authorities is despicable and must stop. It is not only completely unacceptable for them to face such vicious personal intimidation, it is also a direct attack on press freedom. Journalism is not a crime, and journalists must be free to do their jobs. This year the Nobel Prize committee singled out Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their courage, adding that they were representatives of all journalists, such as those working for BBC News Persian, who stand up for freedom and democracy.”

BBC News Persian reaches a weekly global audience of nearly 22 million people, including around 13 million in Iran. It is part of BBC World Service which delivers news content in English and 41 other language services, on radio, TV and digital. The BBC attracts a weekly global audience of 489 million people to its services available internationally, including BBC World Service, BBC World News television channel, bbc.com/news, BBC Studios and the international charity, BBC Media Action.

USAGM reports extensive audience growth

16 November 2021

USAGM reports extensive audience growth

The measured weekly audience for U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) programming grew by 11 percent to reach an unprecedented 394 million people in fiscal year 2021, according to the agency’s Performance and Accountability Report recently submitted to Congress.

The audience grew by 40 million adults, despite significant operational challenges for the agency in FY 2021, from leadership transition to pandemic limitations.

“The continued global effects of COVID-19, political turmoil and social unrest in many of our broadcasting areas, and increasingly disrupted media environments have driven people to seek out reliable and credible information so they can make informed decisions about their lives,” said USAGM Acting CEO Kelu Chao. “It’s clear from the research that more and more people are turning to our networks for information they can trust.”

USAGM continued to reach large audiences in countries of importance to U.S. national security and foreign affairs interests, including Russia (7.9 million), China (65.4 million), and Iran (12.2 million). Audience growth also occurred in several key markets – including Turkey (up 287 percent since the agency’s last survey there), Burma (up 132 percent since the last survey), and Vietnam (up 241 percent since the last survey) – as well as from previously unsurveyed markets, including India (29.4 million) and the Philippines (5.0 million).

Research shows audience growth across all platforms, particularly 208 million people watching USAGM content on television and 142 million listening on radio each week. Audiences consuming USAGM-sponsored content on digital platforms grew 35 percent to reach 184 million.

USAGM’s networks — the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks — deliver news and programming via radio, television, and internet in 62 languages.

A sixth USAGM entity, the Open Technology Fund, provides tools to help audiences overcome internet restrictions and surveillance. In FY 2021, these tools saw a 177 percent increase in weekly unique users, 121 percent increase in weekly visits, and 44 percent increase in total proxy traffic over the previous year.

Research conducted to estimate the agency’s global audience adheres to standards developed by the Conference of International Broadcasters’ Audience Research Service and reports the number of unique individuals who access USAGM content, or what is referred to as the unduplicated audience. This global audience estimate is just one element in USAGM’s annual performance report. The agency also measures impacts based on quantitative and qualitative data on a wide range of factors, including program quality and credibility, engagement with content, and audience understanding of current events.

A brief Audience and Impact summary is available here.

The full Performance and Accountability Report is available here.

ABC chair takes Australian government to task

16 November 2021

ABC chair takes Australian government to task

The chairperson of ABC Australia has issued a statement in connection with the Australian Senate’s intentions to launch an inquiry into the broadcaster’s complaint handling procedure:

The inquiry into the ABC’s complaints handling process announced by Senate Communications Committee Chair, Senator Andrew Bragg, appears to be a blatant attempt to usurp the role of the ABC Board and undermine the operational independence of the ABC.

As Senator Bragg is aware, in October the ABC Board initiated an independent review of the ABC’s complaints system by two eminent experts, Professor John McMillan AO, former Commonwealth and NSW Ombudsman, and Jim Carroll, former SBS Director – News and Current Affairs. The terms of reference for the review are comprehensive and wide-ranging.

This review is consistent with the duties of the Board under the ABC Act. Under Section 8 of the Act, the ABC Board has the legal responsibility for developing codes of practice relating to programming matters and to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial.

The fact that these powers are given to the Board, not to the Government of the day, is a key pillar of the ABC’s operational independence.

This review is well underway and members of Parliament, including Senator Bragg, have already been interviewed as part of the review process. An issues paper will be released shortly and the review will then be seeking public submissions. The review will be rigorous and thorough and its findings will be released by the ABC board in April 2022.

Instead of respecting the integrity of this process, the Senate Committee under the leadership of Senator Bragg has decided to initiate a parallel process. I will leave it to Senator Bragg to explain his motives but the impact of this action is clear. As Chair of the ABC Board I am duty bound to call out any action that seeks to undermine the independence of the national broadcaster.

Once again, an elected representative has chosen to threaten the ABC’s independence at the expense of the integrity of this irreplaceable public service. Any incursion of this kind into the ABC’s independence should be seen by Australians for what it is: an attempt to weaken the community’s trust in the public broadcaster.

This is an act of political interference designed to intimidate the ABC and mute its role as this country’s most trusted source of public interest journalism. If politicians determine the operation of the national broadcaster’s complaints system, they can influence what is reported by the ABC.

A fundamental democratic principle underpinning the ABC has been its independence from interference by those motivated by political outcomes. Politicians, like all citizens, are welcome to criticise anything they find wrong or objectionable that is published by the ABC but they cannot be allowed to tell the ABC what it may or may not say.

Transparency and accountability are important and the Senate Committee performs a vital role. The ABC attends Senate Estimates hearings on multiple occasions every year and answers hundreds of questions on notice. It is extremely regrettable, however, that the Committee has, on this occasion, sought to undertake a task that is not only already underway but also is the legal responsibility of the ABC Board.

When Parliament resumes later this month, I respectfully ask the Senate to act to defend the independence of the ABC, as Australia’s national broadcaster, by passing a motion to terminate or suspend this inquiry until the independent process commissioned by the ABC Board has been completed.

Ita Buttrose AC OBE
Chair, ABC

White House names Amanda Bennett as USAGM CEO nominee

15 November 2021

White House names Amanda Bennett as USAGM CEO nominee

The White House has announced it intends to nominate Pulitzer-winning journalist and former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

“I am honored by this nomination,” Bennett told VOA late Friday. “If confirmed, I will be so proud to work with all the dedicated journalists at USAGM who are doing the critical and difficult work around the world of upholding and demonstrating the value of a free press.”

USAGM Acting CEO Kelu Chao announced the nomination Friday afternoon in an email to all staff at the independent agency, which oversees journalists from five news networks: the Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, as well as The Open Technology Fund.

“We look forward to her congressional confirmation and her arrival!” Chao said. President Joe Biden announced Chao’s appointment as interim CEO on Jan. 20, 2021.

BBC News launches Africa Eye in French across 27 markets

12 November 2021

BBC News launches Africa Eye in French across 27 markets

For the first time BBC Africa Eye will become available in Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo and Tunisia.

EDAN is a pan-African TV station which targets women and the youth across the continent. Founded in 2015, the station is available on Canal Plus Afrique, a satellite subscription-based service broadcasting to 27 countries across Africa. The channel features movies, music and documentary programmes targeted to African audiences across Sub Saharan Africa.

BBC Africa Eye is the award-winning investigative strand that has created a network of trained investigative journalists across the continent to deliver high-impact investigations. Launched four years ago the investigative series has become known for holding power to account.

Evelyn Accrombessi, CEO EDAN, says: “EDAN viewers will now be able to watch BBC Africa Eye, a high-quality BBC programme which will be a great addition to our schedule. We are delighted and very satisfied with the discussions with the BBC teams, their availability and their responsiveness in setting up this partnership. We hope that this is the first step of a long collaboration between the BBC and EDAN.”

Anne Marie Nwaobasi , Business Development Manager, Francophone Africa, BBC World Service says: “This partnership reaches new audiences across Francophone Africa giving them access to BBC’s primetime investigative series.

“BBC Africa Eye features original and high-impact BBC investigations from across Africa. Audiences in more locations across Africa can now watch this award-winning programme on EDAN.”

BBC Africa Eye will be aired on the following days:

Tuesday 2130 GMT
Wednesday 0730 GMT
Wednesday 1300 GMT
Wednesday 1630 GMT
Wednesday 2230 GMT
Saturday 1800 GMT
Sunday 1300 GMT

Al Jazeera advertising back in Cairo

12 November 2021

Al Jazeera advertising back in Cairo

A number of Egyptian media outlets have reported that outdoor advertising for Al Jazeera have appeared in the Egyptian capital Cairo. This is the first time for a number of years that Al Jazeera has been able to publicly advertise in the country.

Egypt’s Al-Masry al-Youm posted images of the advertising blllboards, and posts on social media showed the adverts.

The Al Jazeera bureau in Cairo has been raided and equipment seized repeatedly since the January 2011 uprising in Egypt. The channel’s staff have been detained, with accusations of inciting violence against the state. Al Jazeera has always denied the allegations.

Some commentators in Egypt have suggested that the Qatar-headquartered broadcaster may be able to reopen its Cairo bureau in the coming months.

Image: Twitter / al_liwaaQT