Iran continues to harass BBC News Persian staff; raised at UNHRC event

25 June 2021

Iran continues to harass BBC News Persian staff; raised at UNHRC event

Iran’s escalating harassment of BBC News Persian journalists discussed at BBC and UN Human Rights Council virtual event

BBC World Service co-hosted a virtual “side-event” to coincide with the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 24 June. It was designed to raise concerns about the escalating cross-border harassment and threats from Iran towards BBC News Persian journalists and other Persian-language media. Alongside the BBC, the event was co-hosted by the International Federation of Journalists, National Union of Journalists and Doughty Street Chambers.

The virtual event was chaired by Deputy General Secretary at International Federation of Journalists, Jeremy Dear.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Rita French, UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and International Ambassador for Human Rights, said: “It remains our desire to see Iran change tack, cease this abhorrent persecution against journalists and their families, and adhere to its international human-rights obligations. Until they do, the UK will continue to hold them to account, and seek to ensure media freedom is defended everywhere.”

Estonia will chair this year’s conference of the Media Freedom Coalition. Ambassador Minna-Liina Lind, Estonian Ambassador at Large for Human Rights and Migration, said: “We really want to have some concrete deliverables from the conference hosted in Tallinn in December 2021.”

Also on the panel was BBC News Persian journalist Kasra Naji who spoke about the campaign of vilification, threats and persecution endured by himself, his colleagues and their families, and BBC’s World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, who warned of the danger, that these policies that already have been in place for four years, will continue and intensify under Iran’s newly elected president Ebrahim Raisi, and called to protect and guard the BBC’s Persian service.

For many years, 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, family members in Iran being brought in for interrogation and threats being made of cross-border operations to put BBC journalists in prison, online harassment and gendered attacks on women journalists, and a judiciary-imposed asset freeze on all assets of BBC News Persian staff in Iran. In some cases, family members were deprived of their liberty and held in degrading conditions, and ordered to tell their relatives to stop working for the BBC.

In response to this, the BBC initiated its first ever UN complaint in 2017 in relation to the protection of BBC journalists and has continued to engage with UN Special Mechanisms since. Concern has been raised about Iran’s treatment of BBC News Persian by the UN Secretary-General and successive UN Special Rapporteurs.

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.

The UN experts said that Iran’s acts towards BBC News Persian “violate international law regulating the use of force in times of peace” and “ultimately constitute serious threats to global security and thus demand strong reactions on the part of the Governments”.

In the past year, matters have escalated. Journalists 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. Iran’s asset freeze has extended beyond BBC News Persian staff to some other international Persian-language outlets. Death threats have been made towards BBC News Persian staff in London, leading to police involvement and protection.

Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, said: “The treatment of the BBC News Persian journalists and their families by the Iranian authorities runs counter to the basic principles of human rights. Our total support for our journalists doing their job is as strong as our determination to never succumb to these pressures and we demand that they stop.”

Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Jennifer Robinson, counsel for BBC World Service, said: “This week, the newly elected President of Iran has claimed he is a ‘defender of human rights’. But the Iranian authorities’ cruel harassment and intimidation of BBC News Persian staff and their families violates the human rights of journalists and their families. Iran’s cross-border targeting of journalists is aimed at silencing voices Iranians are entitled to hear and also breaches the rights of the wider public. This is a sustained, pernicious attack on human rights by Iran. We urge UN experts to take action on this issue. The international community must condemn this in the strongest terms, and immediately take action to protect the integrity of journalists, their families and their profession.”

Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting, joined the event. During the session, he said:

“I believe that it is essential that we harness not only diplomatic channels but also the media industry itself in calling out the Iranian authorities and their attempts to silence BBC Persian, Iran International and others. We need to encourage other media organisations to use the platforms they have – both on air, and at industry events – to ensure that the issue is kept at the forefront of people’s minds. At the AIB, we’re happy to use our events to tell this important story.”

BBC News Persian is a multimedia news and current-affairs service, with a weekly audience of around 18.3m (2020), delivering accurate and impartial news, information and analysis from a global perspective to Persian-speakers around the world. Available online via the websitebbc.com/persian, on TV and radio, BBC News Persian also connects with audiences on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and Twitter. BBC News Persian is part of BBC World Service.

Watch the latest video about the harassment of BBC Persian staff:

CBC/Radio-Canada to play a leading role in greening the Canadian media industry

16 June 2021

CBC/Radio-Canada to play a leading role in greening the Canadian media industry

As part of Canadian Environment Week, CBC/Radio-Canada has unveiled its new 2021–2026 environmental strategy, Greening Our Story. The five-year plan will see the public broadcaster take a leading role in advancing sustainable production practices in the country’s media industry. The objective is to create content in ways that actively eliminate waste and carbon emissions from production workflows.

CBC/Radio-Canada is committing to:

Measuring the carbon footprint of 100% of its in-house productions using albert, a tool that calculates the carbon emissions of productions;
Ensuring that 25% of its in-house productions are “albert-certified” as sustainable;
Measuring the carbon footprint of 50% of external productions using albert and collaborating with independent producers to reach the Corporation’s sustainability goals.

For more than 10 years, CBC/Radio-Canada has been reporting on its efforts to reduce its environmental impact, via its environmental performance reports. Now, we are intensifying our efforts and setting even more ambitious targets.

Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada, said: “Greening our Story is an opportunity to transform CBC/Radio-Canada into a world-class, sustainable public service media company. This new strategy builds on our environmental work to date and takes our aspirations to the next level. It accelerates our commitments and encompasses everything we do, from how we produce our content and operate our business, to how we make the choices to avoid waste, reduce our energy consumption and limit our carbon footprint.”

Photo: Leduc Field/Flickr/CreativeCommons licence

Signiant to enable NBC Olympics to streamline remote production during Tokyo Olympics

13 June 2021

Signiant to enable NBC Olympics to streamline remote production during Tokyo Olympics

NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected Signiant to provide intelligent file transfer software for its production of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, which take place in Tokyo, Japan, from July 23 – August 8.

With Signiant’s software, NBC Olympics will be able to move petabytes of footage from Tokyo back to its International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., immediately upon capture. Signiant’s patented network optimisation technology enables seamless transfer of the footage over standard IP networks, eliminating latency and packet loss, so that editors in Stamford can begin creating highlights almost immediately as the action is happening thousands of miles away. The software also allows for content, including advanced graphics work and pre-recorded footage, to be transferred quickly, easily and securely back to the broadcast center in Tokyo. Signiant’s software enables NBC Olympics to leverage their talent and equipment back home in Stamford, enabling them to provide enhanced viewing experiences to their audience much more efficiently.

“Signiant is excited to partner with NBC Olympics for the production of the Tokyo Games this summer,” said Signiant CEO Margaret Craig. “Fan expectations for more immersive viewing experiences are growing and with NBC Olympics’ remote production operations, they will be sure to delight their audiences with amazing coverage. We’re proud that Signiant’s software will play such a central role in enabling NBC Olympics to seamlessly leverage their talent and technology located halfway around the world.”

“NBC Olympics is pleased to work with Signiant’s Managers and Agents solution,” said Darryl Jefferson, VP Post Production & Digital Workflow, NBC Sports & Olympics. “File movement is central to all of our remote workflows both in Tokyo as well as in our broadcast centre in Stamford. We are excited to see how it optimises our transfers and provides greater resiliency across our domestic and international transfers. Signiant is enabling us to scale up to handle our Tokyo Olympics workload and our increased file sizes due to our HDR and 4K production efforts.”

ABC welcomes Australian government’s focus of Media Reform Green Paper

4 June 2021

ABC welcomes Australian government’s focus of Media Reform Green Paper

The ABC has welcomed the Australian government’s focus on what the Corporation says are much-needed reforms to the Australian television and screen industry. The ABC has called for greater consultation on finding effective measures to ensure the future sustainability of the sector.

The ABC’s response to the government’s Media Reform Green Paper highlights the continued importance of free-to-air (FTA) television services, noting that 75% of Australians watch FTA television for an average of 21.3 hours a week, compared with 12.4 hours for online video-on-demand (VOD) viewers.

David Anderson, ABC Managing Director, said: “We welcome the Green Paper’s recognition of the essential role that FTA television plays in making Australian news, culture and stories available to all Australians.

“As the nation’s biggest backer of homegrown content and creativity, the ABC agrees that broadcast television is important for most Australians and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

“We look forward to further consultation involving the government and FTA broadcasters to find the best approach to ensuring a sustainable future for the Australian television industry across the next decade and beyond.”

The ABC’s response to the Green Paper proposes principles that should be applied to developing a future roadmap for television, including:

Maintaining the Australian television broadcasting system and the distinct roles that national and commercial broadcasters play in it;
Equitable distribution of spectrum in each broadcast market; and
Ensuring consistent access to ABC services for all Australians across metropolitan, regional and remote areas.

In response to the Green Paper, the ABC says the proposal to shift broadcasters to delivering services through shared multiplexes, reducing the number of 7 MHz channels allocated for broadcasting, will require broadcasters to reduce the number and/or quality of the channels they offer audiences.

The ABC also submits that the Green Paper model removes any future growth path for FTA television, by preventing broadcasters from offering television services in higher-resolution formats to meet audiences’ expectations and remain competitive with online platforms.

The ABC welcomes the invitation in the Green Paper to propose other means of ensuring a sustainable Australian broadcast television sector.

The ABC submission makes the following points:

In combination with other funding sources such as Screen Australia, state screen agencies and the producer offset, additional funding for the ABC of $30 million per annum over the next three years would deliver more Australian stories on television screens. That funding will support the production of an extra 36 hours of Australian drama, factual and children’s content and 30 hours of arts, music and specialist programming a year.
The ABC strongly supports the introduction of regulatory mechanisms to ensure the presence and prominence of FTA broadcasters’ services on connected-TV platforms, which are becoming a new type of gatekeeper for Australian media services and content.
The ABC acknowledges the merit of the proposition that major international VOD services should contribute to the Australian production sector. Both content commissioners and audiences benefit from a thriving independent sector, and the Corporation supports measures that would sustain and grow it. The ABC would support regulation that would require SVODs to contribute to an Australian content fund. Careful design is required to ensure that it does not add to inflationary pressures already affecting the production sector.
Legislating an explicit requirement for the national broadcasters to provide new Australian programming is unnecessary. In the absence of any quota, the ABC is already a major investor in Australian content and a key partner to Australia’s independent production sector. Further, the imposition of an explicit content obligation risks affecting the ABC’s operational independence.

The ABC’s response to the Media Reform Green Paper is available to read here.

France 24 consolidates its European media position

3 June 2021

France 24 consolidates its European media position

According to the Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe 2021* carried out in 2020 with opinion leaders in 21 European countries, France 24 has made tremendous progress in terms of both awareness and reach.

The international news channel – which operates in French, English, Spanish and Arabic – has recorded the highest increase in awareness amongst all the international news channels: up 10.4 points in one year. 47% of opinion leaders say that they know about the channel and 4.7% watch it every week (+0.6 point). France 24’s weekly viewership has increased significantly in French-speaking countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland) as well as in Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

The excellent performances on TV are complemented by the channel’s success on digital platforms: 5.5% of opinion leaders visit its websites each month (+0.7 point).

In total, more than 7.1 million European opinion leaders (+1.5 point within a year) are in contact with France 24 each month, on television or online.

*Source: Ipsos Affluent Survey – Europe 2021, surveys lead from January to December 2020 in Top 20% of households by income in each of 21 countries across Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, The United Kingdom and Russia (Moscow and Saint-Petersburg).

France 24 | June highlights

2 June 2021

France 24 | June highlights

France 24 has announced its June programme highlights

FRANCE IN FOCUS – 4 June 1545 GMT

40 years ago in the United States, an unknown disease mainly affecting homosexual people was discovered. Two years later, a French team published their discovery about what is now known as AIDS. Today, how far has French research on AIDS advanced? How do people live with the disease in 2021 in France? To answer these questions and more, “France in Focus” interviews Aurélien Beaucamp, head of the NGO AIDES.

REVISITED – Sewol ferry disaster – 13 June 1910 GMT

On April 16, 2014, MV Sewol sank off the south-west shores of South Korea, with 476 passengers onboard including 325 students on a school trip. Few of them survived as they were asked to remain in their cabin as the ferry sank. The sinking of Sewol, which killed 304 people, resulted in widespread social and political reaction within South Korea, sparking debate on the “culture of obedience”. It resulted in a generation of young politicised South Koreans being born following the tragedy. Today they are not even 20 years old, but they are eager to make a change. France 24’s correspondent in Japan Constantin Simon reports from Ansan, the victims’ city a few kilometres from Seoul, where the pain remains vivid.

EUROPE NOW – Summer 2021: Greece’s Covid Odyssey – 19 June 1115 GMT

Summer has begun in Europe: restrictions on travel are ending, beaches and bars are beckoning, and Greece is particularly keen to fill them all with holidaymakers. Greece is the European country that relies the most heavily on tourists for its national wealth. In non-covid times, the sector generates a fifth of Greek GDP and employs one in six of the workforce. But the sector has been rocked by the pandemic – this after a decade of austerity and financial crisis from which businesses and banks have still not entirely recovered.

As Greece tries to stage a grand international reopening, France 24’s Europe Editor Catherine Nicholson and her team take viewers from North to South, from the mainland to the islands.

ENTR – multilingual digital project

ENTR operates in six languages (English, German, French, Portuguese, Romanian and Polish) targeting young Europeans ion Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. With regularly scheduled video formats translated in all the languages, ENTR’s content shines a light on journeys and initiatives that inspire people to take action, create change and enable the European youth to connect around thought-provoking topics such as climate, solidarity, liberties, culture, technology and employment.

ENTR is developed by France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle in partnership with other European media.