Algerian public broadcaster gets new director-general

3 June 2021

Algerian public broadcaster gets new director-general

Chabane Lounakel has taken up his role as the new Director General of Algeria’s Public Television Establishment (EPTV).

His inauguration ceremony took place at the EPTV headquarters under the chairmanship of the Minister of Communication Amar Belhimer.

According to press reports, the Minister called for a combination of efforts in order to meet national and international media challenges as well as the aspirations of television viewers in the country. “Our country is going through a decisive period in its political history with the approach of the legislative elections scheduled for June 12,” he said.

Belhimer paid tribute to the incoming D-G saying: “he has a long experience in the information sector and administrative management which qualifies him to assume his new functions with a spirit of responsibility and to work to give the desired impetus to this strategic enterprise. ”

Lounakel has pledged to work to further strengthen public television as a vital and important enterprise for the country. “Algeria is a [country] made to be a pioneer. We must provide it with media establishments, so that it would be an example to follow in terms of progress, freedom of expression and human values ”, he said.

Photo: DZbreaking

Polish journalist refused accreditation renewal in Uzbekistan

3 June 2021

Polish journalist refused accreditation renewal in Uzbekistan

According to reports in the Uzbek media, and confirmed by organisations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry has decided not to extend the accreditation of Polish journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka. The reports quote the ministry’s spokesman Yusuf Qobiljonov as the source.

The decision was taken “due to instances of the violation of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the part of Al Jazeera TV correspondent A. Pikulicka-Wilczewska”, the report says.

The journalist has yet to comment on the Foreign Ministry’s decision.

In April, the Uzbek Interior Ministry accused Agnieszka Pikulicka of biased coverage of the events surrounding blogger Miraziz Bozorov as well as of discrediting the law-enforcement agencies. Pikulicka called it an attempt to discredit her as a journalist and demanded that a court hearing be held if she had really breached the law on the media.

Al Jazeera and The Guardian newspaper employ Agnieszlka as a freelance reporter.

BBC News Kyrgyz marks 25 years

2 June 2021

BBC News Kyrgyz marks 25 years

BBC News Kyrgyz will mark its 25th anniversary with a special, extended edition of its monthly TV programme, BBC Sapar. Recorded at a studio of Kyrgyzstan’s Public Television and Radio Corporation (OTRK), the programme’s anniversary edition is a 90-minute gala event bringing together politicians, journalists – as well as singers, dancers, and actors, who have performed in London. It will be broadcast by OTRK and via the BBC News Kyrgyz website bbc.com/kyrgyz and YouTube channel at 22.15 Bishkek time on Thursday 3 June.

Since its first radio broadcast on 3 June 1996, the BBC’s Kyrgyz service has built a weekly audience of over 3 million people in Kyrgyzstan, now also delivering its trusted content via its website, social-media platforms and TV. Looking ahead, the service is considering moving some of its vast and timeless archive radio programming – including Books by Radio – to the podcast platform.

Congratulating the BBC News Kyrgyz team for 25 years of public-service broadcasting, BBC Director-General, Tim Davie, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement and is the result of years of dedication, creativity and innovation. BBC Kyrgyz goes to the heart of what the World Service is all about – bringing the world to Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyzstan to the world through accurate, impartial and engaging content.”

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Kyrgyz President Sadir Japarov said that he has been a longstanding BBC listener and follows the international news on the BBC Kyrgyz TV bulletin. “While I was in jail and lost my loved ones, the BBC was the only media outlet that wasn’t afraid of approaching my family and asking about my wellbeing,” he said.

Over the past 25 years, the BBC’s collaboration with Kyrgyzstan’s Public Television and Radio Corporation (OTRK) has strengthened, proving its resilience throughout the often turbulent times. Today, OTRK broadcasts the BBC News Kyrgyz radio news and current-affairs programming on FM frequencies, while the BBC’s 15-minute Monday to Friday evening TV news bulletins and the monthly documentary programme, BBC Sapar, are part of OTRK’s TV schedule.

BBC News Kyrgyz is part of BBC World Service.

[Source: BBC Press Release]

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.

AIB supports Members with major work programme on Big Tech

2 June 2021

AIB supports Members with major work programme on Big Tech

Broadcasters and other media companies are constantly increasing their use of social media platforms to reach audiences globally. This brings with it a range of new challenges as audiences move their attention online to major social media platforms and linear broadcasting’s share of audience time diminishes.

Key among the questions facing Members of the Association for International Broadcasting – and other media companies across the world – is how to engage with the increasing number of platforms that they need to use to reach audiences and the range of new, challenging issues that arise.

To address these challenges, the AIB is establishing a Big Tech Intelligence Group. This will gather data from AIB Members on how effective their engagement is with social platforms they use to distribute content, and whether engagement is at the right level of seniority within social platforms to enable problems to be resolved.

“Broadcasters face a different set of problems with social platforms compared to traditional distribution,” comments Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the AIB. “Broadcasters using social platforms face significant issues over editorial control, data sharing and copyright among other subject areas. This new Intelligence Group will help all AIB Members – who collectively have weekly audiences of well over one billion people globally – in developing new ways to enhance relationships with social platform companies. The Group will also seek to demonstrate and remind social platforms of the very important role that AIB Members’ content has in driving platform take-up and usage that drives revenue growth for the platforms.”

AIB Members are currently completing a survey that will help to inform the work of the new Intelligence Group and its first meeting will be held in the coming weeks to map out the roadmap of the Group’s work.

Second libel suit against Maria Ressa withdrawn

1 June 2021

Second libel suit against Maria Ressa withdrawn

Philippines businessman Wilfredo Keng has withdrawn his second cyber libel case against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, with Makati judge Andres Soriano formally dismissing the case in open court on Tuesday, June 1.

“This case is hereby dismissed with prejudice. Let the cash bail posted by the accused on November 27, 2020, in the amount of P24,000 be released,” said Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano in the written order released before courts closed Tuesday.

According to the order, Keng filed a manifestation on May 25 “praying for the dismissal of the civil aspect of this case and seeking that he and his witnesses be excused from further participating in this case.”

Keng said in the motion that “upon careful reflection, the private complainant has decided to redirect his focus towards helping out with the pandemic, instead of being pre-occupied with the prosecution of this case.”

“He now intends to dedicate time and resources to support ongoing efforts to battle the pandemic and to assist those adversely affected,” Keng said in the motion.

“The motion also urges for the dismissal of the criminal aspect of the case with prejudice,” said the order.

No objections

Ressa’s counsel, Ted Te, did not object.

“The public prosecutor manifested that with the private complainant turning hostile to the cause of the prosecution, the prosecution can no longer prove guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” said the order.

Te said they were prepared to “face the charge,” but the withdrawal and dismissal “is a welcome development.”

“It was based on the complainant’s voluntary withdrawal. That led the prosecutor to ask for dismissal: without the complainant, the prosecutor cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Te said.

“I’m glad to hear good news. I look forward to seeing the rest of the cases against me and Rappler dropped in the future,” said Ressa.

Background of the case

This case was Keng’s second cyber libel complaint against Ressa, over the same 2012 Rappler story which the journalist had already been convicted for by a Manila court in 2020. The conviction, which carried a sentence of a minimum of six months and one day to a maximum of six years, is on appeal. Ressa and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr remain free.

Keng filed the second cyber libel complaint over Ressa’s tweets, which were screenshots of an old Philippine Star article about the businessman. That article was referenced in the contested 2012 Rappler article about the late former chief justice Renato Corona.

Philstar.com has already taken down the article from its website, saying it was because “the camp of Mr Wilfredo Keng raised the possibility of legal action.” Philstar.com said it wanted to be “prudent” because “the scope and bounds of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 are still unexplored.”

The legality of suing over screenshots of a story that Ressa did not author, but was merely sharing, is a hotly disputed issue because of the nuances of a young Philippine cybercrime law.

Ressa faces eight other charges before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), the Pasig City Regional Trial Court, and the Manila Regional Trial Court.

The four CTA cases and two Pasig cases all stemmed from the mother case involving the company’s Philippine Depositary Receipts, which the Court of Appeals has ruled to have been already cured.

The seventh case in Manila is another cyber libel suit over reporter Rambo Talabong’s investigative story about an alleged corruption scheme at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (CSB). The eighth is the cyber libel case still pending with the Court of Appeals.

Source: Rappler.com

Photo: Jire Carreon/Rappler