USAGM CEO Michael Pack names Board of Directors

20 January 2021

USAGM CEO Michael Pack names Board of Directors

Pursuant to the provisions of the William M. Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act, new boards of directors consisting entirely of independent directors have been appointed for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

The diverse boards bring exceptional skill in the fields of journalism, language, technology, broadcasting, and diplomacy that are essential to the work of the three surrogate broadcast networks, which provide a lifeline of factual news for those living in places where a free press is denied to them by repressive government.

Blanquita Cullum, the chairwoman of the three boards, remarked, “From my previous service on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, I understand the importance of delivering objective, accurate news about America and the world to combat our adversaries’ misinformation campaigns and to shine the light of truth into those dark corners where access to a free press is denied. The other board members and I will fight to ensure these networks and their journalists have the tools and support they need to perform their difficult but essential work, which itself is crucial for our national interest.”

The new boards each consist of the following five members:

Blanquita Cullum, Chairwoman. Host, producer, and writer for “The Hard Question.” Recently inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and was named “Champion of Radio” by the Multicultural Correspondents Association in 2016. She is a co-founder of Voices Against Trafficking. Previously a Governor of the Broadcasting Board of Governors from 2002-2010, Chairwoman Cullum has had a long and distinguished career in radio and television broadcasting.

Jonathan Alexander, Director. Senior Counsel for Governmental Affairs, Liberty Counsel. Has worked extensively on religious liberty issues and was previously Assistant General Counsel at Massachusetts Family Institute, a Fellow at the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and a Scholar-in-Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Amanda Milius, Director. Founder of 1AMDC Productions. Formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs and Project Manager for the White House Office of American Innovation.

Roger Simon, Director. Novelist, journalist, and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. Founder of PJ Media. Previously served as president of the West Coast branch of PEN, a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, and was on the faculty of the American Film Institute and the Sundance Institute.

Christian Whiton, Director. Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest. Previously served at the State Department as a Speechwriter, Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications, and Deputy Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues. He is the author of “Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War.”

(Source: USAGM press release)

Learning in lockdown: DW offers digital learning packages

9 January 2021

Learning in lockdown: DW offers digital learning packages

Students are at home due to Corona, with some facing a lack of digital teaching materials on environmental topics. DW’s Global Ideas project offers seven learning packages for students and teachers.

These support children and young people between 12 and 16 years of age as well as teachers. Multimedia-based, playful and interesting, the materials can be used free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes.

“We deliver exciting and modern educational content that inspires, is multimedia and interactive,” says DW Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge. “For this project, we draw on image-rich video footage and reports from our correspondents, as well as graphics and in-depth texts and photos.”

DW’s Global Ideas project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. Games, films, articles and interactive worksheets provide comprehensive information and solutions on the respective topic. Children and young people can relate to their living environment and are given ideas for experiments and building instructions. For teachers, there are instructions for teaching units.

There is great international interest in the teaching and lesson materials, which are available in German, English and Spanish. They are used worldwide in classrooms and also as part of project days at schools or in environmental groups or associations.

The first learning package on “Plastic waste and the consequences for the environment” was published in 2017. “A few years ago, the problem was not as present in the media as it is today,” says Kasper-Claridge. “Now there are seven learning packages that can support digital school lessons even in the pandemic.”

(Source: DW press release)

NHK WORLD programme highlights January 2021

23 December 2020

NHK WORLD programme highlights January 2021

Sapiens and Pandemic

A special discussion with

Yuval Noah Harari

January 15, Fri

23:10/ 5:10 / 10:10 / 17:10

Join historian Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, as he engages with young people studying in Japan. How should we interpret the changes that COVID-19 has brought to everyday life? How are we to survive in a post-pandemic world? Harari draws upon lessons from history and encourages a spirited discussion with students.

In a year when countless sporting events were cancelled, an unprecedented long-distance race was born: “UTMB for the planet.” Online participants ran a set distance at places around the world. Top pros from Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc and world-class runners from Japan were among those involved in the intense challenge. Watch passionate runners bring the world together, at a time when the pandemic has kept people apart.

3/11 The Tsunami

Episode 1: The First 3 Days

January 9th

1:10 / 7:10 / 13:10 / 19:10

Episode 2: The First Year

January 16th

1:10 / 7:10 / 13:10 / 19:10

Experience the mega-tsunami with footage filmed at the center of the disaster.

On March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm, a M9 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Japan triggered a huge tsunami, destroying many cities and towns and claiming the lives of over 18,000 victims. What were people’s experiences on that day? What hardships were they faced with in the aftermath? Footage filmed in 2011-2012 by NHK and eyewitnesses in the disaster-hit areas have been collected and edited together in chronological order to convey the impact of this unprecedented mega-disaster that crushed buildings and cars and led to the nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.This special 2-part series serves as a valuable lesson. In the event of a powerful tsunami, what action can be taken to survive?

Darwin’s Amazing Animals

Saturdays

0:25 / 6:25 / 12:25 / 18:25

Rarely seen. Up-close with some of the planet’s most amazing animals. Enter a world of unique creatures from Asia, Africa and the Americas.

(Source: NHK WORLD press release)

AIB publishes last industry briefing of 2020

22 December 2020

AIB publishes last industry briefing of 2020

As the most extraordinary year in most people’s lives draws to a close, the Association for International Broadcasting has published the final industry briefing of 2020.

The briefing reaches the in boxes of media leaders, journalists, editors, producers, directors and executives in hundreds of countries globally, as well as parliamentarians, regulators, academics and other observers and influencers of the media industry.

Subscribe to the newsletter here to have it delivered to your in box, and read this latest issue here.

Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists targeted in phone hacking

21 December 2020

Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists targeted in phone hacking

Dozens of journalists working for Al Jazeera are reported to have been targeted by spyware that appears to have been deployed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A report published by the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto on 20 December details how the mobile phones of 36 journalists, producers, presenters and executives at the Qatar-based broadcaster were infected by the Pegasus software developed by Israel’s NSO Group.

The attack – which also targeted the personal phone of a London-based Al Araby TV journalist – is now being investigated by Apple whose phones were affected by the hacking attack.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, investigative reporter Tamer Almisshal was one of those targeted with death threats received on a phone used to call UAE ministries during research for a story.

“They threatened to make me the new Jamal Khashoggi,” said Almisshal, referring to the death threats received. “Based on this, we handed the phone to Citizen Lab, who found that the phone was hacked by spyware called Pegasus, which is developed by NSO, an Israeli company.”

“This hacking was done by a so-called zero-click technique where they can access cameras and track the device. They also found that operators in the UAE and Saudi Arabia were behind this hacking.

“We tracked the spyware for six months and found that at least 36 Al Jazeera staffers were hacked. They have used some of the content they stole from the phones to blackmail journalists, by posting private photos on the internet,” he added.

In its report Citizen Lab says that NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is a mobile phone surveillance solution that enables customers to remotely exploit and monitor devices. The company is a prolific seller of surveillance technology to governments around the world, and its products have been regularly linked to surveillance abuses.

“This attack on journalists and others working for Al Jazeera and Al Araby is insidious and worrying,” says AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick. “It appears that hacking software is becoming constantly more sophisticated through the development of so-called ‘zero-click’ attacks. It’s vital that all those using mobile devices for investigative research have the most up-to-date operating system installed. In many cases, it is preferable to have a separate phone and SIM card used exclusively for researching a story to mitigate the risks of infection of their everyday phone.”

The Pegasus software has been used by authoritarian governments to spy on lawyers, human rights activists, dissidents and journalists around the world.

“This latest incident is another way in which journalists are being intimidated as they work to hold power to account,” continues Spanswick. “It demonstrates that the need to promote and protect media freedom remains extraordinarily high as it seems that nation states are increasing their efforts to suppress journalism and journalists, in many cases using commercially-developed tools.”

As well as the use of separate ‘disposable’ phones, it is recommended that all iPhone users ensure that they have the latest iOS installed as it appears that the vulnerabilities exploited by the Pegasus software have been closed in iOS 14.

The AIB will raise this issue within the Advisory Network of the intergovernmental Media Freedom Coalition. It will also ensure that the AIB Member Cyber Security Working Group is fully briefed about this case.

Australian government accepts media freedom recommendations, more work needed

18 December 2020

Australian government accepts media freedom recommendations, more work needed

Australia’s government has accepted recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security following the Committee’s Inquiry into issues around freedom of the press.

The Inquiry – and one in the Australian Senate – took on added significance with the raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and the ABC News Room in Sydney. The unprecedented raids were criticised widely within and outside Australia with some civil society organisations saying that media freedom within the country had been seriously eroded.

The Government Response means that search warrants involving journalists and whistleblowers will need to be signed off by senior judges, offering some degree of protection for journalists and news organisations covering stories regarded as sensitive by government.

Speaking to the ABC, the Corporation’s managing director David Anderson said that the response offered “some progress in meeting press freedom requirements”.

“The ABC remains concerned that police and other agencies can use warrants to investigate the work of journalists and whistleblowers, as we have seen in recent years,” Anderson said.

“We look forward to working with the Government to ensure the implementation of reforms that protect journalists and their sources acting in the public interest and which bring Australia on par with similar standards in other Western democracies.”

The AIB – which responded to the Parliamentary and Senate Inquiries and gave in person evidence to the Senate – will continue to monitor the situation in Australia as part of its continuing media freedom workstream.