Sudan‘s newly appointed Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, has told a meeting at the United Nations that international broadcasters are welcome back in the country to help build a democratic and free society.
At a UK-organised ministerial meeting on media freedom held at the UN headquarters in New York on 25 September, Hamdok said that he “grew up in Sudan in the 60s and 70s, where the BBC radio was probably the only source of international information for people. And the paradox, years after that, [is that the] BBC was prohibited from broadcasting from Sudan and people were not having access to it.”
He confirmed that the BBC was now allowed back onto FM in the country after an absence of a number of years. He also said that Monte Carlo Doualiya has been restored and that Al Jazeera which had also been banned was now back in the country. Not only were the broadcasters back on the air, but the country’s government is “very determined to create an environment that is open and allow journalists unfettered access to information but also to reporting, anywhere.
“This is actually not giving them any kind of privilege. It is good for our people. Free society, free people can only be productive, can be useful in their own lives but also for society. So I’m doing it precisely because of that.”
“The announcement by Sudan’s Prime Minister confirming the opening up of the country’s airwaves is highly positive,” said AIB Chief Executive Simon Spanswick. “It is good that AIB Members including the BBC, Al Jazeera and Monte Carlo Doualiya are now permitted to broadcast across the nation. The additional commitment to allowing journalists to report from the entire country is an immense step forward for the country and we look forward to supporting the Sudanese government and the international media community to develop Sudan’s media industry.”
The UN meeting, chaired by the UK’s special envoy on media freedom, Amal Clooney, also heard from Lord Ahmad, Foreign Office Minister, and Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, all of whom spoke about the increasing need for media freedom globally and the Media Freedom Coalition to which 32 governments have agreed to join.
A Russian parliamentary committee will urge Russia’s government to revoke DW’s licence for working in the country, claiming that the German broadcaster violated local laws. DW has rejected the accusations.
Russia’s media watchdog, prosecutors, and Justice and Foreign ministries will be asked to consider blacklisting German foreign broadcaster DW in Russia, Russian media reported on Friday. The move comes after the parliamentary commission in charge of investigating potential foreign influence in Russian politics claimed DW had violated domestic media laws.
In response, DW’s Broadcasting Council said that the company’s reporting was “in no way objectionable.” “The Broadcasting Council therefore rejects the accusation that DW interfered in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation,” DW said in a statement.
Broadcasting Council Chairman Karl Jüsten said DW staff should be able to work “unhindered” in Russia. “We expect the Russian authorities to ensure that all DW correspondents in Russia can report freely and without restriction,” he said.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry also pledged to support the broadcaster if necessary. “We know that DW is under pressure in Russia,” they said.
Russia blacklisted US state news outlets Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as foreign agents in 2017.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) Board of Governors has announced that effective October 1, 2019, Grant Turner, currently USAGM’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), will serve as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of USAGM on an interim basis until the President appoints a Senate-confirmed CEO.
“We are confident he will provide strong leadership during this time of transition,” said Board Chairman Kenneth Weinstein. “Grant’s strong management and process-driven background is exactly what we need to continue building on our achievements, increasing our impact and advancing our strategic plan.”
“Grant has earned the respect of our Board, senior management team and employees since joining the agency and has the Board’s full confidence as he takes on the role of CEO,” said current CEO John F. Lansing.
Prior to joining USAGM as CFO in February 2016, Turner served as the Budget Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and as the Budget Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Washington, D.C. Turner also worked for six years at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where he was assigned to the National Security Division and the Office of the Deputy Director for Management. He is a 1989 graduate of Brigham Young University-Hawaii, and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Chaminade University of Honolulu and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Turner succeeds outgoing CEO and Director John F. Lansing, who previously announced his departure from the agency at the end of September to become CEO of National Public Radio (NPR). John Barkhamer, currently USAGM’s Deputy CFO, will serve as Acting CFO.
While serving as CEO during this interim period, Turner will work closely with Steve Capus, Senior Advisor to the CEO with extensive knowledge and proficiency in journalism and production, and Matt Walsh, Deputy Director for Operations, as well as USAGM’s network leadership and senior management.
Major football leagues are continuing to work together on the issue of piracy of rights-holder material in the Middle East. FIFA, the AFC, UEFA, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, LFP and the Premier League have issued a statement following the publication of an investigative report into the operations of beoutQ.
“As rights holders of globally followed sports events, whose intellectual property rights have been breached on a systematic and widespread basis by the pirate broadcaster known as beoutQ, we have commissioned a leading industry body, MarkMonitor, to conduct research and produce a detailed and independent technical analysis of beoutQ’s operations.
The report confirms without question that beoutQ’s pirate broadcasts have been transmitted using satellite infrastructure owned and operated by Arabsat.
The contents of the report are today being published in full on the rights holders’ websites to provide transparency about the facts of the case and to demonstrate the seriousness with which we, as global rights holders, view this issue.
As previously communicated, we have been frustrated in our attempts to pursue a formal copyright claim against beoutQ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, while we have received reports that beoutQ transmissions are currently disrupted, we nevertheless call on Arabsat and all other satellite providers to stop (and going forward agree to refrain from) providing a platform for piracy, which harms not just legitimate licensees, fans and players but also the sports that it abuses.
Cutting off its access to transmission services would be a major step in the fight to stop beoutQ. We all, individually and collectively, remain committed to bringing an end to international sports piracy.”
BeoutQ pirates all of the output of Qatar-based BeIN Media Group, including sporting fixtures for which it holds the rights for most Middle East territories.
According to the New York Times, BeIN has been a loss-making enterprise since its inception, but it said the loss of access to the market in Saudi Arabia, its region’s biggest, was the reason it eliminated hundreds of jobs — representing about a fifth of its employees — in June. A rival network in the Gulf, OSN, has withdrawn from all sports broadcasting except cricket, with its officials blaming piracy as a key factor driving the decision.
19 September will be the 1,000th day that Al Jazeera journalistMahmoud Hussein has spent behind bars after being detained by Egyptian authorities while visiting his family in December 2016.
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Al Jazeera Media Network has renewed its call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Hussein. On 23 May 2019, a court in Egypt rejected the appeal by the prosecutor for the continued detention of Mahmoud and ordered his release from prison. However, in defiance of the court order, the authorities opened a new investigation against him with unspecified charges and has returned him to prison. The Network strongly condemns the Egyptian authorities’ decision to return Mahmoud Hussein to Tora prison despite the court ruling he be released. Mahmoud is being detained by the Egyptian government in flagrant violation of international law and an infringement of his fundamental rights.
The Association for International Broadcasting joins with Al Jazeera and other media organisations in calling on the Egyptian authorities to release Mahmoud Hussein immediately.
Egypt continues its crackdown on media freedom. The country has the greatest number of journalists detained in any country in the world. Mahmoud Hussein has been robbed from 1000 days of his life with no end in sight, all without legal justification. Al Jazeera continues to strongly condemn this and refutes all charges against him and calls on the international community, media professionals, and human rights advocates to raise awareness and demand his immediate freedom.
On Thursday 19 September 2019 Al Jazeera Media Network is launching a solidarity campaign coinciding with the 1000 days of detention of Mahmoud Hussein. The campaign aims to focus on publicising the inhumane conditions he endures under detention, and to mobilise support and shed light on his case and call for his immediate release. As part of the campaign an online petition demanding his immediate release has been launched, and it can be accessed at www.FreeMahmoudHussein.com.
View a short report on Mahmoud Hussein’s detention and the international solidarity campaign here:
Productions across TV, radio and online from 20 countries have made the final cut
The shortlist for the AIBs 2019 – the 15th annual competition for the world’s best factual productions – has been published by the Association for International Broadcasting.
Work from over 50 companies has been selected to go through to the final judging by the international jury, with an immensely wide range of subjects covered. With 19 categories covering sport, daily journalism, human interest and much more, the AIBs are one of the most comprehensive international awards for factual producers.
“We have had the largest field of entries in the 15-year history of the AIBs,” says Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Over 400 hours of work was submitted to this year’s competition, from production companies and broadcasters on every continent. The standard of work was extremely high and selecting the entries to go through to the final judging was a very real challenge. With reports and investigations covering child abuse, war crimes and natural disasters through to lighter subjects such as microscopic art, the subject range is immense.”
The shortlist of over 100 entries is now in front of the international jury of 59 programme makers, broadcast executives and other experts who will evaluate all the work. The winners in the 19 categories will be announced at the AIBs gala dinner in London on 6 November, attended by guests from all over the world. Bloomberg Television and Radio anchor Nerja Ćehić will host the awards, and Rana Rahimpour of BBC Persian will present the “in conversation” segment.
“The AIBs competition does not discriminate,” continues Spanswick, “between productions from large-scale broadcast networks or small-scale production companies, nor between productions in English or in any other language. It’s a level playing field and over the past decade and a half, prizes have been won by individual producers as well as by the broadcasting giants. That’s what makes this contest so appealing, and has gained its global reputation.”
