30 September 2018
Second six-year mandate for Limbourg, first elected in 2013
Peter Limbourg has been re-elected as director general of Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) for another six years, his first mandate having been deemed very successful.
DW celebrated its 65th anniversary this year.
Limbourg’s record was praised earlier this year during a debate at the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament on 20 April 2018.
“Impressive track record” at DW
Addressing the Bundestag, the Christian Democrat (CDU) MP Elisabeth Motschmann rejected calls from the far-right Alternative for German (AfD) for changes to the law governing Deutsche Welle.
In her speech Motschmann commended Limbourg’s track record since his appointment in 2013, describing it as impressive. DW is “one of the top three foreign broadcasters” in 27 of the 30 languages in which it reports, and 97 per cent of users surveyed praise the broadcaster’s credibility, Motschmann said.
DW’s weekly audience across all media has gone up from 101 million to 157 million between 2014 and 2017, and its four TV channels in English Arabic, German and Spanish can potentially reach 465 million households, according to DW 2017 Management Report.
International background, extensive journalistic and managerial experience
The son of a diplomat Limbourg spent his childhood in Rome, Paris, Athens and Brussels. He studied law in Bonn and completed a journalistic traineeship at the German television news agency Deutsche Fernsehnachrichten Agentur (DFA) in Bonn and London (1988-1989).
Limbourg worked as a reporter in Iraq, Israel, Algeria and Leipzig, in the former East Germany, before becoming the Europe and NATO correspondent for DFA and private Sat.1 TV in Brussels in 1990.
Limbourg became head of the private TV ProSieben studio in Bonn in 1996 and also occupied senior positions with N24 (now WeltTV).
Limbourg was Senior Vice President of ProSiebenSat.1 (the 2000 merger of ProSieben and Sat.1) from 2010 to his appointment as DW Managing director in October 2013.
DW is set to forge ahead with a wider offer and gain an even larger audience under Limbourg’s next mandate.
27 September 2018
The sacking of ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie and resignation of ABC Chairman Justin Milne made the headlines
Dismissal and resignation follow alleged political interference
Following his sacking of ABC Managing Director (MD) Michelle Guthrie on 24 September, ABC Chairman Justin Milne announced his resignation two days later, after hundreds of ABC staff passed motions demanding his resignation, Milne had indicated shortly before that he had no plans to resign.
ABC’s director of entertainment and specialist David Anderson will serve as acting MD until a formal search process finds a successor.
A former Google and Foxtel executive with no experience in broadcast journalism, Guthrie was the first female managing director in the ABC’s history. She was sacked halfway through her five-year term.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported ABC insiders saying that Guthrie had been made aware several weeks ago that her job was in jeopardy.
ABC reports that she was given the option to resign earlier in September, after months of tension with the board, but she refused.
A source close to the ABC board told ABC News that various senior executives were so unhappy with Guthrie they were prepared to quit; a number of ABC staff were also reportedly displeased with her management style.
Milne and other members of the board were becoming increasingly frustrated by what they believed were her leadership failings, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Guthrie is reported to consider taking legal action.
Political interference
Milne, who was appointed ABC chairman last year, is a friend and former business partner of Malcolm Turnbull, who was prime minister until August this year. Milne denied having failed to maintain the ABC’s independence from government.
However, in an email sent in early May, Milne asked Guthrie to sack ABC chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici following complaints from the coalition government.
“I think it’s simple. Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC – not Emma. There is no guarantee they [the Coalition] will lose the next election,” Milne reportedly wrote.
Alberici told ABC that reports Milne ordered Guthrie to sack her after criticism from the government are “disappointing if true”.
ABC political editor Andrew Probyn was also the subject of formal and informal Coalition accusations of inaccurate reporting, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
For his part Turnbull denied having told Milne to order the sacking of Alberici and Probyn.
What’s next for ABC?
Following the sacking of its MD and resignation of its chairman, in the wake of allegations of political interference, ABC News outlines the following steps:
- Government to appoint an acting chair.
- Report due within days by Communications Department Secretary Mike Mrdak into veracity of media reports about ex-chairman’s complaints against ABC reporters.
- Chairman nomination panel appointed by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary.
- Panel assesses nominees and the prime minister advises Governor-General, who signs off on new chairman.
- Board appoints new managing director for five-year term.
- Senate inquiry expected to be set up looking at political interference in the ABC, with a view to taking evidence from the ex-chairman, ex-managing director and former PM Malcolm Turnbull.
- Senate estimates committee to hear from acting chairman, acting managing director and senior management from ABC.
Whatever the outcome, ABC governance has suffered significant harm to its credibility and its reputation, which it needs to overcome decisively.
26 September 2018
The TRT World Forum 2018, which is recognised as one of the most significant geopolitical events of the year, will be taking place from October 3-4th in Istanbul. The theme of this year’s Forum is “Envisioning Peace & Security in a Fragmented World”.
TRT World Forum 2018 will bring together over six hundred guests from all over the world including leading policy-makers, academics, journalists and leading experts to discuss and provide solutions for the most pressing global issues of our time with the aim of working towards global peace and prosperity.
Following the resounding success of last year’s TRT World Forum launch, this year will continue the Forum’s aspiration to engage with the most pressing global challenges of our times by building on, and highlighting lessons learned through the inaugural Forum.
It has just been announced that the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be making the closing address at the TRT World Forum, a programme of internationally-renowned thought-leaders and humanitarians.
Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the latest high profile figure to confirm attendance to this year’s TRT World Forum. Speakers will also include the former President of Lebanon Fuad Siniora, former Managing Director of the World Bank Mamphela Ramphele, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, President of the People’s Justice Party and prime minister-designate of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, President of World Economic Forum Borge Brende, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the UK Jack Straw and Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The inaugural speech will be given by Ibrahim Eren, Director General and Chairman of TRT. It will be followed by four public sessions: A World in or Out of Order? A Hundred Years since WWI, The EU and its Discontents, The Rise of the Global South and The Leadership of Women in the World of Conflict.
On the second day, the President of the Peoples Justice Party and the Prime Minister-Designate of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, will deliver the keynote speech titled “Exploring a Just Peace in a Fragmented World”. Following the keynote speech the following public sessions will be held: Regional Players and the Shifting Security Equation in the Middle East, New Media and Trust-Formation, Closing Ranks: International Cooperation against Terrorism and Fostering Global Consciousness in Times of Crisis.
The closing ceremony for the two-day conference will include an address titled “In Pursuit of Justice in a Fragmented World” to be given by the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
From the legacy of the First World War, to counter-terrorism strategies, the future of the European Union and the age of New Media, TRT World Forum 2018 will provide a platform for relevant actors in their respective fields over the course of two days to debate crucial matters and collectively offer actionable strategies for a world in disarray.
For more information about the Forum, visit https://researchcentre.trtworld.com/forum/forum-2018
To join the conversation online;
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TRTWorldRC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trtworldrc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn5Zi9GHEKufp1JRoOaR4Dg
Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/TRTWorldRC
(Source: TRT press release)
25 September 2018
To mark Saudi National Day, the General Authority for Entertainment presented Cirque du Soleil in Riyadh, in one of the international performance company’s largest shows to date, and its first in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event, attended by 27,000 guests, was organised by MBC Group and broadcast live on MBC1.
Cirque du Soleil’s debut in the Kingdom broke the record for the largest number of attendees in a single circus performance. Taking place at the King Fahd International Stadium, the event was presented on a tailor-made 100 x 40-metre theatre that was designed and constructed especially for the occasion.
Intertwining storytelling with spectacular acrobatics, audiences witnessed a visual masterpiece that included aerial silk, suspended pole, rotating ladder, German wheel, fire manipulation and Trampowall performances, as well as unicycle tricks, contemporary and hip-hop dance, electric motorcycle stunts, and even a free-flying Hoverboard illusion.
Blending the latest in spectacular stagecraft, mesmerising special effects and enthralling fireworks, Cirque du Soleil was watched by over 200 million viewers worldwide, turning the Saudi National Day celebrations into a truly global event.
(Source: MBC press release)
23 September 2018
TV and radio services to be affected, widespread criticism
Following the decision (reported by the AIB on 24 April) by a majority of Danish parties to scrap the licence fee (currently £300 or €339) and to cut DR’s budget, the broadcaster’s director general, Maria Rørbye Rønn, presented the plan to implement the required cuts on 18 September.
Rønn warned that savings of this scale would result in Danmarks Radio producing and broadcasting fewer hours of Danish-language television.
Services and jobs cuts
The cuts will mean 375-400 job losses, including 25 managerial positions, she said.
DR will reduce the number of its TV channels from six to three. The main general interest channel DR1, will continue as it is, DR3, the innovative channel aimed at viewers in the 15-39 age group, and the children channel DR Ultra will become streaming services by 2020, while cultural channel DRK will be merged with DR2, the channel for breaking news, documentaries, debate, comedy and movies, according to a DR press release.
The radio stations P6 Beat, P7 Mix and P8 Jazz will also all close owing to the budget cuts reducing the number of radios from eight to five.
“The background (to this) is both the necessary cuts and ensuring that DR can place even more focus on conversion to digital. In terms of content, we will now focus even more on our strengths. All in all, these are relatively drastic changes, but we think we’re on the right path,” Rønn said.
High-value TV programmes met with international acclaim
DR TV programmes, such as the widely-acclaimed crime series The Bridge (Broen / Bron – coproduced with Sweden’s Sveriges Television), the political drama Borgen or the police series The Killing (Forbrydelsen), to name the best-known series only, have won many international awards and nominations. DR collaborates with other public service broadcasters within the Nordvision regional partnership, which produces and distributes programmes in the region and abroad. The cut is likely to have an impact on Nordvision.
Widespread criticism in Denmark and beyond
The Danish English-language newspaper The Local reported that “commentators in the Danish media industry, as well as opposition politicians, criticised the cuts after details of their implementation and associated job losses were announced. Commentators in the Danish media industry, as well as opposition politicians, condemned the cuts after details of their implementation and associated job losses were announced.
For its part, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Executive Board issued a statement expressing “concern over the Danish Government’s new public service contract with Danmarks Radio (Danish public radio and television) that will dramatically restrict the organization’s scope and range of programming and remit.
“The EBU Executive Board is concerned at political attempts to drastically narrow and alter the accepted broad remit of public service media,” the statement said.
“The 20 percent budget cuts imposed on DR will undoubtedly impact its ability as a national broadcaster to offer the same wide range of output to audiences across Denmark,” EBU Director General Noel Curran said.
19 September 2018
The 2018 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), held in Amsterdam (13-18 September) attracted large numbers of visitors, exhibitors and speakers, like in previous years.
More than ever before, the broadcasting industry is in a state of flux. It went through major changes at all levels in recent years, on the business and technical sides in particular.
Technology
A trend observed in recent years is the growing reliance of the broadcasting industry on IT services.
These include a major transition to IP-based solutions for broadcast TV production and delivery. Another major development observed in many domains is the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is itself closely tied to Machine Learning (ML).
AI and ML have made possible major improvements in Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR), important for games, but also essential now in visual broadcast production.
In addition, AI and ML are proving central to applications, such as speech to text for subtitling, archiving, data mining, improved protection of content against piracy and hacking, to name just a few.
Leveraging the power of cloud services for post-production, storage and security applications is set to magnify the potential of these technologies and of their applications in the media industry.
Business
From the business perspective, these new technologies and services represent challenges for established broadcasters, whilst opening up opportunities for new players, such as technology companies and platforms.
Many players aware of these challenges are looking at ways of cooperating on a wide range of projects to find business models that would benefit both sides.
The AIB will be reporting on some of these developments in the near future.
