5 July 2017
Two major industry associations to work on cyber security and other key issues; AIB endorses NABA/DPP Security Requirements
The Association for International Broadcasting, the trade association for television, radio and online across the world, announces that it is to collaborate closely with the Digital Production Partnership (DPP),
DPP’s membership represents the whole media supply chain: production companies, manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, post production facilities, consultancies, broadcasters, distributors, and not-for-profit organisations. Besides working on the development of specifications and best practice in content exchange, a major DPP focus is the issue of cyber security.
Cyber security is also a key issue for the Association for International Broadcasting. The AIB has been working on the subject for the past three years and its specialist Working Group brings together broadcasters and key suppliers from across the globe, ranging from New Zealand to the USA. As a result of this new collaboration, the AIB is announcing that it is endorsing and backing the NABA/DPP Broadcaster Cyber Security Requirements for Suppliers.
Through this new collaborative venture, DPP will become an associate member of the AIB, and the AIB will become a DPP member.
“This new collaboration between the AIB and DPP is important for the whole broadcasting industry,” comments Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive (pictured right). “There is much commonality between the aims and the work programme of our two organisations and cyber security is at the top of both organisations’ agendas. In endorsing the NABA/DPP security requirements document, the AIB is reaffirming its commitment – and that of its Members – to driving the media industry towards increased security to protect broadcasters from devastating cyber attack. We will work closely with our DPP colleagues over the coming months on this critical issue.”
Mark Harrison, Managing Director DPP, added “There are few more important areas for change in the media sector than the improvement needed in security practices throughout the supply chain. The DPP believes that pan-industry change such as this can only be delivered by collaboration. So we are really delighted to be working more closely with the AIB, who are just as committed to this area as we are. The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) defined some important, pragmatic cyber security requirements in broadcasting; and now the DPP and AIB will work together to drive their implementation.”
The new collaboration between the AIB and DPP will also allow the exchange of information on a wide range of other issues, and lead to closer co-operation between Members of the two organisations.
29 June 2017
The closing date of the AIBs 2017 has been extended, following requests from broadcasters and production companies around the world.
The new date by which entries must be submitted is 14 July.
“Many people have been in touch with us asking for an extension to the closing date,” says AIB Awards Co-ordinator Clare Dance (pictured). “We’re able to push the deadline back to enable the AIBs to showcase the very best factual content from all over the world. This year’s competition has already seen fantastic work submitted and it’s being entered by broadcasters and production companies which have not entered the competition in the past. Here at the AIB, we believe this demonstrates the constantly growing influence and importance the the AIBs enjoy. In this 13th year’s competition, we’re seeing the largest number of entries ever across the 20 categories.”
The AIBs 2017 | Categories
VIDEO
Breaking news report
Continuing news coverage
News feature
Short documentary
Science, technology and nature
Human interest
Politics and business
Arts and culture
International affairs
Sport
Children’s and youth
Presenter of the year
AUDIO
Continuing news coverage
News feature
Arts and culture
Investigative
Human interest
Presenter of the year
Interactive
AIB Impact Award
Full information on how to enter is in our entry book. Remember: closing date is now 14 July 2017!
27 June 2017
In a new Alhurra documentary series, ISIS defectors provide first-hand accounts that reveal the extremist group’s entrenched culture of deception, intimidation, cruelty, drugs, and sexual abuse. The series, Exiting ISIS, debuts this Saturday, July 1, at 20:00 GMT.
Through rare interviews, the 13-part series tells the stories of former ISIS members who provide unique insights into life in the Islamic State. They show ISIS’s hypocrisy as it captivates its followers with the promise of a global Muslim caliphate. Exiting ISIS documents why ISIS militants joined the armed group and ultimately decided to escape. Defectors provide revelatory details about how foreign fighters were recruited; how they travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the fight; how women were forced to torture other woman who have transgressed by singing, listening to music, dressing with insufficient modesty, or leaving their homes without a male escort.
In each episode, Exiting ISIS provides insightful testimonials of deserters denouncing ISIS’s lies, its false promises, its cult of violence and death, and its widespread corruption and inequality. They believe that, in doing so, they will reveal the truth about ISIS and discourage future potential recruits from joining.
“It is essential that the defectors be able to share with our audience their first-hand accounts of the ordeals they have endured living under ISIS and the horrors they witnessed,” stated MBN President Brian Conniff. MBN manages and oversees Alhurra Television. “This series communicates the fear and terror felt by those trapped under ISIS rule.”
The first episode of Exiting ISIS profiles a 22-year-old Iraqi from Hawija, known as Mohammed. He details how intimidation forced him into ISIS. Once he joined the group, his conscience was shocked by the injustice and the manipulation of Islamic teachings by ISIS to advance their corrupt agenda and soon wanted to leave. He shares the fear that he felt when he tried to run away and how he was forced to remain in the group to protect his family from retaliation. Mohammed stresses that ISIS works to obscure these bitter realities and that the group is far removed from true Islamic teachings.
Exiting ISIS will also be streamed on Facebook Live when it debuts on Alhurra.
(Source: Alhurra press release)
27 June 2017
The BBC Pashto flagship TV programme, BBC Naray Da Wakht (BBC World Right Now), is launching a weekly arts supplement. From Saturday 1 July 2017, the weekly slot, Hunary Shabay (Art Moments), will focus on art and literary news from Afghanistan, Pakistan and from around the world.
BBC Pashto TV Editor, Emal Pasarly, commented: “The region has a vibrant and amazingly diverse cultural scene, and there is a need for an art news programme on TV in Afghanistan and Pakistan to reflect it – and also to bring the world’s cultural news that resonates with our audience. We hope Hunary Shabay will be a welcome addition to the prime-time weekend TV schedule, bringing reports, interviews and commentary from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the world on everything art. Bollywood or Hollywood, traditional music or pop, books, theatre, exhibitions – you name it, we will bring our viewers the latest from the world of arts.”
Hunary Shabay will be part of the Saturday edition of the daily TV news programme, BBC Naray Da Wakht. On Sundays the programme features the economy and business edition, Da Eqtesad La Narray; on Thursdays – the phone-in edition, Staso Ghag (Have Your Say), while the Friday sports supplement, Lobay, brings sports news.
BBC Naray Da Wakht is broadcast live from London in prime time on the Shamshad TV network in Afghanistan (18.00 local time) and Mashriq TV in Pakistan (18.30 local time). The programme is also available on demand via the BBC Pashto channel on YouTube and the website bbcpashto.com.
BBC Pashto content – on radio, TV, online and on social media – reaches around 7m people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the world every week*. The BBC Pashto Facebook has more than 2.8m followers (June 2017), engaging 400,000** people every week. BBC Pashto also connects with its audiences via Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Instagram and SoundCloud.
BBC Pashto is part of the BBC World Service.
(Source : BBC press release)
14 June 2017
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has announced that Ambassador Alberto M. Fernandez will join the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN) as its new president on July 17, 2017. In this role, he will oversee MBN’s multimedia operations in the U.S. and across the Middle East, including its digital properties, Alhurra Television networks and Radio Sawa.
MBN is a private, not for profit, multimedia corporation funded by the BBG that provides news and information to the 22 Arabic speaking countries across the Middle East and North Africa. With a weekly audience of more than 27.5 million people, MBN supports democratic values by expanding the spectrum of ideas in the region and producing accurate, professional and independent news and information on all media platforms; and is a trailblazer in audience engagement.
Brian Conniff, BBG veteran and current MBN President, is leaving the company after 11 years. Under his leadership, MBN has grown to be a forward-looking, flexible organisation responding to the region’s evolving media environment and challenges. “It has been a pleasure to work with the professionals of MBN,” said Conniff. “This transition comes at a time of strategic importance as the organisation continues to focus its content and seek new ways to increase its impact. I am confident that Ambassador Fernandez will advance MBN’s important work and continue to increase its impact.”
In response to Conniff’s announcement, John Lansing, CEO and Director of the BBG said, “Brian has played a significant role in BBG’s growth throughout the years, and his expertise and counsel has been invaluable to me. He is an extraordinary leader and has worked very closely with other network leadership to streamline our collective and individual efforts, and to develop creative programming that demonstrates real impact. Ambassador Fernandez is inheriting a first class team with a portfolio of major initiatives.”
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Ambassador Fernandez, a fluent Arabic speaker, will join BBG from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), where he served as Vice President from 2015 to 2017. During his Foreign Service career, he was widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and impactful US Foreign Service voices in the Arabic-language media. Ambassador Fernandez held numerous roles at the U.S. Department of State, including the Department’s Coordinator for the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Chief of Mission in Sudan, Director for Near East Public Diplomacy and Director for Iraq Public Diplomacy. He was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor and was a recipient of a 2008 Presidential Meritorious Service Award, the 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, and a 2003 Superior Honor Award for his work in Afghanistan, among other awards. He also served as a Foreign Service Officer in Iraq, Kuwait, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, and as USIA desk officer for Egypt, Yemen, and Sudan.
Ambassador Fernandez is a graduate of the University of Arizona and the Defense Language Institute. Ambassador Fernandez has also lectured and debated on U.S. foreign policy in numerous public venues, and has published in several publications, including Brookings Institution publications, the Foreign Service Journal, Journal of International Security Affairs, Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Cipher Brief, Providence, the Harvard Review of Latin America, Middle East Quarterly and the Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society (JAAS). He is also a Non-Resident Fellow in Middle East Media and Politics at the TRENDS Foundation in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Kenneth Weinstein, Chairman of the Board for the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, conveyed the Board’s support for the selection, “Ambassador Fernandez shares our values and focus on long-term growth,” he said. “He has the perfect combination of skill, experience, and regional expertise that we need to continue driving forward at MBN. We are pleased that he accepted this challenge and look forward to working with him. The Board and I are also very grateful to Brian Conniff for his passion and leadership, and thank him for his accomplishments over many years of dedicated service to the agency.”
“I am truly honored and humbled to join the Broadcasting Board of Governors as the President of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks,” said Fernandez. “I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to the impact the BBG’s networks have on millions of lives around the world. MBN is a media leader in the region, and I look forward to joining with its dedicated and accomplished staff to continue its growth momentum in new and creative ways.”
Source: MBN press release
12 June 2017
The Association for International Broadcasting has been visiting parts of Asia, meeting Member organisations and exploring potential new relationships with organisations across the region.
The AIB’s chief executive Simon Spanswick took part in the Asia Media Summit organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) in Qingdao, China. Attended by more than 400 delegates from over 40 countries, the Summit addressed the issues surrounding the role of media in global development and sustainability. The AIB CEO met Mme Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China, alongside Ministers from Russia, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Samoa, Myanmar and Malaysia and the heads of the AIBD and ABU as well as senior officials of the United Nations and a number of its agencies.
Following the Asia Media Summit, Spanswick travelled to Seoul where he met executives of the Korean Broadcasting System, an AIB Member. Discussions centred on the work of the AIB and how KBS – as a Member of the Association – benefits from the activities the organisation carries out on behalf of its Members. There were also conversations about the future of the media and how public broadcasters like KBS can maintain their relevance to audiences – particularly the youth – as consumption patterns change.
