3 April 2017
The Association for International Broadcasting is delighted to announce that its 13th annual awards for factual programming across video, audio and online production are open for entry.
For 2017, there has been a root and branch examination of the categories with the involvement of media leaders in areas of documentary, news and specialist factual programme making. This year’s categories are:
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
The inaugural sponsors of the AIBs 2017 are Celebro Media and Signiant.
Full information about how to enter is available at the dedicated AIBs website, http://theaibs.tv and http://theaibs.radio. The online entry form is available here.
The closing date for entries is 30 June 2017.
31 March 2017
The BBC has selected AFPTV as a key supplier of English-language video news, significantly expanding its relationship with the Paris-headquartered international news agency AFP.
Under a multi-year agreement starting April 1 2017, the British broadcaster will receive edited and live video from AFPTV for use on all its platforms: television channels, websites and mobile applications, as well as radio for audio production. According to reports in the UK City AM newspaper, the AFP deal replaces the BBC’s longstanding contract with Associated Press. The paper says: “News staff have been informed that they will no longer be permitted to use AP video, pictures and wire copy from later this week. Fran Unsworth, head of the World Service, today told staff in an email that the BBC was instead starting a “new relationship” with Agence France Presse.”
AFPTV, the video news division of AFP, has developed over 15 years into a major international player with a monthly English-language production of 2,500 edited videos and 200 live videos from around the world. The BBC already receives AFP’s photo and English, French and Arabic text news services.
Jonathan Munro (right), the BBC’s Head of Newsgathering, said: “We are delighted to be working even more closely with AFP in the years ahead. The BBC’s coverage of the world will benefit enormously from the growing firepower of AFP including its strengths in regions which are underserved by the mainstream media. We hope that the BBC’s new relationship with AFP will prove enduring and positive for both organisations.”
Emmanuel Hoog (pictured), chairman and chief executive of AFP, described the partnership as “an emblematic recognition of everyone’s efforts to make video a top priority”. He added: “It encourages us in our long-term investment strategy to extend and consolidate AFPTV’s unique positioning in Europe and worldwide.”
According to the Paris-based agency, AFPTV has developed rapidly since its launch in France in 2002. It started international news production in 2007 and then began a process of substantial expansion on every continent from 2011. AFPTV is now at the forefront in covering top world news as well as offering its clients in-depth features, file images and stock shots in six languages. Since 2015, it has successfully developed live video production. Journalists working for AFPTV have notably won Rory Peck awards for coverage of the migrant crisis in Greece (Will Vassilopoulos – 2015-2016); rebel-held Aleppo (Zein Al-Rifai – 2014-15); and civil war in the Central African Republic (Pacome Pabandji – 2013-14). In addition to the BBC, AFPTV has some 300 clients, a number that is steadily increasing. The further development of AFPTV is a strategic priority for the agency.
29 March 2017
Euronews, in partnership with several French regional media outlets and with the support of Google News Lab, launches a series of 9 portraits of French people in 360° videos, produced in the weeks before the French presidential election.
Euronews is covering the French presidential campaign with an innovative series of portraits of voters produced using VR360 technology. The ground-breaking project created by Euronews, one of the world’s pioneers in the production of immersive video reports, has received the support of Google News Lab.
It is being produced in collaboration with the newsrooms of French regional media outlets – Ouest-France, Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, La Nouvelle République, Radio Caraïbes International, and French news website StreetPress. With-in depth regional knowledge, they will provide crucial insight into the geographic and sociological diversity at the local level, in order to better reflect the French electorate.
Failure to accurately foresee the outcomes of the Brexit referendum or the US election highlighted a gap in the traditional media’s understanding of the issues and concerns of the peoples whose lives they cover. Consequently, as the French election campaign has been rocked by surprises that have attracted the entire world’s attention, Euronews and its partners are turning to the citizens of France.
Immersive journalism provides a fresh perspective on the campaign to better listen to and understand the issues affecting the French electorate, and to let them have their say, expressing their hopes and worries in the run-up to this crucial vote.
Before the first round on April 23, Euronews’ journalist-producer Olivier Péguy and partner journalists set out to meet the people of France, whether they intend to vote or not, throughout mainland France and its overseas territories.
With the eyes of the world watching France, the series of nine 360° episodes is being produced in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
A tenth episode will gather reactions after the second round. For the first time, Euronews will produce this story in an interactive virtual-reality environment. The episode will be produced with German start-up Vragments.
Euronews hopes that this new coverage model will inspire journalists for future elections, such as those in Germany in September.
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Olivier Péguy, journalist-producer, Euronews |
“Our starting-point is that all opinions are worth hearing – but for us to hear them, they must reach our ears. This project, conducted with The News Lab of Google and our media partners, actually lets us go and listen to what people want to tell us, and then to convey it to our audience. Because every opinion matters, Euronews is All Views.“
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David Dieudonné, Google News Lab Head in France |
“Google News Lab is particularly happy to support this innovative project, which uses the narrative power of 360° journalism in the news flow, to make new voices heard and connect a wide international audience with a series of local realities.”
France 2017 in 360°
The series is simultaneously broadcast by Euronews and the media partners. For Euronews on euronews.com, its mobile site, its apps, its YouTube channel and its other digital platforms.
(Source: Euronews press release)
23 March 2017
- Kuwait TV now broadcasting nine HD channels exclusively from EUTELSAT 8 West B
- HD acceleration in Middle East and North Africa satellite TV landscape
Dubai, Paris, 23 March 2017– Kuwait TV, the official Kuwaiti state broadcaster and part of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information, announced today at Cabsat Dubai that the new Al-Qurain TV channel has launched in its free-to-air HD platform hosted on the EUTELSAT 8 West B satellite. The capacity used by Kuwait TV is provided by Gulfsat, Eutelsat’s long-term partner.
Launched one month ago, Al-Qurain TV is a heritage-based channel specialising in vintage Kuwaiti series and programmes. Kuwait TV, that amasses over 50 years of experience, broadcasts Kuwaiti-produced programmes in the Middle East and around the world. It completed the switch to HD through Gulfsat in 2015, coinciding with the arrival of EUTELSAT 8 West B. With the launch of this latest channel there are now nine Kuwait TV channels available free-to-air exclusively from EUTELSAT 8 West B in both SD and HD versions.
Ghassan Murat, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Eutelsat Dubai, said: “The addition of Al-Qurain TV to Kuwait TV’s platform is indicative of a new wave of growth enabled by our EUTELSAT 8 West B satellite, particularly for HD channels that have increased by 50% over the last year.”
Mohammed AlHaj, Chairman and CEO of Gulfsat, said: “We are delighted to support Kuwait TV’s new venture and to be part of the expansion of Kuwait’s broadcasting landscape.”
Meshal Al-Makled, Under Secretary of the Department of Engineering at the Kuwait Ministry of Information, added: “With the launch in 2015 of Kuwait TV’s all-HD platform via the EUTELSAT 8 West B satellite, our country fully embraced key technological trends to give viewers the full benefits of superior image quality.”
Source: Eutelsat press release
23 March 2017
Alhurra Television interviewed ISIS defectors and their families as part of a two-part documentary series debuting March 25th. Alhurra cameras were exclusively allowed into Mitiga prison in Libya to interview two female defectors for Women With ISIS and husband and wife defectors for A Father’s Agony.
“This is an important story that needs to be told. The defectors share first-hand accounts of what it was like living under ISIS and the horrors they witnessed,” stated MBN President Brian Conniff. MBN manages and oversees Alhurra Television. “These documentaries capture the pain felt not only by the defectors, but also by their families.”
The first documentary, Women With ISIS tells the stories of Waheda, an independent Tunisian woman who was preparing to get her Master’s Degree. She followed her husband to Libya and then Turkey, it is only then that she realized he was taking her to join ISIS. After Waheda got to Syria, she realized things where not like she thought and begged her family to come save her. As she sits in a Libyan prison, she says she lost everything in her life: her husband, her son’s health and her freedom. Through Alhurra, she record a video message to her mother begging for forgiveness for ruining her life.
Women With ISIS also profiles Gofran, who went to Syria on her own volition, looking to support ISIS and what she believed they stood for. She was married off to an ISIS militant her first day in the country. As time went on and she learned more about ISIS, she questioned their rhetoric and way of life. She found that “everything was a lie” and that ISIS fighters were killing Muslims. Gofran also talks about her harrowing escape, which ultimately left her husband dead and a life sentence in prison for her. Women With ISIS will air on Saturday, March 25 at 20:00 GMT.
In the second documentary, A Father’s Agony, Akram and his wife Asma, speak out from a Libyan prison about what drew them into ISIS. Once they got to Syria, Asma talks about being shocked at what she saw and soon wanted to leave. She shared the hopelessness that they felt, because they knew if they returned home it would mean prison. The documentary also interviews Akram’s family, who talked about the astonishment they felt when he left to join ISIS. Through Alhurra, Akram is able to talk to his family for the first time since he left for Syria. They share their pain of knowing they may never see him again. A Father’s Agony debuts Saturday, April 1st at 20:00 GMT.
Both programs will also be streamed via Facebook Live when they debut on Alhurra. Women with ISIS and A Father’s Agony was produced by the same team that produced Alhurra’s award-winning documentary series Delusional Paradise.
Alhurra Television is an Arabic-language television network that broadcasts to 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa via satellite. It is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters.
(Source: Alhurra press release)
22 March 2017
Radio Sawa, the Arabic-language radio network that has changed the media landscape in the Middle East and North Africa, is celebrating its 15th anniversary on 22 March 2017.
Since its launch in 2002, the pan-Arab radio network has been known for offering an innovative format combining accurate and objective news with popular Arabic and English music. With more than 12 million listeners each week across the MENA region, Radio Sawa provides breaking news through up-to-the-minute reports on unfolding events in the Middle East as well as in-depth coverage of topics often unaddressed in the Arab media, such as freedom of speech, religious freedom, countering extremism, women’s rights, and political pluralism. The station has attracted the admiration of Arab audience and forged a reputation that has inspired imitators throughout the region.
“Over its first 15 years, Radio Sawa has successfully broadened the perspective of our audience on issues of importance in the Middle East and around the world,” said Brian Conniff, President of Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), pictured right, which manages and operates Radio Sawa. “Robust access to balanced, unbiased, and accurate journalism makes Radio Sawa an indispensable resource in the Arab media landscape.”
Today, Radio Sawa is expanding its reach by providing news and information to Arab audience through different media platforms, including mobile devices and the Internet. Radio Sawa maintains an active all-news website (www.radiosawa.com) which provides both up to the minute news and information as well as live streaming audio, making the network one of the most trusted sources of news and insights on social and political life in the Middle East and North Africa. The Radio Sawa Android and iOS mobile apps offer a mobile-first experience for engaging with millennial audiences to solicit their voices and opinions. The apps stream eight Arabic channels, feature Sawa Chat interactive conversations, newscasts and the top tech, entertainment and culture news of the day. In addition, Radio Sawa shares compelling stories, audio and photos with millions of social media users on Facebook and Twitter.
Innovative use of technology and high quality journalism earned Radio Sawa several high profile awards, including New York Festivals, AIB Awards, GSMA Global Mobile Awards, and Appy Awards.
Radio Sawa is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters.
