Al Jazeera Media Network has appointed Dima Khatib as Managing Director of AJ+.
Dima joined Al Jazeera in 1997 as a broadcast journalist in Al Jazeera’s Doha newsroom where she became a news producer. She participated in managing the coverage of the channel during the Iraq War which brought Al Jazeera international recognition. She also helped launch the first Al Jazeera show dedicated to women in the region, while also setting up bureaus in China and Venezuela for the network. In 18 years, Dima has reported from over thirty countries, interviewing presidents and people from all walks of life. In 2012, Dima was classified as the most connected woman on Twitter in the Middle East.
Commenting on her new role as MD, Dima said:
“I’m very honoured to step into the role of Managing Director of AJ+. It is an exciting and enriching challenge for me to work on pushing this amazing project forward. We’re experiencing an era of rapid change in the news industry, where digital platforms require a new form of communication from within the digital world. Through AJ+, Al Jazeera has pioneered a world of digital storytelling that encourages its young audience to engage in conversations, build communities and challenge everything they see and hear”.
“It is time for AJ+ to be taken to the next level of success. I feel fortunate to be part of that”.
AJ+ was launched as a digital-only news platform from Al Jazeera in 2014, highlighting the stories that matter to people through innovative and informative ways. The goal of AJ+ is to meet its audience in every digital space by creating custom content for online social communities, which include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and the AJ+ mobile app.
According to Facebook data, since the end of June 2015, videos from AJ+ have been viewed more than 430 million times. In June AJ+ became the ninth biggest video publisher on the social network, according to video sharing data aggregated by NewsWhip, which lists AJ+ as second only to “Nowthis” among news publishers. And growth seems to be accelerating as AJ+ videos have made it into the feeds of 153 million Facebook users, and more than 24 million people engaged with posts from AJ+.
The US State Department has honoured CNN International Executive Vice President and Managing Director Tony Maddox and the CNN Freedom Project as a 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero. The eight Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report Heroes are announced in conjunction with the annual TIP Report by the State Department, which assesses the response of 188 countries and territories to the crime of human slavery.
“I am humbled by this recognition,” said Maddox. “And I am proud of CNN using the full range of our international resources to track and highlight this important story.”
Spearheaded by Maddox, CNN International launched the CNN Freedom Project in 2011 to shine a spotlight on modern slavery. The project has sought to amplify the voices of survivors, highlight effective prevention and victim assistance efforts, and investigate the criminal enterprises involved. Now in its fifth year, the CNN Freedom Project is among the most successful and highly visible programming initiatives on CNN International. Under Maddox’s leadership, it has also become the longest running awareness and investigative campaign on modern slavery on television news.
Under Maddox’s leadership, CNN International has enlisted dozens of correspondents and crews around the world, and has published more than 400 investigative stories. Various NGOs report that CNN Freedom Project stories have contributed to changing laws and corporate policies, led to more than 1,000 survivors receiving assistance and sparked over $24 million in donations to anti-trafficking organisation. Additionally, the CNN Freedom Project has inspired new NGOs and grassroots campaigns around the world.
Premiering on Al Jazeera English on 24 August 2015, My Nigeria is a series of six half-hour documentaries that pulse with the energy of Africa’s leading economy telling the human story.
From stand up-comedian Basketmouth to Nollywood star turned politician Kate Henshaw, from ICT expert Gbenga Sesan to fashion designer Deola Sagoe, from football coach Femi Bamigboye to female mechanic Sandra Aguebor, each film focuses on one central character, who invites us into their world, sharing their story in their own words.
“The series was commissioned specifically to support Al Jazeera English’s brand ‘Hear the human story,’ to bring people’s stories directly to our screens, told in in a first-person style without mediation, offering a range of authentic views,” says Ingrid Falck (left),head of documentaries at Al Jazeera English.
Award-winning South Africans directors Brian Tilley and Clifford Bestall shot the series across Nigeria, which is home to one in five Africans.
“To get beyond the clichés of Africa, there isn’t a better place than Nigeria,” says Ingrid. “For every stereotype of corruption or extremism, there are millions of ordinary Nigerians making this African powerhouse tick. Our series focuses on these individuals to see firsthand how Nigerians are busy making a difference.”
BASKETMOUTH: TRASH TALKING, premiering 24 August 2015
Basketmouth (real name Bright Okpocha) is arguably Nigeria’s most successful stand-up comic. Born and bred in the notorious Lagos slum Ajegunle, he discovered his gift for comedy by chance and has never looked back. His take on the Lagos elite is upbeat, irreverent and challenging.
KATE HENSHAW: PLAYING A PART, premiering 31 August 2015
Kate Henshaw has always been known as one of the Nollywood stars with integrity. Having made over 70 Nollywood films, Kate decides to leave the fictional world and run for a seat in Nigeria’s House of Representatives. Kate wants to change how people are represented in her hometown of Calabar in Southern Nigeria, but politics in Nigeria is not for the timid…
GBENGA SESAN: CONNECTING A MILLION, premiering 7 September 2015
As a school student, Gbenga Sesan was denied access to the computer room at his Nigerian school and told he was not clever enough to operate one. Years later, Gbenga is an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) expert, with international awards and a successful consultancy business. He’s spreading his good fortune by teaching ICT and life-skills to young adults in Nigeria’s poorest neighbourhoods.
DEOLA SAGOE: TOP DRAWER, premiering 14 September 2015
Nigerian fashion has broken out, gracing the catwalks of New York, Johannesburg and Monaco. Deola Sagoe was one of the designers who led this Nigerian fashion expansion. The House Of Deola Sagoe is on Lagos’ Victoria Island and caters for Nigeria’s who’s who. Deola’s father, prominent Nigerian businessman Chief Ade Ojo, never wanted his daughter to go into fashion. He actively discouraged her,
wanting her to take over his lucrative business. But Deola had other ideas…
FEMI BAMIGBOYE – LOCAL MAN, premiering 21 September 2015
Femi Bamigboye is the coach and founder of the Remo Football Academy in the small Nigerian town of Iperu. You have to really look for Iperu on the map, but Femi has managed to produce a line of young players who represent Nigeria at age group level, including two players who will represent Nigeria at the under 17 World Cup at the end of the year. This is some achievement in a country of over 180 million people. Femi is not just a football coach: he is a pastor with a loyal congregation who worship every Sunday in a lean-to church in the middle of the thick forest that surrounds Iperu. Femi feels his job is not just to teach football; he wants to develop world-class young men.
SANDRA AGUEBOR: LADY MECHANIC, premiering 28 September 2015
Sandra Aguebor is Nigeria’s first Lady Mechanic. Growing up in Benin City in a polygamous family, Sandra’s mother actively discouraged her from following her dream, sometimes beating her when she would be out tinkering in an engine instead of doing her kitchen chores. But Sandra is the sort of woman who responds well to adversity. She has built a network of lady mechanics that is spreading from city to city in Nigeria by training ex-sex workers, orphans, and victims of trafficking to be mechanics. Sandra’s Lady Mechanic Initiative has now spread to the north with its first project in Kano City, where the response from Muslim women has been unprecedented.
German broadcaster expands internationally by delivering two channels using ASTRA 4A, ASTRA 5B and SES-5 SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has signed a new long-term capacity agreement on three SES satellites to broadcast two channels in Eastern Europe and Africa.
Deutsche Welle will be broadcasting its German-language TV channel DW via the ASTRA 4A satellite, allowing more than six million direct-to-home households in Eastern Europe and 40 million cable and IPTV households in Europe to receive the channel directly and indirectly.
Deutsche Welle will also broadcast its new English-language channel across Eastern Europe and Africa via the ASTRA 4B and SES-5 satellites. The 24-hour news and information channel, which broadcasts events from Germany and around the world, was already launched on 22 June via ASTRA 19.2 degrees East.
Guido Baumhauer, Director of Distribution and Technology at Deutsche Welle (pictured right), said, “Deutsche Welle produces high-quality content in 30 languages for the whole world. We are very pleased that we have found, in SES, a reliable technical partner that complements our global satellite portfolio and helps us to broadcast news and information to two of the most important regions in the world.”
“We are very pleased that Deutsche Welle is once again relying on SES to expand its coverage. The latest agreement with Deutsche Welle is an example of how our global satellite network can enable broadcasters to expand beyond their domestic markets to reach international audiences on all continents,” said Norbert Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Commercial, Europe at SES.
Related story
Watch the interview with DW Director General Peter Limbourg here.
RT has handed over information on the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane’s fragments to the Dutch agency heading the international probe into the crash. The investigators earlier contacted the network over the footage shown in a recent RTDoc film ‘MH17: A Year Without Truth’.
The film showed fragments of the crashed Boeing and pieces of luggage were still scattered in the area at the time of filming, many of which have since been collected by the administration of the nearby village of Petropavlovka. The contacts of the local officials were also handed over to the Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the international investigation.
In MH17: A Year Without Truth, which premiered on RT on July 17, 2015 – the one-year anniversary of the tragedy – tracks the course of the still-ongoing investigation into the possible causes of the crash, and features testimonies from experts the relatives of those who had perished in it. (Source: RT press release)
International Radio Serbia – or Radio Yugoslavia – has been closed down by the Serbian government. The move was first announced in April when the government published its media strategy and new law on public information which was adopted in 2014 and brought about the end of state ownership of the media or its funding.
During protests in April, a letter from the station’s staff was handed to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic which said: “Although the new media laws were adopted in 2014, we are certain there is a way for Radio Yugoslavia – International Radio Serbia to survive, being the only short wave radio station in the country, and whose broadcasts are reaching all continents. There is not a lot of us – less than a hundred – and before you solve our fate, check to see whether Germany has renounced on Deutsche Welle, Great Britain on BBC, the USA on the Voice of America, China on the China International, or Russia on the Voice of Russia. The situation is similar in Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania. Those are all radio stations financed form the state budget as their world service. Please consider those options and let someone speak to us before passing the decision to shut down the program in 11 languages, which offers exquisite possibilities for representing Serbia around the world. We sincerely believe you will find the way to hear our position and help us.”
The broadcaster, that had been on the air since the 1930s, had 12 language services and employed 96 staff, all of whom have lost their jobs according to reports coming out of Belgrade.
A statement on the radio station’s website says: “The Serbian government, however, believes that the closing down of Radio Yugoslavia – International Radio Serbia – is a justified move. Regardless of the fact that the state of Serbia is in an economic crisis, that each saved penny is precious, that many citizens have been rendered jobless, that new work positions should be opened, it has become unclear to the very end why the only state short-wave station has suddenly become too expensive after 80 years. We are, however, certain, that Serbian citizens, taxpayers, who have financed us for all these years, would have decided differently had they been asked to.”
Dima joined Al Jazeera in 1997 as a broadcast journalist in Al Jazeera’s Doha newsroom where she became a news producer. She participated in managing the coverage of the channel during the Iraq War which brought Al Jazeera international recognition. She also helped launch the first Al Jazeera show dedicated to women in the region, while also setting up bureaus in China and Venezuela for the network. In 18 years, Dima has reported from over thirty countries, interviewing presidents and people from all walks of life. In 2012, Dima was classified as the most connected woman on Twitter in the Middle East.
The US State Department has honoured CNN International Executive Vice President and Managing Director 
“The series was commissioned specifically to support Al Jazeera English’s brand ‘Hear the human story,’ to bring people’s stories directly to our screens, told in in a first-person style without mediation, offering a range of authentic views,” says Ingrid Falck (left), head of documentaries at Al Jazeera English.
Guido Baumhauer, Director of Distribution and Technology at Deutsche Welle (pictured right), said, “Deutsche Welle produces high-quality content in 30 languages for the whole world. We are very pleased that we have found, in SES, a reliable technical partner that complements our global satellite portfolio and helps us to broadcast news and information to two of the most important regions in the world.”