The latest of the AIB’s industry briefings has been published and is available online – follow the link below to see the 24 June edition.
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Following decades of accomplishments, Tim Riordan decides to retire at the pinnacle of his career from his current position as Group TV Director at MBC, at the beginning of October, while remaining as a special advisor to MBC Chairman and Board. Having helped drive MBC channel launches over the years and successfully negotiated output deals with all the major studios, Riordan has been instrumental in shaping the unique TV viewing experience that millions in the Middle East and North Africa region have enjoyed.
In parallel, MBC Group announces the appointment of Ali Jaber as Group TV Director. Jaber will be joining the team of Group Directors that manage the Groups activities across many different media and platforms.
Commenting on this, Ali Al-Hedeithy, MBCs Group Director General said: Tim Riordan has been a pillar of the MBC Group for many years. He made his mark particularly in the launch of MBCs western content channels. However, we have also benefitted from his wide ranging experience across all areas of the Group. Tims leadership, his ability to make things happen from studio deals to channel launches, and his readiness to innovate – have been a big asset for MBC. Were delighted that Tim has agreed to stay in an advisory capacity to MBC Chairman and Board.
As far as the appointment of Ali Jaber is concerned, Ali Al-Hedeithy commented: Im pleased to welcome Ali Jaber to the MBC family, ahead of his joining date in September. Alis background, his wide ranging achievements in the industry and his years of experience will bring added value to the Group and will further enrich our team of Group Directors.
The Dutch cabinet has announced plans to cut back the activities of Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The Dutch world service will no longer provide information for Dutch people living abroad, or provide the rest of the world with a realistic image of the Netherlands.
Instead, Radio Netherlands Worldwide is to concern itself solely with providing information in countries where free speech is suppressed or threatened.
During his press conference after the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mark Rutte praised the work Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) has done.
“Radio Netherlands Worldwide will limit itself to one role, promoting free speech. I think the other tasks RNW performs are nice, valuable, but not enough to finance them with public money.”
Austerity programme
The cuts to RNW are part of a widespread austerity programme the current centre-right government is implementing to bring the national budget into balance. In the wake of cuts to higher education, the arts and defence, the government today announced a reorganization of the entire public broadcasting system.
As part of that reorganization Radio Netherlands Worldwide will no longer fall under the media budget, but become the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry. That move is scheduled to take place on 1 January 2013.
Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal confirmed the narrower focus – including press freedom – for the Dutch international service:
“Radio Netherlands Worldwide will concern itself with free speech under Foreign Affairs starting in 2013. I will not say anything else about it right now.”
Mr Rosenthal explained that, since RNW will remain part of the media budget next year, he does not want to step on ! his fellow minister’s toes, referring to Media Minister Marja van Bijsterveld.
Parliament
The financial details of these changes to Radio Netherlands Worldwide are not yet clear. The lower house of parliament is due to debate the cuts to RNW in two weeks. Parliament must still approve the cabinet’s planned cuts. The debate is scheduled for 27 June.
“Incomprehensible”
In reaction to the news from The Hague, former foreign minister Bernard Bot, chairman of the RNW supervisory board, said: “I find this cabinet decision incomprehensible for a government whose foreign policy should serve the long-term interests of the Netherlands and the Dutch.”
RNW director-general Jan Hoek echoed the feelings of Mr Bot: “This is an incomprehensible and sad decision. The ministry has chosen the easy way out by passing one quarter of the cuts in public broadcasting (200m euros) in its entirety to one organization – RNW.”
RNW editor-in-chief Rik Rensen said: “Our country is known as an important and reliable trading nation. Radio Netherlands Worldwide makes a unique contribution in 10 languages, 24 hours a day. For tens of millions of people around the world, RNW is an important source of information and a journalistic calling card for the Netherlands. Is our country really going back behind the dikes?”!
Mobile phone users from Mexico to Peru can now listen to Voice of Americas Spanish language news bulletins, thanks to a new VOA partnership with AudioNow and its patent-pending technology that can stream radio content to any phone.
By simply dialing up the free service, mobile phone users can listen to VOAs latest five minute Spanish language newscast in Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
Access numbers for mobile subscribers in each country are posted on the VOA Spanish Service website.
VOA Latin America Division Managing Editor Clara Dominguez says the use of the cost-effective AudioNow technology, represents an expansion of our commitment to free and open access to media throughout the world, and especially in Latin America, where mobile phone use has grown rapidly.
AudioNow, a provider of mobile phone radio distribution in North America and around the world, uses proprietary technology that allows any fixed or mobile phone to access live and pre-recorded audio programming.
Dominguez says, VOAs Spanish language service continues to expand its audience throughout the Southern Hemisphere and this exciting partnership with AudioNow gives us an opportunity to serve an important listener base on a platform they are comfortable using.
Users of the new service do not have to download any software. The service is free, although some mobile operators may apply phone service charges, so users should check their mobile plan for details.
Listen to VOA at the following numbers: Argentina, Buenos Aires: +541159841362, Colombia, Bogotá: +5715087780, El Salvador, Nacional: +50321131960, México, Ciudad de México: +525530987583, Panamá, Nacional: +5078365477, Perú, Lima: +5117086904, Venezuela, Caracas: +582123357780.
For more information about this and other VOA Spanish language programs, visit www.voanews.com/spanish/news. For more about VOA in English visit www.voanews.com.
euronews will reinforce its presence in Brussels by setting up a new team of over twenty people, as well as a studio and the latest production facilities. This new 600 sq. m office is ideally located in the heart of the European district and has become the largest international news bureau located in the European Capital.
The euronews teams report on European affairs and international news in 10 languages*, soon to become 12. This multilingual and multicultural team will also be equipped to broadcast live as events unfold.
In the presence of Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, Pier Luigi Malesani, Chairman of the Euronews S.A. Supervisory Board, Philippe Cayla, Chairman of the Executive Board and Michael Peters, Managing Director, inaugurated the Brussels euronews bureau.
The office is located at 223-225 rue de la Loi, near the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission, just off the Robert Schuman roundabout and opposite the European Union’s Department for Foreign Affairs.
Accompanied by Lucian Sârb, Directeur of News and Programmes as well as Peter Barabas and Gardenia Trezzini, Editors-in-Chief, they presented the new team and their objectives. The opening of this new bureau is part of an agreement signed in December 2010 with the European Commission.
Opening a comprehensive newsroom in Brussels is a strategic step for the channel and fits in with its desire to cover European affairs in greater depth. euronews’ coverage of European affairs will now be even more responsive, accurate and comprehensive.
Through reports, interviews, special editions, via link-ups or live broadcasts, the Brussels bureau will cover the daily news concerning these institutions as well as any political, social, cultural or sports events. It will welcome numerous international personalities to the offices as they pass through the European capital. euronews’ unique pan-European view of international news will be considerably broadened.
The creation of this bureau will enable the production of more original programmes addressing Europe-specific topics and has already led to the launch of two of the channel’s new flagship programmes.
– I Talk, an interview show presented by Alex Taylor, the highly respected and renowned multilingual European journalist, and made in a virtual studio. In keeping with his informative and yet relaxed style, Alex Taylor interviews a guest on a 3D set, bringing euronews’ into a whole new dimension,
– The Network, the euronews talk-show. The debate is presented by Chris Burns, eminent Europe correspondent of dual nationality who has lived in Europe for 18 years. Chris brings together three personalities with diverging opinions and points of view. Each guest is invited to answer Chris Burns’ questions on the day’s topical issue.
The Brussels news team will be in permanent contact with Lyon and will participate via video conference in the editorial meetings. The team based at 223-225 rue de la Loi, will consist of:
– 1 Bureau manager – Brussels Bureau: Sergio Cantone, permanent correspondent for euronews in Brussels since 2004, he will be bureau co-ordinator, team manager and he will implement working procedures between Brussels and the Lyon headquarters. The euronews office in Brussels will really benefit from Sergio’s knowledge and experience in the field.
– 1 assistant Bureau Manager who will organise team work alongside the Bureau Manager.
– 10 permanent journalists: Olaf Bruns (German edition), Paul Hackett (English edition), Audrey Tilve (French edition), Margherita Sforza (Italian edition), Fariba Mavaddat (Farsi edition), Alan Gülsum (Turkish edition) and on a temporary basis: Charles Salamé (Arabic edition), Rafael Cereceda (Spanish edition), Maria Barradas (Portuguese edition), Galina Polonskaya (Russian edition).
euronews has selected Headline NFP to set up these new offices. Headline provides audiovisual services, from the installation to the operation of the TV control room/studio, the set, the editing room and the master control room. Headline also provides teams of cameramen and production teams to assist euronews’ own teams in Brussels, including on-site technical manager (Dietrich De Bruyne), and production assistant (Maribel Garcia).
Voice of America and the Pakistani cable TV channel, Express 24/7, celebrated the 100th edition of their groundbreaking co-production, “The Platform,” with a special program Tuesday featuring a live studio audience in Pakistan posing questions to guests in the United States.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jamie Rubin, who is now Executive Editor at Bloomberg News, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, now a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, fielded a range of questions on U.S.-Pakistan relations.
Rubin, speaking from New York, said he was very worried about the future of relations between the two countries. He said ties have suffered since Osama bin Laden was discovered living in Pakistan and because of the perception that Pakistan is not doing enough to battle terrorist groups.
Members of the studio audience in Lahore raised the sensitive issue of U.S. drone strikes against militant targets inside Pakistan that have resulted in civilian casualties and anger about violations of Pakistans sovereignty.
VOA Acting Director Steve Redisch called Tuesdays 100th episode of The Platform an excellent example of thoughtful and informed debate that benefits all sides on an issue of critical importance to the United States, Pakistan and its neighbors.
VOA host Kokab Farshori says the prime-time, English language show, which airs Mondays and Tuesdays, has a growing audience in Pakistan because it often tackles topics that are not discussed on other stations in Pakistan.
VOAs Raza Naqvi, who also hosts the show, says The Platform offers perspective and balance that viewers cant get elsewhere. Naqvi says it is the first prime-time news program in Pakistan to present U.S. policy experts who can offer counter arguments and opinions on hotly-debated issues.
The Platform is broadcast from the VOA TV studios in Washington and from the Express 24/7 studios in Lahore. Direct satellite links between the facilities and to remote locations allow hosts and guests to freely engage in debate. The program is re-broadcast on YouTube and with Urdu language subtitles on Express 24/7s Urdu cable channel, one of Pakistans leading media outlets.
In addition to the live broadcast of The Platform, VOA and Express 24/7 have created a joint Facebook page for the program to facilitate an ongoing dialogue with the audience. For more on The Platform, visit www.voanews.com and click on our Urdu language page.