4 May 2010
Chinas official Xinhua news agency will launch a 24-hour, global English TV service that will be broadcast via satellites, cable systems, the Internet and cell phones.
The English TV service will be produced by China Network Corporation (CNC), which is affiliated to Xinhua.
A ceremony was held in Beijing today to mark the start of a trial broadcast scheduled for tomorrow. After a trial operation of two months, the English service will be officially launched on 1 July.
Backed by the local and overseas Xinhua correspondents network, CNC aimed to quickly respond to major news events in China and abroad, and provide objective, comprehensive, in-depth and multi-dimensional news analysis, Xinhua President Li Congjun said.
He said: “CNC will offer an alternative source of information for a global audience and aims to promote peace and development by interpreting the world in a global perspective.”
CNC’s programmes include World News, China Report, Business News, Lifestyles, and news magazine programmes, such as China View and Click On Today, as well as feature programmes such as World Perspective and Global Visitors. (Source: ABU web site)
29 April 2010
WRN is adopting a new brand identity – from 29 April 2010 the company will be knows as WRN Broadcast.
The change of company name reflects last year’s acquisition of TSI Broadcast and the integration of the two companies is now complete. WRN Broadcast’s technical facilities have been rebuilt and the new Media Centre represents one of the finest state-of-the-art ingest and playout centres in Europe. Not only has this resulted in an increased range of broadcast services but technical staffing levels have doubled as the company continues to invest in service delivery for clients.
28 April 2010
Support services company VT Group, which transmits the BBC World Service, has been presented with the Professional Services Award at this year’s BBC Global News Reith Awards for its exceptional effort in protecting the BBC Asia relay station in Thailand from severe flooding and maintaining transmission.
The site, located in the Nakhon Sawan province in Northern Thailand, is owned by the BBC and operated by 29 VT Group staff.
The building faced major damage and the staff were also in danger after extreme rainfall in the region caused authorities to divert flood waters from dams to protect the population of Bangkok and other urban areas.
However, as a result, the transmitting station was in the direct path of the diverted flood waters and desperate action was needed to protect the site and staff. Hundreds of tons of sand were packed into bags to protect site buildings and inside doors were sealed and additional barriers erected.
Once the flood waters began to rise there was nothing more staff could do as the site was breached and eventually the safety of the equipment was compromised. There was no alternative but to cease all broadcasts and to find alternative ways to transmit in appropriate quality.
The decision to close the site triggered the VT planned emergency response. Within 30 minutes, all on-air transmissions had been placed at alternative VT transmitting stations.
Site staff even enlisted the help of the Thai army who worked with volunteer staff to reinforce the sand-bag wall, operate the pumps and control water ingress. The building stood secure and essential power was maintained until the waters subsided and a clean-up plan was put in place, using local staff to ensure a cost-effective and efficient solution.
Subsequent work upgraded flood defences, including the re-design and re-laying of drains around the station to control any ingress of water better, strengthening the perimeter wall and raising the height of equipment in the antenna field.
VT Group General Manager Communications John Prior explained: Inspirational leadership and great teamwork avoided a potential disaster. Although there was a threat to the homes of many staff, they remained on site to lead the efforts there. If the water had entered the building, it would have affected the equipment. BBC transmissions from the site would have been off air for months and the financial costs of repair would have been enormous. The response of the staff was really beyond the call of duty.
Nigel Fry, Head of Transmission and Distribution in the BBC World Service said the tremendous effort of the VT Group staff has been recognised with this award. The response is a great reflection on the relationship that we have with the VT Group team.
In recognition of the help offered by local teams, VT and the BBC made financial and other aid donations to the local flood aid centre for distribution to the neighbouring population.
28 April 2010
The worldwide journalist death toll has soared to shocking new levels on the eve of World Press Freedom Day 2010.
Seventeen news media staff have died violently this April — one every 1.5 days, according to incidents recorded by the International News Safety Institute. Nine have been killed in the past 13 days.
It was the bloodiest April recorded for the news media in the past five years and the worst month in a year that has suffered 42 deaths in 22 countries so far, surpassing the 37 counted over the first four months of last year. And 2009 eventually turned out to be one of the worst years on record with 133 deaths.
At least 27 deaths were confirmed connected with the victims’ work as journalists. Fifteen more fatalities appeared to be linked but that was unconfirmed. All but a handful of the victims were murdered.
“As World Press Freedom Day approaches, this is a stark reminder of the terrible price we pay for our news around the globe,” said INSI Director Rodney Pinder.
INSI backs a call for one minute’s silence in newsrooms around the world to honour more than 1,500 journalists and other news media who have died trying to cover the story over the past 14 years. UNESCO has urged the gesture of respect to take place this and every year on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, to denounce the murder of journalists and to demand an end to impunity for their killers.
INSI and other journalist support groups have found than in more than eight out of 10 cases of journalist murder no one is brought to justice. In some countries the prosecution rate is virtually zero.
“The shocking death toll in April brings this issue into even sharper focus,” Pinder said. “Each and every case demonstrates a crying need for action both in the countries concerned and on the world stage. Freedom shrieks whenever a journalist is killed for doing their job.”
The toll of this bloody April includes:
Patient Chibeya, a Congolese journalist shot dead in front of his home by men in military fatigues.
Radio presenter Luis Antonio Chevez Hernandez and journalist Georgino Orellana, gunned down in Honduras. Seven journalists have been slain in Honduras this year.
Edwin Segues, a radio reporter shot in the Philippines – the second reporter murdered there since January.
Latvian publisher Grigorijs Nemcovs, the victim of an apparent contract killing
Malik Arif and Azmatr Ali Bangash, killed by a suicide bomber as they reported on a refugee camp in Pakistan
Nathan Dabat and Sunday Bwade, stabbed by rioters as they covered unrest in Nigeria
Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto, shot in the chest during a clash between troops and demonstrators in Thailand
Metin Alatas, a journalist working for a Kurdish-language newspaper in Turkey, found hanged in a tree
Enrique Villacana Palomares, a kidnapped Mexican columnist, found with his throat cut
Colombia: Mauricio Moreno Medina, a community radio journalist, stabbed to death and Arsenio Zambvrano Ocampo, found in his home, gagged and bound and stabbed 10 times
Most killings this year have taken place in Honduras. Mexico, with six dead, Pakistan with four, and Colombia and Nigeria with three each are the next most murderous nations.
Other countries in INSI’s casualty listings are Nepal and Venezuela with two each and, with one each, Cyprus, Russia, Ecuador, Turkey, Afghanistan, Angola, Yemen, India, Congo, South Africa, Philippines, Latvia, Cameroon, Iraq and Thailand.
“INSI calls on all of the States concerned — and especially Honduras, Mexico, Pakistan, Colombia and Nigeria — to conduct full inquiries into these deaths and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Pinder said.
“We also urge all UN member states, in the spirit of UNESCO’s call for a minute’s silence, to join in a global effort staunch the bloodshed and end impunity for the killers of journalists.”
Full details of all of the deadly incidents are available on the INSI website http://tinyurl.com/yj8hzhn
26 April 2010
Al Jazeera Childrens Channel (JCC) won the Gold award for best medium length film for its production Baghdads Angel at the closing ceremony of the Al Jazeera 6th International Documentary Film Festival.
The 52 minute documentary by Director Rasheed Mashharawi shows the hardship of children in Iraq through the eyes of Hawraa, a 10 old year girl who walks the streets begging support for her family.
As Mashharawi lands in Baghdad on a mission to produce a series of documentaries highlighting the labour of Arab children in December 2008, the war in his homeland Gaza erupts. The film consequently illustrates the tragic similarity between Iraq and Gaza, showing the grave influence of war and conflict on the lives of children.
Mr. Mahmoud Bouneb, JCCs Executive General Manager commented: JCCs has been marking major presence through such works in regional and international film festivals in an attempt to promote and distribute such productions to other broadcasters; although those movies were not produced to primarily broadcast on JCC; however, they highlight the committed editorial policy of the Channel to unveil the issues Arab children are facing in their home countries and around the world.
The Gold award is in recognition of JCCs production strategy in the last few years. With more than 50 films produced in collaboration with Arab and international filmmakers and specialized production houses, JCC has received prestigious prizes like the Ecumenical Prize at the Berlinale this year for Aisheen, a film about the war in Gaza in 2008, and last years Special Jury Award at the Osian Cinefan festival in New Delhi for Wailing Wall. Since 2006, JCC has taken home two Gold and two Silver awards at Al Jazeera International Film Festival.
23 April 2010
The conference, called by President Evo Morales of Bolivia to discuss climate change and in particular to highlight the views of the world’s poorest peoples, ended yesterday in Cochabamba. The output were declarations (see cmpcc.org for the full text) that covered the four main aims of the meeting: a universal declaration of the rights of Mother Earth (protecting ecosystems) ; the creation of an International Tribunal to bring to justice those who violate these rights ; compensation for poor countries from the industrialised countries who have caused the vast majority of environmental damage (6% of GDP annually was demanded) ; and a global referendum on climate change in a year’s time.
It is not hard to see why Bolivia is at the forefront of these demands. Scientists say that 50% of Bolivia’s ice mass, currently vital to supply water supplies to cities such as the capital La Paz, will be lost in the next 40 years – not due to their own actions, but due to economic activity in other countries. Also, like many less developed countries they felt left out of the discussions at the Copenhagen summit which were mainly between countries such as the US and China, with agreements being presented to them simply for acceptance. Plus in Evo Morales, they have a passionate president representing an indigenous population that until recently has hardly had any say in their government.
Will the summit have any effect? Apparently there were 48 governments represented among the 31,000 attendees, though in the end the only other president who attended was Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and with rhetoric against capitalism in evidence, it would be easy to dismiss it as simply promoting left-wing propaganda. But hopefully, the voices of billions of poor people will be heard, if not here, then elsewhere. They are being badly affected by climatic variations and need a voice.
In the context of the AIBs People’s Choice award on climate change, we are hoping for programmes that cover the views of a huge variety of different nations, tribes and races.
