25 May 2010
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has announced that Michael McCluskey is to be the new Chief Executive of its international radio service, ABC Radio Australia.
He succeeds Hanh Tran, who is to take up a senior editorial role with the ABC.
Dr McCluskey, who takes up the post on 31 May, is currently the ABCs State Director New South Wales.
In a career spanning more than 25 years with the ABC, he has worked as a rural reporter, executive producer, radio presenter, regional programme manager, international advisor and local radio manager. His doctorate is in the area of media and development.
Mr Green thanked Mr Tran for his leadership over the past three years particularly in the areas of bilingualism, journalism and cross language cooperation.
He also acknowledged the addition of Burmese as a new language service, Mr Trans leadership of Radio Australia news staff in the creation of the Asia Pacific News Centre, and the development of Pacific Break, a pan-Pacific music competition that has won international acclaim and first prize at the 2009 AIB International Media Awards.
ABC Radio Australia broadcasts in eight languages across Asia and the Pacific. It is the partner broadcaster to Australia Network television and media capacity building collaborator with ABC International Projects.
25 May 2010
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of Radio Marti, which began its broadcasts to Cuba with a simple “buenos dias Cuba.”
In the years since, Radio Marti’s news programs, dedicated to being accurate, objective and comprehensive, have offered the Cuban people a welcome alternative to state-controlled media propaganda.
“I appreciate the opportunity in this historic day to acknowledge all journalists, engineers and support staff for your commitment in providing professionalism, objectivity and balance in all our programs and newscasts,” said Pedro Roig, director of the U.S. government’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio Marti. “Congratulations to all in these 25 years of commitment to the freedom of Cuba.”
Cuba has one of the world’s most restrictive media environments – in the bottom 10 of the Freedom of the Press rankings by Freedom House and among the 10 worst countries to be a blogger according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Radio Marti and its sister television and Internet outlets broadcast across multiple media platforms to combat the massive jamming efforts of the Cuban government.
With an all news format, Radio Marti programs air 24 hours a day Tuesday through Sunday, and 18 hours on Monday on shortwave and AM frequencies. Approximately 70 percent of the broadcast hours are live newscasts. Three daily half-hour programs are dedicated to information and reports from dissidents, independent journalists, independent librarians and pro-democracy advocates within Cuba.
24 May 2010
Al Jazeera will lead a new initiative aimed at delivering freedom on the Internet. Launching the multifaceted strategy at the start of the fifth Al Jazeera Forum, the Networks Director-General Wadah Khanfar said: “Al Jazeera is proud to announce that we will bring our ground-breaking coverage to the widest audience possible, free of charge.”
Al Jazeera will provide its content free of charge across a range of digital platforms. This will include Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as developing a new application for the iPad.
Secondly, Khanfar announced a programme supporting the rights of online journalists, bloggers and other individuals who write and report online.
There are too many cases of bloggers being persecuted for telling the truth or for voicing their opinions, said Khanfar. As part of the Al Jazeera Initiative for Internet Freedom, we will provide
assistance to those who face online censorship and other forms of media oppression.
In an attempt to bolster the Networks newsgathering efforts, Jazeera is to provide people in marginalised communities and remote parts of the world with cameras and mobile phones to allow them to document stories that can be used on the Arabic and English news channels.
Media tools are often only accessible by those who have the resources and skills to access new technology. By providing these tools
Al Jazeera will be engaging a new generation of journalists, said Khanfar.
The new initiatives were announced during the innovative Unplugged session at the Forum, with speakers from organisations like Twitter explaining to the invited international audience how new media are impacting on traditional media companies.
21 May 2010
The AIBs’ new People’s Choice category, focused this year on programmes dealing with climate change, is limited to television programmes. This is because, unfortunately, it is difficult to ask an international audience to judge radio programmes because of language barriers. At least with television we can (and will) provide subtitles in a range of languages for the programs to be chosen by popular vote, and the online viewers can see the original output and understand the way that the story is treated. With radio, in order to convey the quality of a programme, a translation has to be very precise and convey the original intonation and expression. We hope that AIB members and other colleagues working in radio will forgive us that we were not able to include radio this year.
This is a pity since there are many good examples of radio programmes dealing with climate change. Only this week it was possible to hear:
- Vatican Radio reporting on Pope Benedict XVI expressing serious concern for the plight of herders in Mongolia, where extreme weather conditions threaten the livelihood of hundreds of thousands. The Pope stated that “environmental issues, particularly those related to climate change, are global issues and need to be addressed on a global level”
- Vermont Public Radio (VPR) on the effects of climate change at Lake Champlain, which now often fails to freeze over in winter. This visible result brings home the reality of the changes to local people. While it causes problems, Curt Stager of Paul Smith’s College in the northern Adirondacks points out “It’s a mix of good news and bad news in a way. The bad news is that climate change is likely to amplify some of our existing environmental problems. And the good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to deal with that.”
- MetadelPlaneta, the first radio programme in Mexico about climate change, appealing for funds
- an online podcast about Project Survival Pacific, discussing the danger to low-lying islands in the Pacific of rising sea levels and how the islanders are reacting
However, there were claims that the 4th International Conference on Climate Change hosted by the Heartland Institute was not given coverage by the media. But you can catch up here to see video and audio of the conference as it is posted.
The programmes mentioned above show how radio broadcasts can bring to life personal stories of how climate affects individuals all over the world. But the continuing wide divergence of views about what change is happening, what causes it, how damaging it is and what we should do, still challenges the listeners ability to put facts into perspective and broadcasters ability to shed light.
20 May 2010
The Voice of America is expanding coverage of Sunday’s Ethiopian parliamentary elections with special daily radio programs in English, enhanced multi-media efforts, and additional live broadcast hours on election-day in Amharic, Tigrigna, and Afaan Oromoo.
A 10-minute daily English-language program, titled Ethiopian Elections in Focus, is now airing evenings with the latest on the issues and candidates as they prepare for the crucial May 23 vote. The program, which is part of VOA English to Africa’s extensive lineup, will continue all week after the election.
Analysis, interviews, special reports and features are available at www.voanews.com, and through a special newsletter that is being distributed by email in an effort to reach listeners who have been affected by the jamming of VOA’s popular broadcasts to Ethiopia.
VOA’s Horn of Africa service will broadcast live to Ethiopia election-day from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the evening, bringing uncensored coverage to its large audience through shortwave and on VOA 24, a new satellite service carried by Arabsat. The extended election coverage, in Afaan Oromoo, Amharic, and Tigrigna, will include on-the-scene reporting of election-day events, panel discussions of polling station turnout and interviews with Ethiopians around the world. VOA has also added a 30-minute morning program in Amharic that starts at 6 a.m.
Earlier this month, Voice of America Director Danforth W. Austin issued an open letter to Ethiopian listeners expressing deep concern about the jamming of VOA broadcasts and websites. He also assured listeners that VOA will continue to do all it can to bring Ethiopian listeners the news they have come to trust and rely on for almost 30 years.
18 May 2010
Baraem TV received a gold award for best on-air-channel identity and a silver award for best out-of-house station image promo at Promax/BDA Arabia 2010 held in Dubai last Sunday. Promax/BDA Arabia celebrates outstanding achievements in television promotion, marketing and design in the Arab world.
We are glad to receive these prestigious awards; such recognition to Baraems visual identity highlights the level of creativity and our understanding of the audiences needs, which we employed to create a distinctive and impactful brand, said Malika Alouane, Director of Channels Programming of at Al Jazeera Childrens Channel and Baraem TV. In less than 18 months, Baraem TV proved to be a fierce competitor among Arab channels and global television networks with regards to its unique image and in terms of content making.
Over the past six months, Baraem TV had earned 9 international awards and certificates of merit from prominent international festivals and events.
In 2008, Promax/BDA Arabia had also awarded Al Jazeera Childrens Channel for Best Holiday/Seasonal/ Special Event Promo for its documentary Children of Iraq.
