3 May 2007
Russia Today TV, the 24 hour-a-day news channel from Moscow, is the latest broadcaster to enrol in the AIB.
Russia Today is demonstrating its strategic support of the international broadcasting industry and the AIB – the industry’s trade association – by choosing Gold Membership.
“We’re delighted to welcome Russia Today TV to the AIB,” says Simon Spanswick, the Assocation’s CEO. “Since its launch in December 2005, Russia Today TV has developed its service and today provides a window on events across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States that is unmatched in international television.”
2 May 2007
The Indonesian-American Friendship Society (PPIA) and the Voice of America (VOA) announced a PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program today. The cooperative program will provide opportunities for promising young Indonesian journalists, and radio and TV broadcasters to gain six months practical experience with the VOA Indonesian Service in Washington, DC.
In announcing the program, Tantowi Yahya, Chairman of the PPIA said, “PPIA is very pleased to be working with the Voice of America to bring this golden opportunity to young Indonesians who want to build their careers in Indonesia’s broadcasting industry.”
The PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program will provide transportation to the U.S., basic living expenses, health insurance, and other benefits. The program is open to recent university graduates in fields related to journalism and broadcasting and to those with no more than three years of experience in broadcasting or print media.
Norman Goodman, Chief of VOA’s Indonesian Service observed that, “The PPIA-VOA Broadcasting Fellowship Program is a win-win situation. It will bring fresh, talented Indonesian journalists and broadcasters to contribute to VOA’s Indonesian programming and then they in turn will play a part in Indonesia’s broadcast industry.”
Further information about applying for the fellowship program can be found by going to www.VOAIndonesia.com . The first participants will be selected in October 2007 and are expected to begin their experience with VOA in early 2008.
Established in 1959 as Lembaga Indonesia-Amerika (LIA), the Perhimpunan Persahabatan Indonesia-Amerika’s (PPIA) mission is to foster closer friendship ties between Indonesians and Americans through mutual appreciation of one another’s culture. PPIA is a nonreligious, nonpolitical, nonprofit organization.
The Voice of America and the VOA Indonesian Service are both celebrating 65 years of broadcasting this year. VOA is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
2 May 2007
Al Arabiya news channel announced the launch of the Atwar Bahjat Award, an annually awarded prize that will recognize outstanding achievements by female journalists. The 2007 award was presented by MBC Chairman, Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim bin Ibrahim to Samia Nakhoul, Middle East Bureau manager at Reuters during this years Arab Broadcast Forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The award comes as a symbolic gesture to the living memory of Atwar Bahjat, who sadly made the ultimate sacrifice while covering her beat in Iraq, said Sheikh Waleed. I hope this award will help recognize and stimulate the efforts of female journalists all over the world, especially those covering the regions hotspots.
Al Arabiya committed to bringing its audience closer to the truth- paid a heavy toll covering the situation in Iraq, adds Sheikh Waleed. 11 staff were killed and several offices targeted several times by suicide bombing attempts, but this didnt deter journalists like Bahjat, determined that people needed and indeed, deserved a credible, fact-based reportage.
The inaugural award recipient, Samia Nakhoul, was among several female Arab and international journalists nominated by different independent organizations and press unions. She was unanimously selected to receive the award.
Nakhoul has covered some of the worlds hottest locations, including most of the conflict the Middle East region has witnessed in the past few years. She is a leading name among the Arab journalist community, having managed Reuters Gulf before moving to head-up the whole Reuters team in the Middle East.
Samias name is familiar to anyone working in a newsroom in the region, commented one of the journalists who presented the award. Shes a model journalist who is always very active on the ground filing a story a day from very different locations and always taking part in different forums, debates and media events.
Nakhoul started her career with Reuters Beirut bureau in 1987, covering West Beirut during the final years of Lebanons civil war. Her stories covered everything from the daily street battles of the various militias as well as following leads into the abductions and assassinations of several western civilians and diplomats and politicians.
Samia then went on to cover the 1991 Gulf war from Iraq and moved to Cairo in 1992 where she specialized in covering Islamic movements.
Samia Nakhoul and three photographers received serious injuries on April 8, 2003 while covering the invasion of Iraq from the Palestine hotel. Two of her colleagues also lost their lives that morning.
I commend Nakhoul and her female colleagues across the world. This award will serve to encourage more such professionalism, and we look forward as a viewing audience to reaping the benefits of objective, rigorous journalism that exposes the truth no matter the consequence, concludes Sheikh Waleed.
1 May 2007
Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, was honoured with five prestigious industry awards at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB2007) convention held earlier this month in Las Vegas.
Harris won TV Technology magazine’s STAR Award (Superior Technology Award Recipient) for the CENTRIO(TM) multi-image processor; Broadcast Engineering magazine’s Pick Hit award for the Harris Channel ONE(TM) integrated channel release solution; and Television Broadcast magazine’s Top Innovation Award for the OPTO Test(TM) OFI-20B optical fibre identifier.
The MPH(TM) (Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld) in-band mobile DTV system, jointly developed by Harris Corporation and LG Electronics, was also honoured at NAB2007-winning TV Technology magazine’s STAR Award and Television Broadcast magazine’s Top Innovation Award. The MPH(TM) system provides robust DTV signals to mobile, pedestrian and handheld devices.
“At NAB, we introduced a wide range of innovative new solutions for broadcast workflows that enable broadcasters to create new revenue models, improve customer workflows and reduce the cost of operations,”
said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “Winning these prestigious industry awards underscores the success of our strategy to be the ONE answer for customers across the industry.”
The TV Technology STAR Awards are designed to celebrate and showcase the pre-eminent technological innovations available to the broadcast industry. A panel of judges consisting of TV Technology editors and columnists reviewed a variety of products, examined the technical applications and their overall contribution to the industry, and then submitted their award nominees. The Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit Awards are the industry’s longest-running new technology awards. An anonymous panel of Broadcast Engineering readers who are working professionals in the broadcast, post and network and satellite industries selected the winners. Products or technologies that receive the Television Broadcast magazine’s Top Innovation Award are nominated by industry professionals and selected unanimously by the editorial team of Television Broadcast. These awards are presented in recognition of Technology Insight for the Bottom Line(TM), having combined innovative technical achievement with workflow and cost efficiencies.
Unveiled at NAB2007, CENTRIO(TM) is a breakthrough multi-image processor designed to streamline complex, large-system broadcast monitoring applications and combine an advanced graphics engine and a routing infrastructure in a single, expandable chassis. Harris Channel ONE(TM) integrates a high-quality graphics playout server, animations, live video, video clips, audio, real-time external data feeds and master control functionality in a single chassis — providing broadcasters with the necessary components to produce and air complete television channels in high definition or standard definition. The OPTO Test(TM) OFI-20B is a handheld, easy-to-use optical test instrument that identifies optical fibres by detecting the optical signals being transmitted through the fibres without having to open the fibre.
1 May 2007
The Third Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival concluded today after four days of screening 128 films from over 60 countries.
Winners in four categories were announced at a closing ceremony at the Sheraton Doha Resort & Convention Centre.
Meeting Resistance directed by Steve Connors and Molly Bingham won Best Film in the Long Film category. The New Horizon Category awards dedicated to fostering young emerging independent filmmakers went to Voices of Shadows directed by Ahmed Elkady (Al Jazeera Golden Award) and Road to America directed by Aloke Shetty (Jurys Award).
1 May 2007
The BBC Executive today welcomed the BBC Trust’s decision to approve new on-demand services, subject to certain conditions, following a Public Value Test.
Mark Thompson, the BBC’s Director-General, said: “We are delighted with the BBC Trust’s decision to approve our on-demand proposals. “The first Public Value Test has been an extremely rigorous and exhaustive process. This is a significant decision as the new on-demand proposals are at the heart of the BBC’s Creative Future.
“However, we disagree with the Trust’s decision to exclude classical music podcasts from the proposal: our research suggests that classical music audiences would wish to download classical music programmes from the BBC and to listen to them on their terms, free at the point of use.”
Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s Director of Future Media & Technology, said: “We are facing unprecedented rates of change in technology and audience expectations. “BBC iPlayer responds to a need for greater control and flexibility over how and when audiences access BBC content. It is a critical part of the BBC’s strategy to maintain impact and relevance in a world where viewing and listening habits are shifting from linear to on-demand. In its initial release, BBC iPlayer will make BBC Television programmes available for download, free for UK licence fee payers, at high quality, with no advertising, for up to a week after transmission.”
The proposed launch date for BBC iPlayer will be announced in due course.
