11 October 2006
BBC World Service is to continue its move into international television. The London-based
broadcaster announced on 10 October that it plans to launch a television news
and information service in Farsi (Persian) for Iran, complementing the broadcaster says – its existing Persian
radio and online services for Iran. The BBC said that it
expected to launch Farsi TV early in 2008 from
London. The new service will initially broadcast for
eight hours a day, seven days a week, from 1700 to 0100 local time in Iran
which, the BBC says, is peak viewing time in Iran, and will be available via
free-to-air satellite and on as yet unnamed cable services.
Unlike the Arabic-language TV service that is
due to launch next year that is funded from the existing “grant-in-aid” from the
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the new Farsi-language service will be
funded from an additional budget announced by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
Gordon Brown. The operating cost of £15m a year will be funded by the UK
Government. There were protests when funds for the new Arabic-language TV
service were found from BBC World Services existing budget which led to the
closure of some smaller radio language services, including Thai.
BBC World Service Director Nigel
Chapman said: “The BBC’s Persian radio and online services are
well-respected by Iranians, especially by opinion formers. In Iran we are
regarded as the most trusted and objective of all international broadcasters for
the way we provide impartial news and information about the wider world and the
crucial part Iran is playing on the regional and global stage. But television is
increasingly dominating the way that millions of Iranian people receive their
news.
“Therefore the BBC proposed to the Foreign
Office that we launch a television service in Farsi to complement our existing
independent news and information services for Iran on radio and online. Like all
BBC services, the new television service will be editorially independent of the
UK Government. I am delighted the BBC Farsi television service proposal has been
given the go-ahead.”
The BBC’s Farsi television service will draw
upon the BBC’s international newsgathering resources and the organisation says
that it will “showcase accurate, impartial, balanced news and analysis from a
global perspective”. The channel will also show investigative current affairs
programmes, alongside quality BBC factual, cultural and educational
documentaries.
Voice of America TV has run a Farsi-language
TV service for some time read about it in the AIBs magazine, The Channel
(April 2006 edition, pp40-42), which can be downloaded
here. You can find a download library for back issues of The Channel
here, and subscribe to this increasingly influential and important global
media magazine
here.
11 October 2006
Al Jazeera International, the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, has outlined its full line-up of bureaux and correspondents around the world ahead of its global launch later this year.
In addition to four broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC, Al Jazeera International will have around 20 supporting bureaux which will gather and produce news in the field, giving unprecedented access to a single network – this will be added to with further key bureaux over the coming months. The various bureaux around the world will feed local news on to the international stage through each broadcast centre, enabling Al Jazeera English language channel to seek out and cover different perspectives of news through grassroots reporting wherever news is made, and impartially present these stories to the English speaking world. Through this structure (see more details below) Al Jazeera International will balance the typical information flow, for the first time ever on a global scale.
Al Jazeera International also announced that it has appointed a diverse team of talented and experienced correspondents from around the world who will report from the channels broadcast centres, bureaux and out in the field.
Talking from the channels Doha headquarters, Managing Editor Omar Bec said, Together with the Arabic channel we will have more than 60 bureaux around the world with the majority of these in the Southern Hemisphere ensuring we will balance the information flow from South to North. We will be the channel of reference for the Middle East and Africa. Al Jazeera International will share the resources of Al Jazeera Arabic language Channels 42 bureaux located around the world and is already planning to add further key bureaux to the mix. These will be announced as they open. We will be adding several bureaux to our news gathering offering in the coming months. Were looking at setting up further bureaux in South America, the horn of Africa, the Middle East and Africa, he continued.
Middle East
Al Jazeera is the channel of reference in the Middle East. Al Jazeera International will have unrivalled coverage and unique access – and through its sister channel a 10 year record of uncompromising and award winning journalism.
Broadcast Centre: Doha, Qatar
Correspondents: Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Hashem Ahelbarra, James Bays, John Cookson, Mike Hanna*
Bureaux: Beirut-Lebanon, Jerusalem-Israel, Ramallah and Gaza-Palestinian Territories
Correspondents: Zeina Khodr & Rula Amin, Jacky Rowland, Walid Batrawi*
Africa
Al Jazeera International will have more bureaux and resources dedicated to Africa than any other global broadcaster. Al Jazeera International will give a voice to the unheard by covering every aspect of life from this huge and ever changing continent.
Bureaux: Cairo-Egypt; Abidjan-Ivory Coast; Nairobi-Kenya; Johannesburg-South Africa and Harare-Zimbabwe
Correspondents: Amr El Kahky, Gabi Menezes, Haru Mutasa, Kalay Maistry, Farai Sevenzo*
Asia & Australasia
Al Jazeera International also has a presence at the centre of the worlds largest population and fastest growing economies, with bureaux located across Asia, Australasia and Oceana.
Broadcast Centre: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Correspondents: Tony Birtley*
Bureaux: Beijing-China, Delhi-India, Islamabad-Pakistan, Manila-Philippines and Sydney- Australia
Correspondents: Tony Cheng, Zain Awan & Rajesh Sundaram, Kamal Hyder, Marga Ortigas, Dan Nolan*
The Americas
Al Jazeera Internationals news bureaux across the Americas will reveal the daily developments in political, social, economic and military agendas as they happen across the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, the USA and Canada.
Broadcast Centre: Washington DC, USA
Correspondents: Viviana Hurtado & Rob Reynolds*
Bureaux: Buenos Aires-Argentina, Caracas-Venezuela and New York-USA
Correspondents: Lucia Newman, Mariana Sanchez, Mark Seddon, Kristen Saloomey*
Europe
Al Jazeera Internationals European broadcast centre is situated at the heart of Europe, reporting on activities from the European Union and strategically placed with its bureaux at the most Southern and most Northern gateways of Europe in Moscow and Athens.
Broadcast Centre: London, UK
Correspondents: Alan Fisher*
Bureaux: Athens-Greece and Moscow-Russia.
Correspondents: Barnaby Phillips, Jonah Hull*
9 October 2006
RFE/RL Acting President Jeffrey Trimble released the following statement in reaction to the death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow October 7, 2006.
“I and my colleagues at RFE/RL are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Anna Politkovskaya. I also express our deepest sympathies to her family, who have lost her loving care and spirit.
” We condemn the persons who are responsible for this violent and senseless act against a journalist who worked in the best interests of the people of the Russian Federation. We call upon the Russian authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation of this crime, and to do more to ensure the safety of independent journalists in their country.
“Anna was a frequent contributor to RFE/RL’s Russian-language programs; in fact, her final interview was with RFE/RL, and took place just two days before her murder. She was an honest and talented journalist, fearless and committed to uncovering the truth of a story.
“Her resoluteness earned her more than one death threat. But throughout, she retained her sense of humanity. Speaking before an audience at RFE/RL in Washington, DC, a few years ago, she said she felt a responsibility not only as a journalist, but as a citizen of Russia to help ‘those who could not speak for themselves.’
“The loss of Anna Politkovskaya is a tragedy for the people of Russia; a blow to free spech, and a setback for the cause of open and honest journalism.
“We will miss her.”
4 October 2006
The AIB is pleased to announce that the presentation of its 2006 International Broadcasting Awards will take place in London on Wednesday 22 November.
We’ll be publishing full details in the next couple of days; in the meantime if you’re interested in attending this important and prestigious event, let us know.
E-mail us to register your interest now.
The AIB is making available very limited sponsorship opportunities at this major event. Download the sponsorship brochure
here and then call us to discuss how you can become involved in this important, exciting and memorable evening.
3 October 2006
EuroNews is now available through the Tvext Internet TV service, developed by Broadband Television Network Corp based in Washington DC. EuroNews will now be available Live on the internet, for the first time, in the United States. TVext carries EuroNews live in all seven language versions (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian).
Available on www.tvext.tv, the service provides users with access to a range of content, including programming from EuroNews. TVext offers video programming to consumers on a subscription and pay-as-you-go basis.
Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of EuroNews said: “EuroNews is already successful on high speed internet in Europe. Tvext is the first Internet TV service in America to carry EuroNews; the partnership fits perfectly with their philosophy of attracting unique programming that is accessible and relevant to dual-language households and expatriates living in the United States. For EuroNews it represents a new way to expand globally and reach viewers who are interested by EuroNews’ unique editorial concept”.
3 October 2006
Harris Corporations Broadcast Communications Division Radio Business Unit has donated its market-leading Platinum Series® Z5, 5kw, solid-state, FM transmitter to the first independent Iraqi womens radio station, Radio Al-Mahaba. The new Harris transmitter, to be installed this month, will transmit within a 60-90 mile radius of the stations Baghdad location and will reach people in approximately half of the 18 provinces. The stations original 5kw transmitter was destroyed by an explosion near the station in October of last year, and its subsequent 3kw rental unit failed. They are currently operating with a rented 1kw unit, which has drastically reduced their ability to reach their audience and garner the advertising revenue they need to remain on the air.
Its difficult to describe the significance of this 5kw transmitter to the continued success of our radio station, said Bushra Jamil, the spokeswoman of Radio Al-Mahaba. It means well be able to reach the small towns and rural villages where women remain extremely isolated from news and education. The illiteracy rate for Iraqi women is now at approximately 75 percent, so this makes our radio broadcasts even more vital. After the bombing that destroyed our first transmitter, we had to reduce our staffs salaries by half. With this new transmitter, we can become financially self-sufficient through increased advertising revenues.
The non-religious, non-governmental station for women encourages audience members to call in and talk to one another, and features commentators and guests that educate them about their rights. The urgent needs of Radio Al-Mahaba have been a frequent topic since this spring on the daily U.S. broadcasts of the Satellite Sisters radio program, syndicated nationally by the ABC Radio Networks. Station personnel are often interviewed on the show and the station is featured prominently on the program website. This summer the Satellite Sisters launched a campaign to raise $100,000 to Keep Radio Al-Mahaba Talking. The new transmitter, plus the nearly $40,000 raised to date, will help ensure that the voice of Iraqi women will continue to be heard. We are thrilled to have a hand in restoring transmission for this pioneering Iraqi station, said Debra Huttenburg, vice president and general manager of the Radio Broadcast Systems business unit of Harris Corporations Broadcast Communications Division. Communication is vital to the people of Iraq, and Radio Al-Mahaba operates daily under the harshest conditions imaginable. We see this outreach as an extension of Harris involvement in the region, specifically with regard to our re-build of the studio infrastructure for the Iraqi Media Network (IMN). Through its Government Communications Systems Division, Harris rebuilt AM/FM and television infrastructure for the entire country of Iraq. Radio and television studio infrastructure and transmission equipment, along with a satellite delivery system, were essential parts of the re-build. The IMN program included equipment, operation, training, and provisioning of programming for an integrated media network that includes two national radio channels, two national television channels, and a national newspaper, “Al Sabah.”
