27 September 2005
A court in Madrid has jailed former Al Jazeera journalist Tayssir Alouni for collaborating with a terrorist organisation. Alouni, who protests his innocence, interviewed Osama Bin Laden before the 11 September attacks. He was sentenced to seven years for acting as financial courier to Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
A Syrian-born Spanish citizen, Alouni was one of 24 defendants in Europe’s biggest trial of Islamic extremists which has ended in Spain. Alouni denied carrying money intended for al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan, saying in his testimony that he was only doing his job as a journalist. Until his arrest in 2003, he was among Al Jazeera’s most prominent and popular correspondents, fronting the network’s coverage of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Al Jazeera issued the following statement on 26 September:
“Al Jazeera Satellite Channel is surprised and deeply disappointed by the Spanish Courts decision to sentence one of its senior correspondents Tayseer Alouni to 7 years in prison. The Channel supports Mr. Alouni and his familys decision to appeal the Courts verdict and is in consultation with its legal team.
Meanwhile, the Channel will request the Spanish judiciary to release Mr. Alouni for health considerations on bail. Mr. Alouni has been suffering an ongoing heart condition for which he had been earlier released, prior to his sudden pre-sentencing re-arrest last week.
The Channel views the incident as a dangerous precedent for the profession of journalism and journalists across the world who go to great lengths on a daily basis to bring coverage on critical issues. Al Jazeera reiterates its support for Mr. Alouni and his professional integrity and courage as a journalist.”
27 September 2005
Effective from 30 October, German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is introducing basic changes to its German programming of DW-RADIO, including two-hour programming blocks, a new programme schedule, more topical information, increased regionalisation and greater flexibility.
Deutsche Welle and Abu Dhabi TV are extending their partnership: on 28 September the first edition of their co-produced talk show “Meet Europe is broadcast, with twelve more editions planned. The cooperation between DW and Abu Dhabi TV also encompasses exchange of staff, technical services and images.
On 3 October Deutsche Welle starts a programme slot for Belarus: the 15 minute long magazine will report on events and developments in the region, with the aim to foster democracy and freedom of the media. The programme slot is subsidised by the European Commission. Initially broadcasts are in Russian.
27 September 2005
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company has gained the Polish public TV broadcaster TVP (Telewizja Polska SA) as a new customer on its ASTRA Satellite System. According to a new long-term contract, TVP will broadcast its five existing TV channels in digital via ASTRA 19.2° East starting October 1st, 2005. Furthermore, TVP is preparing to launch on ASTRA a new digital bouquet of thematic channels in 2006. TVP is one of the biggest public TV broadcasters in Central and Eastern Europe and commands a total market share of 52% of the TV audience in Poland.
The TVP offer on ASTRA will comprise TVP1, TVP2, TVP3 Regionalna, TVP Kultura and TV Polonia. TVP will use the ASTRA transponder No. 59 (10861.75 MHz, horizontal-polarization, 22 Msymb/s, FEC: 5/6) at the orbital position of 19.2° East.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, said: “With this breakthrough agreement, SES ASTRA will engage in a significant activity in the all important Polish TV market. We are very proud that TVP selected ASTRA for the satellite distribution of its digital programs and the roll-out of its digital bouquet. Partnering with TVP is a milestone in the development of our position in the Central and Eastern European markets.”
Piotr Gawel, Vice President Marketing and Sales of TVP, said: “The progress of digital TV will allow us to overcome the capacity restrictions of terrestrial TV and significantly enhance our offer to viewers. It will allow us to enter exciting new fields like thematic channels and interactive services. With SES ASTRA as our new satellite service provider, we are delighted to provide the highest quality transmission to our customers and viewers.”
The collaboration between SES ASTRA and TVP has been announced today at a joint press conference in Warsaw.
27 September 2005
Radio Netherlands has won the NLGJA/Seigenthaler Excellence in Radio Award 2005. The United States National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) granted its First Place Award to Radio Netherlands journalist Eric Beauchemin for his documentary ‘In Limbo: Gay Palestinians’. The organisation’s Third Place Award went to another Radio Netherlands journalist, David Swatling, for his programme ‘Vox Humana: Love Exile on the Road’. The awards will be presented in Chicago on 24 September.
The jury said that Eric Beauchemin’s programme made a valuable contribution to reporting on subjects relating to the gay lifestyle. In the documentary ‘In Limbo: Gay Palestinians’ Beauchemin examines the quagmire in which gay male and female Palestinians find themselves. Palestinian gays often flee to Israel because of discrimination within the Muslim community. Many of them end up working as prostitutes because of their illegal status and difficulty finding work.
Beauchemin says: “I think it’s important to cover ‘other’ topics in Israel, not only the well-known ones such as the security barrier and children with war traumas. Human rights are violated in this type of situation, too and many people don’t know about it.” Beauchemin has worked as a journalist for Radio Netherlands for the past twenty years. He specialises in human rights, children and conflict situations.
David Swatling’s documentary centres on Martha McDevitt-Pugh, founder of the Amsterdam organisation Love Exiles. McDevitt-Pugh lives with her wife in the Netherlands because the United States refuses to recognise her marital status – her partner is not allowed to immigrate. Together with 46 other activists, she travelled with the Marriage Equality Express bus from San Francisco to Washington DC to call attention to the issue of gay marriage.
Both Beauchemin and Swatling have been honoured by the NLGJA in recent years for their coverage of gay and lesbian issues. The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association is made up of journalists as well as others who work in the media such as teachers and journalism students. Its goal is to encourage a fair coverage of gay issues.
13 September 2005
AIB members GlobeCast and Teletrax have collected industry awards at this year’s IBC event in Amsterdam.
In the Cable & Satellite International Product of the Year Awards, GlobeCast won in the category of Best OB Technology or Service for its innovative WING Content Exchange, while Teletrax collected the top honour in the Best Content Protection Technology category.
The Awards were presented at a ceremony during IBC, the annual industry technology event that is held in Amsterdam. The AIB attended this event, representing members, collecting intelligence and providing a meeting facility on its stand.
IBC 2006 will also take place in Amsterdam in September next year.
13 September 2005
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division (BCD) announced that its new DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter 5kW/UHF was awarded “Product of the Year” by Cable & Satellite International at its annual awards ceremony at the RAI Centre at IBC2005, in Amsterdam. Introduced in March 2005, the DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter was chosen “Product of the Year” in the highly competitive category of “Best Terrestrial Wireless Contribution/Distribution/Transmission Solution.”
Recognized for its innovative design, the DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter is unique in its ability to cool the heat that builds within the filter housing during operation. As the industry’s first liquid-cooled DVB-T filter, the DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter uses the DVB-T transmitter’s existing liquid cooling system to dissipate the heat build-up from filter operation. The benefit of this cooling design, in combination with a very low insertion loss, is a significant reduction in energy consumption resulting in dramatic operational savings throughout the product’s life.
As the industry’s most compact filter solution for power levels up to 5kW, this new DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter also increases the suppression of the DVB-T transmitter’s out-of-band spectrum due to its high selectivity. This ensures that the signal’s characteristics remain within the EN300744 standard under all operational circumstances. When the Frequency Planning Conference meets in Geneva in 2006, many believe that there will be changes to broadcasters’ operation frequency channels. Since the DVB-T Liquid Cooled Output Filter is fully adjustable within the entire UHF range of frequencies, customers will have the flexibility to tune the filter to the new frequency without any further capital expense.
At NAB Radio 2005, Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division shows its latest in studio consoles and systems with a comprehensive overview of its flexible PR&E VistaMax family of products. Since its acquisition of Pacific Engineering & Research in 1999, Harris has introduced a complete range of consoles to equip the largest multi-studio facilities to the smallest independent operations, while delivering audio networking capabilities to virtually any radio broadcaster. The heart of Harris’ studio product portfolio is its popular PR&E VistaMax family of products. The VistaMax platform simplifies network audio management by allowing radio stations to connect sources and destinations to the system over the shortest path, eliminating or reducing stand-alone routers, distribution systems and long multi-pair bundles.
With the BMXdigital and RMXdigital solutions aimed mainly at large and medium markets, Harris recently introduced what is perhaps the industry’s most cost-effective, all-digital console specifically designed for smaller markets. The Harris PR&E StereoMixer(r) digital console, available in tabletop and rack-mount configurations, breaks the price barrier for digital consoles in small market operations by delivering digital capabilities at an analog budget. Featuring a completely digital mixing architecture and considerable flexibility, medium-to-large market radio stations can use the StereoMixer digital console for smaller production studios, voice tracking rooms, nonlinear editing suites, and newsrooms while retaining the innovation associated with larger Harris PR&E digital consoles. StereoMixer(r) digital users can enable VistaMax platform networking over multiple studios through simple console connections.
