24 June 2004
Peter Murimi’s news feature Walk to Womanhood about the female circumcision rituals of the Kuria Tribe in Kenya won both the Arts & Culture Award as well as being judged the best overall journalistic story out of 465 entries from 30 countries around the Continent. The Awards were presented in Johannesburg on 19 June. Camerapix was Executive Producer of this compelling story which brought together the talents of 4 alumni of The Mohamed Amin Foundation’s Television Training Centre — Pete Murimi (Director), Mujo Musinde (Script & Narration), Philip Murungi (Editor) and Andrew Mungai (Camera).
This award going to a graduate of The Mohamed Amin Foundation brings full circle the dream of the Legendary photo-journalist, the late Mohamed “MO” Amin, who was a co-founder of the African Journalist Awards along with Global Media Alliance Managing Director, Edward Boateng of Ghana. Their goal, through these awards, was to encourage and promote young African journalists to tell the African story in order to reflect the African perspective.
To make these stories internationally acceptable, Mo realised that professional training was imperative. In Mo’s last public speech at State House, Nairobi in 1996, his appeal for this training was made public: “…we need the support and commitment of the international media and donor community to establishing a professional training centre. A place where young Africans can learn the skills and techniques that will enable them to continue in the tradition of courage and truth.” The Mohamed Amin Foundation was founded in memory of Mo Amin and remains dedicated to making this training a reality. The Foundation continues to struggle to raise funds in order to continue to deliver and expand its training, giving more opportunities to other young, talented African journalists.
24 June 2004
Arne Wessberg, EBU President, Jean Réveillon, and IOC representatives Jacques Rogge, President, and Thomas Bach, Vice-President, have signed a contract for the comprehensive media rights to the Vancouver Olympic Games as well as the 2012 Games*.
The European Broadcasting Union (Eurovision) has been granted comprehensive media rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games for the entire European Broadcasting Area (except Italy, with which the IOC will deal separately).
The rights acquired under the agreement will allow the most comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Games, on free-to-air television but also on all other platforms, such as the Internet and mobile telephone services, by EBU Members and sublicensees.
* The candidate cities for the 2012 Games are: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.
24 June 2004
On 12 and 13 July, Al Jazeera Channel will be organising and hosting an international media conference on Media & Government Defining the Relationship in Doha, Qatar.
The conference will address issues at the core of the broadcasting profession, stemming from the industrys experience of covering the war in Iraq and its aftermath, especially the re-emergence of the paradoxical relationship between media and governments.
The conference will attempt to bring together active members of the international media corps from all areas of the industry including print and electronic publishing, as well as broadcasting, alongside interested academics and policy makers in relevant fields.
For more information please contact:
Jihad Ali Ballout, Manager, Communication & Media Relations
Tel: +(974) 487 3479
Fax: +(974) 487 6790
Mob: +(974) 582 3182
E-mail: jballout@aljazeera.net
PO Box 23123, Doha-State of Qatar
24 June 2004
SES ASTRA, in a concerted effort with more than sixty of its European broadcast customers, hardware manufacturers and other industry partners, at their second European HDTV Forum session held on 17 June at SES ASTRA’s headquarters in Luxembourg, have agreed on the technical aspects and the timetable for the introduction of HDTV (High Definition Television) services in Europe via the ASTRA Satellite System.
Due to the eye-catching higher resolution compared to standard definition broadcasts, HDTV offers a compelling new viewing experience, notably on state-of-the-art flat screen displays and home cinemas, which are being installed at an increasing rate in European homes. HDTV is already a reality in countries like the United States and Japan, where more than 6 million households currently receive HDTV broadcasts and all major broadcasters offer full-fledged HDTV services.
SES ASTRA pioneered the transmission of HDTV services in Europe with EURO 1080. Europe’s first dedicated HDTV offer has been broadcasting via the ASTRA satellite system at 19.2° East since January 1st, 2004. In the meantime, the interest in HDTV has gained considerable momentum in several European countries under the ASTRA footprint. The latest pan-European HDTV initiative undertaken by ASTRA and renowned industry partners is expected to trigger a rapid deployment of the new technology across various European markets, with additional HDTV channels expected to launch as early as this year on the ASTRA Satellite System.
To ensure a uniform roll-out and avoid a fragmentation of the nascent market in Europe, SES ASTRA and its industry partners have agreed on the minimum technical specifications for HDTV broadcasts, based on e.g. the open MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 AVC standards. These technical specifications include:
– HDTV ready displays need a minimum of 720 lines vertical resolution
– Scan formats of 720P50 and 1080i25 for HDTV
– Standard interfaces for peripheral equipment
SES ASTRA and its industry partners have also agreed on the launch of an “HDTV” label which will be deployed to identify future-proof HDTV displays. The label is intended to ensure consumer confidence when acquiring new display devices and will be used in the upcoming HDTV marketing campaigns of the different manufacturers promoting the pan-European HDTV initiative.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, states: “So far, Europe has been trailing countries like the United States with respect to the introduction of HDTV services. At the same time, sales of flat screen displays have been booming. Independent research institutes actually suggest that in a few years tens of millions of HD enabled TV sets will be deployed in the different European countries. By agreeing on minimal technical specifications and building on open standards, SES ASTRA and its partners from the broadcast and hardware industry intend to ensure that the roll-out of HDTV services in Europe kick-starts as early as this year.”
24 June 2004
The BBC is responding to listeners’ demand for better radio reception by expanding its medium wave transmissions to India. BBC World Service programmes in Hindi and English will now be available to listeners in India on 576 KHz medium wave, daily from 10.00pm to 11.30pm Indian Standard Time (IST). The transmissions will cover North West Bihar and a large area of Uttar Pradesh. Head of BBC Hindi, Achala Sharma welcomed the launch of an additional medium wave frequency for the late evening Hindi programme Aajkal broadcast daily from 10.30pm to 11.00pm IST.
According to new audience figures released on 21 June, BBC World Service remains the world’s leading international radio broadcaster with a weekly global audience estimate of 146 million. Independent surveys in top markets also showed that the BBC World Service is the most trusted and objective international broadcaster when compared to its main radio competitors in each market.
The new global audience estimate indicates a drop of 4 million radio listeners compared to 2003’s global audience estimate of 150 million. This figure takes account of a significant drop in short wave radio listening year-on-year that has been partially offset by a big rise in listening via the higher quality audibility of FM. BBC World Service is now available on FM in 139 capital cities around 72 per cent of the world’s total.
Moreover BBC World Service also extended its reach with rapid growth in online usage, particularly among younger audiences. The sites attracted 279 million monthly page impressions in March 2004, this equates to over 16 million unique users a month. This is a rise equivalent to eight million new monthly users of the BBC’s international news sites during the 13 months between February 2003 and March 2004.
22 June 2004
Broadcast magazine, the UK trade newspaper for the broadcasting industry, is holding a one-day conference in London on Thursday 24 June on launching and managing a channel. The AIB is supporting this event and will be in attendance. Click on the banner above for more details.
