The next conference call for AIB Members will be at 1400 GMT (0900 EST/1500CET) on Thursday 8th January 2004.
The conference call allows members to exchange news and information with their peer group and to discuss the current strategy and plans of the AIB.
More details about the conference call have been circulated via e-mail to members.
Deutsche Welle is streamlining its training and teaching activities with the founding of the DW Academy which came into existence at the beginning of January 2004. DW Academy will act as an umbrella organisation for two existing DW training centres in Bonn for radio and Berlin for television.
The Academy will be training young journalists just starting out on their careers. Plans are also being drawn up to offer intercultural media training for German business people who are to be posted abroad.
The key activity of the DW Academy is the training of broadcasting staff from developing countries. This will be funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development. Gerda Meuer, the newly appointed head of the DW Academy, announced that a special course is being set up for young trainee journalists who live in parts of the world to which DW broadcasts programmes.
Deutsche Welle is a member of the AIB.
Al-Jazeera Channel has launched a Media Training and Development Centre. The centres purpose is to contribute to the development of Arab media in particular and international media in general. The centre is reported to be the first of its kind in the Arab world. It will look at media awareness, provide training, follow theoretical and practical media innovations, prepare studies and public polls on media products, and verify the level of audience interaction with media products. The work of the centre includes print, audio and electronic media. It also offers general programmes for improving media performance.
The centre is situated in Doha and unites experts in different media fields and specialities under its roof, together with a number of international media foundations specializing in media training, such as the British Thomson Foundation and the International Centre for Media Training [CIFAP] in France.
Al-Jazeera is a member of the AIB.
The Voice of America has announced it will end broadcasts in Bulgarian, Estonian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian on 27 February 2004. In addition, programmes in Ukrainian and Armenian are being reduced. VOA Director David Jackson says the move follows cuts by Congress in funding for the services under a Bush administration proposal.
Mr Jackson said VOA must shift its focus to “new audiences and new priorities”. He says he is sad the agency must say good-bye to loyal colleagues, but that he is proud that their professionalism and dedication to freedom and truth have played an important role in spreading democracy.
Tandberg Television, a leading supplier of open solutions for digital broadcasting and broadband, has named Dan Desmet as the new General Manager for the Americas, based in Orlando. The new Director of Sales EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) at the companys UK headquarters in Southampton is Eric Baron, an experienced international Telecoms professional.
The two appointments are seen as a move that will strengthen and expand Tandberg Televisions operations, enabling the company to enhance its capability within key markets, such as telecommunications, broadband, Video on Demand, and cable.
BBC Technology announced it will be providing the newly built BBC Broadcast Centre with a crucial software system that will enable most of the centres broadcast equipment to be controlled and monitored remotely. Colledia Control will be at the heart of the BBC Broadcast Centre and will provide seamless control over the entire playout infrastructure from simple, touch-screen interfaces.
The BBC’s Broadcast Centre will house the playout, channel management and creative teams for international channels, BBC channels and other broadcasters. It is at the heart of BBC Broadcast’s vision to lead a major shift in broadcast media management from traditional tape-based formats to digital media.