Justin Stevens appointed Director, ABC News, Analysis and Investigations

5 April 2022

Justin Stevens appointed Director, ABC News, Analysis and Investigations

The ABC has announced that Justin Stevens has been appointed Director, ABC News, Analysis and Investigations.

Justin brings extensive journalism experience and editorial leadership to the position built across two decades and senior editorial positions in current affairs.

In his former role as 7.30 Executive Producer, Justin has for four years been responsible for leading and managing the ABC’s agenda-setting flagship daily current affairs program.

His appointment as Director follows a comprehensive recruitment process involving both internal and external applicants.

The appointment is effective from Monday 4 April.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson said:“Justin has a proven track record in editorial leadership across complex issues and events. Together with the ABC News Executive team, Justin will lead the next stage of the ABC News strategy to be more accessible, valuable and relevant to Australians across all platforms, with the highest quality journalism always at the core.

“Justin fully understands the challenges and opportunities the ABC faces as an essential public service in the digital media era.

“I want to thank the members of the ABC News Executive for their support during this recruitment process, especially Gavin Fang, who has done an exceptional job acting in the News Director role and who will continue to play a crucial role in the work of ABC News into the future.

“This is a key appointment for the ABC and it comes amid major news events – the continuing effects of the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, domestic issues such as the rising cost of living, and the upcoming federal election.

“It’s a position that requires exceptional editorial leadership, and Justin will be outstanding in the role.”

Justin Stevens commented: “I’m incredibly proud to be part of ABC News and it’s an honour to be given the opportunity to lead this great team.

“The ABC celebrates 90 years this year and ABC News is a huge part of its proud heritage.

“Australians trust ABC News to deliver the quality public interest journalism and services they need and which are a key part of a healthy democracy. That job is more vital than ever.”

About Justin Stevens

Justin’s first job in the media was in 2005 as a researcher for the Nine Network on Sunday and for Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals.

He joined the ABC in December 2006 and worked as a producer and a supervising producer on 7.30 until 2014. His work there included producing key Australian political and feature interviews for presenters Kerry O’Brien and Leigh Sales, including with Barack Obama, Tony Blair, Sir David Attenborough, Woody Allen and the Dalai Lama, and working on breaking news coverage.

In 2013 he was a producer on the four-part ABC series “Keating: the Interviews” with Kerry O’Brien.

In 2014-2015 he was a producer on the three-part series “The Killing Season” with Sarah Ferguson, which won an AACTA Award for Best Documentary and a Logie Award for outstanding public affairs report.

From 2015-2017 Justin worked on Four Corners, producing programs including the Hillary Clinton interview special; a money laundering investigation; the “Leaders” election special; profiles of Clive Palmer and Bill Shorten; and a program on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. He produced “The Siege”, the two-part special on Sydney’s Lindt Café siege which won the 2018 Logie Award for outstanding news coverage.

In 2018 Justin was appointed Executive Producer of national nightly current affairs flagship 7.30, leading a team that sets the news agenda, goes in-depth on the biggest stories of the day and investigates and breaks stories of national significance.

Night after night, 7.30 delivers the key interviews with the top politicians, public figures and newsmakers from Australia and around the world. Its extensive record of public interest journalism includes long-running investigations on topics such as the Centrelink “robodebt” scheme and Melbourne’s quarantine hotel inquiry; breaking stories on decisions in grant allocations by former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian; in-depth reporting on Indigenous issues; and extensive reporting out of regional and rural Australia.

Under Justin’s watch 7.30 has grown its broadcast and digital audience. In 2021 its national audience averaged 980,000 viewers a night with an audience share of almost 13% in metro markets and 12.5% in regional areas.

NHK WORLD programme highlights April

4 April 2022

NHK WORLD programme highlights April

NHK WORLD’s programme line-up for April has the following highlights:

Globe-trotting wildlife photographer and filmmaker, Iwago Mitsuaki, offers the best of a vast collection of cat footage he took in Japan. On this unique trip around the country, discover the lesser-known charms and customs of regions through the eyes of cats!

Kawate Haruo knew that his father, Masao, a second-generation Japanese American, returned to Japan after World War II. That, however, was about all he knew of it. After Masao’s death, Haruo found a letter to an American attorney, Wayne Collins, seeking restoration of his American citizenship.

Haruo met with Collins’ son and with a Japanese American whose father chose to stay in the U.S. He discovered that Masao had suffered especially harsh treatment during the war, leading him to renounce his American citizenship. Follow along as Haruo pieces together the facts of his father’s life, eighty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Journeys in Japan

Tuesdays

0:30 / 5:30 / 10:30 / 15:30 / 21:30

Explore a different side of Japan. Meet the locals and discover traditions and cultures not usually found in guidebooks!

Hori Hiroshi: A Puppet Master Rises from the Embers

April 9th

0:10 / 6:10 / 12:10 / 18:10

Celebrated puppet master Hori Hiroshi created ningyo-mai, a performance art fusing dolls and actors. After his wife and artistic partner passes away, Hori turns to his craft to work through his grief.

[Source: NHK WORLD press release]

AIB and Channelbox bring Ukraine news TV to UK Freeview

31 March 2022

AIB and Channelbox bring Ukraine news TV to UK Freeview

24 hour rolling news channel direct from Kyiv available via connected Freeview service across the UK

At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, seven of the country’s largest broadcasters pooled their resources to deliver a 24-hour-a-day news service. The combined channel is available across Ukraine and, thanks to a growing number of agreements with broadcasters and platforms, in a constantly increasing number of countries across Europe.

Today, 31 March, the Ukrainian channel has gone live on the UK’s digital terrestrial TV service, Freeview, via the multi-channel OTT service Channelbox, and on mobile through Channelbox’s iOS and Android applications.

The news and information channel is produced jointly by the 1+1 International, Rada, Ukraine 24, Inter +, ICTV, UATV, and Suspilne media companies. Its purpose is to provide accurate and impartial news from across Ukraine, and to debunk disinformation and fake news that is being propagated about events in the country. The news service is also a vital link with home for the estimated four million Ukrainian citizens who have fled the country as the war has spread.

“The Association for International Broadcasting has been working since the start of the invasion to bring the Ukrainian news channel to platforms in the UK,” says Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the AIB. “We wanted to make a contribution to support Ukraine and its citizens. Bringing Ukraina 24 to viewers in the UK, whether expatriates or refugees, helps maintain links at the most difficult times of their lives. We are delighted that Channelbox is the first UK platform to make the channel available on a mainstream UK TV platform.”

Tanya Kronfli, Channelbox Head of Content and Business development, said: “We are honoured to be part of this project and to be able to help people of Ukraine to have access to the news from home. This is true lifeline broadcasting and demonstrates the way that modern technologies like connected TVs are able to support people at times of crisis.”

The Ukrainian news channel is available 24 hours-a-day on Freeview channel 271, and on IOS https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/channelbox/id1596904340. Android users can access the service at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.synapsetv.channelbox

Main photo: Man outside destroyed apartment building in Kharkiv/Andrii Marienko/UNIAN

VOA officially launches Afghan satellite TV channel

30 March 2022

VOA officially launches Afghan satellite TV channel

One day after the ruling Taliban banned Voice of America broadcasts from terrestrial television, the U.S. government-funded independent news agency has officially launched a 24/7 direct-to-home satellite-delivered television channel for Afghanistan. The channel carries uncensored news and information in both the Pashto and Dari languages of the country. VOA’s programs were ordered off affiliated television stations in Afghanistan effective Sunday, March 27, as part of a broad ban on content regarded as undermining Taliban policies, including prohibiting women from anchoring newscasts with men.

VOA’s new TV stream, identified as “VOA Afghanistan,” is on the Yahsat Y-1A satellite (52.2 degrees East), Transponder 12 (downlink frequency 11.938 GHz), Channel 469. The Yahsat satellite is Afghanistan’s most popular platform, ensuring the Afghan audience will have access to VOA’s programming despite the Taliban censorship.

“Afghanistan is now one of the most repressive media markets in the world,” said Acting VOA Director Yolanda López. “Despite the Taliban’s attempt to end press freedom, VOA News stands by its Afghan audience with credible and authoritative news and information.”

The new VOA Afghanistan satellite stream includes its popular “TV Ashna” newscasts, its women’s show “Etesal,” viewer call-in programming, and programming from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azadi radio. Additional programming is planned, including entertainment shows to fill a void in Afghanistan, where local channels cannot air music programs.

The VOA satellite channel has been in development since August, before the fall of Afghanistan’s elected government. The channel is also accessible on YouTube and on VOA’s Pashto and Dari language websites.

[Source: VOA press release]

Russia labels Deutsche Welle a ‘foreign agent’

28 March 2022

Russia labels Deutsche Welle a ‘foreign agent’

Russia’s Justice Ministry on Monday placed Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) on a list of “foreign agents.”

“This decision was made based on the documents received from the authorized state authorities,” the ministry said in a statement. The statement didn’t elaborate on the documents or authorities in question.

In response, DW Director General Peter Limbourg said: “This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected. It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media. It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labeled a ‘foreign agent.’ This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany.”

DW in Russia

On February 3, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it would take “retaliatory measures against the German media” working in Russia after German authorities banned the state-run Russian TV channel “RT DE.”

This included “recognizing DW as a foreign media outlet fulfilling the functions of a foreign agent,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

DW was forced to shutter its Moscow office and its journalists in Russia had to relinquish their accreditation, making it impossible to work in Russia.

In early March, DW’s website was blocked by state communications regulator Roskomnadzor.

Shortly after, DW moved its Moscow office to the Latvian capital Riga.

“The Russian government has seemingly declared an ‘information war’ on DW,” said Christian Trippe, DW Director of Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. “Our journalists will continue with our work and deliver reliable information to our target audience in Russia.”

DW (Deutsche Welle) is Germany’s international public broadcast service. It is tax-funded and produces freely accessible journalism in 32 languages.

The Federal Republic of Germany’s Broadcasting Council — an independent, non-partisan body free of government influence — oversees DW’s compliance with its legal mandate to supply people around the world with independent information. DW employs roughly 4,000 individuals, most of whom work at studios in Bonn and Berlin.

What is the ‘foreign agent’ list?

Since 2012, the list has been used to curtail the operations of international media outlets as well as non-profits that receive foreign funding, particularly those that are active in politics or report on corruption.

It requires that all publications on the list be marked as coming from a “foreign agent,” and submit a report on their activities every 6 months.

Over 100 media outlets and individuals are currently on the list, including US public broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

[Source: DW press release]

International Charity Concert-Marathon Save Ukraine – #StopWar scheduled

23 March 2022

International Charity Concert-Marathon Save Ukraine – #StopWar scheduled

An International Charity Concert-Marathon aimed at supporting Ukraine named Save Ukraine – #StopWar will be hosted in Warsaw by TVP, a Polish TV channel, on Sunday 27 March at 1730 CET (1830 Kyiv time).

Video: https://youtu.be/1ivikOvGp3A.

Musicians, artists, civic activists, thought leaders, actors, athletes, volunteers from around the world will be supporting Ukraine during the 2-hour broadcasting, which will be rebroadcasted by the TV channels from about 20 countries in Europe and the world, as well as by streaming platforms and social networks. At the same time, funds to address humanitarian issues caused by the Russian military invasion of Ukraine will be raised before, during and after the broadcasting.

In Ukraine, the telethon will be available on all Ukrainian TV channels and platforms that broadcast the United News Marathon such as 1+1, ICTV, STB, 2+2, Ukraine, Inter, Rada, UA: Pershyi, as well as TET, Novy, M1, NTN, K1, and Kyivstar TV, 1+1 Video, YouTV, MEGOGO, Oll.tv, Sweet.tv, Volia online TV platforms.

It will also be possible to watch the broadcasting on the 1+1 YouTube channel and on 1+1 International, ICTV Ukraine, Inter+, Ukraine24 and others for the viewers all over the world.

The hosts of the event include Ukraine’s Timur Miroshnychenko and Masha Efrosinina.

World-famous bands and artists such as Imagine Dragons, Nothing But Thieves, Fatboy Slim, Craig David, the Eurovision winners Salvador Sobral and Netta, and others are also among the invited guests to address a multimillion audience. The Ukrainian artists Dakha Brakha, Ruslana, THE HARDKISS, Jamala, Go_A, MONATIK, Alyona Alyona and others will participate in the telethon too.

In addition several fan zones will be organised in cities globally where the concert will be screened.

“The entire media community of Ukraine is focused on several crucial tasks – to convey a message that Ukraine is a shield from Russia for the whole civilised world now, and that we require prompt support and closing of the sky. Ukraine is in huge need of help given the impending humanitarian crisis. Thus, we are talking about it out loud, we will keep talking about it in the future. [Talking] with the help of journalism, with the help of music, with the help of hundreds of thousands of people united all over the world,” – Yaroslav Pakholchuk, CEO at 1+1 media and co-owner at Atlas Festival says.

The Save Ukraine – #StopWar telethon is conducted by 1+1 media, the Atlas Festival team and with the support of the national mobile operator Kyivstar, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Social Policy. The initiators of the project idea are Atlas Festival and Kyivstar.

“Ukraine is doing everything possible to stop the war and bloodshed, to free the cities from the blockades, to start rebuilding our country. We would like to emphasise once again that there is no “special military operation” taking place in Ukraine while holding this marathon. The brutal groundless war is being waged in Ukraine, which Russia has started in a barbaric way. The civilised world must be proactive in protecting, supporting and helping Ukraine. It is not enough to watch the war of the Russians against the Ukrainians staying abroad. After all, our country is protecting the whole of Europe from Putin. We need a no-fly zone over Ukraine – closing of the sky, as well as weapon. It will save lives of many innocent people. Therefore, the messages #CloseTheSky and #NoFlyZoneUA should be heard by the world,” – Oleksandr Tkachenko, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, comments.

“Unleashing a brutal war against Ukraine, the enemy did not expect such a reaction from Ukraine and the world. First of all, the strength of Ukrainians while defending their country, and the scale of destructive sanctions imposed by the international community. We have achieved significant results thanks to the systematic work of Ukraine and the unwavering support from our partners – Russia has already suffered great economic losses and found itself in complete isolation. We are not stopping, we are moving forward. This marathon is another signal to the international community: it is Russia’s war against the whole world, and only together we can win,” – Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, claims.

“The war destroys our cities, but it will never destroy our will and desire to live in a free country. National resistance has united Ukrainians and the entire democratic world in a common goal – to expel all occupiers from our land and protect innocent people. Military, volunteers, doctors, civilians who host migrants in their homes or march with Ukrainian flags in temporarily occupied cities, our technicians who even work in danger to set reconnection – all of us are heroes. We need much stronger support from the Western partners and the entire civilised world to finally win. Kyivstar will call for this in all possible ways – by supporting such fundraising concerts, working with the media and with our partners globally,” – Tetiana Lukynyuk, B2C Director at Kyivstar says.

The graphic symbol of the telethon, which serves as a foundation for all its visual communication, is a sunflower created by Daniel Skrypnyk, a Ukrainian artist. The organisers of the event say that such collaboration can reach out to a larger audience as Daniel’s works are admired by people in many countries all over the world.

“Now, a sunflower symbolises the whole of Ukraine. I’ve included personal symbols and emotions into it. The sunflower is an observer of various events happening around. It is a sensor of emotions. It visualises everyone who has encountered side views. The sunflower has been growing in various aspects, and, right now, the sunflower has opened up in this most terrible and emotional situation. It asks to be noticed by the whole world being the one who is looking at Ukraine, feeling every Ukrainian. It asks for the light,” – the artist Daniel Skrypnyk describes.

The organisers emphasise the fact that fundraising is to be implemented with the use of the official accounts of the National Bank of Ukraine and Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. The funds will go to meet food needs and to accommodate refugees and citizens who left their homes due to hostilities, to provide them with clothing and footwear, medicines and medical equipment; to provide the population with some basic necessities, one-time financial assistance, to meet other priority human needs, etc.