The AIBs – global journalism and factual programming awards – shortlist announced

17 September 2021

The AIBs – global journalism and factual programming awards – shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 17^th AIBs includes work across TV, radio and digital platforms from 27 countries that will be judged by international jury

The AIBs, the international competition for journalism and factual productions, has announced its 17^th annual shortlist.

Despite the many challenges and problems that the pandemic has caused, journalists, editors, producers and directors have continued to produce a remarkable and varied range of work that is represented in this year’s competition. Hundreds of hours of content were submitted from throughout the world in many languages.

Work from 83 companies is shortlisted in 21 categories, reflecting the diversity of the world and the wide range of audiences that our entrants serve – from regional broadcasters through to global services, production companies large and small.

“The AIBs 2021 shortlist reflects a remarkable range of work produced by the world’s most tenacious journalists and the most talented producers,” says Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “From COVID to Brexit, the menopause to addiction, Trump to Uyghur detention camps, the range of subjects that this year’s entries cover for audiences worldwide is immense. The journalism and productions offer many glimpses into aspects of life around the world, telling human stories innovatively and creatively. We extend our congratulations to all the shortlisted journalists and programme makers and thank them for their commitment to getting facts to audiences.”

The global panel of judges are now starting their work evaluating all the shortlisted work. There are more than 50 judges spread across every continent. The latest expert to join the international jury is the Director-General of Radio Television Afghanistan, Ismail Miakhail. Ismail is currently living in a different country and he is working on the vital role of evacuating RTA staff who are at risk from the Taliban because of their work at the national broadcaster. This number includes many female reporters and presenters.

For the first time, the AIBs have received entries in the Welsh language, alongside work in English, Arabic, Flemish, Mandarin, Arabic, Swedish, Japanese, German, Farsi, Spanish, Danish, Filipino, Romanian, Hindi and French.

Also new in 2021, the AIBs will reward the organisation that has contributed the most to championing or reporting media freedom. It has never been more important for broadcasters to encourage their audiences to understand that media freedom is vital to democracy, as well as to ensuring economic growth and preventing climate catastrophe.

Categories – The AIBs 2021

TV and video

ARTS and CULTURE

HUMAN INTEREST

NATURAL WORLD

SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS DOCUMENTARY

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DOCUMENTARY

INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY

POLITICS and BUSINESS

SHORT DOCUMENTARY

SINGLE NEWS REPORT

CONTINUING NEWS REPORTING

Radio and audio

ARTS and CULTURE

HUMAN INTEREST

INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY

NEWS REPORTING

FACTUAL PODCAST

Specialist categories

MEDIA FREEDOM AWARD

CHANNEL of the YEAR

NEWS AGENCY of the YEAR

YOUNG JOURNALIST

IMPACT AWARD

The complete shortlist can be viewed on the AIBs website at https://theaibs.tv/AIBs-2021/Shortlist-2021/AIBs-2021-shortlist-170921.pdf. The award winners will be revealed in a two-part TV programme that will air on Friday 12 and Monday 15 November 2021.

The sponsor of our Natural World and Science & Technology awards is once again Radio Taiwan International. The Association for International Broadcasting is grateful to RTI for its continued support of the AIBs.

NAB 2021 cancelled

16 September 2021

NAB 2021 cancelled

Amidst continued uncertainties around international travel, the organisers of the NAB media industry show in Las Vegas have announced that they have cancelled the delayed 2021 event.

Chris Brown, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Global Connections and Events at the National Association of Broadcasters, said:
“For more than a year we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show. Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community.

“As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events, the Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange, in person.

“NAB Show is the premiere destination for the media and entertainment industry and we will not move forward with a show that delivers anything less than the excellence our community has come to expect and deserves from us.

“While we are disappointed that we will not be together again in person next month, we look forward to converging in Las Vegas at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23-27, 2022, to reignite our passion for our business and focus on a bright future ahead.”

The cancellation follows the announcement by a range of major exhibitors that they had decided against taking part this year.

NHK World September programme highlights

2 September 2021

NHK World September programme highlights

Empty Homes, Shattered Dreams

China’s ‘Ghost Castles’

September 11 Sat.

1:10 / 7:10 / 13:10 / 19:10

A curious sight has emerged in the economically flourishing cities of China: Apartment buildings in which construction halts midway. Locals refer to them as “ghost castles.” Residents of one such building in Wuhan live in rooms without water or electricity, struggling under the financial weight of repaying the mortgage for an unfinished home. This program examines the shadow behind real estate development through the turmoil faced by the residents who have become victims of a ghost castle.

Satoyama Kitchen Diary

Summer veggies and freshwater flavours

September 24 Fri.

14:30 / 20:30 / 3:10 / 10:10

Savor the food culture of Hida Takayama with the Kogawa family. For hundreds of years, people in this area of Japan have let the seasons be their guide as to what to eat. Natural farming produces delectable vegetables for dining. Herbs from the garden make their way into tea. Traditional dishes include salted squid and cucumber mixed with sake lees, and river fish stewed with sansho peppers. It’s all part of what’s known as the satoyama lifestyle, relying on locally produced ingredients while aiming for zero waste.

GRAND SUMO Highlights

Daily during tournaments

The best of today’s sumo! Enjoy daily highlights of this dynamic sport with background info and play-by-play commentary adding to the excitement!

The Pride of Namie

How a Beloved Sake Made its Way Home

September 18 Sat.

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

People in Namie loved their hometown sake, Iwaki Kotobuki. The brewery, however, was one of the places in Fukushima prefecture devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The owner never lost hope of restoring production, even though he had to move to a neighboring prefecture. With support from back home, he succeeded in recreating the taste ten years after the disaster.

AIB joins media organisations and NGOs to call on G7 for urgent, immediate support to Afghan journalists

23 August 2021

AIB joins media organisations and NGOs to call on G7 for urgent, immediate support to Afghan journalists

The Association for International Broadcasting [AIB] has joined with 50 NGOs, civil society organisations and media support organisations across the world in calling for the G7 and members of the Media Freedom Coalition to take urgent and immediate action to support Afghan journalists.

“The AIB is committed to supporting those in Afghanistan who have supported freedom of expression,” says AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick. “Many hundreds of journalists and support workers have been involved in telling stories about the country to audiences in and beyond Afghanistan over the past 20 years. Many have worked with international news organisations, including AIB Members, to ensure the free flow of news. Now is their time of need and the international community needs to support everyone who needs and who seeks safe refuge outside the country.”

The recommendations, which are being shared with the Group of Seven countries ahead of their planned G7 meeting on Afghanistan on 24 August, also stress the importance of safe passage to exit routes out of Afghanistan and securing channels for money to flow into Afghanistan.

The AIB is working with a number of its Members to secure safe passage from the country for those who have contributed to the success of media within Afghanistan and to reporting the country to the world.

For more information on the call to the G7 and Media Freedom Coalition, or for assistance for those needing to leave the country, contact Simon Spanswick at the AIB Secretariat in the UK – telephone +44 20 7993 2557.

SABC builds new sports alliance

23 August 2021

SABC builds new sports alliance

The Walt Disney Company Africa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have signed a distribution agreement to bring local and international live sporting events, news programming, as well as library and film sporting content from ESPN to SABC Sports viewers across South Africa, through its SABC Sports Channel. SABC launched its new sport channel in June 2021.

Under the agreement, SABC Sports viewers will unlock a selection of premium sports content. ESPN brings an unparalleled portfolio of US sporting content and documentaries to its viewers across the world and in Africa, the broadcaster extends this offering by showcasing the latest in European football and other international franchises.

SABC Sports will bring the world’s top track and field athletes to its viewers through ESPN’s four live World Athletics Events, with the first coming straight from Nairobi with the U20 Championships, currently on air. Additional events include the World Indoor Championships from Serbia (March 2022), World Race Walking Championships from Belarus (April 2022) and the World Championships from the USA (July 2022).

After a successful inaugural season in Kigali earlier this year, teams from across the continent will once again gather to showcase the best in local basketball talent in a hotly-anticipated second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). SABC Sports viewers can look forward to select fixtures of this celebrated local league being broadcast live on their screens in 2022.

For Boxing fans, SABC Sports will be bringing live boxing events and programming to viewers in 2022, including over 150 hours of boxing content from ESPN’s vast library, showcasing the greatest in boxing events, athletes and moments in the sport’s history.

SABC Sport General Manager, Gary Rathbone, stated: “This agreement is going to add significant depth to our current offering on the SABC Sports Channel. Our channel will now offer unrivalled content to our local sport fans seven days a week, thanks to ESPN’s great boxing archive and film and documentary library. With the addition of long-awaited regular live boxing events, as well more live Football, Athletics and African Basketball, it’s clear that this partnership will deliver right across the board for our viewers”.

Rathbone added: “This partnership will not only give our viewers access to great sports content but will see the SABC Sport Channel and our teams benefiting from the resources and experience that this collaboration with ESPN offers.”

Kyle De Klerk, Director: Sports, The Walt Disney Company Africa, said: “With this content agreement we are excited to not only be bringing ESPN’s unprecedented and compelling sporting offering to new audiences, but to also be taking a great step in highlighting and celebrating some of the up and coming leagues and athletes from around this continent.”

Christine Service, Senior Vice President and General Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, noted: “We are delighted to be extending our relationship with SABC to include ESPN, bringing another diversified and exciting brand from Disney’s portfolio to local free-to-air audiences.”

Taliban murder relative of DW journalist, injure another

20 August 2021

Taliban murder relative of DW journalist, injure another

Taliban fighters hunting a DW journalist have shot dead one member of his family and seriously injured another. The Taliban were conducting a house-to-house search to try and find the journalist, who now works in Germany.

Other relatives were able to escape at the last moment and are now on the run. DW Director General Peter Limbourg issued a strong condemnation and called on the German government to take action.

“The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves,” Limbourg said. “It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organised searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!”

Taliban hunting journalists

The Taliban have raided the homes of at least three DW journalists. Nematullah Hemat of the private television station Ghargasht TV is believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban, and Toofan Omar, the head of the private radio station Paktia Ghag Radio, was, according to government officials, targeted and shot dead by Taliban fighters.

Two men, also presumably Taliban, shot and killed the translator Amdadullah Hamdard, a frequent contributor to Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper, on August 2 in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, right there on the street. And a month ago, the world-renowned Indian photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner Danish Siddiqui died in Kandahar, presumably killed by Taliban militants.

Media alliance calls on German government for help

Consequently, DW has joined the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV), Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Deutschlandradio, dpa, Reporters Without Borders, stern, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, taz, RTL, n-tv and Arte in publishing an open letter calling on the German government to set up an emergency visa program for Afghan staff.

The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) is also calling on the German government to take swift action, given that stringers who worked for Western media are now being hunted down. “Germany must not stand idly by while our colleagues are persecuted and even murdered,” said Frank Überall, the DJV chairman. He said that saving these journalists right now and offering them refuge in Germany was absolutely essential.

DW is not revealing the name of the journalist or the location of his family as their lives are still at risk.

The Media Freedom Coalition [MFC] is meeting to explore ways this alliance of 49 nations can assist in protecting and supporting journalists and others employed by media companies in Afghanistan. It is not expected that Afghanistan, which under the elected government became a member of the Media Freedom Coalition, will take part in the meeting. The Association for International Broadcasting is a member of the Consultative Network to the MFC and will be taking part in the meeting.

Photo: A view across the city of Herat in Afghanistan from Herat Citadel. Jonathan Wilson/Adobe Stock