The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, presented a keynote speech at the Cannes Lions advertising festival on 24 June calling on the advertising industry to work together to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. On stage alongside the Secretary-General were the heads of five of the world’s largest ad agencies: Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Havas, Michael Roth, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IPG, John Wren, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom, Maurice Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Publicis Groupe and Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and Chief Executive Officer of WPP. Dentsu CEO Tadashi Ishii sent a video message to the event from Tokyo.
Ban Ki Moon said: “I am here to ask for your help. This is Cannes, so I have come with a pitch. I know all of you have tremendous power to shape opinions. You are master story-tellers. And I want you to help us create the biggest campaign ever for humanity.”
He went on to explain the challenge: “Last September, leaders of 193 member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 goals. If we implement these by 2030, all seven billion people on this planet will be put forward towards a future where nobody will be left behind. I ask you to use all your creativity, ingenuity, innovation and power of persuasion. Help us transform a complex and abstract agenda into personal, emotional and concrete walkable solutions, and make it your own story.”
The six agencies have agreed to work together – putting side their differences and competing commercial interests – to promote the SDGs over the coming 14 years.
The work of promoting the SDGs will move from the advertising industry to the media industry at the Business&Climate Summit in London on 28 and 29 June when Sir Martin Sorrell will expand on his mission to promote the SDGs and encourage media companies to join the advertising sector’s initiative. Sir Martin will open a special two-hour session at the Summit that will also see AIB CEO Simon Spanswick talk about how the media industry across the world is working on the SDGs and climate change in particular.
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has today – 12 May 2016 – condemned the leaking of the personal details of thousands of journalists and media workers who have reported from eastern Ukraine and the support for the publication by member of the Ukrainian parliament.
Above – Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive, interviewed on RT English
On 7th May, a group of hackers claimed on the website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) that they had breached computers used by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to keep track of journalists they had allowed to work in the region. The hackers published a database containing the names, affiliations, and contact information of more than 7,000 individuals. The database includes over 4,500 local and international journalists and media workers who have reported from the conflict zone.
According to the US based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the separatists have been collecting journalists’ contact information as part of an accreditation process even though their authority over eastern Ukraine is not internationally recognised.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday announcedthat it had opened an investigation into the publication of the journalists’ names and contact information under article 171.1 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, which covers “obstruction to journalism.”
The hackers wrote that they did not know what the consequences of their action would be, but added, “Be certain: It is important to publish the list because these journalists collaborate with terrorist guerillas.”
“The Association for International Broadcasting and its Members condemn without equivocation the publication of these data,” said Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the AIB. “The names and contact data of many journalists and news crews working for AIB Members – and hundreds of other agencies, TV channels, radio stations and newspapers – are included in the release. There is no excuse for releasing information of this sort. The journalists working in East Ukraine were there legitimately, reporting the situation for the benefit of audiences and readers throughout the world. Accusations that the journalists ‘collaborated with terrorists’ are completely unfounded and without any substance. We call on the authorities in Ukraine to take steps to have these data removed from the Internet and to prosecute those involved in this hack.”
Oksana Romanyuk, head of the Institute for Mass Information, a press freedom group in Kiev, told the CPJ that the hackers’ actions had remained largely unnoticed until Tuesday, when Anton Geraschenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, praised them on the social media site Facebook. Geraschenko suggested that Ukraine’s authorities should introduce specific actions to “counter Russian propaganda.”
Geraschenko’s recommendations included: “imposing control over broadcast programming and cable networks to prevent distribution of information that could destabilize Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity;” “imposing control over accreditation of reporters, specifically those from Russia;” “deportation of reporters found in breach of national laws;” and “developing legal and technical resources to block online content that incites to violence and destabilises Ukraine’s national security.”
Ukrainian and foreign journalists have condemned the publication of personal data of reporters, including those from the Ukrainian broadcaster Hromadske TV, the Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, the BBC, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Economist, and others. In a statement signed by 37 journalists and published on Wednesday 11th May, they rejected the description of the accredited journalists as “collaborators with terrorists” and demanded that the personal data leak be investigated by law enforcers, saying it violated Ukraine’s privacy laws, the nation’s constitution, and the European Convention on Human Rights
According to the statement, journalists started receiving threats by phone and email after the list was made public. The signatories said that by obtaining accreditation from the separatists, they were able to inform the public of the crimes committed in the area, including the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane over the region in July 2014.
The journalists also said that in 2014 alone, at least 80 journalists were detained by eastern Ukrainian separatists in connection with their work and that some of them were tortured. They urged the hackers to remove the list from the Internet.
The AIB encourages the journalists and media workers on the list to take extra precautions for securing their email accounts and digital information.
3 May marks World Press Freedom Day. The international day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991. This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.
Every year, 3 May is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
The feature tells the story of a disabled teenager who relies on his friends to push him in his wheelchair everyday along the rugged path to school, and his elation when a local NGO surprises him with a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle he can operate himself to make the journey. Produced by Bishkek-based correspondent Ulanbek Egizbaev and repackaged by RFE/RL’s Current Time digital team for social media, it was viewed more than a million times globally in Russian, English, and the original Kyrgyz.
“We deeply value this recognition of the quality of RFE/RL reporting, and thank the many, many voters globally who felt the impact of this story just as powerfully as we did,” said RFE/RL Editor-in Chief Nenad Pejic.
Two other RFE/RL entries were selected as Official Honorees in the 2016 competition. Desperate Honeymoon, a documentary by Multimedia Producer Ray Furlong, follows Syrian newlyweds as they make the arduous trek across the Balkans in search of a better life in Europe. Honored in the Documentary: Individual Episode category, it won Silver and Bronze medals at the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards earlier this month.
RFE/RL’s Pangea Digital team, which manages the company’s content management system, was recognized by The Webby Awards in the Mobile Sites & Apps: News category for RFE/RL’s new responsive design website.
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received nearly 13,000 entries from over 70 countries worldwide this year, and were judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, an organization based in New York that presents the prize. The award will be presented at an awards ceremony in New York on May 16.
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) is launching its twelfth annual festival of factual TV, radio and online productions – the AIBs – on Monday 4 April at MIPTV. These awards, run by the not-for-profit global trade association for international broadcasting, are recognised as the preeminent celebration of documentaries and other factual genres from across the globe.
Over the past 11 years, the AIBs have rewarded the world’s leading factual storytellers who have reported on immensely significant issues to global audiences. The winners have sought out the truth, challenging those with power and influence. Their investigations have often been undertaken in difficult and dangerous situations, sometimes in remote parts of the world, where establishing the facts is not straightforward.
“Winning an AIB represents the pinnacle of achievement for factual programme makers,” says Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Each year we see the most remarkable stories told and extraordinary facts uncovered. Because this festival is a truly global celebration, we are privileged to see work from every continent, from broadcasters and production companies large and small. The competition is incredibly strong each year and this contributes to the outstanding nature of the AIBs.”
Past television winners have covered subjects as varied as refugee crises in Africa and the Middle East to war crimes in South Asia, the high price of cheap food in Western Europe to narrowly averted nuclear disaster in Japan. In radio, the variety of stories has been equally diverse, ranging from Sudan’s independence to slavery in Asia, the Haiti earthquake to the high price of cheap credit.
Last year’s winner of the coveted investigative documentary award was Human Harvest by Flying Cloud Productions, a programme that investigated claims that first emerged from China in 2006 that state-run hospitals were killing prisoners of conscience to sell their organs. The judges said that this programme effectively captured the horror of the story through credible testimony and proactive research, complemented by outstanding production values and solid structures.
Keeping children informed is a key part of many broadcasters’ work, and the AIBs provide a platform for the makers of children’s factual programming to showcase their work. The AIBs have rewarded producers covering subjects from growing up in a war zone to body image and eating disorders, each story told imaginatively and sensitively helping children understand complex and often frightening issues.
“Since these awards are truly international, the AIBs are open for work produced in any country and in any language,” Spanswick continues. “Our winners have included work produced in Mandarin, German, Arabic, Danish, Swedish and Spanish, to give a few examples, as well as English. Language is definitely not a barrier in this festival.”
The AIBs 2016 have 17 categories:
TELEVISION
Journalism
Short form journalism
Domestic current affairs documentary
International current affairs documentary
Investigative documentary
Specialist programme
Science
Children’s factual
Short feature
Sport
ON-AIR TALENT
TV personality
Radio personality
RADIO
Journalism
Current affairs documentary
Investigative documentary
Creative feature
ONLINE
Online production
The AIBs 2016 are open for entry until 30 June. In September, the international panel of judges will assess the work and the results will be announced in London on 2 November at the AIB’s star-studded award dinner.
Full information is available in the entry book, available for download at theaibs.tv.
The new Executive Committee of the Association for International Broadcasting has been elected by AIB Members.
Four of the existing Executive Committee Members stood for re-election and were unanimously voted in for a second two-year term. Six candidates from across the AIB’s international membership were nominated for the remaining two places on the six person Committee.
The new Executive Committee – which provides governance of the AIB’s permanent Secretariat and assists with the formulation of the AIB’s strategic direction and overall work plan – is now comprised of:
Anastasia Ellis, Managing Editor, Bloomberg Media EMEA
Simon Kendall, Head of Business Development, BBC World Service
Klaus Bergmann, Director of International Relations, Deutsche Welle
John Maguire, Director of International Development, France Médias Monde
Alexey Nikolov, Managing Editor, Russia Today
Travis W.K. Sun, Vice President, Radio Taiwan International
The Committee members hold office for a two-year period.
