11 June 2008
Radio Farda journalist Ahmad Rafat, who has reported on human rights abuses around the world for more than 30 years, has won the prestigious Ilaria Alpi prize from the Italian chapter of Reporters Sans Frontieres during a ceremony in Riccione, Italy.
The award, named after an Italian journalist who was killed along with her cameraman in Somalia in 1994, recognises courageous, investigative and fact-based reporting.
“Winning this award reinforces for me the responsibility I feel to continue reporting on human rights abuses and in defense of press freedom,” said Rafat, who lives in Rome and splits his time between Radio Farda, the Voice of America and the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
In early June Rafat made headlines when he was declared ‘persona non grata’ and denied admission to the UN Food Summit in Rome by organisers who, he believes, were acting at the request of the Iranian government. Before the summit, Rafat’s reports on Radio Farda – which broadcasts Persian-language news and information to Iran – focused on the controversy surrounding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trip to Italy. Rafat interviewed numerous critics of the Iranian President and exposed the reluctance of the Pope and many Italian officials to meet with Ahmadinejad. After an outcry by the international media, foreign governments, and media rights organisations, UN Food Summit organisers issued a public apology to Rafat and reinstated his credentials.
Previous recipients of the Ilaria Alpi prize include Veran Matic, Director of Serbia’s leading independent radio and television station, B-92, and Enzo Biaggi, a noted Italian journalist and political commentator.
Radio Farda is the Persian-language broadcasting service of RFE/RL that broadcasts news and information to Iran 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week and can be found online at www.radiofarda.com.
10 June 2008
Combined expertise and facilities will offer international broadcasters a major gateway to and from Asia
Content management and delivery
company GlobeCast and Pacific Century Group have reached a conditional
agreement for the acquisition by GlobeCast Asia of Hong Kong-based
broadcast services company Pacific Century Matrix (HK) Limited (PCM).
When the transaction is complete, PCM will be renamed GlobeCast Hong
Kong GlobeCasts fifth office in Asia and 18th office worldwide. The
acquisition will give PCM clients access to the worldwide reach of GlobeCast,a full subsidiary of France Telecom, while retaining PCMs expertise and personnel.
GlobeCast and PCMs international roster of clients will benefit from the
companies combined resources, including two major technical hubs in
Singapore and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong teleport and MCR facility will also
be interconnected with GlobeCasts 12 other teleports and technical
operations centres around the world, as well as with the companys extensive
satellite and fibre content distribution network. The result will be an increased capacity to offer worldwide solutions for broadcasters coming to and from Asia.
GlobeCast Asia CEO, David Justin, said: The addition of PCM to the Group
will serve to dramatically increase the growth that GlobeCast has already
been seeing in Asia for the past few years. PCM comes to us with a strong
reputation and invaluable expertise, not to mention a service offering and
culture that is very compatible with our own.
Guenter Kring, PCM CEO added: PCM is delighted to join the GlobeCast
Group. We see a huge potential for developing new and beneficial services
for our combined client base, while continuing to offer the same high-quality of service that our respective customers have come to expect.
This 100% acquisition of PCM, founded in 1999, confirms GlobeCasts
continued commitment to the Asian broadcast market. In the past five years alone, GlobeCast has made significant investment in Asia, adding three new offices (Beijing, Seoul and now Hong Kong) to its portfolio, creating important partnerships to expand facilities and services, and increasing its fibre interconnection and satellite capacity in the region.
Neither the terms of the agreement nor the transaction amount were disclosed.
9 June 2008
Bloomberg Television
is the latest company to become a sponsor of the 2008 AIB Media Excellence
Awards, joining graphics company
Vizrt who announced its sponsorship in April.
Bloomberg TV is sponsoring the “most innovative technology” Award category
that will celebrate the best production or distribution technology in
international broadcasting. As a major user of sophisticated production
technology in its global bureaux and production centres, Bloomberg TV knows how
important it is that the right technological solution is in place in the
broadcasting environment.
Vizrt is sponsoring the “most creative use of graphics” category. This new
Award will recognise the most creative use of dynamic graphics in TV
storytelling, particularly in news, sport and weather.
Full information about this year’s AIB Awards can be found in the microsite
at www.aibawards.com.
Download the Awards information pack
here.
To sponsor this year’s AIB Media Excellence Awards, contact Ollie Kirkman
on +44 (0) 1727 739 184. Ollie will be pleased to explain the benefits of being
associated with the major celebration of excellence in international TV, radio
and online which includes having your brand placed in front of 25,000 media
executives, journalists, producers, editors and technologists in media companies
worldwide.
5 June 2008
The AIB’s quarterly magazine, The Channel, is read by more than
5,400 regular subscribers in 120 countries, with additional copies distributed at major trade shows around the world.
Now you can download past editions of the magazine, giving you access to the in-depth articles, news and features that our constantly growing global readership enjoys.
You can also subscribe to the print version – we ask for a modest contribution towards production and mailing costs for this increasingly influential and incisive full-colour magazine. Click
here to subscribe.
Download Centre
October 2006 – download
here
July 2006 – download
here
April 2006 – download
here
January 2006 – download
here
September 2005 – download
here
June 2005 – download
here
March 2005 – download
here
December 2004 – download here
September 2004 – download
here
Because of the file sizes, we recommend you right-click and save the magazine to your hard drive
rather than open it directly in a browser window.
