7 February 2011
Prompted by the tense relations between Tehran and The Hague following the execution of Dutch-Iranian Zahra Bahrami, RNW is launching a new website aimed at Iran. The new site www.rnw.nl/farsi, – as the name suggests – be produced in Farsi, the language spoken in Iran and by the many Iranians who live outside the country.
The decision to start this new internet service has also been prompted by the continuing crises in Egypt and Tunisia, both of which are of great significance for many other countries in the region, including Iran. The current Islamic Republic there is itself the result of a popular uprising which took place in Iran in 1979. This new RNW website is also Radio Netherlands Worldwides first service in Farsi, the stations 11th broadcasting and website language.
RNW Editor-in-Chief Rik Rensen believes that there is a large market within Iran which would welcome an independent and balanced service from the Netherlands: The websites initial launch is for a period of one month, at the end of which well decide whether it should be continued.
With social media providing popular information-sharing platforms for many Iranians, too, much of the output of rnw.nl/farsi will also be re-published via these channels.
7 February 2011
Japanese public broadcaster NHK and Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Childrens Channel (JCC) have signed a new co-production agreement to strengthen their collaboration on major offerings over the coming five years, in the fields of science, discovery, technology, environment, and education.
The two broadcasters have already enjoyed success with Discover Science, which was a co-production with NHK affiliate NHK Educational Corporation (NED). Discover Science is a new kind of science entertainment series that demonstrates scientific principles by showing them in action through mega-experiments. Creative visualization paired with NHKs latest shooting techniques yielded fascinating ways to understand scientific phenomena. Under the new agreement, NHK, JCC, and NED will discuss a sequel series.
Deep-Sea discoveries; Human Body in Extreme situation; Our Cells
all are remarkable series of titles for which JCC will start by taking part in the Legends of the Deep, a global production underway between NHK/NHK Enterprises and Discovery Science Channel scheduled to air in 2012. The projects goals are to film the elusive giant squid in its natural habitat for the first time and to shed light on other exotic beasts inhabiting the unexplored ocean depths. The collaboration will be extended to other projects under progress such as the Cosmic Shore with focus on the boundary zone between Earths upper atmosphere and space an area that has long been elusive and difficult to capture on camera. Installing the next-generation ultra-high-sensitivity image-intensifier HD camera on the International Space Station, the project will give a completely new perspective on Earth and space.
Hidemi Hyuga, NHKs Executive Managing Director of Broadcasting, said after the signing ceremony in Qatar: NHK is very happy to partner with JCC. From the relationship that the NHK group has enjoyed with JCC over the years, we know that we share the same vision of contributing to the public good and striving for educational and cultural advancement. We look forward to working on various cutting-edge projects together.
Mahmoud Bouneb, Executive General Manager of Al Jazeera Childrens Channel (JCC), stated: This partnership with the NHK group comes in line with our mandate and ambitions to bring the best and most progressive content to our audience and contribute in shaping their way of life, and the way they view each component in their surroundings. We aim at producing cutting-edge programming that is valuable for teachers and students alike. We are pleased to team up again with a credible entity with which we share many of our values and aspirations. We are looking forward to a successful and productive partnership. Bouneb reiterated the importance of the support of Her Highness Sheikha Moza and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, which gives JCC the means to be the only Arabic TV channel to venture in such high scale global productions.
7 February 2011
The Associated Press Board of Directors has approved the establishment of an independent news licensing agency that will allow broader and better access to original news content while providing publishers with support for innovative new business models. When launched this summer, the enterprise will include news content from AP and more than a thousand publications.
AP will spin off its News Registry into the newly created entity, called the News Licensing Group, and expects to raise funding from the news industry. The News Licensing Group will be owned by news publishers, and fulfill a need for an efficient means to protect and license digital news content from thousands of news organizations to the wide and growing range of digital communications products and services.
This will be a game changer for news providers worldwide, said Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press. Its pro-competitive and its pro-consumer, and will be a leader in the digital information business. Well be looking at development opportunities and seeking content commitments from publishers. We will move beyond text to photos and video and expand internationally later this year.
Todays announcement follows the boards decision in October to direct AP to create a digital rights clearinghouse to help provide news content to emerging digital platforms while also enabling news publishers to use data analytics to improve customer engagement across platforms.
The News Licensing Group builds on APs News Registry, which will be transferred into the new company. Launched last summer, the News Registry, which tags, tracks and measures use of content online, will provide the foundation for the enterprise, enabling efficient content and data licensing, along with effective enforcement support. Nearly 1,000 publications are now participating in the registry, which has collected more than 5 billion content impressions around the Web.
The News Licensing Group will extend the News Registry to license, market, and distribute news content in a way that respects intellectual property rights and enables news organizations to make continued investments in their news operations, Curley said.
7 February 2011
Two detained RFE reporters, Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi, have been released from police custody and flew out of Egypt today.
Tait and Nuaimi were detained by police shortly after arriving in the Egyptian capital Cairo on February 4. They were on their way to report on the ongoing political unrest. Tait is a senior RFE correspondent covering the Middle East, Nuaimi is a reporter for RFE’s Iraqi service. Both are U.K. citizens.
According to a brief message, both are “safe and relatively well” and are now en route to Prague. Tait reports that “whatever official statements you might hear about the situation of detained journalists, we were not treated well.”
Communication with Tait and Nuaimi has been very difficult over the past three days due to the fact that police confiscated some of their equipment, including phones and cameras. RFE will provide a more detailed account of their detention upon their arrival in Prague.
Another Cairo-based correspondent for RFE’s Iraqi service was held and questioned for over two hours at a police check point today. He was traveling to the airport to meet with Tait and Nuaimi.
7 February 2011
As Belarus continues to crack down on local media outlets and independent journalists, BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson and RFE President Jeffrey Gedmin today affirmed their commitment to media freedom in Belarus and expressed concern for the safety of journalists throughout the country. Isaacson and Gedmin visited Lithuania as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation led by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).
“What we’re seeing in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere is that people are seeking what those of us in free societies take for granted — the truth,” said Isaacson. “In Belarus, the U.S. is committed to providing people with accurate and reliable information in order for them to make up their own minds when it comes to determining their future.”
The delegation met with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis, as well as with Belarusian students, civil society advocates, and political opposition leaders. During an exclusive pre-trip interview, Senator Lieberman told RFE, “We want to tell the Belarusian opposition that we’re with them. We stand with them in the cause of freedom.”
Gedmin added that RFE’s Belarusian radio station, Radio Svaboda, is “doing an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances in order to bring people the news and information that their government is trying to deny them.”
“We’re particularly concerned about our journalists’ safety,” said Gedmin. “Several of our reporters were injured covering the violent crackdown on post-election protests and journalists continue to be arrested and harassed in Minsk and around the country.”
Radio Svaboda provided live coverage to Belarus today of a town hall meeting the delegation attended with students from the European Humanities University (EHU), a school re-located from Minsk to Vilnius in 2005 after being shut down by Belarusian authorities.
Since the widely criticized December 2010 elections, a growing number of Belarusian media outlets have been shut down. As a result, Radio Svaboda’s audience has increased dramatically. In a single day shortly after the election, the station’s website received a 20-fold increase in page views over normal daily traffic. In January 2011, visitors to Radio Svaboda’s website viewed a total of 2.4 million pages of content, reflecting a five-fold increase over the same period in 2010.
Recently, graffiti has started showing up in Belarus with Radio Svaboda’s website address prominently visible. “I will not keep silent,” reads one wall of graffiti in Minsk. “The truth is on the Internet – svaboda.org.”
7 February 2011
India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry yesterday set the deadline to shift from analogue to digital systems as 31 March 2015, The Times of India reported.
The proposal has been sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and will subsequently be put before the Union Cabinet for approval.
Digitisation, where the feed will be received through set-top boxes, is expected to be executed in phases and the four metropolitan areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have to shift to digital addressability by 31 March 2012.
Phase II will include 35 cities with population of more than one million, such as Patna, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore by 31 March 2013. All urban areas are expected to digitise by 30 November 2014 and the remaining areas, by 31 March 2015.
“Digitisation will help industry grow at an accelerated speed. It is the key to (resolving) problems like distribution bottlenecks and under-declaration, leading to loss of subscription revenue that broadcasters face today,” said Zee News CEO Barun Das.
Broadcast regulator TRAI had recommended that phase I be digitised by March this year. The ministry had postponed this deadline by a year.
Industry insiders said digitisation would bring prices down, not just that of set-top boxes, but also carriage fees, by as much as half. (Source: ABU website)
