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An Azerbaijani court will convene on August 3 to hear RFE/RL’s appeal against tax-related claims that were used by the government as grounds to shut down the company’s Baku bureau in December 2014.
“The commercial court should affirm that all claims brought against us are baseless, and the prosecutor should move without delay to unfreeze our Baku bureau’s bank accounts, return the company seal, stamp and documents that were confiscated in December 2014, unfreeze the personal bank accounts of our Baku staff members, and let us get on with our journalistic mission of providing independent news and information to the people of Azerbaijan,” said RFE/RL President Thomas Kent (pictured).
Earlier this year Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court effectively threw out two claims against RFE/RL’s Baku bureau when it overturned two charges against RFE/RL journalist Khadija Ismayilova (pictured right), leading to her release from prison in May. Of two remaining allegations against RFE/RL, one involves the Azerbaijani government’s interpretation of a bilateral tax treaty that exempts U.S. nonprofit organisations from corporate income tax. The other relates to the process of accrediting journalists, which the Azerbaijani government revised effective July 1 this year, and with which RFE/RL is in compliance.
RFE/RL was forced to close its Baku bureau in May 2015, after it was raided by Azerbaijani authorities on December 26, 2014. Agents with the prosecutor’s office confiscated company property, interrogated over 20 staff members without legal representation, imposed travel bans on employees, and froze company and personal bank accounts pursuant to a tax inspection on unspecified grounds.
The raid came just weeks after the top advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev published a statement in the country’s official media calling RFE/RL journalists spies and threats to the country’s national security.
Despite the closure, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service has continued to actively engage audiences in Azerbaijan via satellite and the Internet, attracting nearly 1.5 million visits per month to its website, and more than 20 million views on YouTube during the first six months of 2016.
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.
In 2009 veteran TV producer Fran Mires set up Al Youm for MBN’s Alhurra TV, the live daily three-hour show for the Middle East that broadcasts simultaneously from Dubai, Cairo, Beirut, Jerusalem and the US. It proved a big challenge, not least because Mires did not speak any Arabic. In 2016, with Al Youm firmly established among audiences in 22 Middle Eastern countries and having spawned a number of successful spin-offs such as Street Pulse, Mires has turned the spotlight on female empowerment in Arab society with her latest production Sit B’Mit Ragel. The Channel spoke to Mires to find out more – click here to go to interview
One of MMA’s greatest, Fedor Emelianenko, will take on Fabio Maldonado of Brazil in his first fight in Russia since 2012 on Friday, June 17. For the special occasion, which is part of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2016) activities, RT, the global television news network, is preparing a treat for all MMA fans – a 360-degrees video of the event.
RT will film the EFN 50 tournament, organized by Eurasia Fight Nights, though specialized 360-degree camera equipment and will make it available to fans worldwide via its dedicated panoramic video mobile app – RT360. The app is available on Google Play and from the AppStore for all fans from around the world to watch the unique event like never before.
“This will be an unprecedented experience for all the viewers who will tune in to watch Emelianenko take on Maldonado. RT is one of the world’s first media organizations to develop broadcast infrastructure to film and broadcast 360 video, which opens brand new horizons in news gathering and delivery; we already have a library of 360 video news stories and documentaries. Now we are doing a major MMA event coverage in the 360 format for millions of viewers,” said Kirill Karnovich-Valua, Head of Online Projects at RT.
Viewers will be able to see not only the MMA fights from various angles, but will also witness reaction from 9,000 spectators packed inside Sibur Area in Saint Petersburg. The event’s headliner – Fedor Emelianenko – is a four-time MMA champion nicknamed “The Last Emperor”. The main promoter of the show is Kamil Gadzhiev, co-founder and CEO of Eurasia Fight Nights. EFN has partnered up with Russia’s Summa Group to produce the show.
“We all are looking forward to the event on Friday, which will feature some of Russia’s greatest MMA stars – Fedor Emelianenko, Vitaly Minakov, Kirill Sidelnikov, Rasul Mirzaev and Sergei Pavlovich. We are happy to partner with Fedor, with Summa Group and its CEO Ziyavudin Magomedov, and we all share big plans for development of MMA in Russia,” said Gadzhiev.
RT has already produced VR 360 videos during a football match played by the Russian national team and the launch of the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur spaceport. Viewers can also tour RT studios during a newscast with the RT360 app.
For more information about EFN 50 and RT’s 360 video broadcast, please contact
Anna Belkina (RT) at +7.499.75.000.75
Max Smetannikov (MVG) at +1.212.330.8063 ext. 1001 info@mvgmain.com
(Source: RT press release)
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are increasingly facing limitations the world over; in order to counter the culture of disinformation and manipulation, “We need to rethink the way in which we perceive, demonstrate and spread our values.” With those words, DW Director General Peter Limbourg opened the Global Media Forum in Bonn on Monday, June 13, 2016.
Limbourg greeted more than 2,000 guests from over 100 countries, including representatives from a number of partner broadcasters, at the ninth annual media conference from the German international broadcaster. The topic of the three-day conference is “Media. Freedom. Values.”
“Only when people are able to communicate freely, there will be change. The possibility to share ideas and values with others and the chance to inspire those, who are still under the control of dictatorial regimes,” said the Director General.
Deutsche Welle has positioned itself on a path to digitalization – and drawn upon more than 4,000 partners from around the world. Part of this strategy includes co-productions with partners to the benefit of both parties. “This is a first in international broadcasting. And an important step in recognizing the value of the contribution of regional partners,” said Limbourg. “We truly appreciate the local expertise and perspective which our regional partners contribute.”
Limbourg lamented the state of affairs in which instead of preserving the universal prestige of the right to speak one’s mind, in increasingly more countries, limitations are being placed on laws protecting freedom of expression. He cited Turkey, where critical media personalities are being suspended by members of President Erdogan’s governing party, where unwelcome journalists are labeled terrorists, without grounds, and being thrown in prison. “In the heart of the EU, freedom of the press cannot be taken for granted,” said the Director General. With an eye cast on the national-conservative powers in Hungary and Poland, Limbourg said, “But nothing – and I stress – nothing – justifies a limitation of the freedom of expression to be rooted within a democratic constitution.”
Limbourg referred to the example of Germany. “Even here in Germany, the enemies of the freedom of the press are at work.” Right-wing populists of all shapes have problems with tolerance and with a diversity of opinion, he said.
Journalists themselves can endanger freedom of the press. “If they don’t research with due diligence, if they copy without checking the facts, or if they scandalize every harmless occurence. Because thus, they provide arguments to their enemies,” said Limbourg.
Limbourg closed with the statement, “The end of the freedom of expression is also the beginning of the end of democracy. There are simply no more excuses when this point is reached. Each and every one of us is called upon, to stand up and demand the freedom of expression loud and clear.”