20 May 2010
The Voice of America is expanding coverage of Sunday’s Ethiopian parliamentary elections with special daily radio programs in English, enhanced multi-media efforts, and additional live broadcast hours on election-day in Amharic, Tigrigna, and Afaan Oromoo.
A 10-minute daily English-language program, titled Ethiopian Elections in Focus, is now airing evenings with the latest on the issues and candidates as they prepare for the crucial May 23 vote. The program, which is part of VOA English to Africa’s extensive lineup, will continue all week after the election.
Analysis, interviews, special reports and features are available at www.voanews.com, and through a special newsletter that is being distributed by email in an effort to reach listeners who have been affected by the jamming of VOA’s popular broadcasts to Ethiopia.
VOA’s Horn of Africa service will broadcast live to Ethiopia election-day from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the evening, bringing uncensored coverage to its large audience through shortwave and on VOA 24, a new satellite service carried by Arabsat. The extended election coverage, in Afaan Oromoo, Amharic, and Tigrigna, will include on-the-scene reporting of election-day events, panel discussions of polling station turnout and interviews with Ethiopians around the world. VOA has also added a 30-minute morning program in Amharic that starts at 6 a.m.
Earlier this month, Voice of America Director Danforth W. Austin issued an open letter to Ethiopian listeners expressing deep concern about the jamming of VOA broadcasts and websites. He also assured listeners that VOA will continue to do all it can to bring Ethiopian listeners the news they have come to trust and rely on for almost 30 years.
18 May 2010
Baraem TV received a gold award for best on-air-channel identity and a silver award for best out-of-house station image promo at Promax/BDA Arabia 2010 held in Dubai last Sunday. Promax/BDA Arabia celebrates outstanding achievements in television promotion, marketing and design in the Arab world.
We are glad to receive these prestigious awards; such recognition to Baraems visual identity highlights the level of creativity and our understanding of the audiences needs, which we employed to create a distinctive and impactful brand, said Malika Alouane, Director of Channels Programming of at Al Jazeera Childrens Channel and Baraem TV. In less than 18 months, Baraem TV proved to be a fierce competitor among Arab channels and global television networks with regards to its unique image and in terms of content making.
Over the past six months, Baraem TV had earned 9 international awards and certificates of merit from prominent international festivals and events.
In 2008, Promax/BDA Arabia had also awarded Al Jazeera Childrens Channel for Best Holiday/Seasonal/ Special Event Promo for its documentary Children of Iraq.
18 May 2010
The AIB is upgrading its e-mail system which requires a change to its MX addresses.
As a result of this, some AIB e-mail addresses may be uncontactable for a short time as the changes percolate through the Internet.
If you send a message to the AIB that bounces, please wait a day and then resend it.
17 May 2010
Corus Entertainment Inc., one of Canada’s most successful integrated media and entertainment companies, has selected Pharos Mediator’s content management technology to operate Corus’ content workflow management engine in the company’s new Toronto headquarters, Corus Quay.
The Pharos Mediator program will integrate the company’s multiple broadcast systems – including Open Text Digital Asset Management, OmniBus iTX and Pilat IBMS – into a seamless and unified operation of activities at every stage of Corus’ ingest, archiving, transmission and content delivery process.
“We selected Pharos Mediator based on its proven track record for delivering highly integrated workflow programs with the flexibility to meet new and demanding broadcast environments,” said Scott Dyer, Chief Technology Officer, Corus Entertainment. “We were also impressed with the depth of knowledge and experience shown by the Pharos team and we look forward to implementing Mediator in the coming months.”
Pharos Mediator’s automated “content centric” workflow engine requires minimal manual intervention and will help Corus meet its commitment to providing viewers with unprecedented access to its programming on multiple platforms including high definition, on-demand, mobile devices and online.
“One of the major strengths of the Pharos Mediator platform is its deep support for industry standards and third party systems which is essential for organisations that wish to create a best of breed environment,” explained Glen Sakata, General Manager for Pharos Communications in the Americas. “The power of our workflow system and the substantial number of operational interfaces we provide will allow Corus to perform the vast majority of their end-to-end workflow using a consistent and highly flexible browser based environment, helping to improve efficiency across the organisation.”
The project will be led by Siemens who will be working closely with Pharos on the project, which is expected to go live in the latter part of the year. “This physical move and technological transformation is something that few media organisations have the opportunity to accomplish,” said Holger Kormann, Vice President, Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Inc. “Siemens is pleased to contribute our expertise in technology innovation and media asset management to such an important project. We look forward to working with quality companies like Pharos to deliver to Corus the benefits of Pharos’ expertise in automated workflow management. Automated workflow management is a crucial element of the new Corus content management system and will provide substantial benefits to Corus and its customers.”
12 May 2010
S4M at Media Finance Focus 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee
From Sunday, May 23 to Tuesday, May 25, S4M – Solutions for Media will take part at the MFM/BCCA Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee (USA).
Media Finance Focus 2010 is an exclusive source for professional education targeting media financial and business executives. It is hosted by the Media Financial Management Association (MFM) and the Broadcast Cable Credit Association (BCCA) – and is MFM & BCCAs 50th Annual Conference Celebration.
More than 100 speakers/panelists will provide the latest information on accounting, taxes, human resources, technology, television, radio, cable, and credit & collection issues. S4M will present the solution S4AdOpt, a sophisticated advertising optimization engine.
6 May 2010
A pioneering new Voice of America Web feature, Digital Frontiers, is offering visitors the chance to share their experiences with freedom and censorship in the rapidly evolving world of internet and mobile communication.
VOA Director Danforth Austin says, We hope to make Digital Frontiers a global resource for those interested in online freedom and to expand this online project into broadcasts, seminars and other outreach.
Wherever you live, you have something to teach the world, Austin says, and with Digital Frontiers we’ll tell your story, and share it with the world.
VOA is inviting you to email or send videos that explain how you dealt with a censorship issue, or how the Web and mobile phones have changed the fabric of life where you live.
Digital Frontiers will make your story part of an interactive discussion that explores how our digital world is changing and how issues like privacy, identity, security and freedom are impacting real people.
The new Web feature launches May 6. Tell us your story by writing or sending videos to our website, Twitter, or Facebook page.
