7 May 2010
The new People’s Choice award in this year’s AIBs is very exciting for a number of reasons. It is the first time we are asking the general public to vote for awards, which allows the shortlisted entrants to gain a wider exposure for their programmes, as viewers will come from throughout the world, including many countries where the programmes are not currently broadcast. The voting process will also use social media to gain interest and attention, providing another example of the sort of audience engagement and participation which is becoming more and more important to broadcasting in the 21st century.
In addition climate change, the subject of programmes in the People’s Choice award, is a highly topical subject which provokes fierce debate and raises issues which could have a dramatic impact on the way that all nations live. Different countries, and even different tribes and regions within countries, risk being affected in different ways. For example, the indigenous people of the Amazon risk their lands turning into dry savanna (see here for how our sponsor, ADB, is helping the Surui tribe) while the coastal regions risk more flooding.
Because of the differing risks, as well as different political viewpoints, the range of views on climate change is enormous and the challenges of exploring and explaining the science are great. We hear about the fierce debates in the US Senate ; India and China are signing up to the Copenhagen accord; a survey in Africa shows that many Africans blame God and not global emissions for climate change; countries as diverse as Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and Madagascar show increasing awareness by joining in Earth Day celebrations.
We are eager to see the submissions for the People’s Choice award to see how broadcasters from throughout the world are tackling this contraversial issue which raises such passion and which is so important to all of our futures.
4 May 2010
The AIB is enthusiastic about the possibilities for social media tools such as Twitter and Ushahidi to enhance news reporting and the creation of factual programming. We have already seen Twitter used for breaking news in countries from Haiti to Ukraine (and I am hearing about some interesting tools being developed to analyse Tweets to discover changing opinions – I will be giving more details when we are allowed to). They are also great tools for promoting broadcasts and we will be using them extensively to publicise the People’s Choice award in this year’s AIBs.
However, I remain to be convinced about Twittermedia‘s enthusiasm for the new ability to be able easily to enter Tweets in a news story. They highlight ReadWriteWeb’s story on HP and Palm as a great way to convey reactions to a story without having quotes from different people spread round a story. While it is great to be able to provide accurate quotes and Twitter helps in this, a key role of journalism and factual broadcasting is to provide a context and develop a story around individuals’ comments. I hope that we do not see the rise of articles which rely just on picking out a number of Tweets without explaining them and referring as well to those who are not Twittering (yes, they still exist).
20 April 2010
Universal Primary Education is one of the 2015 Millenium Development Goals and is being supported by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) and by 1GOAL. 1GOAL aims to raise awareness of the issue of lack of education and to put pressure on global leaders to devote energy and resources to meeting the millenium goal by signing up millions of supporters by the time of the world cup in South Africa. They are using famous footballers like Alessandro del Piero, Samuel Eto’o, Rio Ferdinand and legends including Eusebio, Zinedine Zidane and Sir Bobby Charlton as ambassadors to raise the profile of the campaign.
This week (19-25 April) has been designated Global Action Week for the campaign and today (20 April) 15 million children in over 100 countries are taking part in “Lesson for All” where they all study the same lesson.
Sign up now to join 1GOAL at www.join1goal.org! The more signatories, the more pressure there will be on world leaders to make good the promises made at the start of this millenium and end misery and waste of human talent that results from lack of education.
For more details of activities in Global Action Week go to the news item on the 1GOAL website and for more information on the Global Campaign for Education go to their website
The AIB is supporting 1GOAL by connecting them to broadcasters to help spread their message. 1GOAL is also sponsoring the “Best Children’s Factual TV Programme/Series” at The 2010 AIBs, since broadcasts are one effective way to deliver education, especially via mobile phones with the installed base of mobiles forecast to reach over five billion this year, reaching many even of the world’s poorest.
19 April 2010
International Media: 2010 AIBs media awards launched – with new People’s Choice category
‘AIBs’ launched with call for entries from the world’s media companies – enter by 2 July 2010
London, UK, 19 April 2010 – The 2010 AIBs – the international media excellence awards – are officially open for entry. The AIBs are organised by the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) and cover TV, radio, cross-media productions, marketing and technology. Now in their sixth year, the AIB Awards are firmly established as a major international competition, with a jury of eminent media professionals drawn from every part of the globe.
New in 2010 is the People’s Choice Award where broadcasters’ coverage of climate change will be judged by an international audience of viewers through social networking sites around the world. Also new among the categories in 2010 is the Children’s Factual Programming Award recognising the very best in programme-making for the often overlooked children’s TV audience.
The AIBs categories are: Clearest coverage of a single news event – TV + radio; Best current affairs documentary – TV + radio; Best investigative documentary – TV + radio; Best creative feature – TV + radio; Best children’s factual programme/series; Most creative specialist genre; Best online, mobile or cross-media production; On-air personality of the year – TV + radio; People’s Choice: Best coverage of climate change; Most creative marketing strategy; Most innovative technology.
The 2010 AIBs are open for entry until 2 July 2010. The Awards will be presented in London on 9 November at a gala evening attended by presenters, editors, journalists, marketers, technologists and executives from media companies all over the world. The 2010 AIBs are sponsored by Bloomberg TV, Advanced Digital Broadcast and 1GOAL.
Full information about the 2010 AIBs and how to enter is available online at theaibs.tv and www.aib.org.uk.
Contact
Gunda Cannon gunda.cannon@aib.org.uk T +44 (0)20 7993 2557 AIB, PO Box 141, Cranbrook TN17 9AJ, UK
About the AIB
Established in 1993, the AIB is the international industry association and global knowledge network for the international broadcasting industry – cross-media, cross-border, cross-cultural. With a reach of over 25,000 communicators and media professionals, AIB is a unique centre of information about international broadcasting, covering TV, radio, online and mobile. AIB researches regular market intelligence briefings for its members and provides client-specific consultancy and project support. Members receive an extensive package of services throughout the year. AIB publishes the comprehensive Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and the international media magazine, The Channel. AIB hosts the annual AIB International Media Excellence Awards – the “AIBs” – on 10 November 2010. For more information, visit www.aib.org.uk
Recent AIBs winners and highly commended entrants:
3FM (Holland)
ABC (Australia)
ABC Radio (Australia)
Al Arabiya (UAE)
Al Jazeera (Qatar)
Al Jazeera Children’s Channel
(Qatar)
Arte (France)
BBC (UK)
BBC Global News
BBC Persian TV (UK)
BBC Russian Service
BBC World News (UK)
BBC World Service (UK)
BBC World Service Trust (UK)
Bloomberg Television (UK)
CBC Radio-Canada (Canada)
CBS News (Unites States)
Channel 4 (UK)
ChelloZone (UK)
Deutsche Welle (Germany)
E4 (UK)
EditShare (France)
France 24 (France)
Hessischer Rundfunk (Germany)
Link Research (UK)
Luxe TV (Luxembourg)
Martine Tanghe, VRT (Belgium)
NDTV (India)
NFL Network (United States)
Omnibus Systems (UK)
Pyramedia (UAE)
Radio Canada International
Radio Free Europe
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
(Netherlands)
Radio New Zealand International
Radio Romania (Romania)
Radio Sawa (South Africa)
RFE/RL (Czech Republic)
Rockhopper TV (UK)
Ross Kemp, Sky1 (UK)
RTE (Ireland)
RTHK (Hong Kong)
Russia Today
Ruth Evans Productions (UK)
S4M (Germany)
SABC (South Africa)
Sky1 (UK)
Strix TV (Sweden)
Sveriges Radio (Sweden)
Sveriges Television (Sweden)
SW Radio Africa
Tinderbox Production (UK)
TV2 (Norway)
TV3 (Ireland)
United Nations
Voice of America
Voice of Nigeria (Nigeria)
VRT (Belgium)
VT Communications (UK)
VTV (Ghana)
WDR (Germany)
Zeinab Badawi, BBC (UK)
19 April 2010
It is ironic that some attendees due at the Peoples Climate Summit called by Bolivian President Evo Morales should be delayed by the volanic eruption in Iceland: climatic conditions are preventing aircraft travel, which is responsible for high carbon emissions per person, and yet stopping people coming together to discuss how to reduce the impact of carbon emissions.
Hopefully the conference will not be badly affected, since it is aiming to bring together and respresent the views and concerns of the poorest two billion people in the world on the subject of climate change. It is often the poorest who are worst affected by climatic disasters – witness how the recent Haiti earthquake killed 250,000 while the earthquake in Chile just afterwards killed under 500, with better infrastructure in Chile being a major factor. The poorest also live in the lands most likely to be flooded and live precariously with little or no reserves against poor harvests, drought and famine.
Morales points out that 75 percent of historical emissions of greenhouse gases originated in “the countries of the North that followed a path of irrational industrialization”.
The summit should provide an interesting contrast to the views of the industrialised and newly industrialising countries which tended to dominate at Kyoto and Copenhagen.
The AIB is looking forward to providing access to some of the very divergent views on climate change in its People’s Choice category at the 2010 AIBs – international media excellence awards
