Posts from ‘July, 2011’

Programmes produced by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) can be watched and listened from inside the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) trains beginning next year. RTM Director-General Datuk Norhayati Ismail said the collaboration between RTM and KTMB was aimed at getting closer to the people, particularly the youths, to encourage them to use KTMB services in [...]

According to reports from journalists at Voice of America and Deutsche Welle, the Ethiopian government is keeping a “blacklist” of names of “undesirable” journalists and “subversive” critics. In this context, Thilo Hoppe, a Member of the German Bundestag who is himself amongst those listed, has made the following statement:
“The attempt to ban foreign media broadcasting [...]

Minister of Information and Culture Dr Sayed Makhdoom Raheen inaugurated the foreign service of Radio Afghanistan yesterday. This service will initially air programmes in English and Urdu daily from 8:00 to 9:00 pm [1530-1630 UTC].
Dr Raheen said that the service has been revived through the efforts of the director general and employees, and in [...]

The Indian newspaper The Hindu carries a feature about the Tamil service of China Radio International (CRI). It mentions that “CRI, along with China Central Television and the Xinhua news agency, is now in the middle of an $8.7-billion “soft power” push to boost Chinese media overseas.
“The station is on a drive to purchase prominent [...]

The UN Security Council has extended the mandate of the joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Sudan’s conflict-affected region of Darfur (UNAMID) for one year. The Council also demanded that UNAMID be given a licence to operate its own radio transmitter in line with the provisions of the Status of Forces Agreement.
UNAMID has [...]

NATO said on today it had bombed three satellite dishes in Tripoli to stop “terror broadcasts” by Muammar Gaddafi, but Libyan state TV remained on air and condemned what it said was the targeting of journalists. NATO has been bombing Libyan targets since March, when it intervened under a UN mandate to protect civilians from [...]

The first ever conference for RNW’s partners in Anglophone Africa took place in Kenya this week, bringing together media organizations from 10 countries. The partners included a diverse range of professionals from commercial and state media outlets, community and university radio stations, as well as newspapers and magazines. But despite their diversity, the partners share [...]

The Media Foundation for West Africa has expressed dismay at what it describes as the alarming increase in the use of indecent language in the media landscape. At a media briefing in Accra, Ghana, Professor Kwame Karikari said the rights to free speech and media freedom have come under threat by radio and television commentators, [...]

Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands has published a revised list of temporary FM transmitters in the Netherlands to replace the transmissions from Hoogersmilde following the mast collapse two weeks ago. Eight stations are now broadcasting from the emergency mast at Assen, but coverage is not as extensive as from Hoogersmilde. In addition, all signals from the Lopik [...]

Eutelsat Communications is expanding its commercial response to high-growth video, data, telecom and broadband markets with the opening of business at the 3° East orbital position. To support further long-term expansion, Eutelsat has selected Astrium to build a tri-band satellite, which will increase and diversify its resources for markets in Africa, the Middle East, Central [...]

The Georgian government’s decision to put the Tbilisi TV broadcasting tower up for online auction has sparked concerns among industry insiders. Those within the industry are concerned that the takeover could lead to increased service prices for TV companies. Located on top of Mtatsminda mountain (Saint Mount) and overlooking the capital city, the structure is [...]

Text of report by New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on 28 July

On Monday [25 July], Guinea’s state-controlled media regulatory agency imposed a “temporary” ban on media coverage of the July 19 attack on the private residence of President Alpha Conde, silencing private radio and television talk programmes in which critical questions were being [...]

James Murdoch remains chairman of British pay-tv giant BSkyB amid a phone-hacking scandal at the group’s biggest shareholder News Corp, it said on Friday after unveiling a 23 percent jump in annual profits.
“Following the withdrawal of the News Corporation proposal, the board will return to normal processes. James Murdoch remains chairman,” BSkyB said in the [...]

Europe’s top court today ordered Mediaset, the media empire of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, to repay state subsidies it obtained in the sale of digital TV decoders. The Italian government approved legislation in 2004 offering a 150 euro incentive to people who bought or rented digital terrestrial decoders to receive television signals. The subsidy [...]

Chinese news agency Xinhua has scored an impressive advertising coup by taking over the space on the LED billboard at 2 Times Square in New York that had been leased by HSBC Bank for the last 10 years. When HSBC announced they weren’t renewing their lease, Xinhua jumped at the chance to occupy the so-called [...]