Posts from ‘December, 2011’

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has condemned a call by the President of Republika Srpska for the national public broadcasting service of Bosnia-Herzegovina, BHRT, to be closed down. Milorad Dodik last week described RTBH as “a monster living in Sarajevo”, and argued that licence fees collected in the Republika Srpska should go solely to the [...]

Germany’s public and commercial TV broadcasters have unanimously agreed to use European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Recommendation 128 to underpin a national move to harmonize the audio levels of their television output. The broadcasters, including EBU Members ARD and ZDF, plan to begin broadcasting with newly harmonized loudness from 31 August 2012. Thereafter, German viewers will [...]

The tiny South Pacific nation of Samoa and its neighbour Tokelau will jump forward in time tonight, crossing westward over the international date line to align themselves with their other 21st century trading partners throughout the region.
At the stroke of midnight tonight (29 December), time in Samoa and Tokelau will leap forward to 31 December [...]

In The Report this week on BBC Radio 4, Linda Pressly looks into the satellite TV channel Press TV, funded by the Iranian state and edited from Tehran. Press TV has come under fire in recent weeks after it aired the forced confession of Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari and critics now want to see it [...]

Text of report by Paris-based  Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF, Reporters Without Borders) on 28 December
SMS messaging was restored today [28 December] in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after being suspended throughout the country on the government’s orders on 3 December.
The end of the ban was announced by the minister of posts and new communication [...]

Several mediumwave stations in Germany are due to cease transmissions within the next couple of weeks. The first to go, on Friday 30 December, is the low power (0.6 kW) SWR station at Ulm on 1413 kHz. The following day it is the turn of high power (700 kW) gospel station ERF at Mainflingen on [...]

A new Islamic TV channel, “Al Kalam” (The Pen) will be created by a group of Imams from Sfax, in Southern Tunisia. According to local journalists in Sfax, Nouredine Khadmi - Tunisia’s current Minister of Religious Affairs - will be the founder of the channel. Before his career in the new government, Khadmi was the [...]

Excerpt from report by Qatari newspaper Al-Rayah website on 24 December
The Al-Jazeera news network suffered deliberate interference to its [satellite] signals on 23 December, preventing many viewers from watching its broadcasts.
The network’s management announced new frequencies for the channel: via Nilesat on 11564 and 10853 [MHz], horizontal [polarization], 27500 [symbol rate], 3/4 [FEC]; and [...]

“Censorship at RAI is commonplace,” says Alberico Giostra, radio newsreader at Italy’s public service broadcaster. Giostra had had his buttons pushed just once too often and decided to post changes made by the editorial desk to one of his news bulletin texts on Facebook. Now he’s facing the consequences. Reporter Angelo van Schaik looked him [...]

While Europeans were busily preparing for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Brussels quietly published a document that will have far-reaching consequences for everyone’s ability to see what they want to on the internet. The plans contained in the CleanIt Project are supposed to create a clean internet without any terrorists or extremists. The new [...]

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On television and radio broadcasting” has been adopted by Senate today. Introducing the draft law, Vice Minister of Communication and Information Lyazzat Tanysbai said the document was aimed at developing Kazakhstan’s television and radio broadcasting and increasing the availability of programme services for the population.
The draft law provides [...]

Bahrain will host the headquarters for Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal’s new Arabic news network after it beat Beirut and major Gulf cities in the tough competition for the channel’s headquarters. “The IAA is signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Al Arab News channel, the newest channel in Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal’s [...]

Pur Radio 1, based in Eupen, Belgium, is broadcasting an expanded schedule on shortwave since 18 December, and is now heard with programmes in German and Dutch on 6085 kHz at 0700-1200 UTC. Good reception reported today in Almere, the Netherlands by Ehard Goddijn. Pur Radio 1 rents airtime from German broadcaster Radio 700. The [...]

A new vocational institute has been launchedin Afghanistan to provide professional standard studies for aspiring radio, television and online broadcasters and journalists. Nai Media Institute (NMI) will offer, at its Kabul Campus, a two year Diploma in Media Course from 2012, as well as specialist short courses in media, with the help of Australian company [...]

Some 45% to 60% of Iranians watch satellite TV, according to estimates from the state media company and an Iranian research center, exceeding the number believed to use the Internet. Iran so far seems to be winning a struggle to filter out unwanted TV content and broadcast its own propaganda: The country jams channels like [...]