Media Network

Excerpt from report in English by pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Centre website on 11 February

Addis Ababa, 11 February: Ethiopian Television’s [ETV, State-owned] Arabsat broadcast that had failed for the past few weeks due to technical problem has resumed transmission.

ERTA’s [Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency] Deputy Director-General in charge of Media Technology, Haileab Abraha, said having addressed the technical obstruction it faced for some time, the agency has managed to resume its Arabsat TV broadcast.

ERTA is working to expand its coverage in Europe using Hotbird satellite as well as launch additional channel for USA, he said. He called on parties interested to rebroadcast ETV1 and ETV2 programmes in Europe, Canada, USA and Australia to contact the agency via email.

Those parties are entitled to rebroadcast ETV documentaries and dramas after concluding agreement with ERTA, he added. [Passage omitted]

(Source: Walta Information Centre website, Addis Ababa, in English 11 Feb 12 via BBC Monitoring)

People who post their opinion on Twitter or Facebook do not always expect serious consequences as a result. However, photographs, videos and messages posted on social media are increasingly grounds for dismissal, lawsuits or even prison sentences. Dutch lawyers report an increase in legal disputes following ill-advised use of social media.

• Read the article on the RNW website

When it comes to beaming radio waves across vast distances, the Dooen transmitter is world class. Standing 201 metres tall with a 19 metre wide capacitive ‘top hat’, the 3WV mast in western Victoria stands out in the vast flat landscape that stretches below it.

Celebrating 75 years of service, the occasion of World Radio Day seemed a worthy time to pay tribute to this impressive technological structure. “It really meant a lot to us. It must’ve been a big undertaking in 1936 to build it because cranes and things that are about today weren’t even heard of,” says long time Horsham resident James Heard.

In fact 594 AM has even been heard as far as Canada, Japan and South Africa. The staggering reach is aided by the distinctive ‘top hat’ and the low frequency of the AM band. While obviously a success, the antenna was the first of its kind in Australia and acted as a prototype for other services.

“It’s the first solid-state 50 kW broadcast transmitter installed for the ABC and it was the test bed for the installations across the rest of the country,” says Tim Hughes, Transmission Coordinator for ABC Victoria.

• Watch a 3 minute video about the 3WV mast

Following the departure of Chairman Walter Isaacson, the US Broadcasting Board of Governors yesterday unanimously approved BBG member Michael Lynton as its new interim presiding governor. “It is a pleasure to work with this multi-talented, bipartisan board, and an honour to be elected to help lead the organization,” Mr Lynton said. “We are each committed to the cause of making this agency the best it can be. And with our various strengths and diverse backgrounds, we all bring something to the table.”

Michael Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the former CEO of AOL Europe and Chairman and CEO of Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Lynton and also serves on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Rand Corporation. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School and is proficient in French, German and Dutch.

Me Lynton serves on the BBG Governance Committee. The Senate confirmed him and all the other appointed Governors in the summer of 2010.The Governors noted that Mr Isaacson provided an inspiring example, and they acknowledged his “great efforts and tremendous contributions … during his tenure as BBG Chairman from July 2010 until January 2012.

The Board extends its deepest gratitude for his service to the BBG and to United States international broadcasting.“Inspired by Chairman Isaacson’s example, the Board reaffirms its unqualified and ongoing commitment to fostering and promoting high-quality, independent and objective journalism by all BBG broadcasters. The Board rededicates itself to pursuing the mission adopted during Chairman Isaacson’s tenure:  ‘To inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.’ “

The Board designated Mr Lynton to serve as presiding Governor on an interim basis until such time as it selects an alternate presiding Governor, Governor Lynton chooses to step down as presiding Governor, or a new Chairman is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

(Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors)

Text of report by privately-owned Jowhar news portal

The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia’s [TFG] Posts and Telecommunication has begun the distribution of up to 6,000 radio sets meant for internally displaced people in Mogadishu. The distribution of the first 1,000 radio sets started in the Badbaado camp which is the biggest in Mogadishu and was given to displaced people majority of whom were women, elderly and young people.

These displaced people have been given the radios so they can follow news pertaining to the delivery of humanitarian aid and announcements concerning them. These radios have three optional power: solar power, manual charging or even batteries and is able to pick up signals by all local stations.

The TFG Assistant Minister for Posts and Telecommunication, Abdullahi Bile Nur attended the function in which the radios were being distributed to the internally displaced.

“When disaster breaks out, the delivery of basic necessities to those affected is always prioritised but civilians are also in need of so much more. They need to have access to important information such as where to get water and other basic amenities that they can take advantage of. I believe radios will change the morale of the displaced people and even educate them,” said the assistant minister.

[Government controlled] Radio Mogadishu broadcasts a daily programme known as “recovery” which used to be known as “aid” in the past and is meant to inform civilians about information pertaining to the work of aid organizations. The program educates public on issues of health, hygiene, children’s education, maintaining of good neighbourly relations and starting of small businesses.

(Source: Jowhar website, Mogadishu, in Somali 0000gmt 11 Feb 12 via BBC Monitoring)

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities today against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom. Some 41,000 people rallied in Germany, including 16,000 in Munich and 10,000 in Berlin, against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which was negotiated between the 27-nation European Union and 10 other countries.

Many brandishing “Stop ACTA” banners and wearing Guy Fawkes masks - a symbol of hacker-led rallies - the mostly young protestors also braved subzero temperatures to mass in cities such as Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Vienna and Paris.

ACTA is awaiting ratification from several governments, but sharp opposition led by Internet users has forced some EU states including Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to freeze their ratification process. In Sofia, more than 3,000 demonstrators marched along major downtown boulevards, booing at the buildings of government and parliament. Shouting “No to ACTA!” and “Mafia!”, they accused the government of signing the agreement secretly and without consulting the public.

In Tallinn, where about 1,500 turned out, lawmakers widened their criticism of ACTA to an attack on the country’s leadership. “Estonia’s PM Ansip has often demonstrated that government decisions in Estonia are born somewhere in hidden cellars,” charged lawmaker Juku-Kalle Raid, whose party governs with Andrus Ansip’s Reform Party. “The current case with ACTA only indicated that once again a decision was to be made without discussion with people,” added the lawmaker.

The European Commission meanwhile published an eight-page document detailing the negotiation process of the pact, as it sought to defend itself against accusations of opacity. “The EU strongly denies having provided any kind of preferential access to information to any group of stakeholders,” it said. “There are also no secret protocols to the agreement and the final text is fully public and available to all citizens on the website of the European Commission,” it added.

ACTA was signed last year in Tokyo, and aims to bolster international standards for intellectual property protection, for example by doing more to fight counterfeit medicine and other goods. But its attempt to attack illegal downloading and Internet file-sharing has sparked angry protests from users, who fear it could curtail online freedom.

“I am here because I am against censorship on the Internet, against the attempts to limit the freedom of information and against corporate interests which trample on human rights,” 27-year-old Maya Nikolova told AFP at the Sofia rally. Many Bulgarian musicians were also seen in the crowd. They claimed that they rarely ever get any copyright royalties anyway but were ready to sacrifice whatever little they do earn for the sake of Internet freedom.

In Vilnius, one of the organisers, Mantas Kondratavicius, told AFP: “I see a big threat to freedom of speech and privacy. Some provisions of the treaty are too ambiguous and allow different interpretations. If ACTA is approved, the understanding of human rights and privacy would change and there can be no way back,” warned the 21-year-old. “I don’t deny that authors should be paid but that cannot be done at the expense of privacy or freedom of speech,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, a small group on Facebook chose to protest through blood donations. “Blood is a life-giving power, just as information and ideas are for the web. Join our symbolic way to show that sharing is not a crime but has vital importance,” its organisers said.

Besides the EU, other signatories of ACTA are Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.

(Source: AFP)

Related story:

• ACTA: more than just an illegal download ban

Two prominent television journalists in Bangladesh were brutally stabbed to death today at their home in the capital Dhaka, police said. The motive for the slaying of the husband and wife, who worked for private television, was unknown, police said. They were killed early yoday at their apartment while their six-year-old son was in another room, police said. The boy was unharmed.

Police identified the slain couple as Meherun Runi and Sagar Sarwar. Runi, 33, worked as a reporter for Bangladesh’s largest private television station ATN Bangla. Sarwar, 35, was a news editor for Maasranga TV. “The couple was stabbed to death sometime after Friday midnight,’ deputy police chief Imam Hossain told AFP, adding the husband’s hands and legs had been tied. “We are still clueless about who committed the crime. We have launched a probe,” Hossain said. “Their bodies bore multiple stab wounds. It was a brutal killing.”

The murders came to light when the couple’s son called his grandmother and said that his parents were lying on the floor. It was not known whether the killings were related to their work. No valuables were missing from the house. Government and opposition leaders condemned the killing of the two journalists.

(Source: AFP)

On World Radio Day, 13 February 2012, UNESCO will remind the world that there is a medium which reaches parts that other media can’t reach.

Radio is still a vital form of communication because a radio station can be set up much faster, and at much lower cost, than a terrestrial or satellite TV station. Radio is especially useful for reaching remote communities and vulnerable people such as the illiterate, the disabled and the poor. It also provides a platform for such groups to take part in the wider public debate.

• Read the article on our main website.

The BBC will today apologise to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming.

BBC World News viewers from Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum and Bangkok to Buenos Aires will watch the remarkable broadcast, available in 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and on 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different times, staged in order to reach audiences in different time zones. The BBC will apologise for breaking “rules aimed at protecting our editorial integrity”.

• Read the story from The Independent

The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was briefly inaccessible on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline. “CIA Tango down,” a member of Anonymous said on @YourAnonNews, a Twitter feed used by the group. “Tango down” is an expression used by the US Special Forces when they have eliminated an enemy. Asked about the apparent website outage, a CIA spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the problems accessing our web site, and are working to resolve them.” The website was restored shortly thereafter.

Members of Anonymous also claimed on Friday to have hacked the website of Camimex, the Mexican chamber of mines, and posted emails taken from the site online. The camimex.org.mx site was unavailable on Friday.

Anonymous last month briefly knocked the websites of the US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation offline. Those attacks were in retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload. There was no immediate explanation from Anonymous for the targeting of the CIA site. In June, an Anonymous-affiliated group, Lulz Security, also temporarily disabled the CIA website.

Most Anonymous cyberattacks are distributed denial of service attacks in which a large number of computers are commanded to simultaneously visit a website, overwhelming its servers.

(Source: AFP)

Internet service providers are not broadcasters, and don’t need to adhere to strict rules designed to boost Canadian content on domestic television and radio, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday. The decision is a victory for telecommunications and Internet companies, including Bell Canada, Telus, Rogers Communications, Cogeco Cable and Bell Aliant, and a loss for Canadian performers and producers.

The communications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), had asked the court to clarify whether companies that provide access to programming via Internet should be considered as broadcasters. That would make them subject to the Broadcasting Act, legislation that requires broadcasters to carry some Canadian programs, in an attempt to avoid complete domination by US shows. Broadcasters must also pay into funds that support the creation of local content.

“ISPs provide Internet access to end-users. When providing access to the Internet … they take no part in the selection, origination, or packaging of content,” the court ruled in its unanimous decision. Cultural and artist groups had argued that Internet service providers should pay fees to the local content funds, and the Broadcasting Act should include ISPs, given that more and more people are now watching shows online.

Mirko Bibic, senior vice-president for regulatory and government affairs at BCE’s Bell Canada unit, said if the Supreme Court had decided otherwise it would have hurt users. “It leaves no doubt that ISPs are not broadcasters just because customers access broadcast content over the Internet,” he said. “Any other decision would have allowed the CRTC to impose a levy on ISPs’ Internet revenues to pay producers for new media content, something that would harm consumers and stifle innovation. Today’s decision means that can’t happen.”

(Source: Reuters)

Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser, the first Media Director of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), officially took up her position on 1 February. The new Media Department will be formed in the coming months and is a consolidation of the activities of the Television and Radio Departments, News Services, EBU Training and a new Media Lab. EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said Annika is arriving at the EBU during an exciting period. “The internal changes recognize the shifting face of the media landscape as platforms converge”.

Throughout her career, Ms Nyberg Frankenhaeuser has worked across all media including radio, TV, internet and news both in her home country Finland for YLE and internationally.  Ms Nyberg Frankenhaeuser said “I am delighted to take up this new position and look forward to working towards building a stronger future for public service media in a changing world.  Public service media deserves more attention.  It raises the challenge to create quality content and provide an independent arena to foster democracy.”

She believes delivering quality content via several media platforms maximises its overall impact and that the distinct features between radio, TV and the internet become even more apparent and each platform is strengthened.

Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser’s biography

After qualifying as an art teacher at the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser began an enduring relationship with the Swedish Language Services of YLE. Several years as a radio reporter were followed by a move into print, working as an editor for a cultural magazine. In 1986 Ms Nyberg Frankenhaeuser moved from radio at YLE to become a TV reporter for the Swedish Language Services, where she climbed through the television ranks to become Head of TV News & Current Affairs. She was appointed Director of Programmes for Radio in 1997, adding the TV and internet portfolios to her responsibilities in 2006. Ms Nyberg Frankenhaeuser is bilingual in Swedish and Finnish, and fluent in English and German. She is competent in Danish and Norwegian and has a working knowledge of French and Italian.

(Source: EBU)

At the Consulate General of Italy in Toronto, Italian-Canadians have held a demonstration to protest the end of production of RAI Internazionale’s programming for markets abroad. The entrance hall was crowded with demonstrators displaying posters and requests to reactivate two programmes especially: Gran Sportello Italia and Italia chiama Italia – RAI Internazionale’s two most-watched programmes.

In reference to these two programmes, Consul General Gianni Bardini was presented with a letter from the Italian community addressed to Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti which, while expressing the community’s full awareness of the current difficult economic situation that inevitably compels spending cuts by the Italian State, requests the reinstatement of Gran Sportello Italia and Italia chiama Italia.

“We don’t want to be considered Serie B (second division in Italian soccer) Italians, seeing that we regularly pay the licence fee,” said protestor Luigi Reda. “With this our peaceful demonstration, we wish to ask Premier Monti – who confirms having been an Italian ‘abroad’ himself – to have our rights respected, not being shunted aside, to have our voice heard.

“We have found another homeland in Canada and here we Italians have done our duty, affirming our presence in various fields and sectors of the country, maintaining the name of Italy in high regard. To replace the broadcasts transmitted abroad,” continues Reda, “RAI is broadcasting animated cartoons that unfortunately not even my grandchildren watch.”

(Source: corrieretandem.com)

Related story:

• RAI International to end production on 31 December

The National Radio Company of Ukraine (NRCU) plans to continue broadcasting on mediumwave with the help of DRM transmitters. Two channels of Ukrainian radio will go on broadcasting on mediumwave with new DRM digital radio transmitters; this was stated by the Chairman of the State committee for television and radio broadcasting Alexander Kurdinovich in an interview to Telekritika”.

“Taking into account that the National radio company does not have a systematic network for FM broadcasting and will not have it due to the lack of frequency resources, and the insane competition with commercial broadcasters, it was decided to transfer a minimum of two programmes of the NRCU to broadcasts on mediumwave”, he explained. “It is a question of purchasing 15-16 modern digital radio transmitters DRM format, which can work in both digital and analogue radio broadcasting. By placing them on the whole territory of Ukraine, we will be able to provide access to the National radio of at least 85-90% of the population “, noted Mr Kurdinovich.

According to him, the replacement of obsolete analogue transmitters will save money, since the new transmitters consume three times less electricity. He specified that the funds for this re-equipment are not provided, but they must be received at the expense of centralized distribution of capital expenditures. “There is an instruction of the President of the Ukrainian Cabinet of ministers and the Ministry of finance to make specific proposals for this. We have prepared all the technical documentation, the project of creating such a network. The only thing that remains for us is to get financing, announce a tender and purchase transmitters. The problem will be solved seriously and for a long time. After the transition to a digital broadcasting standard we would have created a normal digital radio network”, underlined the chairman of Goskomteleradio.

(Source: Telekritika via DRM Consortium)

The European Commission has said that the future of radio distribution will be multi-platform and public policy has to remain both neutral in terms of technological solutions and sufficiently flexible to adapt to future evolutions. This has emerged from the response of European Commission to the letter sent by The Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) and AMARC-Europe, the European section of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.

Director Audiovisual, Media, Internet, Information Society and Media Directorate-General European Commission, Mr Gerard de Graf, responded to the letter in which CMFE and AMARC had expressed concerns about the impact on local and community radio of the adoption of a single standard for digital radio.
He said that: “the European Union does not currently have a common policy on radio broadcasting” but “there seems to be a consensus that the future of radio distribution will be multi-platform, including internet distribution but terrestrial distribution is still the sole platform for truly mobile reception”. He says in the letter: “We note that building multiple standards into radio receiver chips is becoming a reality and that software implementation of radio receiver standards is evolving into a mass-market phenomenon. Public policy has to remain both neutral in terms of technological solutions and sufficiently flexible to adapt to future evolutions.”

• Read the letter

Commenting on this letter, Pieter de Wit, President CMFE says: “CMFE is happy that the European Commission is recognizing that the future of radio distribution will be multiplatform. We also welcome its statement that public policy should be technology neutral. This will help community media in their calls on national governments and regulatory bodies to include DRM+ in their radio digitization progress.”

(Source: DRM Consortium)

NB: Since we published this story on 8 February, the DRM website has re-written and expanded the text. This is now the official version.