Today's Zaman, 15 Jan 2012: "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's harsh criticism of Turkey for what he considered interference in the domestic realm of Iraq is sure to draw the ire of Turkey, as observers have already labeled Maliki's reaction 'a regrettable move' that will undermine his capacity to cooperate with neighbors that are hoping for stability in Iraq. In a televised interview with Alhurra TV on Friday, Maliki slammed Turkey for its 'surprise interference' in his country's internal affairs, claiming that Turkey's role could bring disaster and civil war to the region -- something he claimed will make Turkey suffer just the same. 'We ... did not expect the way they [Turkey] interfere in Iraq,' Maliki said in an interview with the Alhurra TV station on Friday, AFP news agency reported on Friday."

Wall Street Journal, 17 Jan 2012, Joe Parkinson and Sam Dagher: "Iraq summoned Turkey's ambassador on Monday to protest what it called Ankara's meddling in Iraqi politics, the latest sign of a rising rift between Sunni Turkey and its Shiite neighbors. Iraq's government was angered by recent warnings from Turkish leaders that Sunni-Shiite tensions in Iraq could engulf the entire Islamic world, as well as by Turkey's support for a Sunni rival to Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. 'Turkey interferes by backing certain political figures and blocs' in Iraq, Mr. Maliki told The Wall Street Journal last month. 'I believe Turkey is unqualified to intervene in the region's flash points.' In a weekend interview with Arabic language Al-Hurra TV station, Mr. Maliki went further. 'Unfortunately, Turkey is playing a role that could lead to a catastrophe or civil war in the region,' he said."

Hürriyet Daily News, 19 Jan 2012, Gökhan Kurtaran: "Turkey supports the unity and stability of Iraq, according to Turkey’s Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan, who expressed disappointment with Iraq’s prime minister’s recent comments on Turkey’s role in the region during a visit to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cities yesterday. ... However, he also said Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s strongly worded statement Jan. 13 in an interview with private broadcaster al-Hurra was 'upsetting.'"

Reuters, 24 Jan 2012, Jonathon Burch: "In an interview with al-Hurra television this month, Maliki said: 'Turkey is unfortunately playing a role which may lead to disaster and civil war in the region.' Tuesday, Erdogan described Maliki's comments about Turkey meddling in Iraq's affairs as 'unfortunate' and 'ugly.'"

Washington Post, 24 Jan 2012, Liz Sly: "Syria’s foreign minister on Tuesday shrugged off warnings by the United States that it may close its embassy in Damascus because of inadequate security. 'That’s their business,' Walid al-Moualem said at a rare press conference in Damascus when asked about the threatened closure by a reporter from the U.S.-funded al-Hurra TV station."

Bloomberg Businessweek, 19 Jan 2012, Sarah A. Topol writing about the new Egyptian TV channel Misr25: "Almost no one in the newsroom, except the news director, is a member of the [Muslim] Brotherhood. Aasem Aboul Ghar, chief of reporters and a news presenter, came to Misr25 from Alhurra, a U.S. government-funded channel. He calls himself a liberal, but considers himself a professional first and foremost. Ghar shrugs off any possible criticism that might accompany working for the Brotherhood: 'You have a stigma here, just as before; when I was working for Alhurra, there was a stigma working for America.'"

The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan 2012, Jethro Nededog: "Just as The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is ending its Season 2 run, Bravo and Ryan Seacrest deliver a whole different take on Beverly Hills. Meet the cast of Shahs of Sunset, Bravo’s new reality series premiering Sunday, March 11 at 10 p.m. Shahs of Sunset follows these fabulous twenty and thirty-something Persian-Americans as they balance their social, romantic, and career lives with the values of their families and community. Clearly, the cast members come from high expectations. Their parents landed on U.S. soil with nothing according to the sneak peek, and it just so happened to be in Beverly Hills… Obviously, we’re missing some steps."

Washington Post, 16 Jan 2012, Paul Farhi: "In a downtown [Washington] D.C. office building hard by a Starbucks and a busy construction site, China’s most ambitious effort to become a global power in English-language TV news is literally taking shape. For months, Chinese and American workers have been constructing a multi-floor TV studio complex on New York Avenue NW. Within a few weeks, China Central Television (CCTV) — the nation’s state-run international broadcaster — intends to originate news broadcasts produced by a staff of more than 60 journalists hired in recent weeks from NBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox News and other Western news organizations. The new Washington operation, its managers say, will be a hub of CCTV’s global news-gathering operations as the network launches a major expansion outside China to compete with international broadcasters such as CNN, the BBC and al-Jazeera. ... China experts say the country’s lofty media goals may collide with the communist government’s long history of official censorship and propaganda. China’s desire for international respect and stature raises a question for its journalists: Can they report without fear or favor, free from government manipulation and second-guessing? ... CCTV’s top adviser for its American news operation is Jim Laurie, a former NBC and ABC reporter who has been a consultant to several international broadcasters in Asia. Laurie referred questions to CCTV’s management."

Washington Post, 18 Jan 2012, Erik Wemple (blog) quoting Farhi on his story about CCTV: "I had a number of preliminary (off the record conversations) with people there. It was clear that they weren’t going to speak for the record unless I submitted my questions to them. Once I sent them, I got a reply pretty quickly--within 24 hours, I think. And, yeah, this was really a first for me. I don’t know how most reporters feel, but I don’t like to interview anyone this way."

Wall Street Journal, 17 Jan 2012, Laura Kusisto: "Chinese media operations obviously are starting out far behind Western media companies and have many more government-imposed constraints. But experts say the organizations like Xinhua are packaging content for sale to media outlets in developing countries, similar to the Associated Press or Reuters, but much cheaper. 'These state media entities don't operate under market principles. They're able to create, package and distribute at bargain-basement rates,' said Phelim Kine, Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch. The first U.S. show China Central TV plans to produce will focus on business and include dispatches from New York, according to a person familiar with the matter. 'Their intention-and it's a gradual step-by-step approach-is to be competitive with CNN International, BBC World News and Al Jazeera English,' the person said."

New York Times, 17 Jan 2012, Joseph S. Nye Jr.: "[F]or all the efforts to turn Xinhua and China Central Television into competitors for CNN and the BBC, there is little international audience for brittle propaganda. Now, in the aftermath of the Middle East revolutions, China is clamping down on the Internet and jailing human rights lawyers, once again torpedoing its soft power campaign."

Update: Weekly Standard, The Scrapbook, 30 Jan 2012 issue: "[If] it works for the BBC and Al Jazeera and Voice of America, why shouldn’t it work for the world’s largest Communist dictatorship? This sort of news is, of course, catnip to The Scrapbook. The Chinese seem to believe one of the enduring myths of modern democracy: namely, that the only thing a Great Power needs to succeed in the world is (a) power and (b) good public relations. It also proves that countless journalists can be bought, if the price is right."

Boston Globe, 20 Jan 2012, Alex Beam: "[R]ecently I spent a couple of weeks listening to China Radio International, Beijing’s answer to the BBC and the Voice of America. Sample idiocy: 'Thirty-five percent of the binding targets’ of the country’s National Human Rights Action Plan 'had been met ahead of time or exceeded.' Bravo."

Voice of America press release, 23 Jan 2012: "VOA is adding more news to its Burmese language TV news magazine. Starting Tuesday morning at 7:00 am local time, the half-hour show begins with a new fast-paced daily summary of the latest developments from the region and around the world. The program, which had been produced once a week, will now have an updated summary of the headlines six days a week. Reports on U.S. culture and politics and the latest from the world of science and technology will round out the program, which will be rebroadcast in the evening." -- The real story here is this story in combination with this story. Perhaps archrivals RFA and VOA are building up their inventory of competing broadcasts before any restructuring of USIB kicks in. (RFA TV is on Apstar 2R at 76.5°E, same satellite as used by Democratic Voice of Burma TV, but not the same satellite as used by VOA Burmese TV, Asiasat 3 at 105.5°E. Viewers in Burma therefore must turn their dishes -- daily -- if they want to see both the RFA and VOA Burmese television programs.)

Broadband TV News, 20 Jan 2012, Julian Clover: "Ofcom has revoked the licence of Press TV after the regulator failed to be satisfied the channel’s licensee had sufficient control over the programmes broadcast. Press TV, a division of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has, has lost its TLCS licence under Condition 29(2)(a) of that licence. Under section 13(1) of the 1990 Act it is a criminal offence to provide a television service without a licence. The licence itself was revoked under Condition 29(2)(a) of the Licence and section 238(4) of the Communications Act 2003. It follows a series of meetings and correspondence between regulator and broadcaster in connection with an interview with Maziar Bahari, an imprisoned Newsweek journalist, that was claimed to have been conducted under duress, and was held to be a serious breach of the broadcasting code. It later emerged that Press TV was unable to pay the fine."

BBC News, 20 Jan 2012: "Ofcom said Press TV had 'indicated it is unwilling and unable to pay'. It was during the investigation into the Bahari interview that the media regulator formed the impression that editorial decisions on the channel were being controlled by the offices in Tehran, instead of the UK. Press TV was given the opportunity to respond and make the relevant amendments needed to comply with the broadcasting code, but 'failed to make the necessary application', Ofcom said. In a statement issued to the BBC, Press TV's newsroom director Mr Hamid Emadi said: '... Ofcom contradictions are nothing new for Press TV. The British government's tool to control the media has, on several occasions, changed its decisions regarding Press TV in its two-year campaign against the alternative news channel.'"

The Register, 20 Jan 2012, Bill Ray: "Ofcom tells us it offered to help Press TV get a licence for its Tehran-based editorial operation, and reminds us that several channels have their editorial operations abroad and that's fine as long as those operations are the ones holding the licence. But Press TV refused such offers, and only the UK office holds a broadcast licence."

The Spectator, Coffee House blog, 20 Jan 2012, Douglas Murray: "Doubtless there will be much new bluster from Press TV and, indeed, from the dictatorship in Iran over this matter. Reminding us of the nature of the conspiracy-theory mindset, when Ofcom came to its October decision, the channel claimed the regulatory body was succumbing to ‘demands’ made by ‘the British royal family.’ Who knew? The fact that the Iranian government is no longer able to run a propaganda station from London is a cause for celebration. Only the fact it was able to do so in the first place can sour the savouring of this moment."

The Daily Mail, 20 Jan 2012: "Its English-language service was removed from Sky TV's satellite platform today as a result of the latest decision, but will still be available online."

The Independent, 21 Jan 2012, Jerome Taylor: "Insiders told The Independent that the TV network could have easily complied with regulations by either moving editorial control to Britain or applying for a new licence as a foreign broadcaster. But Ofcom received no replies and decided yesterday to switch the channel off. Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who presents two shows with Press TV, said it was a 'sad day for British journalism'. 'People have to remember that while Press TV was state funded it was not state controlled,' she said. 'It has been a thorn in the side of Western nations, particularly Britain and America.'." Listen also to BBC Radio 4, "Today," 21 Jan 2012.

Jerusalem Post, 21 Jan 2012, Jonny Paul: "Referring to Ofcom as 'the media arm of the royal family,' Press TV responded by saying that there is every indication that Ofcom is 'subservient to the British government and the monarchy' and launched an attack on Britain’s domestic and foreign policies. The Iranian mouthpiece suggested that revealing these issues in its news coverage had an impact on Ofcom’s decision."

The National (Abu Dhabi), 22 Jan 2012, Michael Theodoulou: "Press TV argued it had incurred Britain's wrath with its critical coverage of the riots in British cities and its exposure of the 'extravagant costs of Britain's royal wedding at a time of great financial difficulty for ordinary Britons'. ... Betraying a curious fixation with Britain's royals, Press TV vowed the loss of its licence would not stop it from broadcasting the truth 'about the British royal regime', which it said controls Ofcom. Ofcom and the Foreign Office on Friday denied any government involvement in the station losing its licence."

Huffington Post UK, 24 Jan 2012, Jody Sabral: "Clearly the lesson here to Press TV should be, if you want to broadcast your message on British airways you should learn to play by the rules. This is a failure in understanding the way in which ethical practise works, a shame for the employees of Press TV, who have been let down time and time again by the decisions taken at the top."

The Guardian, Comment is Free, 24 Jan 2012, Geoffrey Alderman: "I entirely agree that there have been occasions on which Press TV has shown very poor judgment: for example its decision in 2009 to broadcast an interview with Maziar Bahari which Bahari (a Newsweek journalist) claimed had been obtained under duress, while he was held in a Tehran jail. But I challenge you to name any UK-based TV channel that has not made a bad error of broadcasting judgment. The Ofcom ban – which Press TV will surely circumvent via its web-based presence – will only serve to increase anti-western sentiment in Iran, and can only bolster Islamist feelings of victimhood."

Deadline, 20 Jan 2012, Nellie Andreeva: "TV Land has reached to a foreign land for its latest comedy project. In a competitive situation, the cable network has picked up for development an U.S. version of the Israeli format Zanzuri from Ben Silverman’s Electus. Frasier alum Jon Sherman will write the adaptation, which centers on a family man who suffers a heart attack on his 40th birthday and discovers that every man in his family has died of a heart failure at that age."

Variety, 17 Jan 2012, Jon Weisman, via Chicago Tribune: "BBC Worldwide has completed the sale of more than 260 hours of programming to PBS stations in the U.S., highlighted by the docu series 'History of Science.' The deals were initiated at the annual BBC Showcase Syndication event October in New Orleans. In addition to 'History of Science,' PBS affiliates will also air such programs as 'Pleasure and Pain,' 'The Queen's Palaces,' 'New Tricks,' and 'Space Shuttle: A Horizon Guide.' Other BBC Worldwide titles licensed for first and second windows by PBS affiliates include 'Himalaya with Michael Palin,' 'Wild Indonesia' and 'Hannibal and Krakatoa: The Last Days.'" See also BBC Worldwide Americas press release, 17 Jan 2012.

The National (Abu Dhabi), 20 Jan 2012, Ben Flanagan: "Two global broadcasters are in talks with Middle Eastern media companies about launching channels in the region's already crowded television market. The company behind MTV India this month opened an office in Dubai, and is pursuing agreements to beam the music station to more Middle East countries. Separately, the BBC says it is in discussions to launch more of its English-language stations in the region. ... The Indian entertainment company Viacom18 - a joint venture between the US media giant Viacom and Indian's Network18 Group - said this week it had opened an office in Dubai. ... MTV India is currently available in Qatar, as well as global markets such as the US, Singapore, Australia and India. ... Viacom18's new office in Dubai Media City would ... help to push Colors, its flagship entertainment channel, across the Mena region... . The BBC ... has a deal to broadcast the English-language stations BBC Lifestyle, BBC Entertainment and BBC World News in the region but is looking to bring other brands to the Arab world... ."

RFE/RL, Off Mic blog, 19 Jan 2012, Charles Recknagel: "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty mourns the passing of Iraj Gorgin, former editor-in-chief of Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Persian-language broadcast service. Iraj passed away on January 13 after battling illness in Washington, D.C. He will be greatly missed by his former colleagues and many friends in Prague, where he worked from 1998 to 2009. During his time at RFE/RL, Iraj was instrumental both in the management of Radio Farda and in the launch and operation of its predecessor service, Radio Azadi, where he served as deputy director and acting director. He shaped the style and content of both services, helping them to win strong audience confidence as trusted sources of news and cultural programming."

Worldscreen.com, 19 Jan 2012, Kristin Brzoznowski: "Alhurra TV, which is operated by the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), has called on Mercury Media and ITN (Independent Television News) to produce a weekly half-hour magazine show that will focus on social media, global technology and the Internet. N2K (Need to Know) will feature stories from the web and across the Twittersphere to explore the digital news and trends. Each episode will discuss the most-watched videos on YouTube, the most-Tweeted subjects and the most-searched words or phrases on Google. The show will debut on January 20. 'Social media is an essential vehicle for sharing information throughout the world, and especially in the Middle East,' said MBN's president, Brian Conniff. 'Through our partnership with Mercury Media and ITN, N2K will engage our viewers with a deeper understanding of how new media technology impacts their lives.'"

Mercury Media's N2K page: "In each episode: Most Wanted: The 3 most watched videos on YouTube – it could be Charlie Sheen’s manic rant against his producers, Lady Gaga’s latest crazy performance, or a Chinese teenager doing an Elvis impression. Most Searched: The 3 most searched words or phrases on Google. What do they tell us about what people are talking about that week? Big Twitters: The week’s most significant tweeters, the biggest trends and most tweeted subjects. We’ll also profile the big Twitter names. Most Popular: The biggest selling game or latest gadget, the hippest Facebook group, or the most expensive item on eBay. We’ll be at the biggest launch events anticipating the big talking-points before they happen."

Mercury Media and ITN are UK based companies.

I produced USIB's first program dealing with the social media: VOA's Communications World, 1995-2002. Twitter and Facebook did not exist then, but my audience and I used the internet in very interactive ways to provide content for each show.

Eurasia.net, 16 Jan 2012, Joanna Lillis: "Kazakhstan’s ruling Nur Otan party has won its expected landslide in a January 15 parliamentary election – a month after at least 17 protestors were shot dead by security forces – and will be joined in parliament by two other parties, preliminary results show. ... Party leaders said they possessed evidence of ballot stuffing and multiple voting. A video posted by Radio Free Europe appeared to show electoral officials jamming ballots into boxes in Almaty."

BBC World News press release, 12 Jan 2012: "Today, BBC World News and TV4 announce agreeing a deal that will allow the new TV4 News channel to broadcast a small selection of BBC World News programming every week when the channel launches on 24 January in Sweden. The deal will give TV4 News audiences the opportunity to watch some of the BBC’s best international news programming, including some editions of the channel’s flagship current affairs programme HARDtalk, presented by Stephen Sackur and ongoing coverage of key global issues such as the U.S. elections, the Arab Uprising and the challenges facing the global economy."

The Engineer, 12 Jan 2012: "Babcock has won a contract to continue providing services relating to the transmission and distribution of radio and television for the BBC World Service. The contract, which is active from 1 April 2012, is worth approximately £200m over 10 years. Under the terms of the contract, Babcock will provide essential support to ensure that the BBC provides a reliable and resilient service to its global audience. This will include operating and maintaining the BBC’s six high-power sites and a power station to ensure global coverage. This includes the BBC’s key target areas of Africa and the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. Babcock will also manage satellite network contracts and support satellite distribution systems, including 1,300 receivers worldwide in more than 650 locations in 128 countries."

Babcock International press release, 12 Jan 2012: "Nigel Fry, Head of Distribution BBC Global News, said: 'The new contract with Babcock ... will provide us with clarity of costs over the coming years, and significant savings that are critical in the current economic climate. Importantly, these savings will not affect the quality of service that our global audience expects.'"

Some history: In 1997, BBC World Service privatized its shortwave transmission operation, selling it to a group consisting laregly of its own engineers. The resulting company was called Merlin Communications. It owned the BBCWS shortwave sites in the UK, operated its relay sites abroad, and leased back transmitter time to BBCWS -- and to other stations. In 2001, Merlin was acquired by VT Group, reportedly yielding a nice profit for the ex-BBCWS engineers. In 2010, Babcock International acquired VT. An interesting aspect to this deal is that BBCWS has made clear that, because of its reduced budget and shifting media patters, it intends to reduce and eventually eliminate shortwave. The "six high-power sites" are, I think, at Ascension Island, Oman, Cyprus, Thailand, Singapore, and Seychelles.

Belarus Digest, 11 Jan 2012, Siarhei Bohdan: "Currently one TV channel (Belsat) and three radio stations (Euroradio, RFE/RL and Racyja) broadcast on a daily basis to Belarus from the West. However, their coverage and financing is incomparable to that of Belarusian state media propaganda. Starting this January, even the harmless Russian edition of the Euronews channel has been excluded from the standard cable TV package in Minsk. Entertainment programs produced by Russian TV channels almost completely dominate the Belarusian media landscape. ... The oldest broadcaster [in Belarusian] is Radio Liberty/Radio of Free Europe, financed by the United States. Its Belarusian program started in 1954 and became legendary in Soviet times. Headquartered in Prague, Radio Liberty broadcasts eight hours a day and is well known in Belarus. Today Its website is probably better known than its airwave programs. Radio Liberty is conservative in its work and format. It has certainly lost some of its audience by excessively focusing on negative, anti-regime content."

expressnightout.com, 11 Jan 2012, Kristen Page-Kirby: "After going through tight security, you enter a main hallway filled with murals about Social Security. (The VOA building used to belong to the Social Security Administration.) After learning about VOA’s history and current efforts (Fun fact: The broadcasts to China are jammed by its government, so VOA engineers work to un-jam the jammers), you head to the control room to see a television broadcast. During our recent tour, they were filming something about goats frolicking to be beamed to Iran. Then, after a quick stare at the radio broadcasters, you take in a film about VOA journalists around the world."

USAID Frontlines, January/February 2012, Angela Stephens: "[U]ntil eight years ago, most people in South Sudan did not have access to radio or any type of independent media. In 2003, when Sudan was still embroiled in civil war, Sudan Radio Service, the country’s first independent broadcaster of news and information, was launched with USAID assistance. In the early days, broadcasts took place on shortwave from Nairobi for just one hour per day. Since then, the Agency's support for the platform has helped educate and inform millions of people. In addition to Sudan Radio Service, USAID also supported the establishment of six community radio stations between 2005 and 2011 in southern Sudan and in northern Sudan’s Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states. ... In Juba, Sudan Radio Service—managed by the Boston-based Education Development Center with USAID funding—launched 98.6 SRS FM in December 2010, and currently broadcasts 12 hours per day on FM and 6 hours on shortwave, reaching 1.1 million people. The station has begun generating advertising revenue, which will help make the service sustainable over time." -- These stations will soon be joined by (compete with?) VOA FM relays in South Sudan.

Voice of America press release, 20 Jan 2012: "Friends and colleagues of slain VOA reporter Mukarram Khan Aatif paid tribute Friday to a 'courageous man' who refused to be intimidated by the Pakistani militants who took responsibility for his murder. VOA Director David Ensor noted that Mr. Aatif, 'had been threatened many times, but he refused to stop doing what he believed in.' Mr. Aatif, who also worked for local Pakistani television, was buried on Wednesday amid an outpouring of grief and frustration by other journalists in Pakistan, who urged the government to fully investigate his murder. ... Ensor said, 'Deewa remains committed to bringing fair and unbiased news to the people of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.'"

New York Times, 18 Jan 2012, Declan Walsh: "The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the killing of a reporter for the Voice of America, a radio service financed by the United States government, and warned that others would be targets in the future. ... Mukurram Khurasani, an aide to the Taliban commander in Mohmand, the tribal area near the attack, said his group was responsible for the killing. 'All reporters of Voice of America are our targets and should resign; otherwise we will kill them,' he told a local reporter in a telephone interview. The killing underscored Pakistan’s reputation as the world’s most dangerous beat for reporters, and it raised fresh questions about the future of American-financed journalism in the region."

The Daily Beast, 18 Jan 2012, Ron Moreau, Newsweek’s Afghanistan and Pakistan correspondent: "[A] journalist in his late 20s who reports for an American media outlet in the tribal agency of North Waziristan and who chooses to remain anonymous for security reasons ... says half of the death threats he has received have come from the militants and half from the military’s intelligence agencies. 'I’m going out to report another story today, but I’m more discouraged now after Atif’s death,' he says. 'We are reading and weighing each word many times before we publish because we don’t want to get killed.' The journalist who wishes to remain anonymous says he is still haunted by a video made by the Pakistani Taliban’s nominal leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, in February 2010. In it the 30-something Mehsud directly threatened journalists working for the VOA and [RFE/RL]. He remembers Mehsud saying: 'You are doing propaganda against us. We will not spare your lives.' According to wire-service reports, Pakistani intelligence officers in the tribal area, citing militants’ radio chatter, say there is a strong likelihood that Mehsud may have been killed in an American drone attack this past Jan. 12. The Pakistani Taliban denies the reports."

Committee to Protect Journalists, 19 Jan 2012, Shumaila Jaffery, Dunya TV assignment editor: Mukarram Khan Aatif "had been 'watched' for some time. After receiving threats last year, he moved out of his ancestral village in Mohmand and shifted to Shabqadar, a town near Peshawar. The decision was very difficult for him, but he chose to speak the truth and he was ready to pay the price. The worst was yet to come. Mukarram also worked for Radio Deewa, the Pashto service of the Voice of America. He had been getting warnings: He was blamed for doing 'one-sided' stories, faulted for disclosing 'wrong' information. But like many other brave journalists from KPK and FATA, he was not ready to give up his right of freedom of expression."

Express Tribine, 20 Jan 2012, Manzoor Ali: "A protest was staged by journalists in Peshawar on Thursday to condemn the killing of a colleague from Mohmand Agency. The protestors also demanded the Taliban to explain their position over the killing of Mukkaram Khan and other journalists. The Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) observed the protest on the call of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) at the Peshawar Press Club (PPC). A large number of tribal reporters also attended the demonstration. They vowed to defeat attempts to gag the media from telling the truth. PPC President Saiful Islami Saifi said that Mukkaram was not a controversial reporter; rather, he tried to present a balanced view of the situation. 'Mukkaram was balanced and objective in his reporting; however, because he was working for the Voice of America (VOA) Pashto Radio, he was murdered and the Taliban took responsibility for it,' he told the protest gathering."

Express Tribune, 19 Jan 2012, editorial: "It is hard to understand how the militant mind operates, but easy to see the tragedy that has befallen another family because extremists in our country remain able to act without any check on their activities, engaging in games of murder as and when they please."

Dawn, 19 Jan 2012, editorial: "The active targeting of newsmen by the Taliban will not only have repercussions for the safety of journalists reporting on militancy. It will also mean that large parts of the northwest could well become a news blackout zone, with serious consequences particularly in the context of abuses that may never come to light."

News Pakistan, 20 Jan 2012, Faisal Farooq: "The dynamic targeting of journalists by the Taliban will not only have repercussions for the safety of media professionals working in war zones. With serious results particularly in terms of abuses that may never come to light, the northwest region could become new black out zone in coming days.

Global Chaos blog, 20 Jan 2012, Yelena Osipova: "This brings up a whole range of issues that should be discussed pertaining to this situation. I don't even know where to begin: America's misguided public diplomacy in one of the most critical parts of the world, complete disregard for the sensitivities of those affected, the totally oblivious American public which doesn't even get the opportunity to hear about these brave men (yes, mostly) who risk and lose their lives for what are essentially American interests... . I would suggest looking at it from the local perspective, to do which I reached out to a former reporter from Pakistan I happen to know. You can read the full interview here."

CathNews India, 19 Jan 2012: "The Catholic communication desk in Rawalpindi diocese has reworked its editorial police in the wake of the killing of Aatif and others throughout the country. 'We have stopped publishing political articles or analysis on the prevalent situation and are being more cautious,' said Banaras Khan, editor of the monthly diocese publication Shaloom. 'Our focus is more on spreading gospel values and promoting harmony.' ... Capuchin Father Morris Jalal, executive director of Pakistan’s only Catholic television service, said authorities have also 'indirectly' stopped the transmission of Christian persecution news on several occasions. 'Our service remained suspended for three days for coverage of assassinated minority affairs minister last year. Cable operators refused to broadcast such programs for fear of closure,' he said."

See previous post about same subject.

MHz Networks, 11 Jan 2012: "Internet TV company, Syncbak, announced today a national distribution deal with MHz Networks. MHz Networks will distribute live content OTT and to mobile phones across the country on Syncbak’s platform. MHz is expanding its affiliate relationships in every market for ten of its channels including MHz Worldview, the nation’s most complete aggregation of live international news. ... Fifty stations in 35 markets have installed Syncbak’s technology and are ready to go over-the-top on mobile phones and tablets. MHz channels will be available in all Syncbak-enabled markets, including the technology’s limited release in Spokane, Washington later this month. National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association are both investors in Syncbak. The company’s internet broadcast platform eliminates the barriers to distributing live TV directly to viewers via the internet by protecting TV rights at the local, regional and national levels. The Syncbak platform supports both iOS and Android mobile devices and will be included on a number of connected television and gaming devices." See also www.syncbak.com.

Scoop.it International Broadcasting page, curated by @rNews12 (EBU Radio News): “International broadcasting, public diplomacy, distribution platforms, technology and international communication”

Dawn (Karachi), 16 Jan 2012, Malik Siraj Akbar: "On January 7, a group of sixteen leading US scholars, whose work focuses on South Asia, collectively signed a letter which was addressed to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to 'express our deep concern over the safety and well-being of former Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani.' The signatories urged the US government to 'continue to weigh-in with key Pakistani leaders, make appropriate public statements to ensure that Husain Haqqani is not physically harmed, and that due process of law is followed.' ... As the ambassador, some journalists complain, Haqqani tried, without much success, to influence the editorial policy of certain media outlets, including the Urdu service of the Voice of America."

Leadership, 17 Jan 2012, Paul Dada: "The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Cable News Network (CNN), yesterday sought explanations from the Federal Government over the invasion of their Lagos offices by State Security Service, SSS, agents. SSS agents reportedly forced their way into the offices of the BBC and CNN located at Ikoyi, Lagos at noon to stop them from further reporting on the street protests over the removal of fuel subsidy by the Nigerian government. ... A reporter with the Voice of America, VOA, in Lagos confirmed the invasion to LEADERSHIP and said that the the SSS officials asked few questions before leaving the offices."

Radio Free Asia press release, 19 Jan 2012 (pdf): "Radio Free Asia’s Burmese service today broadcast the first televised episode of its nightly news program in Burma. Hosted by two co-anchors, the half-hour program aired via television satellite at 8:30 p.m. local time, and featured news about Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s registration to participate in the country’s upcoming elections and interviews with recently released Burmese political prisoners, among other major Burma stories. In a recorded statement that aired on the inaugural program, Suu Kyi praised Radio Free Asia (RFA) for its continued excellence in delivering accurate news and information to the Burmese people. 'It’s a great honor to greet the viewers of Radio Free Asia’s first ever television program in Burma. While I was under house arrest, not only did Radio Free Asia keep me informed about the latest news happening in Burma, it gave me knowledge,' Suu Kyi said." -- VOA Burmese already has a weekly television program, also providing news about Burma and delivered via satellite. The problem is not that RFA has a television product. The problem is that Burma is a difficult country to get news out of, and to get news back into, and having two stations broadcasting to Burma, duplicating efforts and dividing scarce resources, is ridiculous. It's on a par with VOA Deewa Radio and RFE/RL Radio Mashaal both trying to serve the same hard-to-reach corner of Pakistan.

AFP, 12 Jan 2012: "North Korea's main newspaper has opened an English-language website, the country's latest move to strengthen its online presence after forays into Facebook and Twitter. The website of Rodong Sinmun, newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, carries news and photos about its young new leader Kim Jong-Un and domestic political events along with fierce criticism of South Korea's government. A section called 'the Supreme Leader's Activities' details events involving Kim Jong-Un since the death on December 17 of his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong-Il. ... The reclusive impoverished state has strengthened propaganda efforts on the Internet since 2010 when Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing its warship with the loss of 46 lives."

The Telegraph, 16 Jan 2012, Robert Colvile: "Alongside the ever-reliable reports from the Korean Central News Agency ... is a new English-language website for Rodong Sinmun, the official workers’ newspaper. ... [Its] headlines are ... a useful way of keeping tabs on who the regime’s allies are. 'Kim Jong Un Presented with Special Honorary Membership of Nepal Journalist Association'? The two countries are probably friends. 'New Year Card and Gift to Kim Jong Un from Algerian President'? The two are definitely friends. 'Export Deceased in UK'? Harsh, but fair… ."

The Dong-a Ilbo, 9 Jan 2012, Bhang Hyeong-nam: "North Korea will be eager to manipulate elections in South Korea to allow those with a cooperative attitude toward the communist country to take power. The North Korean regime is operating a secret task force under the united front department of the Workers` Party to intervene in South Korean elections. The North`s Internet propaganda website 'Uriminjokkiri' is attempting to manipulate the elections via social networking services. Pro-North Korea forces in Japan have also begun campaigns to mobilize those supporting North Korea to the voting booths. The South Korean government must take practical measures to prevent North Korea`s intervention in elections."

Yonhap, 10 Jan 2012: "Korea’s English-language radio station Arirang Radio will this week begin airing its programs in all U.S. areas, the company said Tuesday. The English-language radio service will begin at midnight Thursday (U.S. eastern time) for listeners in all 50 U.S. states through SiriusXM Radio, America’s satellite radio company, said the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, the operator of the Arirang radio station, in a statement. The radio’s seven regular programs on Korean culture and tourism will become available for 11 hours a day on 'Korea Today,' the 144th channel of SiriusXM, the company said. SiriusXM broadcasts some 200 satellite radio channels to its 22.5 million paid subscribers. 'Korea Today will be the first channel whose programs comprise content from a specific Asian country,' the company said in the statement." -- A look at the XM Sirius channel lineup indicates that Korea Today, which appears to be all-English, is online only. That would markedly reduce opportunities to hear the channel while driving, and makes distribution via XM Sirius not much more advantageous than via a standalone website. In fact, the audience is limited to XM or Sirius subscribers. Arirang Radio and Korea Today compete with the English service of KBS World Radio, which also seeks audiences in the United States.

Unreality TV, 10 Jan 2012, Sarah: "BBC Worldwide announcing that they are to air a new episode of EastEnders twice a day, so that Aussies can 'catch up' with the plotlines. EastEnders has been airing [on the BBC's Australian channel] UKTV since the channel’s launch in 1996, but in order to close the gap between the Australian episode and those aired here in the UK, installments will now air twice a day, Monday to Thursday, from January 23 at 6.30pm. BBC Worldwide Australia’s Deirdre Brennan said of the new schedule, 'EastEnders is our number one show. I’m delighted to be able to give our soap savvy fans a double-helping from the Square as we close the gap on the UK. With Mandy’s unlikely romance with Ian, Tyler’s determined attempts to woo Whitney and mayhem at the Moons’, there’s plenty for them to enjoy…' Aussies are also going to be treated to a new dedicated website for the soap, will is being launched to coincide with the double episodes."

Radio Bulgaria, 16 Jan 2012: "As of February 1 our media stops broadcasting on short waves, 76 years after the first emission in this frequency range. The reasons are both financial and related to our wish to keep pace with new trends. Programmes in Balkan languages will keep coming in medium waves. As of February 1 you will be able to find and listen to us in the Internet at http://bnr.bg/sites/en/FullEmissions/Pages/default.aspx. This gives the start to a new stage of Radio Bulgaria’s development. We hope that the relations of trust and friendship kept up for many years would persist. We would be with you again – our long-time listeners and those who would join the large family of Radio Bulgaria from now on."

I remember, in the 1960s, Radio Sofia was one of the reliable signals on shortwave. Its interval signal at the time was ten notes from "Youth March played on organola." An organola is actually an accordion type instrument. I can't find any recording of that old interval signal, since replaced by the first notes of "Bulgarian Suite" by Pancho Vladiguerov. Really.

Now Radio Bulgaria must face a new type of competition, that is, between its own media. Now that its audience must access the station via the internet, will they continue to listening to the audio? Or will they prefer to read the content off the website? And if text is preferred, Radio Bulgaria will also have to compete with novinite.com, the Sofia News Agency -- at least in English. Or will they bother to visit the website at all -- preferring to let the content come to their Twitter and/or Facebook accounts? And will Radio Bulgaria pick up additional audience through Google and other web searches?

Radioandusic.com, 10 Jan 2012: "New Year has brought a baggage full of surprises for the radio and music industry. 94.3 Radio One, a joint venture between Next Mediaworks Ltd and BBC worldwide has taken a giant leap to go international in the two metros; Delhi and Mumbai. Radio One MD Vineet Singh Hukmani in conversation with Radioandmusic.com, reveals the business strategy behind the huge change in the two metros, stresses on the fact that there is a huge market for an English radio station and claims that the station will offer better ROI to advertisers. Excerpts: Q: Radio One is going English in Delhi and Mumbai… VSH: We researched clients and listeners about what they thought were the problems in radio and we got a clear answer; all radio stations sound the same. We had begun to correct this problem across our markets but now the change we make will be highly audible in Mumbai and Delhi. We want Radio One to be different, intelligent, international and involving to ‘English speaking’ Indians who have a global outlook. Q: Do you think there is a market for an English FM station in the highly dominated Bollywood music culture? VSH: There is a huge misconception about English per say in radio circles. Famous speeches like ‘freedom at midnight’ or ‘tryst with destiny’ by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru were made in English on radio. Indians today ‘thrive’ globally because of their comfort with English as against the Chinese or many other ‘non English adopting’ countries. So if English or an international feel can do well in infotainment in Print, TV, Internet, Cinema, Outdoor then WHY NOT IN RADIO?. The audience is ready. The radio medium is lagging behind on this front and we aim to correct it. English / International beckons with open arms! The listener and advertiser have already embraced it in other media and they will do so in Radio too."

VOA News, 17 Jan 2012: "Mukarram Khan Aatif, who filed reports for VOA's Deewa Radio, was attacked Tuesday at a mosque near his home in Shabqadar. The town is located roughly 35 kilometers from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Local police say two assailants on motorcycles arrived at the mosque during evening prayers. One of the men entered the mosque and shot Aatif in the head before fleeing. Aatif was hospitalized in critical condition, before succumbing to his injuries. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told reporters the militant group was responsible for the killing. Friends of Aatif, who was in his 40's, tell VOA that the journalist had received threats from militants in the past. He and his family had been forced to move to Shabqadar from their home in Mohmand agency due to the threats."

RFE/RL, 17 Jan 2012: "Mukarram Khan was pronounced dead upon reaching hospital, a close colleague told Mashaal Radio. Mukarram Khan was working for Voice of America's Pashto language radio and Pakistan’s Urdu language private television channel Dunya. No group has claimed responsibility for his killing." See also AP, 17 Jan 2012, Rasool Dawar.

Update: Voice of America press release, 17 Jan 2012: "Voice of America condemns the killing of one of its reporters in Northwest Pakistan’s lawless tribal region today and urges local authorities to do more to protect journalists. ... VOA Director David Ensor paid tribute to Mr. Aatif, who was in his 40s and had been working for Deewa Radio since 2006. 'Mr. Aatif risked his life on a daily basis to provide his audience with fair and balanced news from this critical region and we mourn the loss of our colleague. We call on authorities in Pakistan to do more to protect all journalists working there and bring his killers to justice,' Ensor said. Walter Isaacson, the Chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, said, 'On behalf of the entire Board of Governors, we condemn the murder of this courageous reporter in the strongest possible terms. The targeted assassination of Mr. Aatif is a tragic reminder of the dangers facing our journalists on a daily basis.'"

VOA News, 17 Jan 2012, Ayaz Gul: "Pakistani information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government will conduct a 'thorough and transparent' investigation into the incident and promised financial assistance to the victim’s family. 'It is really a very sad incident and I condemn it from the core of my heart.' Awan said. 'I assure his family and all the media that we have to really interrogate and go for a transparent inquiry, and I am sure that we will be able to find some facts related to this incident.'"

BBC News, 18 Jan 2012: "Mr Atif was buried on Wednesday in his home town of Shabqadar. A spokesman for the militants told the BBC that he was shot dead for not conveying the Taliban's point of view. The spokesman said that he had been warned many times before for not telling their side of the story. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says that the Taliban had warned of dire consequences in recent propaganda statements and videos. The militants said that they would attack facilities and employees of media organisations if they did not refrain from what they called 'malicious propaganda'. Our correspondent says that it is the first time that the militants have accepted responsibility for such a killing."

RFE/RL, Gandhara blog, 18 Jan 2012, Daud Khattak: "His brother Muslim Khan told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that Aatif had moved his family from Mohmand to the Shabqadar subdivision of the Charsadda district because of increasing militant activity. Talking to Radio Mashaal, the bureau chief of Dunya TV, Safiullah, said Aatif was a pleasant, hard-working journalist. Safiullah also noted that Aatif had moved to Charsadda because he was not feeling safe in the Mohmand tribal agency."

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), 18 Jan 2012: "The French government on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing Tuesday of a Pakistani journalist during prayer in provincial Mosque in that country. 'France firmly condemns the assassination of Pakistani journalist Mukram Khan Aatif in the Mosque in Shabqadar,' in the Kyber Pakthunkhwa region, a statement said."

Committee to Protect Journalists, 17 Jan 2012: "We mourn the death of our colleague Mukarram Khan Aatif, who despite fleeing his hometown could find no safe sanctuary in Pakistan's lawless landscape for journalists," said CPJ Asia coordinator Bob Dietz. "Until Pakistani authorities take effective steps to investigate the murders of journalists and bring those responsible to justice, journalists must band together and plan for their common defense." See also International Federation of Journalists, 18 Jan 2012.

Washington Examiner, 9 Jan 2012, Cal Thomas: "[I]n Spain, two new satellite TV stations recently signed on. They won't be airing 'Judge Judy,' but instead are broadcasting Islamic theology and political propaganda. ... One channel is called Hispan TV and its program content is produced in Iran. ... The second channel is Cordoba Television, which ... is owned by the Foundation for the Message of Islam and backed by the Saudi royal family. Its aim ... is to propagate '... the extremist Wahhabi sect of Islam.' ... During the Cold War, the United States made effective use of the Voice of America and Radio Liberty to tell the truth to 'captive nations.' There are no broadcasting counterweights to what radical Islamists are doing in Spain and Latin America. While America retreats, announcing cuts in defense spending, Islamists advance."

Actually, the United States has a sucessful international Spanish-language channel: CNN en Español. It provides the news and information that provides the anecdote to propaganda. And this for-profit, and profitable, channel does this at no cost to the US taxpaters. I think, however, Mr. Thomas is another "small government" conservative who wants to expand the size of government by adding another broadcasting bureaucracy -- one that will take sides on matters of theology.

CNN, 12 Jan 2012: "The Ecuadorian president -- who has clashed repeatedly with journalists and media in his country -- praised a reporter from Iran's new government-run Spanish-language network, HispanTV. 'Congratulations to HispanTV. I hope it helps the level of journalism in Latin America and the entire world,' he said."

CNN, 7 Jan 2012, Catherine E. Shoichet: "Last month, a film portraying the life of Mary and the birth of Jesus from an Islamic point of view beamed out over international airwaves -- in Spanish. The movie was the first program aired on HispanTV, according to a report in the Tehran Times. And the target audience was thousands of miles away from the government-sponsored broadcasting hub in Iran's capital. At a ceremony marking the station's official launch last month, HispanTV's managers said the new Spanish network aims to paint a true picture of Iran and link the Islamic republic with Latin America. Other Spanish-language channels are 'not independent and only serve the interest of the United States and certain allies,' said Mohammed Sarafraz, director of Iranian broadcasting's world service, according to Press TV. ... Stephen Johnson, who directs the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, compared Iran's efforts to use the media to improve its image abroad to the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America radio network. 'They're taking a page out of our playbook,' he said." -- Rather insulting to VOA and USIB to describe HispanTV as "out of our playbook."

Miami Herald, 6 Jan 2012, Jim Wyss: "As [Iran's President Mahmud] Ahmadinejad kicks off [his Latin America] trip, the region will have a new venue to follow him on: HispanTV — a Spanish-language television network launched by Iran last month. HispanTV, which began broadcasting on five satellites, carries news and travel shows produced in Teheran, and an eclectic list of movies. On Friday, the station broadcast a show dedicated to exposing the 'Zionist plot' to frame Hezbollah and Iran for the [1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires]. Whether HispanTV helps build support for Iran and deepen ties with Latin America remains to be seen."

VOA Studio 7, 6 Jan 2012, Tatenda Gumbo: "A second aspiring Zimbabwean broadcaster denied a commercial radio license last year has taken its fight to the courts, challenging the broadcasting authority's decision. The suit by Radio Voice of the People, operated by VOX Media comes on the heels of another legal action by KISS FM against the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe or BAZ. The two were unsuccessful in their bids for licenses after the broadcasting authority invited applications for two commercial permits. ... Unlike the other applicants, Radio VOP already broadcasts to Zimbabwe from a Madagascar transmission station under Radio Netherlands sponsorship, a fact many critics say hindered its chances." See also Radio VOP, 5 Jan 2012.

Radio VOP, 6 Jan 2012: "The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) will not be issuing out private television licenses any time soon. Obert Muganyura, the chief executive officer of BAZ, on Thursday ruled out any licensing of independent television stations, saying it was not a priority for the body in the next two years."

iafrica.com, 13 Jan 2012: "Comedian Trevor Noah is receiving rave reviews for his set on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He made history as the first South African comedian to make an appearance on the iconic US talk show, and appeared on the same episode as award-winning actress Glenn Close on Friday night. ... The episode of The Tonight Show featuring Trevor Noah [is broadcast today, 18 Jan] on CNBC Africa, on DStv channel 410 at 9pm."

C21Media, 5 Jan 2012, Clive Whittingham: "Ken-ichi Imamura is ... the executive producer of the World Documentary strand on Japanese public broadcaster NHK, it is his job to select the best factual programmes from around the world to air at midnight four nights a week. ... [He also wants] 'to encourage Asian documentary makers to sell their projects abroad,' he says. ... 'There are so many good filmmakers in Japan, but the style of documentaries is so different. We need to learn to make documentaries in the European or American way. The content is very good in Japan, and there are so many experienced filmmakers, but they lack international experience.' Imamura fears that Japan could be overtaken by China, with the main public broadcaster there, CCTV, launching a new documentary channel this month, along with a dedicated 3D network."

@BBGinnovate, 17 Jan 2012: "Have you seen #parazit in English? Now you can via @universalsubs partnership with @BBGinnovate http://bit.ly/xfsxkb"

InDepthNews, 5 Jan 2012, Kalinga Seneviratne: "At the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union's general assembly in New Delhi in November, Vice President of [China Radio International] Xia Jixuan noted that today we have the hardware to cover any event in the world but that hasn't helped us to prevent conflicts. He blamed the monopoly of western media organizations to set the agenda for this state of affairs. 'Good news is no news and news is about the abnormal,' he noted arguing that we need a new set of news values to report on cross-border and cross-cultural issues. He also added that fierce commercial competition generates superficial stories about other countries, which creates stereo-types and reinforces prejudices. At regional level, argued Jixuan, 'the media should cooperate to report on win-win situation for common prosperity and learn to appreciate and respect differences'. With the Chinese government networks like China Radio International and Central China Television (CCTV) expanding rapidly across the world with English language programming, perhaps the Chinese may be able to offer a better model of international communications so that words like democracy and R2P will not be misused to manipulate peoples' aspirations."

The Hindu, 6 Jan 2012, Krishna Kumar: "Finding something worth listening to on medium wave in the broadcasts of an All India Radio (AIR) station in any part of the country is like looking for life in a drought-hit landscape. Tuning in to AIR's overseas service is worse. ... I wonder if anyone serving in AIR listens to BBC or even to China Radio International (CRI). If someone did, he or she would find that the difference is not merely that of resources or equipment. The urge to excel and innovate is missing too. AIR's overseas service is a disgrace to a nation claiming to have become a global economic power. Even if the policy is to use it for propaganda, its quality is so poor that the propaganda makes one laugh. Now when India's democracy has matured sufficiently to allow state-published textbooks to eschew propaganda, one expects radio to arouse interest and ideas rather than regurgitate platitudes. In its domestic broadcasts too, the quotient and quality of propaganda remain alarming."

Sudan Tribune, 13 Jan 2012, Tesfa-Alem Tekle: "Ethiopia is blocking satellite transmissions from Eritrea, the government in Asmara accuses its larger neighbor, this week. The Eritrean Ministry of information in a statement Thursday warned to take legal action. It further said Addis Ababa has been warned by the Arab Satellite Communications Organization over the illegal acts. Following the alleged interferences the state-run Eritrean satellite television today announced to viewers a change to old frequency. ... The horn of Africa country is facing increasing accusations of jamming to dozens of news websites and other Television broadcasters. Last year, Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), Voice of America and Deutsche Welle Amharic Services accused the Ethiopian government of blocking their transmission. An allegation Addis Ababa denies. Following the accusations, The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) has accused china of being behind providing the technology, training and technical assistance to Ethiopia’s jamming activity. The group called on China to immediately put an end to what the group said the republic’s illegal support."

Shabait.com (Asmara), 10 Jan 2012: "The source of the jamming being conducted against Eritrean satellite broadcast has been confirmed to be Ethiopia. Disclosing this fact, the Riyadh-based Arab Satellite Communications said that it has told the regime in Addis Ababa that the practice is illegal. In connection with this, Mr. Asmelash Abraha, Director General of Eritrean Television, told ERINA that in continuation of its hostile policy of blocking information disseminated from Eritrea, the TPLF regime, with the complicity of external forces, is engaged in jamming and interfering activities."

Reuters, 10 Jan 2012: "Iran is jamming broadcasts by Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, according to a document from satellite operator Arabsat obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, with the broadcaster saying it believed it was because of its coverage of Syria. Interference is coming from two locations in Iran, one west of Tehran and the other near the northwestern city of Maraghen, the document showed. ... On Saturday Al Jazeera announced a new frequency for Arabsat viewers due to 'continued interference'. 'Over the past few months, Al Jazeera has faced sustained interference to our satellite transmissions,' the channel said in a statement."

TradeArabia, 8 Jan 2012: "'These occurrences will only strengthen our commitment to continue providing our award-winning coverage across the region 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our transmission is now available at 11334V for Arabsat viewers.'"

Meanwhile, at the Broadcasting Board of Governors meeting on 13 January, it was announced that jamming of VOA Persian News Network originates in Syria. This locationing of the jamming source probably should be verified, but if it is Syria, perhaps the reason is that it is easier for the jamming transmitter to reach the satellite from Syria rather than Iran itself.

Reporters sans frontières, 7 Jan 2012: "Reporters Without Borders deplores the way the Bahraini security forces continue to intimidate and attack journalists despite the undertakings that the government gave after an independent commission of enquiry released its report on the crackdown on anti-government protests during the first half of 2011. The international community must not be taken in by the duplicity with which the government expresses a desire to punish those responsible for the abuses while continuing to crack down on dissent. ... France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Daouliya correspondent Nazeeha Saeed was told by her lawyer last week that the judicial authorities have not investigated her complaint that she was tortured while detained in May. Reporters Without Borders call on the authorities to investigate the case." See previous post about Alarab. And previous post about USIB and BBC activities in Bahrain.

Southgate Amateur Radio Club, 5 Jan 2012, citing Mike Barraclough tip: "A 50 year old LP of Cold War shortwave radio broadcasts from the former Soviet Union is now available on the web. The YouTube description reads: 'Radio Moscow and the Western Hemisphere,' 1961 Cook Labs. This LP compiles several different shortwave radio broadcasts from the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Seems silly now, but in 1961 this was serious business." With links to videos of audio.

Radio Netherlands Media Network, 31 Dec 2011, Andy Sennitt: "Ian McFarland, formerly of Radio Canada International, writes: 'I just wanted to let you know that ... [w]e’re now working on producing MP3 files for the SW antenna course that was featured on the [Radio Canada International] RCSWC and SWL Digest programmes many years ago [This is now available online]. Eventually, we’ll be creating MP3 files of a number of other much-loved features from the McFarland radio archives and these will also be downloadable. As with the CD series, the beneficiary will be my local food bank. The CD sales have generated around $2050 for the food bank and soup kitchen in Duncan, British Columbia. All the details on this are on the DXer.ca website ... '" -- Ian was the very popular host of SWL Digest on Radio Canada International.

ESPN cricinfo, 14 Jan 2012, Krishna Kumar: "Everything used to be big. When I grew up, in the '70s and the early '80s in India, short-wave radios were relatively large. Newspapers were, sports magazines were. As a kid you spent a considerable amount of time just looking at the large photographs. ... Radio commentary made the pictures come alive, and added a touch of drama. ... In those radio years, we had a Philips set. It had a small, roughly triangular break in the glass that enclosed the dial. That was where the knob that changed the bands met the glass. ... Fine-tuning into Radio Australia wasn't too difficult on our radio, since the 13m band was at the extreme left on the dial. You simply turned the dial so far left that the needle actually stood up a bit - the twine that tied the dial to the needle could stretch only so much. There's nothing that quite matches the feeling a kid gets when the first thing he does on waking up is fiddle in the dark with a radio dial. Ears straining expectantly for McGilvray and Maxwell, he is, as philosophers would say, one with the radio."

The Weekend Telegram (St. John's, NL), 7 Jan 2012, Lillian Simmons: "Burton K. Janes began work on his first book, 'A Russian Adventure,' after winning a trip to the Soviet Union back in 1978. Then 21, he had heard about the contest via shortwave radio, one of his hobbies during his high school and university days. 'I entered the contest, sponsored by Radio Moscow, by writing an essay on a topic they assigned,' he recalls. The topic was: What do you know about the 1917 Socialist Revolution and what has it given the Soviet Union? 'Lo and betide, I won the prize - an all-expenses-paid trip to the Soviet Union!' When Janes arrived in Moscow, he was appalled to discover that the people who had awarded the prize seemed to have never heard of him. Despite the confusion and further complications, he did get to tour the Soviet Union."

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 Jan 2012, Benito Legarda Jr.: "Chair Maria Serena Diokno of the [Philippines] National Historical Commission received last Jan. 6 the descendants of a man who, although of neutral nationality, freely chose to take part in the Philippine fight for freedom against the occupying Japanese. He was Norbert Schmelkes, a Czech national in stock and commodity trading in prewar Manila. ... Schmelkes was one of 14 Czechoslovaks who, after the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, volunteered as civilian employees in the motor transport division of the US Army. A marker at Capas Memorial Shrine honors half of that number who died in captivity. The other half survived, and Schmelkes escaped during the Death March. ... He spent much of 1942 recuperating while a countryman gathered papers to attest to his neutral citizenship. But he felt the need to do something, in this case, to boost public morale by publishing and reproducing (possibly by hectograph) accurate news reports drawn from shortwave international broadcasts."

BBC News, 6 Jan 2012: "Bob Holness, former host of daytime quiz show Blockbusters, has died at 83. ... he remains best known for hosting ITV gameshow Blockbusters, from 1983 to 1993, complete with its hexagonal board, gold runs and the classic double entendre contestant request: 'Can I have a P please, Bob?' ... He also presented the BBC World Service request show Anything Goes - a show purported to be a favourite of Aung San Suu Kyi while under house arrest - bringing him a new legion of international fans."

The Telegraph, 6 Jan 2012: "He enjoyed the intimacy of [Anything Goes] show, with requests 'ranging from a recording of a cuckoo for a Surrey gentleman in Swaziland to Fats Domino for a lady in Australia'."

Famagusta Gazette, 6 Jan 2012: "Holness ... was also well known in Cyprus for his request programme 'Anything Goes' on the BBC World Service, which ran until 1998. In an age when Cyprus boasted only CyBC Radio, BFBS and the BBC World Service, Holness' programme attracted huge audiences on the island, with correspondents writing in for comedy clips, music requests, poetry and oddities." -- Heard via the BBCWS medium wave relay on Cyprus.

"Anything Goes" was the quintessential international radio program, and a reminder of of the global reach of BBC World Service. Listeners, by hearing requests from other listeners throughout the world, were reminded that they were part of a global community. I don't know why "Anything Goes" was dropped from the World Service schedule, but perhaps it had something to do with World Service, along with the rest of Britain, trying to become more "cool." See previous posts on 21 Feb 2007 and 9 July 2011.

Variety, 7 Jan 2012, Steve Clarke: "The coming year is revving up to be another smooth ride for 'Top Gear,' the BBC show for petrol heads. Now in its 35th year, the show is challenging 'Dancing With the Stars' for pole position in the international arena. Last year, China and Korea rolled out their own local versions of 'Top Gear,' a property thought to be worth about $66 million a year to BBC Worldwide, the net's commercial arm. Revenue comes from sales of the finished show, merchandising spinoffs, live events, exhibitions and a growing number of localized versions. The Asian adaptations of the show came in the wake of the second season of 'Top Gear USA,' which airs on History; a Russian model that bowed in February 2009; and four seasons of 'Top Gear Australia.' 'The way these local versions of 'Top Gear' are going, it won't be long before they begin to emulate the success of exports of the finished U.K. program,' predicts Philip Fleming, head of communications for global brands at BBC Worldwide. 'Who would have thought that a motoring program filmed on a wet afternoon in an English backwater would translate into a global hit?' Who indeed? At the last count the U.K. show was broadcast in 198 territories."

Bizcommunity.com (Cape Town), 9 Jan 2012, Herman Manson interviewing Tony Maddox, managing director of CNN International: "Tony Maddox, the executive vice president and MD of CNN International, is responsible for CNN's international news and information portfolio. Maddox, who is based at CNN's Atlanta headquarters, is responsible for five CNN services in English; CNN en Español; CNN-IBN, CNN Turk and CNN Chile. Maddox also oversees international newsgathering, editorial and programming oversight. Under Maddox's watch, CNN has expanded its editorial operations to Kabul, Afghanistan; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Mumbai, India; and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ... Q: You are positioned as a non-partisan news channel in terms of domestic politics in the States but you definitely have a pro-American image in the rest of the world. Would you agree? And does that offer any particular challenges? Maddox: I think our audiences know us as impartial and trust us to deliver a non-partisan viewpoint. I actually think any perception of bias comes from people who are unfamiliar with our output. Impartiality is at the core of what we do and always will be, and I challenge anyone to find bias in our content. We are an American company, and we're proud of that, but look around CNN International's offices all over the world and you'll find many nationalities, faiths and political persuasions represented; but what you'll find they have in common is a desire to find the truth, and that's the most important unifying principle at CNN. ... Q: In terms of the English-speaking African markets you compete primarily with BBC World News, Sky News, Al-Jazeera and eNews. Who of these guys are getting it mostly right in your mind, and why? Maddox: I think CNN has a really strong offering for audiences in Africa, with some great content across TV, online and mobile that's dedicated to African stories, alongside an international perspective they can't get from domestic broadcasters. But I don't think anyone can rest on their laurels in a continent like Africa. I respect all of our competitors, but I think what's more important than looking at other broadcasters is to look closely at the way audiences are changing in Africa. Not so long ago the dominant medium across Africa was shortwave radio; nowadays there's incredible progress in areas such as streaming video on mobile phones. The pace of change in Africa is exhilarating and means that we need to keep pace with what audiences want. The minute you sit back and say that you're satisfied, you're in trouble."

Wall Street Journal, 6 Jan 2012, Farnaz Fassihi: "Iran is mounting new clampdowns on Internet expression, including rules that will impose layers of surveillance in the country's popular Internet cafes, as Tehran's political establishment comes under increasing strains from economic turmoil and threats of more international sanctions. ... Iranian users also have reported more blocked sites this week, as well as new barriers to accessing social-networking services. Internet connections, too, have bogged down. ... Iran announced in March 2011 that it was funding a multimillion-dollar project to build an Iranian intranet—a necessity, its telecommunications ministry said, to offer Iranians an alternative to the un-Islamic and corrupt content on the World Wide Web. An economic affairs official called it 'a genuinely halal network, aimed at Muslims on an ethical and moral level.' An Iranian newspaper this week cited Payam Karbasi, the spokesman for Corporate Computer Systems of Iran, a professional union, as saying the network would be launched in coming weeks. The network would first run parallel to the global Internet, Iranian telecommunications officials have said, with banks, government ministries and big industries allowed to access the global Internet. But eventually, officials have said, the entire country—which the government estimates has some 23 million Internet users—would switch over. But many experts are skeptical that Iran could pull off such a project, saying the economy would suffer if its commercial entities are closed off."

RFE/RL, Persian Letters blog, 4 Jan 2012, Golnaz Esfandiari: "Some Internet users speculate that the launch of the national Internet will coincide with the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution. But officials have so far not announced a roll-out date for the intranet, which they say will improve speed and security and be 'halal,' or pure." See also CNET, 6 Jan 2012, Elinor Mills.

Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 9 Jan 2012: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will meet on Friday, January 13 at BBG headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Board will further consider implementation of the Agency’s strategic plan and discuss the issue of signal interference of BBG broadcasts. In addition, the Board will review operational matters including the Board Committees and the Board meeting schedule for calendar year 2012. A budget update for the Board will include a proposal concerning Internet censorship circumvention funds. The Board will honor the 70th anniversary of the Voice of America and recognize the anniversaries of particular BBG language services. The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director will update the Board on agency operations; other broadcast executives will provide programming and coverage updates. The meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. [1900 UTC], will be webcast both live and on-demand, at www.bbg.gov."

Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA), 8 Jan 2012, Jacques Von Lunen: "Billy Mays left the Tri-Cities in 1977 as a wide-eyed high school graduate. He returns next month with tales of Cold War intrigue. ... Mays spent two decades in Eastern Europe, officially as a businessman and consultant. But from 1983 to 2003, he also went on cloak-and-dagger missions for the American embassy in Warsaw, Poland, and by extension the CIA, he said. On The Job Training: Berlin to Vladivostok, the first of four books chronicling his adventures, was just released by Proudfoot Publishing. Mays was a graduate student in economics at the University of Washington in 1983 when he saw an ad for a seminar in Poland. The Eastern European country -- still behind the Iron Curtain and just emerging from martial law -- would become his home for the next 20 years. He continued his studies at the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw but found his master's thesis on market and political reforms in Eastern Europe rejected by a conservative professor at UW. Mays took his manuscript to Radio Free Europe, a broadcaster paid for by the U.S. government to beam news and music into countries where state-run media offers no critical view of society. The radio officials paid him for his paper and asked him to go back to Poland and glean more information for U.S. agencies. And that is what Mays did for almost 20 years, he said. He received telegrams or letters with instructions. He delivered packages -- some filled with money -- to informants. He kept an eye on movements of trucks around military bases."

Communication Law & Policy, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012, "Public Diplomacy, Smith-Mundt and the American Public," by Emily T. Metzgar (abstract): "The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, is a mostly unknown and widely misunderstood piece of legislation. Revised multiple times, the law bans domestic dissemination of Voice of America and other U.S. international broadcast content in the United States. Presenting government-supported international broadcasting as an example of public diplomacy, this article discusses the long-term misrepresentation of Smith-Mundt's original intent and highlights the consequences of the continuing ban. The article considers prospects for ending the ban and emphasizes potential opportunities presented by its elimination, concluding that ending the ban might eliminate incongruity between American foreign policy goals of democracy promotion and the reality of banned domestic content. Repeal of the ban may also result in unexpected remedies for challenges facing the American media industry and the American public's desire for international news. The United States government may be the largest broadcaster that few Americans know about. Although its networks reach 100 countries in 59 languages, they are banned from distribution in the United States by a 1948 law devised to prevent the government from turning its propaganda machine on its own citizens." With link to full text.

The Australian, 10 Jan 2012, Nick Leys: "The ABC has declared it will screen the controversial Australian-made documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer on the Australia Network this year. The decision to screen the film, The 10 Conditions of Love, comes nearly two years after it was screened for domestic audiences in Australia and follows allegations that ABC managing director Mark Scott had ruled against screening the film because it would offend the Chinese government. Federal Labor MP Michael Danby issued a list of 10 questions last month, demanding Mr Scott either confirm or deny he had ordered Australia Network chief executive Bruce Dover to censor the film. ... The licensing of the film to the Australia Network was renewed by producer John Lewis only yesterday. Mr Lewis told The Australian the ABC had made the film a cause celebre by refusing to show it on the network. 'How can the Australia Network be a broadcaster that matters in the region if you have to pick and choose and censor what you show to the Chinese?' he said."

Asia Sentinel, 9 Jan 2012: "Australia is forever lecturing other countries, particularly small ones like Fiji, on rights and freedoms so it is particularly shocking to learn of the censorship practiced by the state-funded Australia Network to please China, largest buyer of its minerals. The domestic Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) may also be implicated. ... The Australia Network has since described its failure to broadcast the film as being inadvertent. However, its former network programmer, Rod Webb wrote: 'There was nothing inadvertent about Australia Network’s failure to show the film. I was instructed on a number of occasions not to show it until further notice.' ... Although never shown on the Australia Network, the film has achieved considerable circulation among Uighurs in Xinjiang. Radio Free Asia has reported that house to house searches for the DVD have been made and Uighurs have been arrested for possessing it. Their fate is unknown but is unlikely to be pleasant."

See previous post about same subject.

The Guardian, 7 Jan 2012, Jason Burke: The Burmese village of Zigon has electricity, "– unlike 90% of Burmese villages – installed by the government late last year. This has meant a number of changes. One of the more significant is the arrival of television. A satellite dish has now been installed at the village tea shop, largely used to watch state TV networks and Premier League football. Though censorship has been eased in recent months, information is still tightly controlled. News of the Arab revolts last year was blocked for weeks – though millions use cheap Chinese-made radios to listen to the BBC, Voice of America or other networks broadcasting in local languages."

UEFA.com, 11 Jan 2012: "In Myanmar, Shwe Than Lwin Media (S Media) has been granted the exclusive media rights to UEFA EURO 2012 [European soccer]. All 31 matches will be screened live in Myanmar on S Media's pay-TV channels, Skynet Sports Channels 1 and 2."

Mizzima News, 11 Jan 2012: Burmese exile website copy-pastes a VOA editorial about Burmese prisoners of conscience.

Daily Monitor (Kampala), 9 Jan 2012, Richard Wanambwa & Emmanuel Gyezaho: "At least 10 radio stations, including BBC Radio and Radio France International (local relay channels), have been taken off the air by the police in an on-going crackdown over the alleged illegal use of equipment and facilities belonging to state broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC). Detectives, who conducted the swoop on Friday and Saturday, are also understood to have switched off Kenya-based Citizen Television and three internet service providers for reported illegal connection to UBC power supplies, now estimated to have cost the national broadcaster millions of shillings. The police are now investigating possible complicity by some UBC officials in having some of the shutdown media access the broadcaster’s equipment without formal authorisation."

The Guardian, 7 Jan 2012, Damien Pearse: "With its colourful band of Muppets preaching tolerance and neighbourly love, the Palestinian version of the children's television programme Sesame Street had become a beacon of hope for children in a region ravaged by decades of unrest. But the cast of peace-loving characters have now found themselves in the crossfire of a political dispute between Palestinian leaders and the US Congress, and episodes have been axed for 2012. Sesame Street – known as Shara'a Simsim in Arabic – is one of many US-funded Palestinian shows suffering after Congress froze the transfer of nearly £130m to the US Agency for International Development in October. The suspension aimed to punish the Palestinians for appealing to the United Nations for membership." First reported by AP, 8 Jan 2012, Daniella Cheslow.

CNN, 11 Jan 2012, Jill Dougherty: "State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed the cut-off Tuesday. 'Unfortunately, Kermit is not able to be supported at this moment,' she said. 'Unfortunately, with the cut in economic support funds we had to make some hard tradeoffs and that was one of the things that we’ve not been able to do.' ... Funding for Israeli television broadcasts to Arab and Jewish children will continue, Nuland said. That programming comes from a different U.S. government funding stream, the State Department spokeswoman said." See also State Department briefing, 10 Jan 2012.

Broadband TV News, 9 Jan 2012, Chris Dziadul: "Euronews has signed an agreement with the Israeli cable operator HOT for the channel’s distribution throughout the country. Although 800,000 digital subscribers have had access to Euronews since November 30 last year, this deal allows the channel to broadcast two of its 11 services – euronews English and Euronews Russian – around-the-clock. The deal reinforces euronews’ presence in the Middle East, where it is already available FTA in more than 16 million homes."

Voice of Russia, 5 Jan 2012, Pershkina Anastasiya: "France closes its labor market for foreign specialists. According to a decree by the French Interior Ministry, graduates of local higher educational establishments who are non-citizens of France are not allowed to be employed. Responding to criticism, the French authorities point to unemployment they say they are seeking to deal with. ... Even in its old form, these restrictions rode roughshod over interests of many organizations, such as the Euronews’ Russian service, says its former head Peter Fyodorov. 'Receiving a residence permit was a tricky task,' Fyodorov says, citing temporary documents which he laments made it impossible to get a loan or travel to other countries. 'Before inviting a journalist from Russia, we had to turn to the French authorities and prove that this journalist is the only suitable candidate for us. Assessing a journalist’s job is a subjective matter all the more so that the French authorities did not speak Russian and made conclusions on the basis of documents.'"

The National, 5 Jan 2011, Ben Flanagan: "Despite the upcoming launch of two pan-regional news channels, some commentators point to a more pressing demand for country-specific news and entertainment stations. Saad Mohseni, the chairman of Moby Group, Afghanistan's largest media company, is convinced there will be more demand for localised news. 'I think [Alarab and Sky News Arabia] will still have an opportunity to make a dent,' he says. 'But longer term, I think they may well have to tailor their business plan and localise some of their news.' Mr Mohseni questions the dominance of pan-regional broadcasters such as MBC, which he predicts will come under pressure this year. 'It's the beginning of the end for these pan-regional [TV channels],' he says. 'People are opting to launch their own [local] channels, rather than the pan-regional channels. I think that trend will continue. Local always wins.'"

Jerusalem Post, 5 Jan 2012, Gil Shefler: "Plans for a news television station dubbed by the media as the 'Jewish Al Jazeera' are still under wraps several months after officials said a general outline would be announce. Last April, Kazakhstani Jewish billionaire Alexander Mashkevitch told gatherers at a Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal conference in Washington that he intended to open a news television station that would provide 'balanced' coverage of the Middle East. Officials working for the mining mogul said more information on the project would be released by September. But on Wednesday, four months past that deadline, they said the project was still 'in development.' 'After we completed drafting a strategic plan with the top consultancy groups in the business last September, we’re trying to develop a competitive edge to draw more investors to the project,' said Zeev Feiner, a spokesman for Mashkevitch. He said the concept for the news channel has undergone changes. When it launches, it will have a broad appeal rather than focus on Jewish audiences, Feiner said. ... Meanwhile, a new Jewish news outlet has been on the air for several months. Jewish News 1, owned by Ukrainian businessmen Vadim Rabinovich and Igor Kolomoisky, launched last September. It consists of an hour-long news program broadcast in a loop 24 hours a day. It is available on satellite television and on the Internet. Feiner has said in the past that Jewish News 1 and Mashkevitch’s proposed news organization are unrelated." See previous post about Jewish News One (JN1).

The National Interest, Jan-Feb 2012, Aram Bakshian Jr.: "For millions of people around the world, including actual participants on the ground and in the streets of the Middle East, the single most important news source for the events still unfolding in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain is the English-language channel of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television-news network. Like it or not, it is no exaggeration to say that Al Jazeera has been the eyes and ears of this crucial news story. More often than not, Al Jazeera correspondents are the first on the scene, and Al Jazeera anchors and interviewers provide the most detailed follow-up, discussion and analysis of breaking events in the Arab world. This, to put it mildly, is odd. To offer a European analogy, it would be as if an English-language television channel owned by Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and operated out of his tiny realm were the most influential news source for the entire European Union and for millions of people elsewhere following the current European politico-economic crisis. ... There are, of course, many things to criticize about Al Jazeera. Like all 24/7 broadcast-news operations, there are far too many recycled segments offered up as fresh news again and again over several days and, until recently, Al Jazeera’s coverage of popular protests against the Sunni monarchy in Shia-majority Bahrain—and their brutal suppression—was far less aggressive than its coverage of popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. But, all in all, I came away from two months of Al Jazeera viewing with a respect for the general quality of its journalism, an admiration for the physical courage of its frontline reporters and the conviction that—particularly in the case of Al Jazeera’s female Muslim correspondents—the network offered viewers throughout the Islamic world strong, positive role models for a civilized, secular society." -- Actually, just a few decades ago, Radio Luxembourg was wildly popular in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. For its music and DJs, rather than news, though.

Michigan Radio, 4 Jan 2011, Mark Brush: "The financial crisis unfolding in Detroit is getting national and international attention. ... Here's how Al Jazeera covered the Detroit financial crisis in a two-and-half-minute television story last month." With video.

Worldscreen.com, 11 Jan 2012, Kristin Brzoznowski: "The documentary Four Days in Guantanamo, about a 15-year-old Canadian citizen imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay since 2002, is slated to make its world TV premiere on Al Jazeera English on January 18. The doc is based on CCTV [closed circuit television] footage of Canadian agents interrogating Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was locked up in 2002 at the age of 15."

Aysor.am, 11 Jan 2012: "Al Jazeera English is to air a Swedish production film 'Grandma’s Tattoos,' directed by Suzanne Khardalian from January 11 to 18. The film is dedicated to the Armenian Genocide."

Committee to Protect Journalists, 4 Jan 2012: "Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo shut down broadcasts of the French government-funded Radio France Internationale over its coverage of the aftermath of the November 2011 presidential elections, news reports said. On Monday, Communications Minister Lambert Mende said the Council of Ministers had ordered the 'temporary' measure of switching off RFI's six FM broadcast frequencies until the Congolese Broadcasting and Communications Superior Council, the new state-run media regulatory agency, had issued a decision. ... RFI Deputy Director Geneviève Goëtzinger declined to comment when contacted by CPJ. 'This decision is part of a pattern of closures to punish Radio France Internationale whenever it reports independently on political news in the DRC,' said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. 'We call on the Congolese media regulatory agency to break with this pattern of political censorship and reverse the decision immediately.' RFI is the most popular news station in the DRC, according to CPJ research."

VOA News, 5 Jan 2011, Scott Stearns: "The United States says authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should restore broadcasts by Radio France International. ... U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says the move breaches freedoms of speech and should be reversed immediately. 'We are concerned about these reports of Radio France International having been shut down. We urge the relevant Congolese authorities to reinstate RFI's frequencies immediately. ...' said Nuland." See also Committee to Protect Journalists, 4 Jan 2012.

Update: AFP, 10 Jan 2012: "France’s RFI international radio network Monday was allowed to resume operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo after broadcasts were cut at the start of the year over its election coverage. Communications Minister Lambert Mende defended the move telling AFP that the network 'had wanted to create a confused situation which could lead to clashes between the Congolese'."

Radio France International, 29 Dec 2011: "Radio France Internationale’s Swahili correspondent in Burundi goes on trial ..., accused of 'terrorism' because he reported on a rebel movement that attacked the country from neighbouring Tanzania. Twenty-two other people are in the dock in Burundi’s first terrorist trial. Hassan Ruvakuki, who is the Burundi correspondent for RFI's Kiswahili service, is among four people accused of giving the sign for rebels of the Forces for the Restoration of Democracy (FRD) to launch an attack on 20 November and of helping them by giving them publicity."

Media Bistro, 4 Jan 2012, Lauren Dugan: "As part of its initiative to harness more digital technology for diplomacy, the US State Department will be taking questions via Twitter in 10 different languages, and answering them during a press briefing every Friday for the month of January. The State Department traditionally has daily briefings that allow for some questions from the press, but now they’re opening up the floor to citizens of the world. They will be taking questions from the Department’s 10 official Twitter feeds, which include the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Urdu."

Press Trust of India, 4 Jan 2012: "Questions ... can be submitted using the hash tag #AskState to any of the Twitter feeds: @StateDept (English), @USAbilAraby (Arabic), @USA_Zhongwen (Chinese), @USAdarFarsi (Farsi), @USAenFrancais (French), @USAHindiMein (Hindi), @USAemPortugues (Portuguese), @USApoRusski (Russian), @USAenEspanol (Spanish) and @USAUrdu (Urdu)."

Heritage Foundation, 9 Jan 2011, Helle Dale: "Never one to miss an opportunity to unravel the mysteries of the Obama foreign policy, The Heritage Foundation submitted two questions: 1. @StateDept: Given the failure of engagement policy w/ Iran, how can Obama hope that negotiations w/ the Taliban will be positive? #askstate 2. @StateDept: What do you think of Russia’s missile activity since signing the New START—do we need to reset the reset? #askstate Unfortunately, [State Department spokesperson Victoria] Nuland did not choose answer our questions. Five questions were featured: one on the U.S. refusal to intervene in Syria to stop the massacre of Syrians by their own government, one on the U.S. maintaining diplomatic relations with the Sudanese government despite its brutality, one on the moral or military nature of U.S. global leadership from China, one on Iran’s intentions to shut off the Internet and threatening the Strait of Hormuz, and one on the implications for NATO of the drastic Obama defense cuts. Pretty good questions, actually, all of which received standard bureaucratic answers. Getting the U.S. government plugged into social networks is not a bad idea. However, until the State Department learns to tweet as good as it gets, it will not be genuinely participating in this particular discourse. So, please, when the next Twitter Q & A comes up, post the answers on Twitter. The whole point, presumably, is to have a dialogue in a social media context. Also, it would be interesting to see U.S. foreign policy explained in 140 characters. Could bring some much-needed clarity."

World Music Central, 25 Dec 2011: "Cuban piano maestro Chucho Valdés and his band the Afro-Cuban Messengers are set to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Saturday, January 21, 2012. ... [His] CD, released on the Four Quarters label, features musical tributes to American and European jazz artists that Valdés cites as influences, including Cole Porter, Joe Zawinul, Art Tatum, John Coltrane, Branford Marsalis, even going back to the Voice of America radio broadcasts Valdés heard growing up as a child in Havana."

NPR Music, 9 Jan 2012, AfroPop Worldwide host and former VOA broadcaster George Collinet as interviewed by Michel Marti: "Ali Farka was a sound engineer in Bamako, Mali. one day I went to see him when I was doing one of these tours for the United States for the Voice of America and Ali was there and said, oh my god, Georges Collinet. Wow. Unbelievable. And we started talking and he said you want to listen to my record? I said well, yeah. ... And then the other thing is when I was a crazy young man during my Voice of America days in the '70s, I used to listen to: and they call the wind Mary. And that was Jimi Hendrix. Man, Hendrix, oh, unbelievable."

CBC News, 3 Jan 2012: "Josef Skvorecky, a Czech dissident writer who spent most of his life in exile in Canada, has died. He was 87. ... From 1973-1990, he hosted a monthly radio series on writing and literature on Voice of America."

Sequim (WA) Gazette, 4 Jan 2012, Mark St.J. Couhig: "In 2001, Al Piemme, then 70, had just wrapped up his third world championship in downhill bicycle racing. ... Piemme rides three days a week with Sequim’s Spoke Folk cycling club and every Sunday with another crew that gets together out on Voice of America Road, with each of the trips averaging 30 miles or so." -- The road is named Voice of America because it's near the site of a planned, but never built, VOA transmitter site in Washington state. See previous post.

Radio World, 3 Jan 2012: "Sometimes a book escapes our notice, but thanks to the American Library Association’s online review journal, Choice, 'Cold War Broadcasting – Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe' attracts new attention. The publication picked that book as one of 2011’s outstanding academic titles. Published by the Central European University Press, it was edited by A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta, both veterans of Radio Free Europe. With sections written by radio broadcasters and scholars, Johnson and Parta examine the broadcast part of the 'soft' conflict during the Cold War. According to the publisher, their contributors are able to take advantage of newly declassified material along with access to now-accessible populations that were the target audience of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty." See also the book blurb at the CEU Press website. And the book's Amazon sales page, with links to other books on the history of RFE, RL, and other Cold War era international broadcasters.

Fast Company, 6 Jan 2012, Neal Ungerleider: "The Chinese government has dreamed for years of launching an English-language news network that could successfully compete with CNN or Al Jazeera for global eyeballs. Yesterday, Chinese government officials announced the launch of a new network, TodayChina, to debut in February. This will be China's third attempt to start a BBC of its own. Will the third time be the charm? TodayChina will be initially available to viewers in New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong. As of this writing, it was unclear whether the network has obtained a channel slot from local providers Time Warner, Cablevision, or Verizon FiOS. Another Chinese state-operated news network, CCTV News, already airs in New York and much of the United States. However, CCTV News has been hampered by cultural translation issues and a microscopic advertising budget. A second China-based news network, CNC World, is operated by the state Xinhua news agency and appears on a modest amount of American cable and satellite systems. ... The biggest problem China has in dealing with in their 24-hour news network problems is the sprawling nature of the Chinese government. International broadcasting is handled through a number of governmental and quasi-government agencies; CCTV is a product of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, while CNC World is operated by the state-affiliated Xinhua news agencies. Both networks frequently make errors in Chinese-English translation, broadcast material that appears odd in a Western context, and air programming with frequently shoddy production values."

Bloomberg, 5 Jan 2012, Mark Lee: "'It’s our role to propagate information about China overseas,' Yan Xinxia, a director at the State Council Information Office’s China Internet Information Center, told reporters in Hong Kong today. The center will partner with CMMB Vision Holdings Ltd. (471) for the TodayChina channel, which will be distributed free using digital TV technology in New York City."

South China Morning Post, 9 Jan 2012, Sophie Wu: "The channel will feature China-related news and entertainment content in both English and Chinese with English subtitles, according to CMMB Vision's chairman, Charles Wong. The China Internet Information Centre and CMMB Vision will also team up to provide video programmes for mobile-phone users in New York, as well as a 'Today China' website (www.today.china.com.cn) to be available worldwide. ... Wong said the new service could generate profits for the company this year. 'The TV service is free but there will be commercial slots. I am sure Chinese enterprises eyeing the overseas market will have an interest in advertising on our platform,' Wong said."

Mr. Ungerleider quoted me in his article, even though I was caught completely flatfooted unaware of TodayChina. This would be the fourth 24/7 English channel from China. Actually five, if you count both CCTV News and CCTV9 (the documentary channel), as well as Xinhua's CNC World, and the obscure Blue Ocean Network. The www.today.china.com.cn website is not working at the time of this writing.

The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan 2012, Pip Bulbeck: "Longtime BBC Worldwide Australia executive Tony Iffland is shifting from the pay TV to the free to air sector here, taking up the position of director, television and online content for public broadcaster SBS in April, SBS said Thursday. ... SBS, with its charter to reach multicultural Australians, is the smallest free to air network, but has packed a punch in recent years with some risky programs including landmark factual series Go Back To Where You Came From, its highest rated program of the year in 2011."

Radio Today, 5 Jan 2012: "Radio 4's In Our Time presented by Melvyn Bragg is to be broadcast by Australian state radio provider ABC though a deal with BBC Worldwide. 48 episodes will air through this year with the show’s summer break being filled by programmes from the archives. Producer Tom Morris told the BBC’s in-house magazine Ariel: 'We already have a listenership in Australia, our podcast is consistently in the top ten both there and in New Zealand, but this is very exciting.' The programme will be broadcast in Australia on Saturday lunchtimes. Salim Mukaddam, director of Music, Content and Programmes at BBC Worldwide, added: 'We’re delighted to be working with ABC to bring In Our Time to a new Australian audience. In Our Time is a superb programme which deserves to be heard by as wide an audience as possible.'" See also the In Our Time web page.

The Guardian, 5 Jan 2012, Mark Sweney: "The BBC Trust has approved plans to run advertising on a number of BBC World Service websites as well as in radio broadcasts for the first time in the corporation's history. BBC World Service has been given the green light to run ads on the Arabic, Russian and Spanish websites, which the trust says will put it 'on a par with the BBC's international-facing website BBC.com'. The World Service, which has seen its budget slashed by £46m a year resulting in more than 600 job losses, has been asked by the government to generate £3m from commercial activities by 2013/2014. ... The BBC Trust also rubber stamped a plan to launch a year-long pilot to run ads in World Service English programmes on its Berlin FM station. If successful the pilot could pave the way for widespread advertising on BBC World Service radio services for the first time. 'We are adopting a careful and measured approach, with these proposals deliberately contained so we can assess how they work in practice,' said a spokesman for the BBC World Service. 'While it could make a difference, this would only contribute a small proportion towards our overall funding.'"

BBC News, 6 Jan 2012: "Plans to run adverts on the BBC World Service have been attacked by one of its former managing directors. The scheme to insert advertising into World Service English output on the Berlin FM frequency is 'the worst of all possible worlds', Sir John Tusa told Radio 4's The World At One. He said it would breach a 'crucial' principle and 'not raise much money'. ... 'You can't be a little bit commercial,' said Sir John, who was head of the World Service from 1986 to 1993." With link to audio.

International broadcasters whose content is sufficiently popular to attract advertisers should welcome the opportunity to shift the burden from taxpayers. BBC already has years of experience with international advertising through its BBC World News and international-facing BBC.com. The best model for international broadcast funding -- unfortunately not emulable in most languages -- is CNN International. Its revenue is entirely through advertising, with no government subsidy. I think credibility is better served if the funding is spread over several advertisers rather than supplied by one national government.

Hungary Around the Clock, 2 Jan 2012: "Former US ambassador Mark Palmer and others are working on restoring a Radio Free Europe for Hungary, he told Népszabadság in an interview. Palmer, who was ambassador to Hungary in 1986-90, said he respected and to this day respects Viktor Orbán, but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, adding that big men are almost always bad men. This applies to all politicians, Palmer continued, adding that they will abuse their power if they can." See previous post about same subject.

Twitter, 9 Jan 2012, @rferl: "@kaedotcom At present, RFE/RL has no plans of restoring broadcasting to Hungary."

The Independent, 7 Jan 2012, Tony Paterson: "Budapest's Klubradio ... was one of the few broadcasters critical of the government and had about half a million listeners. The station suddenly lost its licence last year and was replaced by Autoradio, a pro-government broadcaster."

News.Az, 5 Jan 2012, Alsou Taheri, "the pseudonym of a journalist working at RFE/RL in Prague": "These days, Soviet-style samizdat is doing the rounds at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. It is a press release on the letter to Croatian government by Snjezana Pelivan, a Croatian journalist living in Prague. Her case against the Czech Republic as a country that tolerates the national discrimination practised on its territory by the American RFE/RL, is in the European Court of Human Rights. In her letter, she officially requests the government of Croatia to support her lawsuit in Strasbourg. ... The practical consequence of the BBG-designed personnel policies, writes Snjezana Pelivan in her letter, avidly read in RFE/RL corridors, is that all foreign journalists, producers and other specialists employed by RFE/RL in Prague, are provided with uniform work contracts based deceptively on American labour laws. American laws don’t cover foreigners outside the United States."

Croatian Times, 2 Jan 2012: "Residing in Prague Croatian citizen Snjezana Pelivan officially requests the government of Croatia to support her legal claim against the Czech Republic in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Snjezana Pelivan, daughter of Jure Pelivan, the first Prime Minister of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, worked for American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Prague as marketing manager. ... Pelivan’s employment with RFE/EL was terminated without any preliminary warnings and any reason. Simultaneously, the RFE/RL management demanded that Snjezana Pelivan signed a letter stating that she accepted the termination and would not question it in courts. She refused. In retaliation, the American employer withheld her severance compensation for years of impeccable service."

See previous post about same subject.

Law360, 4 Jan 2012: "A radio talk show host launched a suit in Louisiana federal court Wednesday against the Broadcasting Board of Governors, challenging an arbitration ruling that stripped his right to use 'Voice of America' as a domain name. Robert Namer, known as the 'Voice of America,' filed a declaratory suit asking the court to overturn a contested arbitration decision awarding the BBG the right to use thevoiceofamerica.com." -- The URL thevoiceofamerica.com still appears to be active and connected to Namer's radio program. See also RFC Express, 4 Jan 2012.

The New Times (Kigali), 4 Jan 2012: "The Rwanda Defence Force has said that a news item on Voice of America, on the arrest of a certain Nsabiyaremye Gratien, was far from the truth and an attempt to distort facts. In a statement released yesterday, the RDF said Nsabiyaremye was arrested by the police for highway robbery. VOA Kinyarwanda service had quoted a person by the name of Habimana Boniface alleging that the suspect was abducted by the military. ... 'The allegations that Nsabiyaremye was abducted by the military are false and misleading. Nobody should hide behind political affiliations to defeat the course of justice,' the statement ends."

RFE/RL, 3 Jan 2012: "A Belarusian state television channel has suspended broadcasts of the Euronews channel, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. The Minsk-based television channel MTIS ended the Euronews broadcasts on January 1, replacing them with programming from the Russian movie channel NTV-Plus Kino+. MTIS told the Interfax news agency that the decision to drop Euronews was temporary and made due to an increase in the broadcasting fees being charged by Euronews's owners. ... The pan-European channel Euronews has been the only independent international news source available on state-controlled Belarusian TV. ... Independent Belarusian television expert Leonid Mindlin told RFE/RL that Euronews is 'a window into the world' for its audience, which he said was some 15 percent of the Belarusian viewers. Mindlin said it is not known if Euronews was dropped for political or financial reasons. He maintained that Belarusians can still access it and other independent TV stations via satellite or Internet."

Transitions Online, 5 Jan 2012, Jeremy Druker, Ioana Caloianu, and Joshua Boissevain: Euronews has "been accused over the years of toning done its Russian-language broadcasts, which are the ones aired in Belarus, to avoid much criticism of the authorities. Some say the station continues to dodge in-depth political stories and gives short shrift to the opposition but does report comprehensively on economic issues and remains much better than any state-run alternatives."

RFE/RL, 6 Jan 2012: "A law restricting the use of the Internet by Belarusian firms and state institutions has come into force. One aspect of the law seen as the most invasive requires Internet cafes and service providers to identify and keep track of all of their clients along with the web pages they visit. Thirty-five specific websites are banned for Internet users at state institutions. Most are deemed pornographic or of an extremist nature. But some opposition political websites -- including the pages of 'Charter'97.org' and 'Belarusian Partisan' -- are also on the banned list." See also BBC News, 4 Jan 2012.

The Egyptian Gazette, 30 Dec 2011, Ihab Shaarawy: "A recent Arabic-speaking competition for Arabic-language students in China highlighted China’s great interest in Arab culture and also charted the future for the relations between the two cultures. ... The competition, the first of its kind, was organised by China Radio International (CRI) and the Faculty of International Languages, Beijing University. It began in October, attracting students from 23 universities and institutions from around China. ... The CRI began its Arabic service nearly 55 years ago, while the first Arabic course was introduced in a Chinese university in 1946. ... [One of the winners Li Jing] seemed very interested in Arab culture, but said she is still not ready to work and live in the Arab world. 'I still think that there is a kind of discrimination against women in the Arab world, but I will be happy to work and live there, when the discrimination ends,' she said. ... The prize distribution ceremony attracted officials and diplomats from the Arab embassies in Beijing and, at the end of the ceremony, a pleasant surprise was in store from the Aljazeera correspondent, who offered free training courses for those who won prizes."

National Communications Network (Guyana), 30 Dec 2011, Leana Bradshaw. "Chinese television station CCTV9 will be soon aired on a 24 hour basis here, to cater for Chinese nationals living in Guyana. Chief Executive Officer of the National Communications Network (NCN), Mohammed Sattaur said government has supported the move and NCN will manage the new station. 'The Chinese delegation has proposed that they provide the satellite uplink and downlink facilities as well as the transmitter for the broadcasting and a control room for managing the broadcast.' The state channel- NCN, has been broadcasting one hour of news from CCTV9 for approximately 6 years but it will now have its own designated channel. The Chinese counterparts expressed their gratitude for the collaboration, noting that it will help to forge closer ties between the two countries." -- Actually, this English-language channel will cater to Guyanese, though Chinese-Guyanese might be more intersted than most Guyanese in its content. The English news channel formerly known as CCTV9 is now CCTV News, and CCTV9 is now the brand of an English-language documentary channel. I suspect that CCTV News is the channel that will be seen 24/7 in Guyana.

Radio Netherlands, 29 Dec 2011, Thibaut Cavaillès: "When the weather allows it, Didier can see, from the Medina of Tangier, the Spanish city of Tarifa, the doorway to a dream that might never come true: getting to Europe. 'I am confident that once in Europe, I’ll make it!', he affirms. Didier is a Cameroonian citizen. ... Didier gets his image of Europe from watching television. 'I watch TV5 and France 24. There is a lot of money there. People eat 15-Euro sandwiches and drink 10-Euro coffees at the Champ Elysées, in Paris', he says."

Gulf News (Dubai), 6 Jan 2012, Marwan Kabalan: "At his latest news conference on the mission of the Arab observers in Syria, the Arab League Secretary General, Nabeel Al Arabi, tried to present a balanced assessment of the Syrian regime's compliance with the Arab peace plan to resolve the crisis. ... The Syrian media ignored almost everything in Al Arabi's assessment except his statement to the media. The Syrian regime stated that it would allow foreign media into the country, provided that they report 'objectively' on the crisis. Arab League sources said that the Syrian government has informed Al Arabi that it would allow dozens of journalists and media channels to report from inside the country except for three. They are Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and France 24."

Day Press (Damascus), 8 Jan 2012: "[A] BBC Arabic service reporter was allowed to accompany three Arab monitors to a town on the outskirts of Damascus. It was the first time foreign media were known to have been able to cover the activities of the monitors directly, although media access was a condition stipulated by the Arab League. The BBC said it had been able to film, unhindered by the security forces." See also BBC News, 5 Jan 2012.

Al Arabiya, 28 Dec 2011: "A prominent Lebanese television personality has accused Al Arabiya News Channel of conspiring against Syria with Israel and declared his support for the Syrian regime and his disapproval of the protests demanding the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. George Kurdahi, best known as host of the game show 'Who Will Win the Million?,' the Arab version of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,' said several satellite channels are plotting against Syria and that Al Arabiya is leading the way."

Al Jazeera English, 8 Jan 2012, Asad Hashim interviewing Bassam Abu Abdullah, Baath Party member: "Q: "Do you say that the Syrian government has been fully cooperating with [Arab] monitors? Abdallah: Yes, I think they are fully cooperating, and besides that, we opened for all media now we have more than 136 representatives from different media, except Al Jazeera. Q: Well, except Al Jazeera. I'm sitting here in the 'Inside Syria' studio. I'd like to be reporting from inside Syria, but we've not been granted a visa. Abdallah: Al Jazeera, generally, my friend, Al Jazeera was a party during the past 11 months, I think they are not objective. I don't know Al Jazeera English, but...I met with your correspondent who was from Beirut and from Doha and I had an interview with them."

DPA, 2 Jan 2012: "A French-Algerian journalist was found dead in his hotel room in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, police sources said Monday. He was strangled, allegedly by another journalist, the sources said. His body was found by a hotel worker, who informed police. The sources claimed the murder followed a financial dispute between the two journalists. They also claimed the victim worked as a freelancer for France 24. But France 24 said in a statement that the journalist was neither part of its correspondent network in Yemen nor on assignment in Yemen for the station. It didn't comment on whether he worked as a freelancer."

Sydney Morning herald, 3 Jan 2011, Gerard Henderson: Australian Broadcasting Corporation managing director Mark "Scott's view that the ABC should engage in 'soft power', and represent Australia's international interests through broadcasting, has been sanctioned by the Gillard government. It awarded the Australia Network contract to the ABC in perpetuity without competitive tendering. The problem with the existing service is not merely that it is boring. It also reflects the ABC house culture of criticising both Labor and the Coalition from the left."

Melbourne Football Club, 31 Dec 2011, Matt Burgan and Tom Parker: Matt Burgan and Tom Parker: "The biggest achievement the AFL [Australian Football League] has made through its recent China strategy was to reach an agreement with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Australia Network to broadcast the 2010 AFL finals matches live into Shanghai. This year SMG through their English language International Channel Shanghai has shown one game per week during the 2011 Toyota Premiership Season. The ability to have the game shown live in China, a first for an Australian sport, along with continued coverage throughout the season means that the game will create demand for further development in the future. Melbourne and the AFL are aware of the Yao Ming factor, but believe that bringing a new sport into a new market requires patience and a different approach."

The Australian, 2 Jan 2012, Brendan Nicholson: "For Australia to increase pressure on Indonesia over its annexation of East Timor would create a 'dreadful shambles' in international relations, Bill Hayden warned cabinet soon after Labor won government in 1983. ... There was concern, too, about Indonesia's reaction to criticism of its actions broadcast in the region on Radio Australia. However a later cabinet submission noted that: 'Improved liaison arrangements between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Radio Australia and greater sensitivity on the part of Radio Australia to the Indonesian problem have reduced the level of irritation of Radio Australia broadcasts.'"

Radio Zamaneh (Amsterdam), 3 Jan 2012: "A member of Iran’s Corporate Computer Systems reports that Iran will be cut off from the World Wide Web once the country launches its own national internet network. Iranian media report that Payam Karbasi, the spokesman for Corporate Computer Systems of Iran, said: 'With the launch of the national internet, the internet providers can increase the speed of access to their desired websites by two megabytes... however, it will be just like a corporate network, which cannot be accessed by outsiders, and some material cannot be accessed through that network.' Islamic Republic authorities have long been talking about separating Iranian internet users from the World Wide Web by launching a 'clean' national internet network. The government has said that the national internet will be launched by next month. ... Iranian authorities heavily censor the internet and block numerous news and opposition websites. Iranian users have used proxies to overcome these obstacles."

China Radio International, 1 Jan 2012, new year's message by Wang Gengnian, Director-General of China Radio International: "We've inscribed 'China Perspective, World Vision and Human Values' on a large board inside CRI's office building and will bear this slogan in mind as our broadcasting mission. ... To date, CRI presents more than 3,000 hours of programs in 61 languages on a daily basis. In addition to the 70 overseas full-frequency radio stations, CRI also has 24 overseas program production studios, 40 correspondent bureaus in other nations, 15 on-air Confucius Classrooms, as well as 4,112 listener's clubs. All our efforts have paid off. We received a total of 3.23 million letters and e-mails from listeners and netizens in 2011 alone."

China Daily, 31 Dec 2011, President Hu Jintao's new year's message: "At this beautiful moment of bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new, via China Radio International, China National Radio and China Central Television, I am delighted to extend the New Year greetings to Chinese of all ethnic groups, to compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and in Taiwan, to overseas Chinese and to friends all over the world!"

Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, 29 Dec 2011, Combat Team, of Fort Belvoir, Va., who oversaw the Radio Literacy program during his deployment to Zabul, said that 80% of the population of Zabul province is illiterate. 'Radio Literacy’s purpose is to instill in the local populace a desire for education; to push them to demand more education from their government and therefore lead to legitimacy in their government,' said Fix. ... Villagers that participate in the project receive one Radio Literacy handbook per family – sometimes two if theirs is a large family – which includes 15 weekly modules, and forty-some odd lessons, all of which are very rudimentary. ... In addition to the Radio Literacy handbook, participating villagers also receive 1 hand-crank radio per family which can receive AM and FM frequencies, as well as shortwave 1 and shortwave 2. Shortwave radio, more commonly known as ham radio in the United States, is able to reach areas where AM and FM frequencies cannot." See previous post about same subject.

YouTube, 20 Dec 2011, aVideoLifeUSA, Paul Dougherty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJTCfhDy9E "VOA's Communications World featuring 'Cold War Shortwave' [and] interview [by one Kim Andrew Elliott] with [its creator] Paul Dougherty. ... [T]hough recorded in the mid-80's this soundscape of the 'old broadcast order' sounds delightfully archaic. This pre-Web 'global village' contains a strong dose of anti-American propaganda, but seems more mysterious than strident." -- While Cold War Shortwave was recorded in 1988, I recorded the interview with Paul in the latter 1990s. If you prefer not to listen to me, here's the standalone version of Cold War Shortwave. Thanks to Mike Barraclough for letting us know these are now on YouTube.

BBC Global News, 3 Jan 2012, via Modern Ghana: "The BBC's global news services are launching the most ambitious and wide-ranging international season of programmes ever on London and the UK in 2012, to be broadcast to more than 200 million people around the world. The BBC will begin an unprecedented year-long focus on London as the city prepares to host the world's biggest sporting event, the Olympics Games. In this landmark year for the UK capital, London Calling on the BBC's international TV, radio and online services, will celebrate a wealth of arts and culture - with the spotlight on Charles Dickens' bicentenary - plus focusing on sport, history, politics, economics and all aspects of life in the UK through a range of news programming, documentaries and online features."

Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan 2011, Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Sandels: "Iran has pulled the plug on the independent Iranian House of Cinema, an organization bringing together thousands of people in Iran's film industry. The minister of culture and Islamic guidance, Mohammed Hosseini, said the institution was operating illegally, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday. ... The center was also criticized for issuing a statement condemning the arrest of six Iranian documentary filmmakers in September last year, who were accused of working for the BBC's Persian-language service service, which the Iranian government charges is trying to incite strife in the Islamic Republic."

Tehran Times, 4 Jan 2012: "Managing director of Iranian House of Cinema (IHC) regards the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s decision on disbanding the IHC as illegal. Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpur made the statement in a press conference held in Tehran, only one day after the Culture Ministry ordered the Iranian House of Cinema to disband. ... [H]e continued, 'We are ready to appear in court and we are hopeful. As I said, we’re following several cases which are being called collaborating with BBC Persian service,' he added."

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam), 3 Jan 2012, J.S. Kilassi: "It seems that all local television stations, particularly those seen in Dar es Salaam, have conspired to bore their viewers to death. With the possible exception of local news bulletins and news from international channels such as CNN, BBC World News, Sky News, Al Jazeera and DW TV, there is now nothing worth watching on TV.What we are fed daily is a monotonous diet of cheap South American dramas and extremely low-quality 'movies' from Nigeria. What is particularly maddening is the fact that almost all stations show these Mexican and Brazilian soaps and Nigerian 'films' at prime time, sometimes until well past midnight. I have feeling that our stations get this crap free of charge."

Egypt State Information Service, 3 Jan 2011: "Cairo criminal court under counselor Ahmed Rifaat Tuesday 3/1/2012 listens to pleas by the public prosecution in the trial of former President Mubarak and his interior minister Habib el Adli and six of his aides in the case of killing demonstrators during the January 25 revolution. ... Plaintiff lawyers ... asked for bringing the video footages shot by Al Jazeera, Alhurra, Al-Arabiya and ON TV channels showing policemen's heavy-handed treatment of peaceful protesters during the January revolution." See also Daily News Egypt, 2 Jan 2011, Safaa Abdoun.

The Diplomat, 27 Dec 2011, Christopher Walker & Sarah Cook: "To the casual eye, China’s social media landscape might look diverse and lively. But the social media clones are careful to follow Communist Party censorship. ... This innovative approach embraces, rather than resists, technological advances. It satisfies the growing demand of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens for social media tools, reducing incentives for them to circumvent the 'Great Firewall,' while still enabling the Communist Party to control what they say to each other on matters of political consequence. Here’s how this critical piece of China’s modern censorship mosaic works. First, the big transnational social media players – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – are blocked in China. This clears the playing field for homegrown firms, such as Renren, which provides Facebook-type functions, Youku.com, a YouTube-like video sharing service, and Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service."

Huffington Post UK, 30 Dec 2011, Caroline Frost: "The second series of the contemporary Sherlock is a tent-pole in the BBC's schedule for New Year's Day, following its phenomenal success when the first series was broadcast in the summer of 2010. And it seems British viewers aren't the only ones keen to soak up writer Steven Moffat's thoroughly modern take on the Victorian detective's stories. Programme makers can also raise a festive glass to the millions of fans around the world - particularly in Germany, Russia and France - who have enjoyed every clue and thrilling denouement by the icy-eyed Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, with his floppy but robust sidekick Dr Watson, played by Martin Freeman. To celebrate the sale of the series to 180 overseas territories, BBC Worldwide, who sells the series internationally, has put together a new video clip of some of the best bits of the first series, which you can see together for the first time today." With video. See also The Telegraph, 30 Dec 2011, Olly Grant.

Indiantelevision.com, 31 Dec 2011: "BBC Worldwide Australia GM Tony Iffland has announced that Amanda McGregor will be the new director of brands, consumers and new ventures, overseeing all commercial and marketing activity for BBC Worldwide in Australia and New Zealand. She is currently BBC Worldwide Australia director of marketing and her new role will continue to oversee marketing, brand and consumer strategy for BBC Worldwide's Australian group of businesses, but will take on additional responsibility for the commercial activity of its six global brands in territory (Top Gear, Dancing With The Stars, Doctor Who, Torchwood, BBC Earth and Lonely Planet) as well as developing other new areas of business. This new role has been created to reflect the growing emphasis on brands in the business and it will include overseeing live events and gaming, two new and rapidly evolving areas of growth for BBC Worldwide's global brands in territory."

Broadcast, 3 Jan 2012, Catherine Neilan: "The team behind BBC Worldwide’s Global iPlayer has received a boost with a trio of promotions and appointments. Riccardo Donato has been appointed to the newly created role of head of commercial and strategy for the VoD service. ... Current commissioning editor Derren Lawford is stepping up to become head of programming and scheduling. ... Paul Williamson has also been promoted to head of editorial operations, responsible for managing day to day operations of the service and content delivery in all territories."

RFE/RL, 29 Dec 2011: "Jailed Kyrgyz human rights activist Azimjan Askarov says he is reconsidering his plan to hold a hunger strike to protest his life sentence for organizing ethnic clashes and involvement in the killing of a policeman, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. ... Askarov said he walks about seven kilometers each day in the prison courtyard. 'While I walk, I read and memorize things," he said. "I don't have access to the Internet but, as you see, I have a television and radio. I listen to all [international] radio programs -- RFE/RL, the BBC, the Voice of America -- there's not a single day that I don't listen. I also get many newspapers...my friends buy them at the newsstand here [at the prison]. I am very well equipped with information.'"

Bloomberg, 29 Dec 2011, Junheng Li: "The Cultural Revolution seemed to traumatize my father in unique ways. His dreams and ambitions as an impressionable and hot-blooded young man were dashed by Mao’s policies. My guess is that the Cultural Revolution made him cynical about anything and everything around him. Distrustful of the state media, he bought a portable radio and listened to Voice of America obsessively. When I was a little girl, he instructed me not to believe out of hand anything printed in the People’s Daily. Many Chinese people know now what my father understood decades ago and yet we don’t talk about it much; some of us continue to kowtow in Tiananmen Square, keeping the fiction of Mao’s greatness alive. In this way, we’re not all that different from our North Korean brethren. Our collective 'forgetting' prevents us from accepting the cause of our past tragedies. However painful, this reckoning must happen if we are ever able finally to reject the censorship and propaganda that still enforce our 'isolation.'"

Reuters, 30 Dec 2011, Bernd Debusmann, commentary: "In another move to poke the 'great Satan', Iran’s label for the United States, in the eye in its own backyard, Iran launched a Spanish-language satellite TV channel, HispanTV, to break the dominance of international broadcasters that are 'muzzled by imperialism, hiding the truth and twisting the facts.' So said Iranian Radio and TV executive Mohamed Sarafraz when he launched the new channel on December 21. There is more than a little irony in that assertion, given that state-run Iranian media are no strangers to hiding the truth and twisting the facts, not to mention that the government imprisons journalists, jams foreign broadcasts, and engages in Internet censorship. The new Iranian channel aims beyond the countries run by anti-American leaders and is meant to convince Latin Americans of 'the ideological legitimacy of our (Iranian) system to the world,' in the words of Ezzatollah Zarghami, head of Iran’s state radio and TV. That’s easier said than done. Latin Americans dissatisfied with news and information from their own countries can turn to the Internet and to international networks already broadcasting to the region in Spanish — Britain’s BBC, TVE of Spain, Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and CNN." See previous post about same subject.

Washington Post, 1 Jan 2012, Joby Warrick: "The importance of Ahmadinejad’s visit [to South and Central America] was underscored last week by Iran’s state-owned Press TV, which said promotion of 'all-out cooperation with Latin American countries is among the top priorities of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy.' Iran has dispatched a stream of lower-ranking officials to the region in recent months. Ahmadinejad granted a live interview Dec. 13 with Venezuela’s state-owned broadcaster TeleSUR in which he hailed the close ties between the two countries and boasted of Iran’s advances in military technology, including unmanned drones."

BBC World Service, "Your World," 26 Dec 2011: "The BBC World Service has been housed in Bush House since 1941. For over 70 years it has broadcast from this home in The Strand; through a World War, Cold War, decolonisation throughout Africa, the Iranian Revolution, Perestroika, Tiananmen Square, two Gulf Wars and into the new Millennium. Now it's leaving Bush, to join the rest of BBC News in one building elsewhere in London. To mark the occasion, this documentary series - presented by the former managing director of the World Service, John Tusa - combine memories with archive. He talks to producers and presenters who've worked in Bush House over the years, and reporters who've filed to London from all over the globe. ... John Tusa examines the key World Service values of impartiality, adherence to the truth and public service - did the BBC always live up to its own standards when reporting the world? When did it fall down and why?" With audio. First of a two-part series.

Update: Part 2 of "Goodbye to Bush House" is now available: BBC World Service, "Your World, 31 Dec 2011.

Wall Street Journal, 27 Dec 2011, Paul Sonne and Farnaz Fassihi: "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 the BBC on Western satellites even as Iran's state media company broadcasts pro-government news on some of the same satellites, and at times has aired forced confessions of political detainees. 'Iran is having it both ways,' said a U.S. State Department official. 'While they benefit from the international community's respect for "freedom of expression" and "freedom of the airwaves," they deny that same right to their own citizens, aggressively jamming Persian-language broadcasts from other countries.'" See previous post about same subject.

BBC News, 28 Dec 2011, Linda Pressly: "'I sympathise with people who say something must be done because the BBC is not allowed to operate in Iran and [Iran's] Press TV is operating in London,' [Sadeq Saba, head of BBC Persian] says. 'In Iran the BBC has no bureau, this is an anomaly. We could easily jam Iran, but we never do that because we believe in freedom of expression.'" For audio version of the report: BBC Radio 4 "The Report," 29 Dec 2011.

Shortwave Central, 23 Dec 2011, citing Mike Terry/Cumbre DX: "In response to a comment about the possible abandonment of shortwave, the station wrote [in Facebook]: 'The Dutch government has cut our budget by 70 percent from 1 January 2013. If we were to continue to use shortwave at the level we do now, due to the high cost we wouldn't have enough money left to produce any meaningful content :-( The exact situation after 1 Jan 2013 has still not been finalised. We will definitely close or sell our relay stations in Bonaire and Madagascar, as there will be no budget to pay staff to work there. We *may* retain a limited number of shortwave broadcasts, but this hasn't yet been decided. As soon as we know definitely, we will inform our listeners and Web users.'"

Justrecently's Weblog, 26 Dec 2011, JR: "In Die Deutsche Welle im Rahmen von Public Diplomacy (Deutsche Welle in the Framework of Public Diplomacy), Christian Michalek, in 2008 and 2009, tried to assess journalists’ self-image (or self-concept) on the one hand, and the Welle’s political mandate (politischer Auftrag) on the other. ... Michalek points out that the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media – not the foreign office – is exercising control of legality over Deutsche Welle. This arrangement puts some distance between the Welle and the foreign office (the latter of which, after all, is likely to be the one within government to take the greatest interest in the station as a tool for public diplomacy). That said, Michalek also refers to non-binding, formal and informal intercommunication ('unverbindliche, formelle und informelle Austauschprozesse') between Deutsche Welle and the political arena, particularly the foreign office, which were hoped to serve a congruent international German appearance."

Courthouse News Service, 23 Dec 2011, Joe Celentino: "A federal judge has scrapped a misleading court stipulation from Al Jazeera in a suit that claims the international news network owes a construction company $1.4 million for a state-of-the-art television studio and office space built in Washington, D.C. Al Jazeera was previously ordered to pay $1.4 million to Winmar, a Washington-based construction company, as well as 12 percent prejudgment interest set to run from March 2006 and 0.25 percent interest since the September 2010 judgment. The court granted Al Jazeera a supersedeas bond in anticipation of an appeal, based in part on a so-called 'joint stipulation' filed by the Dohar, Qatar-based network, stating that both sides had agreed on the amount of such a bond. But, the court soon discovered, Winmar never conceded to the bond amount. 'Al Jazeera's "joint stipulation" was neither "joint" nor a "stipulation,"' U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler wrote, 'It should never have been filed.' (Emphasis in original)"

AMEinfo, 27 Dec 2011: "National Geographic Al Arabiya magazine and the internationally renowned educational initiative '1001 Inventions' have formed a strategic alliance to raise awareness of the Middle East's scientific and cultural heritage, through the development of a number of high quality educational projects targeting the Arab world. The two parties plan to develop a number of regional education projects, starting with the launch of the '1001 Inventions' Middle Eastern exhibition tour, and a highly anticipated Arabic language educational book- '1001 Inventions - Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World'."

Tehran Times, 24 Dec 2011: "The Iranian-run Spanish language TV channel Hispan TV was officially launched on [21 Dec] airing 'Saint Mary' by Iranian director Shahriar Bahrani in Spanish, depicting the life of Saint Mary and the birth of Jesus Christ from an Islamic point of view".

Fox News Latino, 27 Dec 2011: "[S]ome analysts see HispanTV as part and parcel of a political strategy towards the Spanish-speaking world."

Hudson New York, 22 Dec 2011, Soeren Kern: "Two radical Islamic television stations will begin 24-hour broadcasting to Spanish-speaking audiences in Spain and Latin America from new studios in Madrid. The first channel, sponsored by the government of Iran, will focus on spreading Shiite Islam, the dominant religion in Iran. It began broadcasting on December 21. The second channel, sponsored by the government of Saudi Arabia, will focus on spreading Wahhabi Islam, the dominant religion in Saudi Arabia. It will begin broadcasting on January 1. The inaugural broadcasts of Islamic television in Spain were deliberately timed to coincide with the Christmas holidays, and represent yet another example of the gradual encroachment of Islam in post-Christian Spain. The new Iranian channel, Hispan TV, will focus on news and television series produced in Iran and dubbed into Spanish. ... The new Saudi channel, Córdoba Televisión, will broadcast documentaries and debates on religion with the aim of propagating the extremist Wahhabi sect of Islam to audiences in the Spanish-speaking world." See also Ahlul Bayt News Agency, 22 Dec 2011.

See previous post about same subject.

Media Bistro, 23 Dec 2011, Alex Weprin, quoting year-end note to staff from CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton: "I think I’ll remember 2011 as the year that CNN’s international reporting reasserted its dominance on the media landscape. Through an extraordinary news cycle, we told global stories of natural disaster, political upheaval, war and human failing with breadth, authority and timeliness. We worked together and across our platforms. Our journalism set us apart. Our work made a difference to millions who count on us."

Huffington Post, 21 Dec 2011, Michael Calderone: According to Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Year in News 2011 study: "CNN, which has a larger global footprint and a sibling in CNN International, devoted 34 percent of its coverage to "international events and matters that concerned U.S involvement abroad," according to the study. That's more than Fox News (20 percent) and MSNBC (14 percent). In fact, CNN's biggest story of the year was the Middle East uprisings, which ranked third on Fox News and MSNBC."

TV Guide, 22 Dec 2011, Stephen Battaglio interviewing CNN International reporter Sara Sidner: "TV Guide Magazine: We don't see a lot of people who look like you on CNN International or as foreign correspondents in general. How does it play out in the field? Sidner: It's good to be brown. Whether it's in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, people assume there is a connection there, that a parent or grandparent is from North Africa or from South Asia. People think, 'Oh, she understands something about what we've been through.' I am a child of the world. My mother is British. My father is African-American. For me It's been an advantage...Being this color, I can kind of blend in, and I don't get the kind of unwanted attention you might get if I walked in and everyone has dark hair and olive skin and I have blonde hair and blue eyes."

Gulf News, 26 Dec 2011, Habib Toumi: "Al Jazeera, the Doha-based channel that has helped change the Arab media landscape, is moving ahead with plans to recruit a large number of Qataris. Under a strategy launched by its news head, the pan-Arab channel will hire Qataris who hold a university degree, preferably in media or communication studies, be thoroughly knowledgeable about regional and international developments and be less than 30 years old, local daily Al Sharq reported on Monday. Well-known Qatari media people will oversee the project, launched as part of the changes promoted by the channel since the appointment of Shaikh Ahmad Bin Jassem Al Thani as its head."

The Daily News Egypt, 23 Dec 2011, Amir Makar: "Sixty-two percent of an audience of 150 supported the motion that “the Egyptian revolution was failing” at the New Arab Debates last Tuesday, a significant climb from 54 percent in a poll conducted before the debate began. ... The New Arab Debates are a new series moderated by [Tim] Sebastian, modeled after his previous Doha Debates, and broadcast by German network Deutsche Welle and local providers around the region."

Deutsche Welle, "New Arab Debates," 28 Dec 2011: "Your spotlight on the Arab revolutions - your right to speak out, asking the vital questions, insisting on answers. The New Arab Debates invite a new generation to get involved in politics."

The Border Mail (Wodonga, Victoria), 26 Dec 2011, Peter Batson: "Border and North East listeners received an early Christmas present last week, a 24-hour news radio station. ABC NewsRadio airs continuous news and current affairs at 100.9FM from a mast on Mount Baranduda, near Wodonga. ... ABC NewsRadio broadcasts rolling news, sport, finance and current affairs, specialist news and sports programs and offerings from overseas broadcasters such as the BBC, Germany’s Deutsche Welle and National Public Radio in the US." -- The ABC NewsRadio schedule shows generous amounts of BBC and NPR (presumably paid for) programming on weekdays, plus some DW programs on weekends. Also coproductions with Radio Australia, ABC's international service.

The Guardian, 26 Dec 2011, Simon Burnton: "'My favourite Boxing Day memory would be from around 1991 when my in-laws gave me a vintage short wave radio,' writes Allen Ford. 'Back then, following the game here in Canada still meant waiting for week-old highlights. To be sitting in my living room listening to the BBC World Service as they hopped from ground-to-ground for goal updates was pure magic.'"

The Northern Echo, 29 Dec 2011: "Sunderland’s New Year’s Day home fixture against league leaders Manchester City will be the first live commentary of 2012 for the BBC Swahili flagship football programme, Ulimwengu wa Soka. It is the first time the BBC Swahili weekend football show will have been broadcast from the Stadium of Light."

Voice of America press release, 27 Dec 2011: "The Voice of America is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first U.S. radio broadcasts to China, which began the 28th of December 1941, just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of World War Two. Voice of America was still months away from being officially established when the first Chinese language shortwave broadcasts were transmitted from studios in San Francisco. U.S. government broadcasting operations to China were eventually moved to New York and then Washington under the Voice of America. ... VOA programs in Mandarin, Cantonese and Tibetan are delivered on radio, television, the Internet, mobile platforms, satellite, and by proxy servers designed to circumvent Chinese Internet blocking." See previous post with items about VOA Chinese, including the BBG's plans to eliminate its radio component.

Bahrain News Agency, 27 Dec 2011: "Information Affairs Authority (IAA) President Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa today announced that Al-Arab News Channel and Rotana Media Group would establish their headquarters in Bahrain starting next year. He described the move as value-adding to the march of the media in Bahrain, stressing the freedom of expression and opinion which are prevailing in the Kingdom., explained that 'The IAA reached an agreement on December 12 to launch Al Arab news channel from Manama', Shaikh Fawaz told journalists. Under the deal, senior executive management of Rotana channel group will move from Riyadh to Manama on completion of Media City legal and organizational framework, which is in its final stage. ... Meanwhile their studios will remain in Cairo and Beirut. As for the Al Arab News Channel, it employs around 300 people. ... He affirmed that the IAA is committed to prepare and qualify national media cadres and arm them with modern skills in journalistic and media work.In this matter, he pointed out that the IAA contracted with 3 renowned international institutions: the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America, the French National Institute of Audiovisual, besides contracting with one of the biggest media figures in France as a consultant in development and training in the IAA."

The National, 28 Dec 2011, Ben Flanagan: "Alarab is set to launch in December next year. The 24-hour station is being launched in conjunction with the US media giant Bloomberg, which will support the business news output of the channel. The Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who is managing Alarab, told The National last month that the news station was choosing between Bahrain and Dubai as a base for the channel. Mr Khashoggi declined to comment on the decision to base the station in Bahrain when contacted by The National. The Arabic TV news market is currently dominated by Al Arabiya, based in Dubai, and Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government. Another Arabic TV-news station, Sky News Arabia, will launch in Abu Dhabi in Spring of next year."

This is a controversial choice of location, as Bahrain went through its own Arab spring demonstrations earlier this year. They did not succeed in changing the government, and Shia-majority Bahrain continues to be controlled by a Sunni-minority monarchy.

Press TV, 29 Dec 2011: "Scores of people have been killed in the government-sanctioned crackdown on the Bahraini protesters, with the involvement of the foreign forces reportedly contributing to increase in the violence against the protesters. The Saudi prince had, however, asserted that the network would put 'an emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of press.'"

The Daily Star (Dhaka), 25 Dec 2011Sabir Mustafa, editor, BBC Bangla: "Although BBC Bangla is celebrating its 70th anniversary in December, it was on October 11, 1941, that the BBC's Bengali-language programme was launched, with a 15-minute talk written by the author George Orwell. At that time it was just a weekly programme. Seventy years later, BBC Bangla broadcasts two morning and two evening programmes every day. These programmes are no longer the musings of one man, no matter how brilliant, but packed with news reports on latest important events from around the world. There are hard-hitting interviews, radio documentaries on a wide range of subjects, long radio and online features, and live phone-in programmes where listeners have their say. ... Over the years, the BBC has developed close transmission partnership with the state broadcaster, Bangladesh Betar, to relay English and Bengali programmes on FM in major cities across the country. The first was FM 100 in Dhaka in 1994, which developed into a 12-hour service with 10 hours of English output from BBC World Service, and two hours of Bangla programming. ... The shift from short-wave listening to FM -- which we have observed in developed as well as many developing countries -- is beginning to take shape in Bangladesh as well."

Inter Press Service, 23 Dec 2011, Emad Mekay: "[S]ome 10 months later, Western circles now give little or no credit to the indigenous Arab social change mechanisms that have so far kept Arab revolutions raging for a year now. The tools Arabs used were not mainly Google, Facebook or Twitter. They were simply their own I-Revolt apps. ... Friday noon prayers where hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people customarily gather every week, have been the most shared feature of the Arab Spring uprisings. The weekly congregations were in fact the main hub for bringing protesters out to the streets – not because of their spiritual value but because of their ability to gather people with no or little extra effort. ... A second ergonomic, user-friendly Arab-gadget was the good old A-4 white-paper flyer, handwritten or on rare occasions typed, designating places to assemble and protest. ... Another tool I saw used to keep the fervour going was the simple word of mouth over landline telephones from mostly panicky family members reporting to their loved ones how unfit Mubarak's brutal ways had become. You add to that mix the role played by the 24-hour pan-Arab TV news, especially from the Mubarak-bashing Aljazeera, BBC Arabic, Al-arabiya and even the U.S.-funded Al-Hurra, in spreading the word and you'll get a realistic sense of what a limited role social media outlets had on the ground. In fact, the entire internet was made useless when Mubarak cracked down and cut off all communications - without that denting people's ability to plan and organise one bit."

Newsmax, 23 Dec 2011, Arnaud De Borchgrave: "Al-Jazeera's global television network has long surpassed the Voice of America in the number of bureaus and correspondents it has deployed all over the world. Its English-language programs and newscasts have even overtaken the world's one-time leader BBC, shrunk by government cutbacks. ... Al-Jazeera's coverage of domestic Qatari affairs is limited but it never misses an opportunity to tweak the beak of fellow Arab leaders who crackdown on dissent." -- Better to measure the "number of bureaus and correspondents" of all of the BBG entities, not just VOA. Al Jazeera probably still has the advantage. And by what measure has Al Jazeera English "overtaken" the BBC? I'm sure that BBC World News still has a larger audience, and that CNN International (at no cost to US taxpayers) has the largest audience of the "big three" global English news channels.

Arab Times, 23 Dec 2011: "Minister of Information Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali announces that the office of Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel would be reopened in Kuwait, following approval of the station’s request in that concern, reports Al-Rai daily. Sheikh Al-Ali said the decision to re-open Kuwait’s office of the Qatari owned TV station stems from the authority’s responsiveness to the importance of media in the Gulf region. He said Kuwait is in an election year and there is need to allow for a transparent, credible and neutral coverage. He urged the media must be responsible in its practices, even as he promised freedom on its behalf."

KUNA Kuwait News Agency, 25 Dec 2011: "On re-opening office of Al-Jazeera television channel, the minister indicated that it would resume its work in the country following completion of some paper works. 'Kuwait will witness a new and unprecedented era of media openness,' he added."

Bloomberg, 27 Dec 2011, Sangwon Yoon: "South Korean civic groups and defectors from the North said they launched balloons today that will float across the border to deliver leaflets containing criticism of the late Kim Jong Il and his son and successor, Kim Jong Un. Forty activists set off 10 balloons that also carried dollar bills, said Jang Se Yul, head of the North Korea People’s Liberation Front, a Seoul-based group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to the South."

Bernama, 28 Dec 2011: "The activists from two defector groups -- Fighters for Free North Korea and the NK People's Liberation Front -- launched 200,000 leaflets from Imjingak pavilion in the northern border city of Paju that urged their compatriots in the North to 'rise up' against the Pyongyang regime, reports Yonhap News Agency."

AFP, 27 Dec 2011: "The internet is virtually banned, there's no free press and listening to foreign radio is illegal - if any country can build a Stalinist-style personality cult in the digital era, it's North Korea. ... Social media helped to galvanise Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, but under the world's last remaining communist dynasty, surfing the web is impossible for most ordinary people. There is a nationwide intranet system called Kwangmyong but it is tightly controlled and does not provide a window to the outside world. ... But information from outside is slowly seeping in, through smuggled mobile phones which connect to Chinese networks near the border and South Korean DVDs and videotapes imported clandestinely."

Australian Broadcasting Corporation "AM," 23 Dec 2011, Stephen McDonell: "Accompanied by soothing music that locals would recognise immediately Free North Korea Radio sails through the airwaves and into the illegal short wave radio sets in the north of the Korean Peninsula. The programs deliver news and analysis of events in North and South Korea from an anti-Kim Jong-il perspective. The people who work at the station are North Korean defectors who've escaped and made their way to Seoul - usually via China. The death of former leader Kim Jong-il has kept them busy this week."

See previous post about same subject.

Gulf News (Dubai), 26 Dec 2011: "Bahrain has agreed on deals with international audio-visual companies to boost local skills and enhance the media landscape. Shaikh Fawaz Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa, the president of the Information Affairs Authority (IAA), on Monday said that the contracts with major international media organizations have been completed and that they would 'contribute to training and providing programming in an effort to improve the services provided through the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation (BRTC).' The accords were with the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA), Broadcasting Board of Governors for Voice of America (BBG/VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Shaikh Fawaz, who was given the information portfolio in July 2010, said. ... The Broadcasting Board of Governors has agreed to provide the IAA with programming through the Voice of America (VOA) in both English and Arabic that will be broadcast on FM radio. The contract stipulates that content will be consistent with both the BBG standards and practices, and the national, cultural, religious and social sensitivities of Bahrain. BBG will also provide an annual training seminar to participants selected by the IAA. The contract with the BBG is, in addition to the one with the BBC, to supply radio programming that includes concerts, pop documentaries, features, dramas, readings and comedies. The IAA said that it also renewed its contract with SOMERA, a Parisian broadcasting corporation for radio programming in French and Arabic, through 2016." -- Presumably, the Arabic programming will be Radio Sawa, as VOA does not have an Arabic service.

Inside VOA, 14 Dec 2011: "VOA French to Africa reporter Ferdinand Ferella, one of the most respected and well-known journalists in Central Africa, passed away December 13 following a battle with lung cancer. He was 59. Born in Rouen, France in 1952, Ferdinand worked at Radio Canada International before joining VOA in the late 1980s. As a reporter for VOA he traveled frequently to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his dedication to balance and accuracy built credibility and a loyal audience. Friends called his influence in the Democratic Republic of Congo 'astounding.' Many journalists held him in such high regard they named their children after him. One of his listeners once wrote he should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his reporting. ... VOA’s French to Africa Service has established a memorial page on their website for Ferdinand, already including many appreciative audience comments in French and English, along with audio tributes and photos from his career."

BBG Watch, 8 Dec 2011: "Celebrated Voice of America Breakfast Show host Pat Gates Lynch died after a struggle with cancer Sunday at her home in Fort Belvoir. From the mid-50s until 1969, Pat served for about 15 years as host and interviewer on the VOA Worldwide English Breakfast Show, which drew significant audiences around the world that even surpassed at times those of jazz impresario host Willis Conover. She interviewed presidents, prime ministers and many famous figures in the arts and music during those years. After VOA, Pat served as First Lady Pat Nixon’s press aide for radio and television from 1969 until 1974, and later was U.S. ambassador to Madagascar in the 1980s. After returning home from her post in Africa, she became Director of Corporate Affairs at RFE/RL headquarters in Washington, retiring from that job in the late 1990s. Pat Gates Lynch wrote a book on her experiences, 'Thanks for Listening: High Adventures in Journalism and Diplomacy,' Countinghouse Press, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 2008." -- Her name was just "Pat Gates" on the air. Along with co-host Phil Irwin, she recorded The Breakfast Show, which was then played out during the morning hours in each part of the world. See also patgateslynch.com.

Update: Washington Post, 26 Dec 2011, Matt Schudel: "Patricia Gates Lynch Ewell, 85, a onetime disc jockey who had a long career as a popular radio host for the Voice of America and served as the U.S. ambassador to Madagascar, died Dec. 4 at her home at the Fairfax at Fort Belvoir retirement community. ... On the VOA’s 'Breakfast Show,' Mrs. Ewell became known for her sign-off at the end of each program: 'If you meet someone without a smile, give him one of yours.' She wrote in a 2008 memoir that she received letters from people all over the world remarking on how they were touched by her simple statement."

E-mail to VOA/IBB/BBG employees: "Former [VOA] Daybreak Africa host, writer and jazz lover Paul Blair died suddenly in New York on December 6th, just a month short of his 70th birthday. The cause of death was a heart attack. Between 1985 and 1988 Paul was host and editor of English to Africa’s morning radio program and he had visited his old colleagues in the African Division as recently as October of this year. During his time at VOA Paul also worked on a music program for Nightline Africa, playing mostly jazz, a subject that was his passion. Most recently Paul was editor of Hot House jazz magazine and in 2001 he founded SwingStreets, conducting walking tours of jazz-related sites throughout Manhattan and the other boroughs. Earlier in his life, Paul taught English as a Peace Corp volunteer in Malawi, and worked as a freelance journalist in Indonesia for a decade." -- Because Africa accounted for the largest concentration of VOA English listeners, and because morning was the most popular listening time, Mr. Blair no doubt was one of the most well-known VOA broadcasters. See also Jazz Journalists Association, 8 Dec 2011, Howard Mandel. And Mr. Blair's own swingstreets.com.

BBG Watch, 20 Dec 2011: "Victor Ashe, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), has called for keeping open the radio broadcasting facility on U.S. territory that is capable of transmitting shortwave radio programs to China. Some Obama Administration officials want to shut down the last remaining U.S.–based international broadcast station located in North Carolina. Ashe also called for urgent reforms in the way the federal agency in charge of U.S. international broadcasting operates. ... Ashe has become an outspoken critic of the permanent BBG bureaucracy in charge of planning and day-to-day operations of U.S. international broadcasting. He has made his displeasure known by visiting broadcasting services and technical facilities that some of the other BBG members wanted to eliminate based on the recommendations they had received from their executive staff. ... In his statement, Ashe calls for keeping open the Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Station in Greenville, North Carolina, which he had recently visited despite objections from some of the BBG executives who want to close it down. Ashe said in his statement that this facility is the only one on American soil where the U.S. government has jurisdiction. He pointed out that a similar station in the Philippines, operated by the BBG, is barred from transmitting radio programs to China due to the Philippine government’s reluctance to upset the Chinese government. 'That could not happen on American territory,' Ashe noted in his statement."

Actually, the Tinang site in the Philippines is used for VOA Mandarin transmissions to China. Radio Free Asia is not allowed to use relay sites in the Philippines and in Thailand, which will be an interesting predicament if RFA, as the BBG wishes, becomes the only USIB radio service in Mandarin. Furthermore, there are two BBG transmitting sites in US possessions much closer to China than Greenville. They are on Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands.

I have advocated that the United States should retain a global shortwave broadcasting capability for future emergencies. It's too late for that now, with the closure of the IBB relays in Greece and Morocco, and at Delano, California. Greenville should stay open. It will be needed in future crises. In a pinch, it can reach the Middle East, e.g. Iran. China is probably a stretch, though. Greenville can also be used to experiment with shortwave digital text modes, which could prove helpful as a net circumvention tool.

Metro Pulse (Knoxville), 28 Dec 2011: "Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe is not endearing himself to his fellow Broadcasting Board of Governors, the bipartisan group that governs what used to be called the Voice of America broadcasting to totalitarian counties." -- Actually, the Voice of America is still called Voice of America.

Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 19 Dec 2011: "Marking a series of international broadcasting milestones, BBG Governor Victor Ashe and VOA Director David Ensor congratulated the staffs of VOA language services in Washington, DC. Ashe noted, for example, that early broadcasts in Cantonese and Mandarin by what is now VOA’s China Branch actually predated the 1942 establishment of VOA itself. 'VOA Mandarin and Cantonese continue to inspire innovation and demonstrate team work and professional journalism as we look to the next seventy years,' said Ashe, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland."

Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 9 Nov 2011: "BBG Governor Victor Ashe toured the last remaining U.S.–based international broadcast facility recently, noting the historical significance of the base which is named for an icon of U.S. international broadcasting. During his December 8 visit to the Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Station in North Carolina, Ashe met with employees and discussed the installation’s mission, which includes shortwave broadcasting to Latin America, Cuba, the Caribbean, and Africa."

Broadcasting Board of Governoras press release, 16 Dec 2011: "BBG Governor Victor Ashe met with Alhurra and Radio Sawa staff during a visit to the headquarters in Northern Virginia. Governor Ashe discussed the challenges facing the broadcasters, as well as the changes in the region since the Arab Spring. Ashe, pictured with Alhurra staff, spent all day with the journalists and support staff and addressed the new opportunities for outreach in the region."

BBG Watch, 23 Dec 2011: "BBG Watch is releasing a full transcript of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s special video statement on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting to China. While her statement did appear on the VOA Chinese website, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Public Affairs Office refused employee requests to issue a press release on the 70th anniversary reception hosted on Capitol Hill by Congressman Dana Rohrabaher on December 6, 2011 and on the statement by the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs."

OneNewsNow, 18 Nov 2011, Charlie Butts: "Dr. Barrett Duke of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention agrees with other human rights groups who view VOA as a tool for 'young fighters for democracy.' 'In this day and age now, where closed countries are working even harder to prevent their citizens from getting news from democracies, it's even more important that we engage in vigorous democracy promotion,' Duke contends. 'VOA is one way that we can do that.'" -- The problem with "vigorous democracy promotion," rather than broadcasting news, which is what VOA really does, is that democracy promotion, commendable is it may be, is pretty much the same thing day after day. The audience, having heard it before, falls off. News, on the other hand, provides some new (hence "news") every day. And news is an essential ingredient in the development and maintenance of democracy.

National Review, 21 Dec 2011, Jay Nordlinger: "This little item suggests that new management at the Voice of America and related agencies wants to purge those places of 'old white guys.' After reading it, I said something to John O’Sullivan, who is just leaving Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Is there anything stupider than age? Is there anything stupider than race? Is there anything stupider than the combination of age and race? But the whole world is in love with both age and race."

Los Angeles Times, "Show Tracker," 22 Dec 2011, Yvonne Villarreal: "It's a week of achievements for Al Jazeera English. In addition to receiving a duPont Award, the network announced Thursday that it now reaches 250 million homes — 5 million of those being in the U.S. Five years after its launch, there are 130 countries that carry Al Jazeera English, but in the U.S., the channel has limited availability; it can be found on cable systems in Washington, D.C.; New York; Burlington, Vt.; Toledo, Ohio; and, recently, Chicago and in Los Angeles on KCET. And while the U.S. makes up a fraction of the quarter-billion households, it is a major source of AJE's Web traffic, totaling 40%, according to the network." -- "Reaches 250 million homes" means AJE can be seen in that many homes, not that it is actually watched in all those homes.

Toronto Star, 24 Dec 2011, Tony Burman, former head of Al Jazeera English: "As we wind down this very busy news year of 2011 — nurtured by a plethora of lists marking 'This Year’s Top News Stories' — here’s a thought that will knock your holiday socks off. Imagine a 'list' that doesn’t include the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan, or the dubious ambitions of Iran’s mullahs or their counterparts in the American Tea Party. Imagine a 'Good News' list, or more specifically, a 'Good-And-Largely-Unreported-News' (GALUN) list. I’d bet the winners would come from the most surprising places. Africa and Latin America perhaps? ... [H]ere are mine for the First Annual 2011 GALUN Awards... "

National Business Review (Auckland), 23 Dec 2011: "Free-to-air broadcaster Stratos Television is closing down after four years of public service broadcasting. The channel, which provided a 'different window on the world' through the likes of Al Jazeera news in English, is no longer financially viable. 'We simply have not had the support we were seeking – despite a growing audience of more than one million and reaching the stage where AC Nielsen were able to include us in the TARPS audience ratings,' co-founder and CEO Jim Blackman says. ... The broadcaster had international partnerships with the likes of DW-TV, France 24, Euro News in Europe, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Australia Network and CCTV, CQTV, NHK and YTN in Asia."

Auckland.Scoop, 25 Dec 2011: "Labour yesterday issued a shamelessly self-serving statement blaming the government. But Labour had plenty of time when it could have ensured the survival of Stratos. Both political parties share the blame for its demise."

See also www.stratostv.co.nz

.

China Daily, 23 Dec 2011, Pang Li: "A couple of decades ago, a few of the really wealthy or well positioned would take a trip to Hong Kong to enjoy the holiday lights. Now, every day is a holiday in China's metropolises. Colorful lights adorn shopping arcades and busy streets all year round. During my early years in the United States, I used to lament the removal of decorations after New Year's Day. Later, I learned one would receive a financial penalty if they were not taken down by Jan 10. Here, in China, my juvenile prayers have been answered. One conspicuous absence is the Christmas carols. While I was an undergrad in China, a pal of mine recorded a bunch of them off Voice of America, and they were played non-stop in the dormitory. But no disc jockey in China went through this schooling. Instead, some of the songs trickled into China as regular pop numbers. So, do not be surprised if you hear a school radio system blaring Jingle Bells in the heat of summer. By the way, this is one of the earliest American tunes that seeped into China after it opened up and in the process was stripped of its holiday trimmings."

The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Dec 2011, Paul Bond: "More and more radio channels have been switching their formats to all Christmas, all the time -- a consistent winner for radio even during a brutal 2008-2009 revenue downturn, which ended last year when the U.S. radio industry took in $20.1 billion, up 8 percent from the previous year. Arbitron says it's not unusual for ratings to double once a channel makes the temporary switch to Christmas music. KOST-FM in Los Angeles, for example, saw its share rise from 4.6 to 9.2 last year after it switched, and WLTW-FM in New York jumped from 6.0 to 12.3."

stltoday.com, 23 Dec 2011, Sarah Bryan Miller: "St. Louis's NPR station, KWMU-90.7 FM, is abandoning a long-standing custom this year, at least in part: They will not be broadcasting the BBC's annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols live from King's College, Cambridge. The weekly lineup of chatty shows will not be disturbed just because it's Christmas Eve. ... KWMU has not publicized the change much, if at all. Those who expect to be able to turn on their radios at 9 a.m. as usual and hear an ethereal treble sing the first verse of 'Once in Royal David's City' are going to be in for a major disappointment."

RFE/RL, 22 Dec 2011, Tom Balmforth: "Dozhd TV, a hip new Internet station that has been in existence for less than two years but has already attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers seeking an alternative to the scripted, monochrome, and heavily censored programming offered by the Kremlin-controlled channels. The venture's success illustrates both the public's hunger for unfiltered news and information as well as the degree to which the Internet has cut into the Kremlin's traditional dominance of electronic media. ... Editor In Chief Mikhail Zygar has indicated that he hopes the station's example will help shake up Russia's drab media market. 'We are trying to change things,' he says. 'We make good television. People say we’re an opposition station, but that's not true, we're a good station... We allow everyone to speak out and we believe that all channels should do the same. Unfortunately, that's not the case, but we hope that our example will catch on, and that gradually they will all start working like that.'" See also the station's website (in Russian): www.tvrain.ru.

Advanced Television, 21 Dec 2011: "Al Jazeera’s sports division will launch a dedicated sports channel for French viewers to broadcast its newly acquired football pay-TV rights. More channels might follow provoking a direct challenge to establish pay-TV sports broadcasters. Al Jazeera outbid a number of rivals earlier in December in order to win the French rights for four out of the five bundles of European Champions’ League games covering 133 matches from the 2012-2015 seasons. Al Jazeera reportedly paid some €60 million per season for its bundles, about twice that offered by its nearest rival. ... The channel will not be called Al Jazeera Sport; management would like to create a more neutral brand, with a name that can be pronounced in every country. The channel should in theory be distributed on all platforms (IPTV, Cable, Satellite, DTT). Bietry explained that Al Jazeera intends to be present 'not in every single country but certainly in every continent'. He also stated that Al Jazeera in France would not bid for the 2012 European Championship, or for the Europa League rights."

Advanced Television, 21 Dec 2011: "GlobeCast and France 24 announced today that they will launch a Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television (HbbTV) trial in early 2012 with the support of Orange and SES. The service, to be offered to satellite viewers of France 24, initially in Western Europe, will add a layer of interactivity to satellite TV programming by harnessing the capability of connected TVs. Throughout 2012, participating satellite TV viewers will use their connected televisions to interact with France 24's linear and non-linear programming via their broadband connection. No additional equipment or hardware will be required. This will demonstrate HbbTV’s ability to enhance the quality of DTH users’ viewing experience. It will also provide valuable insight into how broadcast offers can combine the power and reliability of traditional broadcast delivery with the new possibilities offered by the latest technical solutions open to ISPs. ... Frank Melloul, Head of strategy, development and public affairs at France 24 said 'France 24 is present on five continents, reaching tens of millions of households around the world in three different languages. With this project, we’ve taken a step towards ensuring that all of these viewers have the same ability to interact with our programming.' Philippe Rouxel, Chief Marketing Officer of GlobeCast said, 'We’re now finally seeing the convergence of broadcast and the Internet. As a next-generation provider of broadcast services, GlobeCast will remain at the forefront of this movement. In this new ‘connected’ world, we are helping our broadcast clients offer an interactive, high-quality experience to their viewers worldwide, regardless of delivery method.'" -- See the Wikipedia article on HbbTV, but probably we will actually have to use it to understand what it does.

prMac, 21 Dec 2011: "ONYX Apps today is pleased to introduce Retro-Fi 1.0 for iOS, their Music app that transforms music through real-time DSP, adding variable amounts of vintage AM radio effects. Listeners can enjoy nostalgic sounds from their iOS Music app, an online radio station, or a Podcast, as Retro-Fi alters the pristine digital audio into the authentic sound of noisy, low-fi, analog, AM radio. On launch, the app significantly reduces the frequency response and dynamic range, and two sliders control the amounts of static and IM distortion added. For those who loved listening to rock'n roll on tiny transistor radios, those who find modern digital audio too clean, and those who want to create a retro mood with music, Retro-Fi is the solution. Retro-Fi is not an audiophile app designed to restore to digital the warmth and smoothness of analog recordings. Rather, it is a time machine, constructed to take listeners back to a time when the most common way of hearing the latest hit music was AM radio. The music of that time included many styles and sounds, but the way the music sounded was always the same, owing to the limitations of the medium. Now, Retro-Fi brings back that classic sound, allowing any music or programming to be heard as it was in the days before color TV, the Walkman, home computers, and handheld mobile devices. At launch in portrait orientation, the app displays an extreme close-up of an antique, circa 1940 AM/Shortwave radio receiver, glowing with golden light. Immediately, any audio playing on the iDevice takes on the characteristic AM sound. Frequency response is reduced from 20 - 20,000 Hz down to 300 - 3,000 Hz. Dynamic range drops from 100 db down to 40 db. ... Static adds the crisp, intermittent sound of raw electricity, AM's rendering of lightning, compressors, and car ignitions."

Nehanda Radio, 21 Dec 2011: "London based SW Radio Africa on Monday celebrated a major milestone in reaching 10 years of independent broadcasting into Zimbabwe via shortwave and the internet to the rest of the world. A statement issued by station manager Gerry Jackson said they started broadcasting Wednesday 19th December 2001 and 'had no idea that 10 years on we’d still be here – or that the crisis in Zimbabwe would still be dragging on, with no solution in sight.' ... SW Radio Africa’s daily broadcasts on shortwave have given Mugabe’s regime many sleepless nights. With the help of Chinese jamming equipment, the regime has resorted to jamming broadcasts from the station at regular intervals, particularly towards election time and other significant events. ... In 2000 the station, then called Capital Radio, challenged government’s broadcasting monopoly and won its case in the Supreme Court. But after just 6 days of broadcasting from a local hotel the station was shut down by Mugabe using his presidential powers." See also www.swradioafrica.com.

The Zimbabwean, 19 Dec 2011: VOA's "Studio 7 is listened to by half the population every day, even though it only broadcasts for a short period each evening – the main reason is that it is broadcast on Medium Wave from a station in Botswana and is difficult to jam. Chinese supplied jamming equipment has made life very difficult for short wave listeners."

The Standard (Harare), 24 Dec 2011), Dumisani Nkomo: "State control of the public media will have minimal effect as most Zimbabweans no longer watch or listen to the ZBC which has become an appendage of the former ruling party. Most people watch South African television and listen to short wave radio even in the most remote rural areas."

Radio World, 21 Dec 2011: "No, it’s not quite a power struggle at the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters but there is a shifting in jobs among its officers. Longtime Secretary-Treasurer Dan Elyea of Okeechobee, Fla.-based shortwave broadcaster WYFR is retiring. This has precipitated a change at the top with current NASB President Jeff White of Miami’s WRMI resigning to become the new secretary-treasurer. Succeeding White as president will be current Vice President Glen Tapley of shortwave broadcaster WEWN, based in Irondale, Ala." See also the NASB website.

Nieman Watchdog, 20 Dec 2011: "The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has added 41 new members to its roster, expanding the network’s reach to 158 news professionals working on an array of media platforms in 60 countries. ICIJ is a global network of reporters who collaborate on in-depth, cross-border stories and is a project of the Center for Public Integrity. ... With financial support from international foundations, ICIJ brings together journalists from around the world to investigate cross-border crime, corruption and other issues of regional and global importance. To release its findings, ICIJ partners with leading news organizations worldwide. Recent investigations have been published with BBC World Service and BBC World TV, Folha de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Le Soir (Belgium), Novaya Gazeta (Russia), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)."

Radio World, 19 Dec 2011, Paul McLane: "The BBG recently said that its aggregate weekly audience via radio (including shortwave, FM and AM) is 106 million people, while its TV audience is 97 million and its Internet audience is 10 million. I find it notable enough that radio remains the medium with the largest reach among BBG’s efforts, given the commonly heard sentiment (and not only in government-funded circles) that radio in general is 'yesterday’s technology.' ... [T]hese totals and percentages suggest to me that radio’s role as part of Uncle Sam’s face to the international community is understated and underappreciated."

Keep in mind, however, that as recently as twenty years ago, almost all of the audience for US international broadcasting was via radio. The long term trend is towards television and away from radio -- and especially away from shortwave radio. Within a few years, television will probably overtake radio as the number one source of audience USIB. This depends on USIB entities getting (and keeping) their programming placed on domestic television channels in the target country. As the domestic television product in target countries improves, those channels will become fussier about what they will take from abroad. The internet portion of the USIB audience will also increase, but as the number of internet users increases, so does the number of internet content sources, making it difficult to attain audience share. The internet numbers for USIB will probably be achieved via searches for, and links to, news.

Iranian.com, 19 Dec 2011, Ari Siletz, interviewing Ramin Asgard, director of VOA Persian News Network: "Q: Is there any basis to rumors that Parazit staff hasn’t been getting along? Should we expect Mr. Kambiz Hosseini to continue his 'anchor' role at Parazit? Asgard: Thank you for this question. I am sure your readers noticed that Parazit aired an original program on Friday, December 16, with Kambiz Hosseini hosting. We at VOA-PNN are very proud of the success of Parazit, which is among the most successful shows in VOA history, as well as among the most influential programs in the Persian language anywhere. We look forward to Parazit continuing its amazing success into 2012 and beyond, and have plans to actually expand Parazit in 2012 - more details on this soon. ...

"Q: Parazit’s Kambiz Hosseini recently claimed on Aljazeera that VOA does not censor the content of this popular program. On the other hand, former VOA translator, Melody Navab-Safavi, has alleged that VOA fired her for expressing anti Iraq War sentiments in her privately produced music video, Demokracy. In light of VOA’s purpose to comply with the 'broad foreign policy objectives of the United States,' how can VOA also follow its mandate to be 'accurate, objective and comprehensive,' without running into contradictions? Asgard: We are greatly honored to have both of these talented individuals working alongside their dedicated and gifted colleagues at VOA-PNN. We work daily to reconcile the challenges of operating a media organization which is also a U.S. government entity. Our goal is to offer as broad and uncensored a range of viewpoints as possible to our viewership in Iran. In so doing, we use our mission goals, the broad foreign policy objectives you note, as well as journalistic standards as guidelines." -- Recommended reading, because Mr. Asgard responds to, or at least is asked about, many of the criticisms of VOA PNN leveled in the past several months. He mentions that Kambiz Hosseini returning to Parazit, but not his apparently now-previous partner, producer Saman Arbabi.

Boston Globe, Ideas, 25 Dec 2011, Noy Thrupkaew interviewing Parazit producer Saman Arbabi: "IDEAS: What kind of oversight does VOA have over your work? ARBABI: I’ve never seen a State Department official or senator say what we should or shouldn’t do, not even once. Within VOA, we’ve become our own little satellite. VOA has never ever meddled; they were very proud and supportive. They didn’t know we existed, because we flew under the radar--well, before we got in The Washington Post and on the 'Daily Show.' IDEAS: Some critics of “Parazit” say your show is a mouthpiece for the US government and that you’re insufficiently critical of the United States. What is your response to that? ARBABI: They raise some very valid points. Any time you have a government sponsoring a TV show, the first thing that crosses your mind is propaganda. But I don’t look at it that way at all anymore, because I know what we’re doing with it. We talk about the United States when there’s a direct relationship with what is happening inside Iran. We criticized [President] Obama jumping in late on what was happening in the country, for example, and talked about the sanctions and nuclear program inside Iran with Hillary Clinton. But the show is not about correcting the United States, because that’s not what people care about inside Iran. We talk about human rights in Iran, which is what their priorities are--living under a dictatorship, child executions. If promoting nonviolence and defending human rights is propaganda, I’ll stand by that one."

Jerusalem Post, 20 Dec 2011, Felice Friedson: "An elegant Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park provided warmth and safety for American reporters representing four news agencies to speak directly with four Iranians facing drastically different circumstances. ... All four of the distant voices were disheartened by the failure of the Voice of America radio to step up to the plate. 'VoA might as well be staffed by agents of the Iranian government,' they all agreed. Although communicating with foreign journalists can cost one his or her life, it will not come as a surprise that the flow of reliable information remains atop the list of 'must haves.' Hence, the profound disappointment with VoA. But it will no doubt surprise many that all of the Iranians named Israel Radio’s Farsi channel as the 'best radio in Iran.'" See previous post with similar story.

Epoch Times, 18 Dec 2011, Tom Ozimek: "Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi "alleges that Eutelsat bowed to Iranian government pressure and took two Persian language satellite television channels, the BBC and Voice of America, off Hotbird and moved them to some remote satellite that practically no one in Iran can access. A bit tangentially, perhaps, this seems oddly similar to what happened to independent Chinese language TV broadcaster New Tang Dynasty (a media partner of The Epoch Times). They also got booted off Hotbird and many are convinced it’s because the Chinese regime didn’t like them broadcasting news about human rights violations into China and knew which strings to pull and how. Ebali blasted the satellite company. Since the French state owns about a quarter of Eutelsat (Ebadi said 40 percent but latest Bloomberg figures from November 2011 show 25.62 percent), Ebadi blasted Paris for complicity. 'So my question to the French government is why are you helping the Iranian government to censor these channels?'" See previous post about same subject.

FOXBusiness, 20 Dec 2011, John Layfield: "I have undertaken ... the attempt to find the biggest government boondoggle and waste -- and to offer solutions. I have a leading candidate in the Office of Cuban Broadcasting (OCB), Radio and TV Marti. ... The current budget of Office of Cuba Broadcasting is $60.6 million ($54.2 million public cost and $6.4 million intra-government cost) as part of a larger strategy of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) budget of $798.3 million. ... The Cuban vote is a swing vote in a swing state (Florida) and as such no politician wants to appear soft. So, we treat Cuba differently than every regime in the world and keep implementing the same policies that have achieved virtually no results in an effort to get the Cuban vote in Florida. ... TV Marti is effectively blocked throughout Cuba -- a survey done by International Broadcasting Bureau showed less than 2% of Cubans listen to Radio and TV Marti and only a third of 1% in another survey watch TV Marti. Both radio and TV are blocked in Havana and in most of Cuba. ... A 2009 GAO report stated that 30% of Cubans had watched CNN in 2005-2006. CNN has an audience in Cuba and we spend over half a billion sending a signal that is blocked?"

These thoughts about US international broadcasting to Cuba: 1) Cuba needs some source of independent, outside news. 2) It is impossible to get an adequate estimate of audience size in Cuba, but two percent is fairly typical in international broadcasting. The quality (i.e., opinion leading ability) of the audience might make up for the lack of quantity. 3) "Martí" would be a predictable name for an anti-Castro clandestine station, but it was a poor choice of name for a station that has any intent to establish its credibility. 4) The move to combine the efforts of Radio/TV Martí and VOA Spanish should continue. 5) It's unclear whether CNN's audience in Cuba is watching its satellite channel, or seeing CNN reports on Cuban television. If CNN en Español is successful in attracting audiences in Cuba, then USIB should not compete with it. 6) US international broadcasting to Cuba should combine radio, internet (keeping in mind that internet access in Cuba, even via mobile phones, is still very limited), and not more than an hour a day of programs on a television channel that is viewed in Cuba via satellite. A 24-hour television channel was a bridge too far. If elements of the Cuban American community want a 24-hour channel, they are certainly free to fund it themselves. They should also be welcome to take the name Martí off the back of USIB.

Free Malaysia Today, 20 Dec 2011, Syed Jaymal Zahiid: "Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has upped the tempo in his fight for urban poor votes pivotal to regaining key urban constituencies by providing free satellite TV service as part of his 1Malaysia campaign. The launch of Astro’s NJOI by Najib at the Cochrane Perkasa flats here will also kickstart Putrajaya’s much needed 'counter-information' programme in a bid to fight what he perceived to be pro-opposition news published by the alternative media. Apart from that, the NJOI venture is also seen as a business expansion effort by Astro to penetrate the Malay community and eventually sell its other channels to those getting a free decoder box and a satellite dish. Astro has only managed to capture less than half of the 6.6 million TV households in the country and is escalating efforts to expand among the Malays. ... NJOI was seen as a way to counter a short-wave radio service by Radio Free Sarawak that was campaigning against the ruling coalition especially long-serving Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud."

The Malaysian Insider, 20 Dec 2011, Jahabar Sadiq: "The move came about as [the Barisan Nasional government] wanted to counter a short-wave radio service by Radio Free Sarawak that was campaigning against the ruling coalition especially long-serving Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. 'The government discovered that many longhouses and settlements did not get access to national news because there weren’t any transmission towers or even television sets for the dwellers,' [a] source added."

Rapid TV News, 19 Dec 2011, Rebecca Hawkes: "A new series of documentary programmes has been produced by Alhurra Television in conjunction with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. The first, focusing on the Tunisian Revolution in December 2010 following the self-immolation of fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, premiered on the channel this weekend, while the second will be aired in January to mark the first anniversary of the Egyptian uprising. ... Subsequent episodes of the Arab Spring documentary series will focus on other countries in the Middle East and will be televised in spring 2012. 'Each episode will capture the pulse and sentiment of the people on the street, in the cities, and around the battles that have marked this past year of profound and dramatic change, while seeking insight into the future,' said a statement from Alhurra."

Realscreen, 14 Dec 2011, Kelly Andreson: "Al Jazeera English will wrap ‘Gaddafi: The End Game,’ its series of docs on Libya, with Moonbeam Films’ State of Denial (pictured) on December 22, a documentary which charts the disintegration of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Produced and directed by Moonbeam’s Anne Reevell and exec produced by Oscar-, Emmy- and BAFTA-winner Jon Blair, State of Denial examines how Gaddafi managed to hang on to power for as long as he did, and features accounts from insiders, defectors and military advisers who helped bring about his downfall."

Radio Free Asia, 21 Dec 2011, Sung Hui Moon: "North Koreans who fled harsh rule for South Korea have set off giant balloons with tens of thousands of leaflets into North Korea condemning the dynastic succession in the hardline communist state following the death of Kim Jong Il. The leaflets, launched two days after the North announced that its leader had died on Saturday of a heart attack, also called for an Arab spring-like uprising in the nuclear-armed nation, which rights groups call the world's most oppressive nation. ... The leaflets are expected to infuriate Pyongyang, which tightly controls news from outside and has previously warned that it would fire at South Korea in response to such actions."

AFP, 21 Dec 2011: "Pyongyang tightly controls access to the Internet and attempts to block other sources of information. The regime also fixes the tuning dials of radio and TV sets so that households can only receive official channels. Phone calls from South Korea are blocked and until a few years ago North Koreans faced prison camp if they were caught with a mobile phone. That rule was jettisoned and the North had more than 800,000 registered mobile phone subscribers as of the end of September as citizens snapped them up despite grinding poverty levels. However, Seoul-based activists say it is still difficult for cellphone-owners to make or receive overseas calls because of limited service and tight oversight. Observers of the hermit state say the North's control of information about Kim's movements was so effective that the outside world could resort only to [surveillance] satellites."

The Journal (Dublin), 21 Dec 2011, Gavan Reilly: "As a totalitarian state, North Korean media is entirely produced and controlled by the State – and by its ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, which effectively controls all power in the country. Without prevalent access to the internet (North Korea instead offers a censored intranet, the ‘Kwangmyong’) the most exposure that any person within the republic can expect is through the more established means like TV, radio and newspapers. ... Broadcast media – though ownership of TV sets is still very limited – provides the best way for the government to communicate with the public in the cities and beyond, however. All TVs and radios sold in the country are distributed without tuning features – all equipment is pre-tuned to the approved TV and radio stations – and broadcast manipulation so frequent that some stations even claim to broadcast from a jealous South Korea, when in fact they are based just north of the border." -- Actually, television ownership is fairly widespread in North Korea. Tunable televisions and radios are getting into the country, mostly via Chinese merchants.

The Commentator, 20 Dec 2011, Evan Moore: "Promote popular pressure against Pyongyang by disseminating as many radios and cell-phones into the North as possible; increasing funding for broadcasts like Radio Free Asia, and improve the quality of that programming to give North Koreans badly-needed news and international perspective, provide hope for the future, and inspire revolution against the Kim regime."

The New Republic, 21 Dec 2011, Tom Malinowski: "So contrary to my usual instinct in such cases, I’ve believed that the more the West engages the North Korean government the better. North Korea’s self-isolation has been a deliberate defense mechanism against a political awakening by its people. Anything that brings information to them — whether radio broadcasts from the outside, or getting diplomats, aid workers, and journalists inside — anything, in other words, that helps to bring North Korea out of solitary confinement, can only help. ... [I]t’s worth noting that the last time the North Korean government staged a dynastic transition, when Kim Jong Il replaced his father in 1994, North Koreans were far less aware of how anomalous their country was in the world. Today, thanks to movement across the border with China, more widespread ownership of radios that receive foreign broadcasts, and the spread of smuggled DVDs and flash drives, many more North Koreans are conscious that something different and better is possible. Will they accept as easily as before that a young man utterly unknown to them is entitled to perpetuate their suffering for another generation, simply by virtue of his family name?"

Channel 4 News (UK), 19 Dec 2011, John Sparks: "Inexplicable as it seems with its food shortages and basket-case economy, North Korea has been revolution-proof up till now. Increasingly, however, the citizens of the DPRK know a better life awaits them – if they can get out. Mobile phones are now commonplace and the men and women who smuggle out citizens, smuggle in televisions and DVDs and DVD players. They know there is a better life to be had as an illegal migrant in China, or a legitimate one in South Korea,if the can get there of course – and roughly 20,000 have already done so. So, Kim Jong-un takes over a country that is similarly repressive, yet no longer in the dark."

Reporters sans frontières, 19 Dec 2011: "An 'Enemy on the Internet', North Korea continues to be the world’s most closed country and for the past 10 years has ranked last or second from last in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index. The news media are all state-owned and exclusively serve the anachronistic and paranoid regime’s propaganda needs. After visiting the South Korean capital of Seoul last July to investigation the situation of the media and freedom of information in North Korea, Reporters Without Borders issued a report entitled 'North Korea: Frontiers of censorship.' It found that there had been an increase in the flow of news and information into North Korea thanks both to foreign radio stations and NGOs that send multimedia content across the border. Since 2009, Reporters Without Borders has been supporting Seoul-based radio stations such as Free North Korea Radio, Radio Free Chosun and Open Radio for North Korea, which are the main sources of independent news and information available to the North Korean population. Operating since the mid-2000s, they are the first radio stations run by North Korean refugees to broadcast to the population in the north. As part of a campaign against Kim Jong-il as a Predator of Press Freedom, Reporters Without Borders and several independent media gave a news conference in Seoul on 16 February, his last birthday. The aim of the campaign was to urge the South Korean authorities and civil society to increase their support for the North Korean refugee radio stations that try to break through the wall of propaganda and political control."

USA Today, 20 Dec 2011, Calum McLeod: "'Kim Jong Il is an animal, he never cared about his citizens,' said Cha Suk Joo, 50, who fled south through China in 2005, and works for Free North Korea Radio in Seoul. Despite the risks to North Korean citizens of being caught listening to foreign broadcasts, they grow increasingly popular both in China and North Korea, Cha said. 'They trust this radio show as it’s done by real defectors,' said Cha."

This Day (Lagos), 22 Dec 2011, Olusegun Adeniyi: "The tragedy though is that most of the [North Korean] people have no access to radio or television or newspaper (forget internet) so invariably they do not know of any other life beyond a paranoia for 'American Imperialism' and the idolisation of their dear and great leaders. But then we have to begin the story from the beginning. [In 2001], I joined the delegation of National Assembly led by Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim on an eight-day official trip to Pyongyang, North Korea... . We arrived Pyongyang airport after spending two days in transit and following a brief ceremony we were driven straight to the Protocol House, their own Presidential Lodge located in the middle of a thick forest. Before we left the airport, however, we had been asked whether anyone brought a radio which we gathered is not allowed for reasons that will be explained later. ... The people are also ignorant (or perhaps for security reason pretend to be ignorant) of what is happening even within their country that when I told our guide, a university professor, that their leader was on a train ride to Russia, he shouted: 'who told you that? It is not true. The Dear leader is in the country'. He was so agitated that I regretted telling him when the story was already on the CNN and other international media. The whole world knew their President was abroad but in his country everybody believed he was at home.'"

New York Times, 21 Dec 2011, Nicholas D. Kristof: "On my first trip to North Korea in 1989, I made a nuisance of myself by randomly barging into private homes. I wanted to see how ordinary North Koreans actually live, and people were startled but hospitable. The most surprising thing I found was The Loudspeaker affixed to a wall in each home. The Loudspeaker is like a radio but without a dial or off switch. In the morning, it awakens the household with propaganda. (In his first golf outing, Comrade Kim Jong-il shoots five holes-in-one!) It blares like that all day. ... Government propaganda is shameless."

See previous post about same subject.

RFE/RL press release, 18 Dec 2011: "RFE/RL President Steven W. Korn made the following statement on the death of Vaclav Havel: 'Friends of democracy, free media and the fundamental dignity of all people have lost a great friend today, with the passing of Vaclav Havel. In everything that he did as an artist, campaigner and statesman, he championed the rights of the powerless and of all who believed as he did that, "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate." RFE and its Czechoslovak Service were honored to air Havel’s works during the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, and gratified when he invited RFE/RL to move its operations to Prague in the early 1990’s, after the “Velvet Revolution” he did so much to spark and lead. Havel embodied the principles that guide our organization, and we hope that, in return, we represent to our audiences the values that guided his life and work. We will miss him deeply."

Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 19 Dec 2011: "Havel was a frequent contributor to and ardent supporter of U.S. international broadcasting. 'Like the citizens of Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia,' he commented in the New York Times in May 2009, 'I know what it is like to live in a country where the state controls public discourse, suppresses opposition and severely curtails freedom of expression.' As President of the Czech Republic in 1994, Havel was instrumental in offering to house Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcast operations in the former Czechoslovak Federal Parliament building in Prague for the symbolic rent of one Czech crown a day. In the wake of a decision by the U.S. government to cut RFE/RL’s budget by two thirds, Havel’s offer helped make possible the organization’s survival in the post-Cold War era. 'It was with great satisfaction that we could welcome RFE in Prague after the fall of the Iron Curtain and thus start to repay our debt for its credible work,' said Havel in a statement in May 2011 on the 60th anniversary of RFE’s Czech and Slovak language broadcasts. 'I hope that RFE continues to pursue its mission in today's postmodern and politically unstable world: defense of human rights, civic rights and human dignity.' Havel championed the freedom of the press and its important role in a democracy. On a visit to the Voice of America in February 1990, Havel, left with then VOA Director Richard Carlson, observed 'You (VOA) have informed us truthfully of events around the world and in our country as well, and in this way you helped to bring about the peaceful revolution which had at long last taken place.'"

RFE/RL, Off Mic blog, 19 Dec 2011: "Three days before Vaclav Havel passed away, he penned a letter of encouragement to eight Belarusian political prisoners. A gift to RFE/RL’s Belarusian Service, Radio Svaboda, the letter is a testament to the cease-less support and advocacy for human rights -- especially in Belarus -- for which Havel was known. Though he never got the opportunity to send the letters to the Belarusian political prisoners, on the day of his death, December 18th, Radio Svaboda broadcast his words on the Belarusian airwaves."

Washington Post, 18 Dec 2011, J.Y. Smith: For more than two decades, beginning in the 1950s, his books and plays were banned in Czechoslovakia. They nonetheless reached a large audience through the underground publishing network and broadcasts by the BBC and Voice of America."

Novinite Sofia News Agency, 18 Dec 2011: "During the first week of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Havel provided a commentary on the events on Radio Free Czechoslovakia in Liberec."

-- Not asasociated with RFE, but a domestic clandestine station.

Radio Prague, 19 Dec 2011, Daniela Lazarová: "The death of Vaclav Havel stopped Czechs in their tracks on Sunday. A hush fell over the country as thousands of people gathered to light candles and pay a silent tribute to the hero of the Velvet Revolution. At 6 pm bells around the Czech Republic tolled in memory of the man who showed endless courage in the face of oppression and who led his nation on the road to freedom and democracy." With audio. More coverage at the Radio Prague English web page.

Update: RFE/RL, Transmission blog, 22 Dec 2011: "In honor of former Czech and Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel, who died on December 18, RFE/RL has projected an image of his face on the front of its headquarters in Prague. Havel's image will be visible for the entire three-day mourning period declared in the Czech Republic. A longtime listener of its Czechoslovak broadcasts, Havel invited RFE/RL to move to Prague from Munich in the early 1990s, which it did in 1995."

Cold War Radios, 21 Dec 2011, Richard H. Cummings: "On 4 July 1994, US President Bill Clinton formally accepted an offer from Czech Republic President Havel to relocate Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty /(RFE/RL) from Munich to Prague. 'With this move,' President Clinton said, 'the radios begin a new chapter in the continuing struggle for democracy throughout the former Communist bloc.' The first broadcast from RFE/RL's new headquarters in the former Czechoslovakian Federal Parliament building took place on 10 March 1995. Vaclav Havel officially welcomed RFE/RL to Prague, 8 September 1995, saying, 'I am not sure that I would not have been in prison for another couple of years were it not for a certain amount of publicity which I had because of these radio stations.'"

Foreign Policy, 19 Dec 2011, Jeffrey Gedmin: "Havel was linked to Radio Free Europe, heart and soul. When communism came crashing down in 1989, he said he had learned about the United States during the Cold War from the Voice of America and about his own country through the 'surrogate broadcasts' of RFE. When RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague in the mid-1990s, Havel thought of the most delicious of ironies: He saw to it that the U.S. broadcaster would inhabit the old communist-era parliament building next to the National Museum at Wenceslas Square -- for the price of just one Czech crown a year. Independent journalists working in the name of freedom took over the offices of party hacks and apparatchiks."

Why did Václav Havel have to tune to two different stations to learn about the United States and about his own country? After 35 years in the practice of international broadcasting audience research, I know of no audiences that are interested in news about their own country to the exclusion of the rest of the world, or vice versa. BBC World Service, the most successful international broadcaster, has no trouble providing news about the target country, about the UK, and about the rest of the world, all in the convenience of one station. Back in the Cold War years, VOA had a larger audience in Czechoslovakia than did RFE. This is because VOA had access to a powerful medium wave relay near Munich (ironically, also, then, the location of RFE's studios). VOA had the transmitter, but RFE had the superior resources to cover news about Czechoslovakia. Then, as now, US international broadcasting was an unassembled kit. It's wonderful that Prague experienced its "spring." I look forward to the day when US international broadcasting liberates itself from its multi-management boondoggle, and thus experiences a "spring" of its own.

The National (Abu Dhabi), 19 Dec 2011, Ben Flanagan: "Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested $300 million in the microblogging site Twitter, according to a statement posted to the Saudi Arabian stock exchange. The Saudi Arabian billionaire made the investment jointly with his Kingdom Holding Company, according the notice issued by the company. ... Prince Alwaleed has boosted his share in media investments over the years. He controls Rotana, one of the biggest broadcasters in the region, which runs Rotana Cinema, the second most lucrative channel by advertising revenues. The Prince also has a 7 per cent stake in Rupert Murdoch’s troubled News Corp empire. Prince Alwaleed also plans to launch Alarab, an Arabic-language news station. The channel, due to launch at the end of next year, will be based in either Bahrain or Dubai."

AP, 21 Dec 2011: "Alwaleed is in the process of launching a new Arabic news channel that will challenge established players such as Qatar's Al-Jazeera and Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya. The channel, which will be called Alarab, is expected to begin operations next year and will feature reports from business news service Bloomberg LP. Alwaleed has said he hopes the new network will focus on the shifts taking place across the Arab world, with an emphasis on freedom of speech and of the press."

See also Kingdom Holding Company press release, 19 Dec 2011.

See previous post about Alarab.

TASS, 19 Dec 2011, via Voice of Russia: "A film crew of the Russia Today TV channel came under fire on the Israeli-Palestinian border. The journalists were covering the discharge of the second group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit when the servicemen tried to placate the unrest in the meeting crowd with rubber bullets and tear gas. No one suffered as a result of the incident." -- Even TASS calls the channel "Russia Today" rather than RT's preferred "RT." And sister station Voice of Russia went along with it.

AP, 17 Dec 2011, Maggie Michael and Sarah el Deeb: "Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers swept into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday, chasing protesters and beating them to the ground with sticks and tossing journalists' TV cameras off of balconies in the second day of a violent crackdown on antimilitary protesters that has left nine dead and hundreds injured. ... In one case, plainclothes officers charged up the stairs of a hotel from which Al-Jazeera TV was filming the turmoil below and demanded a female hotel worker tell them where the media crew was or else they would beat her up, a member of the Al-Jazeera crew said. ... The soldiers threw the Al-Jazeera crew's equipment from the balcony, including cameras, batteries and lighting equipment to the streets, landing on a sweet potato cart whose stove started a fire."

Montreal Gazette, 17 Dec 2011, Laila Al-Arian, writer/producer for Al Jazeera English in Washington, DC: "Like many of my Al Jazeera colleagues, I was hunted by the [Egyptian] police who conducted sweeps of hotels to detain and silence journalists. The Egyptian government shut down the Internet, detained our reporters, took away their accreditation, and killed journalists like Ahmed Mahmoud, who wrote for Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper, simply because he recorded video of a protest on his mobile phone."

Bikya Masr, 11 Dec 2011, Manar Ammar: "An Egyptian man filed a lawsuit in Cairo against ON TV, a privately owned television channel, and few of its hosts as well as al-Jazeera, demanding that the two channels stop their transmission over allegations that they are 'inciting people against each other' and 'hurting the relationship between the people and the police,' arguing that the channels are spreading chaos."

Ha'aretz, 16 Dec 2011, Akiva Eldar: Al Jazeera English managing dierctor Al Anstey "swears he has never received directives from local authorities regarding what he should or should not broadcast. As far as he knows, all of the 1,000 employees, operating out of 43 countries and 70 bureaus around the globe, enjoy absolute journalistic freedom. Al Jazeera correspondents and news editors who asked to speak anonymously offered more complicated accounts about the network's connection to the Arab uprisings. 'It is true that the chief news editor does not tell correspondents in Egypt, Tunis or Libya how to cover events,' explains a veteran network reporter. 'But everyone lives in these areas; the correspondents have relatives demonstrating or friends imprisoned or killed. All are educated, enlightened people who are tired of the dictatorships that oppressed their brethren for years.' Another correspondent adds, 'I have never faced pressure or external censorship. The problem is internal censorship.' He recalls an incident when a producer cut off a talk-show caller who was criticizing a minister close to Qatar's ruler; the producer told the correspondent to call it a technical problem. ... Nobody knows when and how the uprisings will end. In Doha, commentators fear the uprisings could prove to be a Pyrrhic victory; associates of Al Jazeera point out that liberal-democratic regimes have their own independent news outlets, whereas radical-theocratic regimes will at some point kick Al Jazeera out."

Financial Times, 16 Dec 2011, Camilla Hall: "Operating in the Middle East, a region known for its government control over the media, Al Jazeera has managed to break the age-old model of censorship, often using local journalists to get closer to the story. How it manages its relationship with the government at a time of increased scrutiny will determine whether it will be perceived as an independent media operator on the global stage."

Poynter, 21 Dec 2011, Jeff Sonderman: "Al Jazeera English has won its first Alfred I. duPont award for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism, one of 14 the Columbia School of Journalism announced this morning, a marker of the Qatar-based news network’s expansion into the United States. The duPont award recognized excellent reporting by 'Fault Lines,' AJE’s weekly documentary program that primarily examines the United States’ role in the world; the winning program highlighted the struggles and slow recovery in Haiti six months after the earthquake."

New York Times, Media Decoder, 15 Dec 2011, Brian Stelter: "Christiane Amanpour’s new dual anchor jobs, with ABC and CNN, seem to come with an unusual condition: territorial exclusivity. In the United States, Ms. Amanpour’s appearances will be (almost) exclusive to ABC; outside the United States, they will be (almost) exclusive to CNN. Television shows are often sold this way — but not television anchors. ... [R]epresentatives for the networks said that Ms. Amanpour would appear only occasionally on CNN in the United States, largely to promote her prime time specials on ABC. She is expected to have several specials a year, and she could be on CNN in the United States to promote each one. ABC News programs are primarily seen in the United States. Outside the country, she will be seen on CNN International, where she will anchor a weekday newscast. It’s unusual, but at least in theory, beneficial to both networks and to Ms. Amanpour, who lives in New York within walking distance of both CNN’s and ABC’s offices." See previous post about same subject.

Broadband TV News, 20 Dec 2011, Robert Briel: "The shareholders of Euronews have appointed Paolo Garimberti, current chairman of RAI, as the new chairman of the supervisory board and Michael Peters as the new CEO. ... Michael Peters, until now the managing director of Euronews, was appointed CEO. He succeeds Philippe Cayla. ... The supervisory board also decided to create a new subsidiary for Euronews, known as Euronews Development, which will be led by Philippe Cayla. The mission of this new entity will be to provide Euronews SA with media business development services."

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17 Dec 2011, Nestor U. Torre: "These past couple of months, we have found ourselves gravitating more and more to the Euronews channel (ISS on SkyCable). The move hasn’t been intentional on our part, we’ve just noticed that, whenever we switch to that channel, the programs we get tend to be less giddy and shallow than other networks’ offerings. It also helps a lot that it’s a European channel, because it provides a welcome alternative to the generally American point of view that we get on the more popular networks. By the way, the difference in point of view can be quite significant, because Europeans tend to be more reflective compared to the more 'instant' and 'breaking news' proclivities of the US TV networks. In addition, Euronews gives more time not just to the day’s or hour’s news, but to the analysis of issues and trends. It must be because, in quite a number of European countries, the TV system in place is not the US system, which is commercials-oriented. In countries like England, the TV system requires viewers to pay an annual fee, which is then used by the governing television body to fund more worthwhile and educational shows. Among the Euronews features we like is the cable channel’s 'no comment' segment, which lasts for only three or so minutes per pop, and is completely reliant on its visuals, not its soundtrack."

Tehran Times, 17 Dec 2011: "The Iranian-run Spanish language TV channel Hispan TV will be officially launched on Wednesday to provide a variety of programs for the Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The TV channel has been launched with the aim of reinforcing cultural ties with the Spanish-speaking nations and helping to introduce traditions, customs and beliefs of the Iranian nation, the Persian service of Fars News Agency reported on Saturday. Hispan TV has employed a group of reporters out of Iran to better cover the news and is working 16 hours a day and will soon extend its working hours to 24 hours. ... All the reports, news and interviews collected by international reporters are available on the website of the channel, www.hispantv.com and www.hispantv.ir. ... A selection of top Iranian movies, historical TV series, documentaries, comedies and dramas are among the programs arranged for the channel."

Press TV, 18 Dec 2011: "As a large part of the world's population speaks Spanish, we will start a network (in Spanish) within the next few months, IRIB chief, Ezzatollah Zarghami announced. 'This new Spanish network will have a major role in reflecting the ideological legitimacy of our system to the world,' he noted. The channel will be broadcast from the IRIB studios in Tehran. Hispan TV is the third specialized channel broadcasting by IRIB after the Arabic language Al-Alam television network and the round-the-clock Press TV English television news network."

Daily NK, 17 Dec 2011, Mok Yong Jae: "Calls have again been made for civilian short-wave broadcasters focusing on North Korea issues to be allocated frequency in South Korea for the purpose of enhancing efforts to improve North Korean human rights. A senior researcher with the Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Happiness, Lee Young Hwan [said] 'Those currently broadcasting on North Korean issues in this country have never been assigned a frequency, and as such they rent frequency abroad,' before emphasising, 'We need to make it so that these civilian broadcasters on North Korea actually have a frequency to use.' He also spoke of the need to 'Overcome difficulty and be patient in pursuing liberation of broadcasting in both countries, and finding a route for the peoples of North and South Korea alike to be able to freely listen to whichever broadcasts they choose.'" -- There are several stations, operated by defectors and other opponents of the Kim dynasty, broadcasting into North Korea. These include Free Radio North Korea, Radio Free Chosun, and Open Radio for North Korea. (Some of these stations receive funds from the National Endowment for Democracy.) They all use leased shortwave transmitters located in countries other than South Korea. Mr. Lee is probably calling for the allocation of one or more medium wave frequencies from inside South Korea to reach North Korea. FM frequencies could also be assigned, but they would only be able to reach 100 km or so into North Korea.

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec 2011: "[F]our 20-something Israelis agreed to be followed around on camera this summer, not as part of a reality show but for Is.Real, a video project launched in early August by 23 Tel Aviv University students. 'Through this project, we intend to show millions of our peers around the world Israel's true, beautiful face as never seen before,' says project coordinator Or Shahar, 27. 'We gave four young Israelis 90 minutes to tell their stories.' Each stars in five short episodes released through YouTube, the Is.Real website and Facebook. ... Is.Real was the culmination of a yearlong diplomacy and leadership fellowship program sponsored by StandWithUs. The non-partisan group works with students on six university campuses in Israel to train them in making a positive impact on global public opinion through the use of innovative technologies."

Huffington Post, 17 Dec 2011, Maytha Alhassen: "Remarkable Current, the musical collective founded by Anas Canon launched a cultural envoy and musical exchange program called 'Hip Hop Ambassadors.' The initiative is consciously modeled as a 21st century update to an earlier century's 'Jazz Ambassadors' run by the State Department that emerged out of the Cold War context of the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Led by jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Quincy Jones, the productive outcome of these tours were concerts and 'jam sessions' of intercultural dialogue and musical exchange. ... For example, Tunisian rapper El General, ... one of those suspicious of Western intentions, surprisingly agreed to collaborate [on] a melodic and linguistic version of Arabic and English stylings called 'Pick Up the Pieces.'"

Variety, 17 Dec 2011, Clifford Coonan: Foreign television program production companies "have always found Chinese TV a tough nut to crack (Rupert Murdoch tried for years with Star TV before switching his focus to India). Some U.S. orgs have succeeded in getting into China, however. L.A.-based Metan Development Group has signed various deals to bring content to China, including a pact with Fusion TV to provide action sports and adventure travel content, and a deal with the Associated Press to furnish fashion TV coverage in Mandarin on China's digital and broadcast markets. Zhu Danhong, project manager at Shanghai Wings Media, a unit of Shanghai Media Group, said Chinese companies are keen to buy foreign product but also want to sell Chinese content to neighboring countries in Asia, such as Korea and Japan, as well as other countries with strong Chinese cultural links, which includes most nations in Southeast Asia."

C21Media.net, 16 Dec 2011, Clive Whittingham: "The executive producer of Japanese broadcaster NHK’s World Documentary strand hopes the country’s first factual pitching session will help to stimulate international sales for local filmmakers. Ken-ichi Imamura acted as an adviser to this week’s Tokyo TV Forum, organised by the Association of All Japan TV Program Production Companies (ATP), which aims to support the country’s production companies."

Edulang press release, 17 Dec 2011: "Pay What You Want, a new offer by Edulang allows learners, teachers and schools to determine the amount they contribute for Edulang’s web applications. Fifty percent of their contributions go to the charitable organization, Room to Read, making this both a unique and disruptive business model for English-learning products. ... Edulang’s applications provide students with progressive and pedagogically sound ways of refining their English for international communication. English Addicts focuses on vocabulary and comprehension via handpicked news podcasts from Voice of America. With over 1500 lessons, 13 international accents and a new lesson every day of the week, students and teachers can tailor their learning to individual needs and preferences. ... How does Pay What You Want work? A client chooses among the three web applications, orders one or multiple user access licenses, enters a contribution for those accesses and 50% of their payment goes to Room to Read. There is a one-dollar/euro charge for server costs, processing fees and taxes." See also www.edulang.com.

North Korea Tech, 19 Dec 2011, Martyn Williams: "A familiar newscaster dressed in black appears on screen and makes a tearful announcement: Kim Jong Il is dead. When North Korean state TV and radio broke the news at noon on Monday they had already given advance notice that a major announcement was coming. Its delivery was an attempt to set a national mood of mourning. On the Internet things were a bit different with the news being carried as if it was any other story. North Korea’s state media ventured online last year when a new Internet connection was brought to Pyongyang. The state-run news agency, the major national daily and the international radio outlet all have websites and steadily churn out daily propaganda about economic growth, scientific breakthroughs and the trips of Kim Jong Il across the country. The audience is purely international — almost no one in North Korea has Internet access — and the subject matter not one that lends itself to breaking news. So perhaps it’s not surprising that North Korea’s media didn’t immediately replace their sites with somber pictures, banner headlines, or breaking news tag. First word came shortly after midday — after the news had broke on TV and radio — with bulletins on the KCNA website." See also North Korea Tech, 19 Dec 2011, Martyn Williams: "Kim Jong Il’s death – monitoring North Korean TV and radio."

North Korea Tech, 19 Dec 2011, Martyn Williams: "The Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international radio service, made its first broadcast in English after the announcement of the death of Kim Jong Il. The broadcast was dominated by a news bulletin that attempted to carry some of the emotion being seen and heard on domestic media, but the announcer didn’t reach tears. The 55-minute long broadcast was recorded on 6285kHz shortwave at 1000 GMT." With audio. See also Voice of Korea (Pyongyang) English transmission schedule at PCJ Media.

Twitter, 19 Dec 2011, Steve Herman @W7VOA: "NHK subtitled video of the KCTV noon announcement of Kim Jong-il's death" With video.

Follow @W7VOA and @martyn_williams and Martyn's @northkoreatech for more coverage.

RFE/RL, Tangled Web blog, 19 Dec 2011, Luke Allnutt: "With so many slick, Internet-savvy despots around, it's interesting to see how a country responds when the Internet is so devalued, so irrelevant. While earlier this year there were some signs that North Korea was becoming more savvy with its Internet propaganda and tentative forays into social media, those were clearly baby steps -- all of the official sites look like Geocities knock-offs from the late 1990s and are certainly not going to convince anyone abroad that North Korea is a forward-thinking regime. What will be interesting is to see whether 'the successor,' Kim Jong Un, will allow a more open Internet -- that of course is tied to the larger question of whether he will open up North Korea at all."

Broadband TV News, 15 Dec 2011, Robert Briel: "France 24 has concluded a distribution agreement with Boxee, an ‘over-the-top’ TV offer available via software, set-top boxes or applications for tabs and mobiles. Mainly used in the United States and in Canada, but also available in a number of European countries, the Boxee platform will now include a dedicated Boxee 24 application in its global catalogue, allowing users to get access to the channel’s programmes in English (reports, talk shows, debates, etc.). With more than one million users throughout North America, Boxee will soon offer the complete Boxee 24 VOD catalogue, including all the programmes in French and Arabic. This feature will be added during the first semester of 2012." See also www.boxee.tv.

Esquire, The Politics Blog, 15 Dec 2011, Charles P. Pierce: "[T]hey're going to have to treat Ron Paul as something more than just the crazy uncle who listens to the short-wave, collects Jack Chick tracts, and has four tons of tinned beef stashed away in the root cellar. Paul is more than competitive in Iowa. He's got as good a chance as anyone does at winning the [Iowa Caucuses]."

Radio Australia website: "We've been busy renovating our website over the past six months to be more relevant and immediate in our coverage of breaking news, major stories, activities and events as they occur around Asia, the Pacific and Australia. Thus far we've implemented new, improved services for sharing, participating and collaborating, as well as a new look, style and feel. Please explore and play around with what we've developed over the past few months. In early 2012 we'll be launching our new interactive multilingual website. Accessing our stories and radio streams will be easier than ever, and you'll be able to tailor your Radio Australia experience. You'll also be able to share our stories with your friends using your favourite social media tools as well as share your stories with us through our new online communities."

Radio Australia, 16 Dec 2011: "Papua New Guinea's elder statesman Sir Michael Somare is refusing to step down amidst a political crisis over the leadership of the country. His rival Peter O'Neill said on Friday afternoon his government's occupation of the prime minister's department should end uncertainty over the legitimacy of his government. ... Radio Australia has increased its shortwave broadcasts to Papua New Guinea, to help inform people about developments in the PNG political crisis. Between 0930 and 1700 Port Moresby time, an extra frequency, 17750 kHz, will be added to the broadcast services for PNG. This is in addition to the current shortwave services and Radio Australia?s 24-hour FM services in Port Moresby (101.9FM) and Lae (102.1FM)."

Bulawayo25, 16 Dec 2011, Sehlule Zondo: "Defense Minister Emerson Munangagwa has said that the United States of America, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are funding Non Governmental Organisations that are working day and night to remove President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and Zanu PF from power. ... 'In addition, pirate radio stations such as Short Wave Radio Africa (SWRA), [VOA] Studio 7 and Voice of the People (VOP) continue to illegally beam hostile and false propaganda against Zanu PF and President R.G Mugabe,' wrote Ngwena as he is fiery called in political circles."

VOA News, 16 Dec 2011, Peta Thornycroft: "Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has condemned the recent allocation of two new radio licenses, both of which went to operators with records of partisan reporting. The 2008 agreement that brought the inclusive government to power said the airwaves should be opened up beyond media that support President Robert Mugabe. ... In particular, Tsvangirai criticized the awarding of broadcast licenses to two new operators which have strong links to ZANU-PF. The Broadcast Authority of Zimbabwe was set up without reference to the MDC, and several political analysts say this is a contravention of the global political agreement, or GPA."

London Evening Standard, 14 Dec 2011, Gideon Spanier: "Such is the parsimony of the BBC that, despite the huge salaries of its top brass, it's likely past and present members of staff at the World Service will be expected to contribute to funding its 'farewell to Bush House' party. The World Service is quitting the Aldwych site for other BBC sites next year. Staff are expected to contribute on a sliding scale, with top executives paying £20 a head, the middle ranks £10 and junior members £5." -- I would gladly pay £20 to attend that party, even though I'm more of a £5 functionary on this side of the Atlantic. I have good memories of past visits to Bush House and, of course, of listening to World Service during its shortwave heyday in the 70s and 80s.

Twitter, 18 Dec 2011, Andrea Borgnino @aborgnino: "Incredible set of photos of BBC Bush House in London, home of the BBC Worldwide Service." With link to Flickr.

Kingsport (TN) Times-News, 14 Dec 2011: "Located in a non-descript building on the outskirts of Bristol is Kintronic Labs, which for more than 60 years has been 'Bringing Radio to the World.' ... Kintronic Labs is currently working on a project for the Sultan of Oman in the Middle East. This includes designing, building and installing three high-powered facilities. As a Christian-based company, Kintronic Labs works a lot with the Christian broadcast community and Voice of America to provide services to Third-World countries. They have provided a one million kilowatt transmitter to an undisclosed location that broadcasts to countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have a 50,000 watt AM transmitter packed and ready to be shipped to Columbia, South America, that will provide ministry into Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela."

Defense Video & Imagery Distribtion System, 15 Dec 2011, Sgt. Francis O'Brien: "Soldiers of the Virginia Army National Guard’s 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are deploying technology in a revolutionary way in Afghanistan using a short wave radio transmitter that can reach almost every radio in Zabul province. This is the first time a province-wide transmitter has been used in Afghanistan. The transmitter allows the Zabul provincial and district government to send messages to rural Afghan homes. ... Radio and word of mouth are the primary means of spreading news and information in rural Afghanistan. Listening to the radio – thousands of which were distributed by NATO-ISAF - is a cultural norm for Afghans, many of whom follow both the BBC and Voice of America. ... 'The government was looking for ways to communicate with people on a greater scale, but there were gaps in the coverage. Short wave radio is the solution we came up with.' ... The transmitter owes its success to a technique called NVIS – Near Vertical Incidence Skywave – which involves bouncing radio signals off the ionosphere – a layer of the atmosphere. Two NVIS antennas are placed horizontal to the ground unlike a traditional vertical transmitter. The second part of the NVIS antenna is called a ground wire and helps to boost the signal by forcing it to go straight up instead of outward and limited by the curve of the earth. ... 'Using NVIS and our reflector wire, the signal goes up at a very steep angle and straight back down which can penetrate deeper into mountain valleys. When we were looking at this system, it was a no brainer,' he added. ... 'It has resulted in a savings of around 3,100%,' said Fix. 'It would take 30-32 FM systems to cover the same area.'" -- Well, OK, as long as enough Afghan households have radios with shortwave bands to make this worthwhile.

Washington Post, 15 Dec 2011, George Gonzalez: "For many Spanish-speaking people throughout the world, Pepe del Rio was a trusted voice for news. Known across Latin America for his reports and smooth delivery, del Rio spent 25 years as a broadcaster and host of 'Buenos Días América,' the morning radio show for the Spanish branch of the Voice of America. Although he was mostly unknown to English audiences within the United States, del Rio did much to shape international coverage of the major political and social events of the second half of the 20th century. Del Rio, who died Feb. 13 at age 84 from a blood disorder, was born in Tampico, Mexico, where he ran errands at a nearby radio station before emigrating to Texas as a teenager. In 1961, he was recruited by Voice of America producers away from a Spanish-language radio station in San Antonio." See previous post about Pepe del Río.

The Irrawaddy, 16 Dec 2011, Wai Moe: "Burma's information minister, ex-Gen Kyaw Hsan, has agreed to air programs produced by Voice of America (VOA) on state-run radio stations, according to the head of the VOA's Burmese-language service. Than Lwin Tun, the chief of the Washington-based VOA Burmese Service, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Kyaw Hsan agreed in principle to broadcast some VOA programs using local FM and medium-wave stations totally or partly run by the Ministry of Information. 'The minister agreed to broadcast some programs, such as international news, English education, health, science and technology programs, on MRTV and local FM stations,' said Than Lwin Tun, who visited Rangoon and Naypyidaw in the first week of December. 'We will have to send the programs in advance and then they will air them,' he said. ... Than Lwin Tun said that during his meeting with Kyaw Hsan, he presented a copy of the VOA Charter to him because, in an earlier meeting with VOA editor Khin Soe Win, the minister referred to the slogan, 'fighting the media with the media.' 'He may have the wrong idea about the media. That's why I wanted to explain about VOA’s professional stand,' he said. 'I wanted him to know that VOA is a public service, not a government mouthpiece.'"

NPR, 14 Dec 2011, Nick Miroff: "Cuba is one of the least-connected countries in the world, a time-warped place where millions of young people have never been online and a dial-up Internet account is the stuff of dreams. An undersea fiber-optic cable linking the island to Venezuela was supposed to change that this year. But six months after its completion, frustrated Cubans are still starved for Web access. ... Some Cubans have brand-new laptops bought on the black market or sent from relatives abroad, but no Web access. So they stand outside condo buildings that house foreign businessmen, trying to catch an open Wi-Fi signal. ... Cuba's lack of Internet access is now a central theme in the 50-year standoff with the United States. First the U.S. trade embargo kept the island cut off, Cuba says, and now Washington wants to use the Internet as a tool of subversion. A U.S. government subcontractor, Alan Gross, has been in jail here for two years for trying to set up satellite Web access on the island outside of government control."

Al Arabiya, 14 Dec 2011: "Sheikh Walid bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, chairman of MBC Group, announced the imminent launch of a second Al Arabiya channel that promises to follow in the footsteps of the first one as far as keeping Arab audiences constantly updated, especially in the light of the latest events in the region The idea of the new channel, which will be called Al Arabiya 2 al-Hadath (Arabic for 'the event'), came into being with relentless changes that happened, and are still happening, in the Arab world and the dire need to offer a complete view of all their aspects. ... Launching a new channel, the MBC chairman added, was also important in the light of the increasing popularity of the channel even among non-Arabic speakers. 'The new channel will be specialized in following events and will complement the original Al Arabiya.' ... Al Ibrahim also unraveled a plan to launch another channel under MBC Group. This channel, he explained, will specialize in economic and financial news. ... Al Arabiya News Channel began broadcasting on March 3, 2003, and is watched in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, North Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Al Arabiya is headquartered in Dubai." -- Seems that Al Arabiya 2 al-Hadath will compete with Al Jazeera Mubasher. The reference to non-Arabic speakers may have something to do with the fact that interrupted video coverage of momentous events can be appreciated even if one does not have Arabic.

Advanced Television, 13 Dec 2011: "Al Jazeera English has unveiled its presence on both Google TV and Google Chrome. Its updated Google TV application allows users to read the latest news headlines, and watch the latest Al Jazeera programmes in HD quality. Rotating at the bottom of the screen are updates from the Al Jazeera twitter feed, providing convergence between catch up services and real time events. Future updates to the app will include a livestream of Al Jazeera’s coverage and additional social features."

Globes, 13 Dec 2011: "Israel's 800,000 French speakers are a coveted target audience, and DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd. (YES) and HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. already provide several French language stations, and French newspapers and magazines are readily available. Shows by French performers draw large audiences. Radio France Internationale (RFI) has launched local cable and satellite service aimed at this audience." Yaniv Pohoryles interviews RFI CEO Genevieve Goetzinger: "[A] claim that could arise is that you are government owned. Doesn’t this make a mouthpiece for the government? Goetzinger: Possibly in contrast to other places in the world, in France, we make sure that except for funding, there is no government intervention. We are completely independent, and except for the guiding line of a French perspective, there is no intervention from above. Public broadcasting is completely free."

Ynetnews, 5 Dec 2011, Eran Baron: "Radio France Internationale began broadcasting in Israel on [4 December], becoming the first international radio station to be aired on the country's cable and satellite channels. ... RFI is a public radio station broadcasting international news and other programs from France to the entire world, 24 hours a day. The station was founded in 1975 for the French-speaking audience, but began offering foreign language services over the years. The station will now provide some 700,000 French speakers in Israel with news, updates and programs on politics, economy, health and sports broadcast from Paris. Yes subscribers can listen to the station on Channel 71, and HOT users – on Channel 87. RFI Director Geneviève Goëtzinger, who arrived in Israel to launch the station, said that 'from a strategic point of view, it's very important for us to be the first international French radio station in Israel. Our goal is to cover international and local news from a French point of view, while distributing French values and culture in an independent, decent, reliable and pluralistic way.'" -- France has had international radio, in multiple languages, since the 1930s. The Radio France International name was created in 1975. Before that, international broadcasts went out under the awkward and difficult-to-translate name of Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF).

See also RFI communiqué, 5 Dec 2011.

Worldscreen.com, 12 Dec 2011, Marissa Graziadio: Marissa Graziadio: "BBC Lifestyle is launching in Indonesia on the new digital pay-TV service Nexmedia. BBC Lifestyle features programs on home and design, food, fashion and style. The channel is home to Gordon Ramsay’s latest series, as well as Grand Designs, where architect, best-selling author and presenter Kevin McCloud follows people attempting to design and construct the home of their dreams. Nexmedia is owned by PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi (EMTEK Group). BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and BBC Entertainment launched in Taiwan three weeks ago. 'Indonesia is a major market for us in Asia with the pay-television market there offering enormous room for growth,' said Mark Whitehead, the senior VP and general manager of BBC Worldwide Channels Asia. 'Two of our other channels, BBC Knowledge and CBeebies, already in the market, are doing extremely well, with both channels consistently rating among the top three among the factual and preschool genres respectively. We are confident that BBC Lifestyle will be just as popular.'" -- "Enormous room for growth" is a nice way of saying that the multichannel market in Indonesia is small per capita. Most people watch television terrestrially. Actually, Nexmedia appears to be a digital terrestrial platform.

Worldscreen.com, 13 Dec 2011, Marissa Graziadio: "Seasons one and two of the BBC puppet comedy series Mongrels is now available to U.S. audiences through Hulu and Hulu Plus. BBC Worldwide America and Hulu partnered to bring British comedy to the U.S., following the U.S. debut of the hit sci-fi series Misfits. ... 'After the incredible success of Misfits with Hulu, we knew that Hulu is the absolute best partner to premiere Mongrels for an American audience,' said Beth Clearfield, the senior VP of digital distribution and business development at BBC Worldwide Americas. 'This series is a multi-layered, bold comedy with cutting-edge appeal—a perfect fit for Hulu’s audience.'"

Slate, 14 Dec 2011, June Thomas: "Happily, you can create your own Commonwealth viewing station by seeking out the best of the Australian, British, and Canadian shows available on Hulu. With my guidance, you can cross 'find something to watch' off your holiday to-do list—and add new swear words to your vocabulary."

Now Lebanon, 13 Dec 2011, Hussein Ibish: "I've been appearing on television talk shows for more than 12 years and I've never found them to be an emotional experience, until last Sunday, that is. During a routine program on Al-Hurra reviewing recent events in Tunisia, I was suddenly overwhelmed by an astonishing realization: For the first time in my life, I was having a conversation about politics in an Arab state that was entirely normal, modern and healthy. ... It was just plain old squabbling between MPs from different factions about legislation, procedure, who does or does not have a mandate, and whether backroom deals or open debate is propelling the new laws and the formation of the new government. It was ugly, as politics always is, but it was also stunningly beautiful. It's been many decades since any Arab society has found itself in this position: building a real, genuine democracy."

Jordan Directions, 12 Dec 2011: "Barely a year old, [QF Radio] is becoming one of the biggest project developments in Qatar and the greater GCC countries, especially due to its interaction with numerous ministers, ambassadors, and top officials from the oil and gas trades, such as Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al Sada, during the WPC. ... Broadcasting 70 percent of the Arabic news bulletins and 30 percent of the English news bulletins, QF Radio is giving the QF community and Doha a large spread of news on a wide range of topics. ... The percentage of the Qatari citizens that work for the QF Radio is nearly 70 percent. Many of them have great media talent, and a lot of them have even worked for Al Jazeera Network. Furthermore, many of them have also worked for regional channels such as SAMA Dubai, Al Hurra Channel, or have received media experience from the United States and the United Kingdom."

RFE/RL, 16 Dec 2011: "A pro-Taliban religious group in northern Pakistan says it is mediating between the government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to end the two sides' 'differences,' RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports. Muhammad Shah Abdali, chief of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Islam group in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, told RFE/RL that his group has already forwarded three main conditions from the TTP to the Pakistani authorities. ... 'I want to inform through Radio Mashaal that negotiations between the government of Pakistan and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan are under way. And [the Taliban] has given us three conditions that we want to inform...about.' Abdali added that efforts were also under way to bring all the Taliban groups together for the cease-fire talks. Maulana Naseeb Khan, the chief of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Islam in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, confirmed to RFE/RL that his group is mediating between the two sides." See previous post about a call to Radio Mashaal to claim responsibility for the attack on Shias in Kabul.

National Geographic, News Watch, 13 Dec 2011, Ken Banks: "Zydrone Krasauskiene, Editorial Manager of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, explains how they try to prevent those extremists from robbing the people of the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and Afghanistan of their voice. By broadcasting in Pashto to the people of the FATA through their station, Radio Mashaal, they have taken back the airwaves, making a place where listeners can finally have the chance to articulate and discuss the real problems, debates and events that make up their everyday lives. But the station doesn’t just provide information. FrontlineSMS software has opened up new frontiers for Radio Mashaal – literally – by creating a completely new and unorthodox way of making interactivity possible for the people of the FATA."

Crescent-News (Defiance, OH), 12 Dec 2011, Arthur Cyr: "In early 2009, near the Kremlin on a sunny day on a public street, activist attorney Stanislav Markelov was murdered. Journalist Anastasia Baburova was killed as well while trying to aid him. The hit man was a practiced pro, his pistol equipped with a silencer. ... In a dramatic interview with Voice of America after the killings of Baburova and Markelov, Novaya Gazeta representative Nadezhda Prosenkova stated that the newspaper's staff literally risked their lives simply by endeavoring to do their jobs. The killings reconfirmed in bloody manner Russia's ruthless repression, especially of the media. While print journalists occasionally have been gunned down, the Kremlin has been more systematically repressive regarding television, which has been brought back under direct state censorship. ... Long after the Cold War, Voice of America continues to have an important mission. Coverage of Russian abuses should be sustained." -- RFE/RL might argue that it's its job to cover Russian abuses.

Miami Herald, 14 Dec 2011, Juan O. Tamayo: "The board that supervises Radio/TV Martí failed to provide sufficient information to the U.S. Congress about its costs and audience in Cuba, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. In a strongly worded report, the GAO also recommended that the Broadcasting Board of Governors study 'sharing resources' between the Martí stations and the Voice of America’s Latin America division. ... The BBG plan argued that it could not estimate its current audience on the island because Cubans live under a dictatorship and often fear admitting that they listen to foreign broadcasts, according to the GAO report. But GAO noted that from 2003 to 2008, the broadcasting board nevertheless conducted telephone surveys of Cuban households to estimate audience size. Those surveys indicated that less than 2 percent of Cuban adults in households with land telephone lines acknowledged that they listened to or watched Radio/TV Martí on a weekly basis, the GAO report added."

US Government Accountability Office, 13 Dec 2011, cover letter from David Gootnick Director, International Affairs and Trade: "For more than two decades the United States has broadcast news and information to Cuba to promote democracy on the island. To assist Congress in its oversight of these activities, congressional conferees directed BBG to provide detailed information in its strategic plan. However, the plan submitted by BBG does not include some key information. While BBG faces challenges obtaining some of this information, such as estimates of audience size, BBG officials can develop and provide some information that could further assist Congress. In particular, BBG could provide an analysis of the cost savings opportunities of sharing resources between Radio and TV Martí and Voice of America’s Latin America Division, such as estimating the costs associated with moving staff from Washington, D.C., to Miami, Florida, and the savings associated with sharing production studios. Congress has expressed its desire to receive this type of information, which could assist in more effectively allocating resources for U.S. international broadcasting activities." -- Genuine news does not "promote democracy," or anything else. News and information are necessary for the development and maintenance of democracy.

Washington Post, The Federal Diary, 13 Dec 2011, Joe Davidson: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has been taken to the woodshed by an arbitrator who gave the agency a good spanking. It’s a lesson to bosses all across the government. At first glance, the case involving the BBG’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting appears to be a routine one about the level of involvement the agency allowed a labor union when layoffs were ordered. ... But as arbitrator S.R. Butler makes clear in a 94-page Nov. 19 decision, this case has more sinister overtones. It involves the use of a manager’s power to demote or terminate certain employees in the guise of a reduction in force, or RIF in Washington parlance. That’s particularly relevant now as government agencies seek ways to reduce staff and as larger cuts loom. ... Butler was blunt in concluding that a 2009 Cuba Broadcasting RIF 'was engineered and targeted at certain employees for reasons personal to them.' Her opinion says Pedro Riog [sic, should be Roig], the former Office of Cuba Broadcasting director, 'knew that, by sequencing certain reassignments of certain employees ... he could shield employees whom he regarded as supporters and punish, maybe even get rid of, other employees who had spoken critically to GAO [Government Accountability Office] investigators — all under cover of a probably-upcoming budget reduction that could be used to justify a RIF — and no one would ever be the wiser. (He was wrong.)'"

American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1812, 12 Dec 2011, press release (pdf): "On November 25, 2011, the FLRA dismissed the Broadcasting Board of Governors exceptions to Federal Arbitrator George E. Marshall’s decision in an arbitration over the failure to give priority to U.S. citizens in hiring for government positions. Arbitrator Marshall in Washington, D.C. ruled that the Broadcasting Board of Governors has been violating federal law and the parties’ Negotiated Labor Management Agreement by forcing U.S. citizens to be equally or better qualified than non-U.S. citizens in order to be hired. ... 'This dates back to 1983 when VOA sought to change the restrictions on hiring non-U.S. citizens contained in the Smith-Mundt Act but Congress declined to do so. The Agency applied the change anyway and their decision has finally caught up with them,' said AFGE Local 1812 President [Timothy] Shamble."

PBS Frontline, 12 Dec 2011, Mehdi Khalaji, commentary: "It is no accident that the most successful foreign television news broadcasts to Iran are produced by an independent government-supported entity, the BBC. While the BBC's foreign services are funded by the British government, the BBC is not a government agency. The majority of those who have satellite in Iran indisputably watch BBC Persian TV. According to the most recent surveys, BBC Persian has at least twice as many viewers as PNN. BBC Persian was launched in 2008, years after PNN started broadcasting to Iran. BBC Persian has almost the same annual budget as PNN (more than $20 million). BBC uses the money to gather news, with many more correspondents around the world than PNN. By contrast, PNN has a much larger staff at headquarters than BBC Persian -- just what you would expect from a government agency. ... PNN is run like a government agency. The PNN director is required to have a security clearance, so selection of the director is heavily influenced by factors other than experience in journalism. Poorly qualified TV producers were recruited at high salaries and now in practice cannot be dismissed. While the average age of VOA employees is 64, the age of average Iranians is 32. In order to solve the problem, it seems that the only option is to convert PNN from a government agency, transforming it to a public media that follows the most successful examples in American public broadcasting like National Public Radio. A public PNN would be able to receive funds from the government and also from non-government sources and advertising."

Mr. Khalaji states that the "average age of VOA employees is 64." Perhaps he means the average age of the VOA PNN employee, but I still find this hard to believe. And the clearance process does not keep VOA from hiring qualified journalists. As for the comparative size of the BBC and VOA Persian television audiences, the intensity of satellite jamming is an important factor. I agree, and have long advocated, that VOA should be defederalized in order to bolster both the perception and praxis of its journalistic independence. Furthermore, VOA should be merged with the other USIB entities, forming a single, global, multimedia brand. This would put an end to the ridiculous duplication, fragmentation, and infighting that prevent USIB from reaching its potential.

New York Post, 16 Dec 2011, Benny Avni: "Three men and one woman, hiding in front of their home computers in the Iranian night, risked their lives to conduct a Web-based talk with a small group of reporters gathered at a Central Park West apartment. (Iman Foroutan, an Iranian-American TV entrepreneur who founded The New Iran, an anti-regime, US-based group, emceed and translated their voices from the Farsi.) ... The dissidents ... say America can do much more than it currently does to help them change the regime. 'The Voice of America needs to be the voice of freedom,' but instead 'it seems that the Iranian government' runs its Farsi service, said 'mobarez.' By contrast, he praised Israel Radio’s Farsi service for broadcasting detailed news and for constantly conducting interviews with dissidents from inside Iran." -- And, then, there are those who have no patience for mere news. They want USIB to Iran to engage in rollicking anti-regime, pro-dissident advocacy. Perhaps there should be two US television channels broadcasting to Iran: one devoted to news, and the other rather more opinionated. Let the Iranian audience decide which channel they prefer.

Reuters, 14 Dec 2011, Firouz Sedarat: "Satellite television channels are widening the divide between Arabs and Iranians by airing alleged calls by Iran for revolt in Gulf states and what Tehran sees as Western-driven cultural propaganda aimed at toppling its Islamic theocracy. ... Launched in 2003, Al Alam has become popular among the Shi'ite majority in Bahrain and their brethren in Saudi Arabia for its hard-hitting coverage of unrest in the two countries. Al Alam often airs amateur footage of alleged police brutality. Many Shi'ites say they watch Al Alam because mainstream Arab channels such as Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera pay little attention to the protests. ... For Iran, steamy Hispanic tele-novellas and popular Korean and U.S. shows - all dubbed into Persian and aired by Murdoch-backed channels out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates - pose the biggest threat, along with Western-style news from the BBC Persian and U.S.-funded Radio Farda (Tomorrow) services. ... Launched in 2009, Farsi1 is popular among many Iranians, and its Murdoch-backed broadcaster this year launched Zemzemeh (Murmur), a channel targeting female viewers in Iran."

Co.Exist, 9 Dec 2011, Neal Ungerleider: "The ongoing--and some would say confusing--chaos in Somalia is regularly overlooked by American media. And unlike other recent conflicts in the Arab world, Somalia lacks the Internet infrastructure to broadcast out updates about what is happening there. There aren’t a lot of tweets coming out of Mogadishu. However, Al Jazeera English is betting that mobile phones are the best bet to help understand events on the ground. The Qatar-based network just launched Somalia Speaks yesterday. It’s the first-ever large-scale survey of Somali citizen sentiment. Due to the fact that Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991, no large-scale citizen surveys have taken place in decades. Rather than using traditional surveying methods, Al Jazeera decided to instead poll Somalis on their quality of life via SMS text messages. ... Thanks to the project, Al Jazeera has already discovered stories overlooked by the international press. Respondents repeatedly mentioned a major fire in the provincial city of Bosaso that destroyed the town market." See also the Al Jazeera English Somalia Speaks web page.

Boston Herald, 10 Dec 2011, Matias A. Sueldo: "[A]ccording to Peace Corps data, 10 percent of volunteers do not even hold a bachelor’s degree. Those who do are mostly recently out of college and have little transferable experience. No wonder then that roughly six out of 10 Peace Corps volunteers work in education, teaching English to elementary school students; in youth development, running weekend camps and cleanup days; and in public health, setting up hand-washing stations, to name a few typical activities. These volunteers have good intentions, but they’re hardly pulling countries out of poverty. ... There are existing public diplomacy programs that operate more effectively than the Peace Corps, such as the Broadcasting Board of Governors. It distributes programming in 59 languages to an estimated weekly audience of 165 million people across a variety of media to decision-making elites in strategic countries. Other federal programs bring key foreign officials, technocrats and educators to America for training and immersion."

The Guardian, 8 Dec 2011, Tania Branigan: "China's state broadcaster is launching a major expansion in pursuit of an international audience, increasing its overseas staff fivefold by the end of next year and almost tenfold by 2016. China Central Television hopes to win millions of viewers in the US and Africa with English-language services produced in Washington and Nairobi. It is the latest in a multibillion-pound soft power push, as Beijing searches for a 'cultural aircraft carrier' to extend its global influence. ... China's state broadcaster is launching a major expansion in pursuit of an international audience, increasing its overseas staff fivefold by the end of next year and almost tenfold by 2016. China Central Television hopes to win millions of viewers in the US and Africa with English-language services produced in Washington and Nairobi. It is the latest in a multibillion-pound soft power push, as Beijing searches for a 'cultural aircraft carrier' to extend its global influence. ... CCTV has hired Jim Laurie, a former ABC and NBC broadcaster turned consultant, to advise it and has offered generous salaries for local staff."

News on News, 6 Dec 2011, Kevin Coy: "CNBC has merged its operations in Asia Pacific, and Europe to form CNBC International, effective immediately. The two networks, based in Signapore and London respectively have been operated as seperate entities since their formation and merger with Asia Business News and European Business News in the mid-nineties. Starting today, the networks will be run as a single entity according to a memo to CNBC staff from network chief, Mark Hoffman. Hoffman went on to explain some of the reasoning behind the move, stating that 'We will achieve better overall coordination with a single P&L focused on one set of common goals and objectives.' He also went on to say; 'We will be more effective as we make editorial and commercial decisions. Coordinated decision making, streamlined communication and shared goals can only make us stronger.' Satpal Brainch, President of CNBC in the Asia Pacific region will become the President of CNBC International effective immediately. ... It is not immediately known what the effect on current staffing in London or Singapore will be, nor what effects, if any, will be seen across CNBC International's programming or on-screen appearance and scheduling, however it isn't expected that viewers will see any noticeable changes in output according to a News on News source."

Media Bistro, 6 Dec 2011, Chris Ariens: "Last month the New York Post reported CNBC Europe was prepared to make cuts after not making budget. 'Wide-ranging consequences,' would result an insider told the Post. Additionally, British newspaper The Independent reported last month that CNBC Europe allowed production company FBC to produce its 'World Business' show for more than six years. That was until this summer when the paper revealed that FBC 'was being paid millions of pounds a year by Malaysia to promote its national interest.'"

There are still separate web pages for CNBC Asia Pacific, CNBC Europe, and something called CNBC World.

CNBC press release, 8 Dec 2011: "CNBC ... has announced that anchor Karen Tso will move to the network’s regional EMEA headquarters in London. Tso, who is currently based in Singapore and co-anchors CNBC Asia’s flagship programme Squawk Box Asia and The Call, will move to London in the middle of January. Tso will work across CNBC’s business day programming in EMEA and will also provide reports and analysis into CNBC and MSNBC in the United States."

News on News, 9 Dec 2011: "CNBC has announced that anchor Lisa Oake will re-join the network’s regional Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Oake, who is currently a freelance journalist with CNBC based in Singapore, will officially re-join the network as co-host of CNBC Asia’s flagship programme Squawk Box Asia at the beginning of January. She replaces anchor, Karen Tso, who moves to CNBC’s EMEA headquarters in London."

News on News, 9 Dec 2011: "CNBC received three nominations and took home an award at the 16th Asian Television Awards (ATA). Bernard Lo won the Best Current Affairs Presenter award for Straight Talk with Bernie Lo. ... Based out of CNBC’s Hong Kong studios, Bernie is a pillar of CNBC's business day programming including the flagship programme Squawk Box."

BBC World News press release, 13 Dec 2011: "The BBC today announced a new deal to launch the BBC’s award-winning 24-hour international news channel, BBC World News, in major markets across the US through Comcast’s Xfinity TV. By the end of 2011, the channel will be available in Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Portland, as well as across Northern California, Michigan and Western New England. BBC World News will launch in additional Comcast markets next year. BBC World News has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world, broadcasting in over 200 countries and territories worldwide with access to more than 70 international newsgathering bureaus globally. BBC World News is expected to be in nearly 15 million US homes by end of 2012." BBC News, 13 Dec 2011: The BBC World News schedule "includes an award-winning daily US-focused programme, World News America, hosted by Katty Kay."

New York Times, 13 Dec 2011, Brian Stelter: "The channel also believes that the United States can be a crucial component of its commercial revenue going forward. While the BBC is subsidized by British taxpayers, BBC World News is commercially supported through ads and distribution fees, just like its bigger sister channel in the United States, BBC America. ... While [the 15 million homes] represents just a fraction of the 100 million American homes with cable or satellite subscriptions, it is an important foothold for the BBC, which wants to meet a perceived need for impartial international news. ... The way some at the BBC see the television world, Fox News and MSNBC are occupying partisan poles; CNN is struggling to choose between substance and sensationalism; and another foreign import to the United States, Al Jazeera, is tainted by its host country, Qatar. 'We’re very deliberately saying, "We’re not going to tell you what to think,"' [director of BBC Global News Peter] Horrocks said. Broadcast into more than 200 countries and territories, the 24-hour BBC World News is sober and hard-nosed by American standards."

The Wrap, 13 Dec 2011, Lucas Shaw: "'The BBC is renowned for its journalistic integrity and audiences are increasingly hungry for an impartial view on global affairs,' Sandy Ashendorf, EVP of Network Distribution for BBC Worldwide America, said in a statement. That would suggest the other news networks are not providing the American viewer what it wants. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but either way, isn’t 'an impartial view on global affairs' supposed to be CNN’s job? Perhaps, like its fellow British news outlet The Guardian, which recently expanded in the United States, the BBC believes Americans are ready to hear a global take on the news."

ConsumerAffairs.com, 13 Dec 2011, James R. Hood: "What's appealing about the BBC, other than the accents, is that it emphasizes international news, downplays sensationalism and celebrity gossip. It also eschews injecting opinions into its coverage, a change many viewers find welcome after being put off by the open editorializing of MSNBC and Fox."

See previous post about BBC World News America moving off of BBC America, which became all-entertainment, forcing BBC World News to develop its own cable affiliates in the United States.

Politico, 13 Dec 2011, Keach Hagey: "Christiane Amanpour is leaving 'This Week' and returning to her roots at CNN and in foreign reporting in a new arrangement that allows her to appear on both ABC News and CNN International, the two networks announced Monday. ... Christiane Amanpour is leaving 'This Week' and returning to her roots at CNN and in foreign reporting in a new arrangement that allows her to appear on both ABC News and CNN International, the two networks announced Monday. ... Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, cheered the move. 'Christiane Amanpour has been synonymous with international reporting and with CNN for many years,' he said in a statement. 'We could not be happier that through this unique arrangement with ABC News her experience and global perspective are returning to a nightly news broadcast for our international audience.'" See also CNN Press Room, 13 Dec 2011.

Media Matters for America, 14 Dec 2011, Jill Fitzsimmons: "Delegates at the UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa surprised many when they reached an agreement over the weekend that sets the stage for emission targets and a global fund for climate change adaptation. ... But CNN has yet to report on the agreement during any of its U.S. television broadcasts. Meanwhile, the Durban conference has been covered by NBC, CBS, MSNBC and even Fox News -- although much of Fox's coverage has been deeply flawed. And apparently the story is considered newsworthy by CNN International, which has devoted 6 segments to the UN summit since it began on November 28, and has mentioned it on several other occasions, according to a Nexis search. CNN International airs in over 200 countries and territories around the world. ... Apparently CNN's American viewers have to change the channel to stay informed on this important story."

Asian television Awards press release, 8 Dec 2011: "The winners of the 16th Asian Television Awards were announced tonight at a spectacular gala dinner and awards ceremony held at the Shangri-La Hotel. ... CNN International was named Cable & Satellite Network of the Year with wins for Bangladesh Begging Boy, Nepal's Stolen Children and Anna Coren for World Report. Highly commended in the Cable & Satellite Network of the Year category was Discovery Networks Asia Pacific."

NewsOK, A Virtual Unknown blog, 11 Dec 2011, Jim Willis: "In looking at world news impact, you could also make a strong case for CNN... , especially if you’re talking about CNN International and not Domestic. The former has a lot of non-Western correspondents."

Florida Today, 10 Dec 2011, Raymond J. Land: "While on a recent business trip in Paris, I watched CNN International news, which is an important face of the United States around the world. Here were CNN’s stories from 8:30 to 9 a.m. that morning: WikiLeaks CEO Julian Assange is presented as a hero protecting the rights of all people. CNN simply showed Assange’s interview after a British court announced he would be able to appeal to the country’s highest court. CNN confirmed Iran had brought down an intact U.S. drone and will give the technology to China. The United States is characterized as an incompetent fool and CNN shows videos of the Iranian army on parade celebrating the victory over the 'devils.' A CNN correspondent at the Durban climate talks completed an interviewee's sentence by saying opponents of climate change caused by humans are followers of 'junk science,' and, finally, the same CNN correspondent lumped the U.S. and China together and said they are blocking change and, as a result, some countries will be flooded out by 2015. With 'news' like that, it's no wonder the United States is hated by many overseas."

CABSAT press release, 7 Dec 2011: "According to the latest research by Informa Telecoms and Media, there are 80 million television households in the Middle East and North Africa market. Today satellite television reaches 65% of them, but by 2016 that proportion will rocket to 80%. Already there are more than 500 free to air channels in the region, with the big players pushing ever harder."

Digital TV Europe, 9 Dec 2011: "Jewish News 1, the 24-hour international news channel launched in September, is now available on the internet. The channel is available on the web at jn1.tv. Jewish News 1 is currently also available in English over Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and European Russia via the Astra 4A, Hotbird and Galaxy satellites. The service also plans to broadcast in other languages in the future." See previous post about same subject.

RT (Russia Today), 24 Nov 2011: "Russian space experts are struggling to decode fresh telemetry signals received from the stricken Phobos probe. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that America’s ionosphere research site in Alaska caused the spacecraft’s failure. On Wednesday night, the European Space Agency’s station in Perth, Australia, established communication with Phobos, which has been rotating helplessly around the Earth since its engines failed to fire two weeks ago. ... Meanwhile, a retired Russian general believes that the glitch which prevented Phobos from carrying out its space mission was caused by American radar sites in Alaska. General-Lieutenant Nikolay Rodionov, who used to command the country’s ballistic missile early warning system, told Interfax that 'the powerful electromagnetic radiation of those sites may have affected the control system of the interplanetary probe.'" -- The general was apparently referring to the High Frequency [shortwave] Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site located in Gakona, Alaska. See also Alaska Dispatch, 14 Dec 2011, Doug O'Harra. And the HAARP home page.

State Department press statement, 6 Dec 2011: "I am delighted to announce the online opening of the Virtual U.S. Embassy Tehran as a new and exciting engagement opportunity between the peoples of Iran and the United States. Because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, we have been deprived of opportunities for dialogue with the citizens of Iran. But, using new technologies like this website and our linked social networking sites, we hope to bridge that gap and promote greater understanding. ... The Virtual Embassy site can be viewed in English at: iran.usembassy.gov and tehran.usembassy.gov; and in Persian at persian.iran.usembassy.gov."

State Department, 6 Dec 2011, briefing with Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs: "Many people already have private networks, virtual private networks that allow them to go through and around efforts to stop them from getting internet access. ... We think we have the technical capability to get it back up even if it gets disrupted, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to make sure the information gets through."

VOA News, 7 Dec 2011: "The United States has condemned Iran's blockage of an interactive online 'Virtual U.S. Embassy Tehran,' less than 24 hours after it was officially launched in Washington. In a statement Wednesday, the White House said that 'through this action, the Iranian government has once again demonstrated its commitment to build an electronic curtain of surveillance and censorship around its people.'"

AFP, 12 Dec 2011: "A website the United States touts as a 'virtual embassy' for Iran is really an 'espionage trap,' the Islamic republic's spy chief said in media reports Monday. Heydar Moslehi warned Iranians that the website was 'a bait to lure them into an espionage trap,' the Shargh daily reported. ... The US website offers policy statements in English and Farsi, gives information on US visas, and provides news from the US-funded Voice of America." -- In the English version, there is news (in the media relations definition of "news") from the State Department, and directly under it news (in the news defition of "news") from VOA. There should be a gear-shifting disclaimer of some sort between the State Department and VOA news items.

Heritage Foundation, 8 Dec 2011, Helle Dale: "The content of the website is not in question. It contains appropriate information about the United States, scholarships, and student programs, and has a section countering disinformation about the United States circulating in the Iranian media. It also has a video clip of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cheerfully greeting Iranian visitors to the site. So, is this Virtual Embassy Tehran endeavor worth it—or a waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars? As a matter of principle, U.S. public diplomacy policy should not be dictated by who is trying to block American content. Broadcasting to Cuba, China, North Korea, and Iran runs into jamming routinely. Yet when it comes to the airwaves, some broadcasts do get through despite the efforts of the jammers. The Internet is a different story. Here, technologically sophisticated dictatorships can pull the plug, and do, rendering the effort moot. Accordingly, one would have to conclude that in tight budgetary times, the State Department’s money and man hours could have been better invested. Additionally, the prompt Iranian response should offer caution to those who advocate moving U.S. international broadcasting increasingly to digital platforms. Why make enemy censorship easier?"

Family Security Matters, 9 Dec 2011, Michael Ledeen: "The State Department has launched a 'virtual Embassy' to Iran, a website with some useful material about the Iranian regime’s systematic distortion of America, and American policy towards Iran, a collection of old speeches and statements from Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama, links to Hillary herself doing TV interviews, and 'news' from the Voice of America. ... I think the tone is all wrong, and her message strikes me as coming from some other planet, a happy planet where Iranians are not dying every day because the regime doesn’t like people who go online and send chatty messages to the American secretary of state."

The National Interest, 12 Dec 2011, Trevor Thrall: "Excitement over the Internet aside, however, the Virtual Embassy Tehran is a product of the same failed public diplomacy paradigm that the United States has pursued since 9/11. As such, it reflects the persistent inability of the U.S. government to recognize the basic tenets of the modern global communications landscape and the unwillingness of officials to acknowledge the limits of persuasion. ... Officials appear to think that the virtual embassy (along with similar efforts in the region such as Radio Farda, Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra) will replicate the glory days of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. The theory is straightforward: the Iranian public is suffering from oppression and censorship at the hands of a totalitarian government. Starved for information about the world, Iranians will seek information from alternative sources. When they realize that the alternative sources (i.e. Virtual Embassy Tehran) provide more accurate and useful information than that available from their own government, Iranians will begin to trust those sources and turn to them in ever greater numbers. Eventually this will give the United States the ability to shape the marketplace of ideas in Iran. During the Cold War, the United States did indeed have some success with Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. The circumstances, however, differed in three critical ways that made influence possible in the first case but unlikely if not impossible in the current case. First, the global media system has become infinitely more dense and diverse. It is more difficult to make an impact. Soviet publics had no serious alternatives to the information provided by the United States. Iranians, on the other hand, have access to a myriad of Middle Eastern media outlets. The millions of Iranian households with illegal satellite dishes already have access to Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Al Manar, not to mention the BBC Persian channel and CNN International. An Iranian family with access to the web through a Virtual Private Network (the access mode of choice in oppressive regimes) has the entire world’s media at their fingertips. With so many voices competing for attention, the importance and potential influence of the virtual embassy is vastly less in the modern era than during the Cold War, or even what it would have been in 1979 when the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran." -- The writer does not mention VOA Persian News Network, one of two Persian-language satellite television channels from outside of Iran, which has been successful in attracting Iranian audiences.

Press TV, 8 Dec 2011: "Iran's Foreign Ministry says Washington's latest move to open the United States' virtual embassy for Iranians is indicative of America's failure to receive the Iranian nation's message decades after a US coup in Iran. ... The US-sponsored coup in 1953 overthrew the government of the then Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, leading to the restoration of absolute monarchy under dictator Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi who was later toppled in the Islamic Revolution in 1979. [Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin] Mehmanparast also described the recent White House move as a confession of a 'big mistake' by the US administration to sever relations with Iran and overlook the Iranian nation, IRIB reported."

Wall Street Journal, 9 Dec 2011, Shirin Ebadi and Hadi Ghaemi: "Iran leads the world in illegal jamming of international satellite broadcasts, but it is a prolific user of international broadcasting platforms for its own programming. European satellite companies like Eutelsat, Intelsat and Arqiva provide extensive services to the Iranian state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), including for domestic Iranian radio and television broadcasts, and for Iran's growing list of foreign-language channels, like the English-language PressTV and the Arabic Al-Alam. But Eutelsat also hosts many of the stations whose programming Tehran jams. It has not stopped carrying IRIB channels on its satellites, which are facilitated through Arqiva, even though the Iranian government is effectively destroying the products of its other clients. Over the past two years, during which Iran increased its jamming of Persian-language broadcasts from abroad, Eutelsat and Arqiva have done little to hold the Iranian government accountable. Either company could have contractually required Iran to stop its jamming, which is politically motivated censorship, or refused to carry IRIB. Instead Eutelsat's response was to discontinue broadcasting BBC Persian and VOA Persian on the most accessible and popular satellite, Hotbird6, and to move them to less accessible satellites. Providing continuous service to the IRIB as long as extensive jamming of Persian-language media is taking place is essentially a gift to the Iranian government from European satellite companies. ... The European Union and U.S. should take immediate and decisive action requiring that these satellite companies end their cooperation with Iranian censors. Given the IRIB's integral role in widespread human-rights crimes in Iran, European and American companies should not be allowed to provide it any services."

VOA News, 9 Dec 2011: Hadi Ghaemi "spoke to VOA's Persian News Network on Friday, saying Iran uses its state-run media outlets to defame anyone who speaks out against the state. 'The Iranian radio and television actually work very closely with the intelligence and security forces to the point that we have many testimonies of former detainees that have been interrogated by cameraman and so called staff of the IRIB.'"

See previous post and another previous post about the same subject.

BBC News, 8 Dec 2011: "Health experts in India have come up with a new way of delivering health education - through a Bollywood TV soap. To encourage people to use toilets, for example, producers have dramatised a story where a woman refuses to marry her fiancee until he builds her an indoor toilet. The series has a huge influence in the country, attracting over 145 million viewers." Reported on: "The Health Show is broadcast on BBC World News on Saturdays at 1010 and 2010 GMT and on Sundays at 0710 and 2310 GMT. The programme is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."

Eurasia Review, 10 Dec 2011, Manuel Manrique and Barah Mikail: "Autocratic governments have long sought to remain in power by controlling public opinion through the monopoly of traditional print and broadcasting media; however, they have begun to lose this comparative advantage in the Internet. Similarly, the spread of satellite networks has reduced government control over information. Arabic language satellite channels have mushroomed in the region and beyond: the US (Al-Hurra), the United Kingdom (BBC Arabic), Iran (Al-Alam), Russia (Russia Today) and China (CNTV-Arabic). These channels also have their own websites and forums to complement them. Rising Internet penetration rates have reinforced the battle between users and states seeking to control them. Behind authoritarian and transitioning regimes’ efforts to control the media is their desire to preserve their monopoly in setting the agenda and limit hostile foreign influences; China’s ‘great firewall’ is a prominent example. But regimes also seek to control which domestic images are broadcast to the outside world. Leaks that particularly harm the regimes’ reputation, such as the images from Beijing’s Tiananmen square, the Iranian 2009 protests, or the more recent Syrian and Bahraini violence against protesters, spark efforts to limit further exposure. Al Jazeera’s live coverage of Tahrir contributed to the revolution’s success, as the private channels Channel 5 and Rustavi 2 did for Ukraine and Georgia respectively. But this has earned it massive harassment from the military authorities trying not only tightly to control the transition, but also to limit Qatari influence."

Daily Mail, 12 Dec 2011, Richard Shears: "Atheist North Korea has threatened to shoot out the lights of a giant Christmas tree-shaped tower that South Korea plans to illuminate near the tense border. The Communist North warned its southern enemy of ‘unexpected consequences’ if it went ahead to turn on the lights, saying Seoul would bear the ‘entire responsibilities’. South Korea plans to illuminate about 100,000 lights on the 100ft-tall steel tower in the shape of a Christmas tree at the top of Aegibong Hill, located some two miles from the border with North Korea. Officials in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, say that switching on the Christmas lights is an act of propaganda because they will be visible with the naked eye from the major northern border city of Kaesong."

Gizmodo, 12 Dec 2011, Casey Chan: "The 'unexpected consequences' would have to do with some sort of 'psychological warfare' on South Korea. What does that even mean? I'm thinking NK has no idea what that means but as long as it's provocative (shout out: Will Ferrell), it's completely fine with them. ... What's really great is that South Korea doesn't give a hoot about NK's psychological warfare because they're planning on lighting two more trees along the border this year."

AFP, 11 Dec 2011, Nam You-Sun: "From his office in Seoul, former North Korean soldier Lim Young-Sun runs a website offering a rare glimpse of state television in the North to show what the country he fled two decades ago is really like. Lim's Unification Broadcasting (SPTV) streams Korean Central Television, a risky business in Seoul where disseminating North Korean propaganda could see him fall foul of South Korea's tough National Security Law. While the site (sptv.co.kr), the only one of its kind in the South, so far has an audience just in the thousands, Lim has a dream of attracting millions of viewers curious about life on the other side of the last Cold War frontier."

The Chosunilbo, 28 Nov 2011: "A new online radio station relays recorded programs from a North Korean propaganda station to South Korea and around the world. The website northkoreanradio.com posted a total of 23 50-minute-long English-language propaganda programs broadcast by Voice of Korea from June 2009 to July 2010. Voice of Korea broadcasts from Pyongyang in Chinese, French, Arabic, English and Korean."

AFP, 8 Dec 2011: "South Korea has tightened monitoring of popular social networking sites to curb illicit content including an upsurge in North Korean propaganda, officials said Thursday. The Korea Communications Standards Commission said an eight-member team was launched on Wednesday to examine Facebook and Twitter posts and smartphone applications. ... 'Postings and sites that praise North Korea or glorify its leaders are also the target of our work as they increased rapidly this year,' team leader Han Myeong-Ho told AFP."

AP, 7 Dec 2011, Foster Klug: "Since a conservative government took power in 2008, indictments have shot up under a South Korean security law that makes it a crime to praise, sympathize or cooperate with North Korea. More than 150 were questioned and 60 charged in 2010, up from 39 questioned and 36 charged in 2007, officials say."

The Next Web, 7 Dec 2011, Nancy Messieh: "The Guardian has just launched several new sections of its site in Arabic. The translated sections include articles on politics and current events in the Middle East as well as entire series of articles on football. All of the content available in the Arabic section has been translated from the English edition of The Guardian and, at the moment, consists of just over 63 articles."

The Guardian website: "The Guardian in Arabic is a selection of articles from the Guardian translated into Arabic, and some specially-commissioned articles for an Arabic-speaking readership."

With newspapers starting to translate their content into various languages, who needs international broadcasting?

Digital TV Europe, 30 Nov 2011: "As user-generated and web-based content become more pervasive, many channel providers increasingly emphasise quality as a key brand value. 'Our core brand value is to offer content of the highest quality, across all our channels and in all genres,' says Jesús Perezagua, president, Fox International Channels Europe and Africa. 'We combine this with strong scheduling and marketing to create channels that we believe are very attractive to operators and audiences. I think operators and viewers trust that Fox and National Geographic will bring them quality.' ... Similarly, A+E Networks International, with a channel that traditionally has appealed more strongly to a male audience – History – and another, Bio, with a slightly broader appeal, has branched out further with Crime & Investigation, and is planning within the next year to launch international versions of Lifetime, a US channel that appeals strongly to a female demographic. ... Building on the strength of brands developed in the US and complementing that with local production is a tried and trusted path for a number of channel providers, and A+E is no exception. ... For newer entrants to the international channels market, a common strategy is to concentrate on one or two flagship channels rather than launching larger portfolios. US-based channel operator Scripps Networks Interactive operates six channels in its domestic market but is focusing on two of its brands internationally. The Food Network launched first and has established itself in several key markets. It was followed by the launch of Fine Living Network." Also discussion of France 24 and Euronews.

IX1CKN blog, 10 Dec 2011, Christian Diamoz: "It hasn’t been amazing to find a 1995 WRTH at a recent hamvention for two bucks, but reading one of the stories it featured in its last pages. Named 'Shortwave broadcasting begins its long slow fade (but International broadcasting endures)', it’s a visionary although sharp picture of what would happen in the following fifteen years by Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott, a personality that in radio domain needs no introduction, who nowadays still analyzes and research communication issues on his often updated website. What was in the picture taken by Dr. Andrew Elliott in 1995? Basically, the fact that, even if in the shoes of an avid shortwave listener for thirty years he was disturbed by repeated claims of HF [shortwave] dying, 'as an international broadcasting audience researcher, however, I cannot deny that shortwave has begun to decline as a medium for international broadcasting'. However, his long experience allowed him to see the glass only half empty: 'the good news is that shortwave broadcasting is declining slowly. […] it has at least a decade or two to go, time enough to do many good things. And International broadcasting, with many technologies to choose from, has a bright future'. In a few words: 'The decline of shortwave is not an avalanche, but we can see the rocks starting to tumble'. Biggest (and most noticeable) ones, in our reputed colleague vision, were in those days: Trans World Radio shutting down its Bonaire facility; KGEI religious station in San Francisco signing off permanently in 1994; Voice of America reducing Hungarian, Estonian, Spanish and Portuguese broadcasts; Radio Netherlands dropping programs in French, Arabic and Portuguese. Others symptoms of the decay were highlighted in Brown Boveri deciding to get out of the HF broadcast transmitter business, and 1995 Radio Shack catalog showing only five shortwave radios, down from nine in 1994."

China Radio International, 3 Dec 2011, Zhang Xu: "State-run broadcaster China Radio International (CRI) held a high-profile ceremony in Beijing on Saturday, marking the 70th anniversary of its founding and the establishment of the Chinese people's overseas broadcasting cause. More than 700 people, including the country's major publicity officials, foreign ambassadors in China, foreign audience representatives and CRI employee representatives attended the ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People. Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, praised CRI's 70 years of service in a congratulatory letter which read: 'CRI has become an important window for China to know the world and for the world to understand China, and has become an important platform for China's overseas publicity.' Li also urged CRI to build a top-ranking international media group. ... On December 3, 1941, the Yan'an New China Radio Station started a radio program in Japanese, marking the birth of China's overseas broadcasting cause. As China's only state-owned overseas broadcaster, CRI currently boasts the greatest number of language services among international media around the globe. CRI disseminates information in 61 languages via a wide range of means, including radio, television, newspapers, internet and mobile phones." -- If CRI is willing to accept the status of "state-run," and if CRI believes that it is in the business of "publicity," then there is not much hope for it to become a "top-ranking international media group" -- at least in terms of audience size. And aren't the international CCTV channels and Xinua's CNC World also state-run?

Pakistan Today, 2 Dec 2011, Syed Ali Nawaz Gilani: "In Pakistan, CRI listeners are actively working for the promotion of CRI programmes, since establishment of Urdu service in 1966; this year it was 45th anniversary of Urdu service and was celebrated across Pakistan in befitting manners. CRI also appreciates the listeners’ participation at club level and their reports were also acknowledged properly. Like Urdu service of CRI, present Incharge Ms Zhao Qiao (Mahvesh-her Urdu/Pakistani name), along with CRI Pakistan Bureau Office Reports, Ms Sun Lingli and Ms Wang Qainting (Ms Musrat-her Pakistani name) are actively working for the promotion of CRI and its objective to successfully enhance CRI-China education and social and cultural interaction programme."

See previous post about CRI English 70th anniversary.

Radio Netherlands Media Network, 6 Dec 2011, citing Bernama: "A new television news channel in Malaysia, Worldview Broadcasting Channel (WBC) that is expected to launch officially in April next year, has started airing test transmissions in the Klang Valley since 1 December. The test transmission from 7pm to 10pm can be viewed by tuning to UHF Channel 39 with magazine programmes as well as local and foreign documentaries on air. A statement from the station said that its core content would be news with 70 per cent international news coverage, with the rest comprising a range of current affairs programmes and documentaries. 'WBC local viewers will be able to watch live news reports from various locations around the world, presented from a Malaysian perspective, in three languages, Bahasa Malaysia, English and Arabic,' the statement said. The statement said WBC’s approach to vary its news sources via cooperation with selected news and current affairs television stations worldwide will offer viewers a fresh experience in news watching. More information can be accessed through the www.wbcchannel.tv website, it said." -- That URL is now working during today's check.

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Amanda Meade: "ABC managing director Mark Scott said yesterday parts of Australia Network and Radio Australia will be merged along the lines of the BBC, a day after control and funding of the overseas television service was handed permanently to the public broadcaster. Mr Scott said the ABC was no longer compelled to separate Australia Network and Radio Australia, after the cabinet decision on Monday to hand the contract worth $223 million over 10 years to the ABC forever. 'We've been offering Radio Australia for 70 years, and what this decision now allows us to do is to bring these two very closely together to basically create a seamless international broadcasting arm for Australia in much the same way that the BBC does it for the UK,' Mr Scott said in an interview on ABC News 24. He said the two 'fragmented brands' could combine back office functions to save on resources and the networks would take advantage of the expansion of mobile services across Asia and the Pacific by offering apps and online services. ... Mr Scott said a single branding for the international TV and radio services would make it easier for audiences to 'find and use our services in a format that best suits their needs at any given time'. 'While we will create content exclusively for international audiences, we will be able to showcase ABC radio, television and online, and make the most effective use of ABC News 24 and News Radio.'"

Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Dec 2011, Clare Kermond: "'What you've seen is a remarkable expansion of online and extraordinary growth of mobile phones and mobile technology … we need to create a converged international broadcaster, like the way we are here at the ABC; we deliver it on radio, we deliver it on television, we deliver it online, we deliver it on mobile,' [ABC MD Mark Scott] said. With 600 million mobile phones in China and 500 million in India, a mobile strategy was a key to the ABC's long term effectiveness as an international broadcaster. Mr Scott also said the new arrangement would allow the ABC to present more coherent branding and achieve efficiencies by sharing resources. A spokeswoman for the ABC confirmed that the national broadcaster would continue to have commercial advertising on the Australia Network."

ABC "PM," 6 Dec 2011, ABC MD Mark Scott as interviewed by Matt Peacock: "International broadcasting is now charter."

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Christian Kerr: "A former adviser in the foreign affairs portfolio who wished to remain anonymous said much of the ABC's depiction of Australia was regarded with 'suspicion'. Former foreign minister Alexander Downer is even blunter. 'Although there are some good news shows, the Australia Network still runs an awful lot of rubbish,' he said yesterday, 'and of course the ABC is naturally anti-Australian. Australia is always portrayed in a negative light, the government is full of hard-hearted human rights abusers, be it our government or for that matter the present government.' Downer says the Howard cabinet was horrified when he recommended at the time of the last tender in 2005 that the ABC's contract be renewed. He summed up the view around the table as 'The ABC is pumping out negative propaganda about Australia and the Australian government to the region and we're paying them to do it. Surely we should give Sky a go?' But when he made it clear to his cabinet colleagues, he continued, that the tender panel had backed the ABC, due process prevailed -- unlike this time."

ABC, The Drum, 9 Dec 2011, Bruce Dover, chief executive of Australia Network, responding to Christian Kerr: "The Australian is entitled to its views about the Australia Network process, but its hysteria about the outcome should not obscure the facts. ... With a budget of about $20 million a year, Australia Network ranks just 14th in the hierarchy of G20 international broadcasters. Yet its distribution across 46 countries and territories of the Asia-Pacific is unrivalled by any other government broadcaster, with the exception of the BBC."

The Age, 10 Dec 2011, Hamish McDonald: Radio Australia, the "overseas shortwave service, broadcasting in 10 languages to Asia and the Pacific, has been arguably Australia's most effective soft-power vehicle since the Second World War, reaching millions of people directly, sometimes against the objections of hostile or oppressive governments. With a mix of popular music, news, commentaries and responses to letters from listeners, its broadcasters like Peter Russo (in Japanese) or Alan Morris and Joe Coman (in Indonesian) built up a huge trust that became invaluable in times of crisis. The Department of Foreign Affairs once tried to guide its commentary, through a dedicated liaison officer, but many years ago gave up. ... [T]he government should follow up by making the Australia Network's annual allocation directly to the ABC instead of through the DFAT [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] 'soft power' budget. In this tender, DFAT has shown naivety or incompetence (or both), and an eagerness to manipulate the message. The network would do better at a distance."

Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Dec 2011, Julie Bishop, Deputy Leader of the Opposition: "The message this sends to anyone contemplating a public tender involving this government is simply deplorable. And if, as is widely assumed, this whole charade is part of the Prime Minister's plan to further undermine Kevin Rudd and his authority, then her government's integrity has suffered a mortal blow."

The West Australian, 9 Dec 2011, Andrew Probyn: "Putting it ever so bluntly, Mr Rudd's enemies suspected the former prime minister was using the leverage he had as portfolio minister for the Australia Network to curry favour with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation which, through its 39 per cent of BSkyB, has a part-share in Sky News Australia, the other bidder.

ABC "PM," 6 Dec 2011: "The Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was aware that Cabinet was going to make a decision last night about the awarding of the Australia Network TV contract."

AAP, 6 Dec 2011, Ed Logue: "Sky News has every right to be aggrieved about its failed bid for the Australia Network and it should seek compensation from the federal government, Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says."

Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Dec 2011, Phillip Cooey: "Sky News has demanded up to $2 million in compensation following the termination of the tender process for the Australia Network and the decision to leave the service with the ABC forever. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said yesterday the government had not received any applications for compensation following the messy year-long process, but 'if we do, then of course they'll be properly considered'. But industry sources said Sky had requested compensation a month ago when the government terminated the process and called the police in to investigate leaks it was about to be awarded to Sky."

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, editorial: "Taxpayers have every right to be appalled by what has unfolded. The Australia Network is an international television service funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to project a positive image overseas. Some in government have worried that, by focusing on claims about racist undertones in Australia's immigration and indigenous policies, ABC current affairs programs can be counterproductive as a soft-diplomacy tool."

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Richard Gluyas: "The botched Australia Network tender could further fuel investor perceptions of heightened sovereign risk, affecting the availability and cost of capital in this country, a prominent company director said yesterday. Wesfarmers director and former Telstra board member Charles Macek said the nation's reputation as a safe haven for investment had suffered in recent years after a series of policy reversals and missteps, including the minerals resource rent tax and the carbon tax. 'This (the Australia Network tender) looks like a fiasco,' Mr Macek said. ... 'Investors can live with most policies as long as they know the rules; what they hate is the chopping and changing.'"

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Lauren Wilson: "The Australian Federal Police has launched its investigation into media leaks surrounding the $223 million Australia Network tender process, after more than a month of initial inquiries. But The Australian understands the AFP is yet to make contact with three key journalists who reported on the tender."

The Advertiser (Adelaide), 7 Dec 2011, Mark Kenny: "Since the decision was taken to invite tenders in March 2010, a process that purported to be objective and commercial has been tainted by politics. Among its many elements have been the increasingly harsh rivalry between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard; leaks from the tender evaluation committee; more than six months of delay, amid rumours of ABC favouritism by the Government (now borne out); and finally a straightforward political decision to scrap the commercial call and award the 10-year contract to the ABC. Not merely for a decade mind you, but permanently."

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Paul Kelly: "The decision to make the Australia Network a permanent feature of the ABC is good for the ABC and bad policy process. It defies performance evaluation, accountability and cost efficiency. It defies the experience when this service has been decided by tender. The saga leaves one narrative: the government wanted the ABC to retain this service and was not prepared to see Sky News win the bid."

The Australian, 7 Dec 2011, Dennis Shanahan and Leo Shanahan: "The ABC is facing a campaign within cabinet to ensure the national broadcaster doesn't just absorb the $223 million earmarked for the Australia Network into other programs and services. ... [S]enior ministers discussed in cabinet on Monday night the need to ensure the funding was kept separate from general ABC funds, with Senator Conroy arguing the case for separation."

Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Dec 2011, Daniel Flitton: "Will the ABC charter be amended to include overseas television broadcasting? Will the funding for Australia Network be dedicated or part of general ABC revenue, leaving it vulnerable to competing priorities? Will the government, through the Foreign Affairs Department, still set goals for the network or will this now be under ABC control? ... The ABC has donned the halo of an independent broadcaster while being more than willing to run a tough campaign for a commercial contract. It wanted the cash, yet complained bitterly that its charter was an obstacle to delivering what Foreign Affairs wanted. Sky was a willing mercenary, happy to do whatever was asked. And, in the end, even that wasn't enough."

The Canberra Times, 7 Dec 2011, editorial: "By handing the Australia Network contract (worth $223million over 10 years) to the ABC - which had successfully carried it since 2002, and before that between 1993-98 - the Government can reasonably expect that the service will continue to be delivered efficiently and competently to audiences throughout the Asia-Pacific. However, the fiasco has underlined one of the enduring weaknesses of the Gillard Government: its lack of Cabinet solidarity and confidentiality."

The Australian, 8 Dec 2011, letter from Owen Eather: "I travel on business to Asia, visiting seven large cities over the past year. When I switch on the Australia Network, it shows consistently grim and almost unwatchable programs. A relentless negativism pervades its programming, with Australia presented, largely, as a sovereign failure, flailing impotently as it oppresses a downtrodden people. ... Any watcher, if they could stomach the dreary output of pessimism for more than five minutes, would imagine that Australia is a country to be avoided. It is a relief, almost, to switch over to the blatant propaganda of a China Central TV newscast. At least the presenters smile." And other letters on the same subject.

The Australian, 8 Dec 2011, editorial: "[O]n ABC television news the government's dog-ate-my-homework excuse was reported with a surprising lack of curiosity. Its report said: 'The process was nobbled by leaks of secret tender rankings, so serious, police were called in.' It then cut to the Prime Minister: 'This tender has been profoundly compromised as a result of these leaks.' This is a spurious government line because, as we made clear yesterday, the leaks came after the tender panel's decisions were made. Julia Gillard does herself no favours making the argument. And the ABC owes more to its viewers than to accept such nonsense."

The Daily Telegraph, 8 Dec 2011, Patrick Lion: "[T]he TV channel at the centre of the federal government's foreign diplomacy debacle is a mish-mash of ABC news, cliched Australiana, old drama re-runs and obscure foreign documentaries, The Daily Telegraph reported. Even the government's preferred operator of the Australia Network, the ABC, admitted the channel's current schedule was short of fresh local programming."

Brisbane Times, 7 Dec 2011, editorial: "Since 2001 it has been back with the ABC and has steadily built an audience of more than 100 million in 44 countries, principally in Asia and the Pacific, partly relying on a strong symbiosis with the ABC's international news-gathering network, its children's and other special-interest programs, and English-language teaching - along with a strong dose of sport, a key element of Australian culture. At a little more than $20 million a year in government funding, it is a modest call on public revenue compared to vastly bigger budgets devoted to overseas TV by China and several European nations. ... Murdoch is still free to start an Australian-flavoured TV channel if he wants, without Canberra's subsidy but also without its supervision - not a bad outcome for a free-enterprise mogul with billions in ready cash."

ABC, The Drum, 8 Dec 2011, Sinclair Davidson: "It isn't clear why Australia needs to have a soft propaganda message broadcast to the region. But I'm happy to concede that reasonable people might disagree on that point. Why would the government put that program out to tender when it already has an agency to do the work? To my mind the ABC should be performing that function. That isn't to say that the government shouldn't put the whole of the ABC out to tender – but that is a far more controversial proposition."

Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Dec 2011, Richard Ackland: "Frankly, it would have been inconceivable for the government to award a $223 million contract to a Murdoch-run broadcaster. ... If Sky had triumphed, we would have had to contend with the shadow of Murdoch's record as a foreign broadcaster. Rod Tiffen reminds us that at the time Murdoch was keen to expand his business in China and the BBC was on the nose with the authorities in Beijing, the great British public broadcaster was suddenly dumped from Rupert's Star TV and replaced with a music channel."

The Australian, 9 Dec 2011, Rowan Callick: "The Australia Network, which has this week been permanently placed in the hands of the ABC, has failed to screen controversial Australian-made film The 10 Conditions of Love, about the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer. The film's producer, Melbourne-based John Lewis, said yesterday the network's two-year licence for it had now lapsed. Lewis, a former ABC journalist, said: 'Is this what they call soft diplomacy? Don't tell me that the network is going to become the Radio Australia of TV, with its firmly neutral news stance, because it's not.'"

The Telegraph (Sydney), 9 Dec 2011, Graham Richardson: "There is no doubt that a reasonable intellectual case can be made to have the national broadcaster run the Australia Network. While any such decision overlooks cost effectiveness, you could maintain that if the government is using the network for soft diplomacy then the government broadcaster is better equipped to handle the task."

The Telegraph (Sydney), 9 Dec 2011, Piers Akerman: "How was Sky's boss Angelo Frangopolous to know that Gillard is taking the Asian Century concept a little further and was prepared to embrace the shady and corrupt practices in some of our Asian neighbours?"

The Conversation, 9 Dec 2011, David John Brennan: "When it comes to the Australia Network, no doubt the realpolitik – which features prominently in both internal Government tensions and the relationship the Government has with the News Corporation media conglomerate, of which Sky News is a part – might explain much of what has transpired. But that realpolitik is unlikely to supply the Government with an excuse for contractual breach."

Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Dec 2011, Lenore Taylor: "Early next year, federal cabinet will consider a submission about how it can impose any kind of performance requirements on the ABC in return for giving it $223 million over 10 years to run the Australia Network - the 'soft diplomacy' news service portraying Australia to the world. It will be a joint submission, keeping good officers of the departments of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister and Cabinet, Finance and Communications busy over the summer break. Perhaps they will write guidelines, perhaps they will follow the 'BBC model' and set up a process for the ABC and DFAT to chat about the 'alignment of their goals'. ... The decision [to give the Australia Network contract permanently to the ABC] is now being justified on the basis that most countries see their overseas service as a natural fit with their public broadcaster, in Britain the job is done by the BBC and in Germany by Deutsche Welle. That argument may be right, but surely we need some explanation as to why this was not the assessment made by the government at the outset."

And...

Herald Sun (Victoria), 10 Dec 2011, Laurie Oakes: "Most Australians couldn't give two hoots who runs the Australia Network. It is of no importance to them. Whether the ABC or SKY News is in charge of the television service this country projects into Asia makes no difference to most. Just the same, the spectacular botching of the tender process during the week has a political impact because it reinforces the impression of government incompetence."

See previous post about same subject.

The Guardian, 6 Dec 2011, Jon Boone and Saeed Shah: "At least 55 people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a crowded Kabul shrine on the most important day in the Shia calendar, raising fears that radical insurgent groups are attempting to unleash a sectarian war in Afghanistan. ... A Pakistani militant group with close ties to al-Qaida said it had carried out the attack, although security sources could not confirm the group's involvement. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami claimed responsibility in a phone call to Radio Mashaal, a Pashto-language station set up by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty." -- Also cited by many other news outlets: see RFE/RL, "The Rundown,' 8 Dec 2011 (Thanks to Zach Peterson news tip.)

RFE/RL, 7 Dec 2011, Abubakar Siddique: "Shortly after the midday attack in Kabul, a man claiming to be a spokesman for Lashkar-e Jhangvi al-Alami contacted RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal to claim responsibility on behalf of the Pakistan-based militant group. It was impossible to independently verify the claim made by the man, who identified himself as Qari Abubakar Mansoor. The man first contacted a Radio Mashaal correspondent in Pakistan who covers the western Kurram tribal district, where the group is believed to be headquartered. A man going by the name of Qari Abubakar had previously contacted Radio Mashaal to provide information regarding the Lashkar-e Jhangvi al-Alami. Following RFE/RL's report tying the group to the attack in Afghanistan, various media reported receiving similar claims from the same spokesman."

The Irrawaddy, 6 Dec 2011: "Journals running front-page photos of the meetings between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Burmese pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi quickly sold out as Burmese readers were caught up in the excitement over Clinton’s visit and the discussions between the two prominent women. ... During his meeting with Clinton at the Presidential Office in Naypyidaw on Thursday, Burmese President Thein Sein commented on the increased press freedom during his administration. 'With regard to the media sector, freedom of media was being granted step by step in conformity with freedom and accountability,' Thein Sein was quoted as saying in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run-newspaper. The Burmese government granted visas to foreign journalists covering Clinton’s visit to Burma, including the chief of the Voice of America’s Burmese Service, Than Lwin Tun, who is a former student activist who left the country following the Burmese army’s brutal crackdowns on demonstrators in 1988."

AFP, 11 Dec 2011: "Myanmar has loosened restrictions on dozens of business and crime publications, local media reported, but kept news titles in the grip of strict censorship rules. A total of 54 journals, magazines and books will no longer have to submit their content to censors before publication, according to a report in the Myanmar Times, after changes introduced on December 9. News media will continue to be subject to pre-publication censorship that is criticised by press freedom groups as among the most restrictive in the world, although officials told the newspaper that this would ease in time." See also VOA News, 7 Dec 2011.

Digital Production Middle East, 5 Dec 2011, Chris Newbould: "MBC Group, the largest free-to-air satellite broadcaster in the Arab World, and YahLive, the UAE based satellite operator, have announced a partnership to broadcast seven of MBC’s channels in HD through YahLive’s satellite service. The partnership agreement means that viewers of YahLive, which broadcasts at 52.5ºE, across the Middle East, North Africa can now access MBC Group’s top rated channels: MBC 1; MBC 2, MBC 4; MBC Action; MBC Drama; MBC MAX; and Al Arabiya News Channel, all in the highest quality HD. ... [Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive said:] 'Ensuring that our customers have access to the number one channels and programmes is of paramount importance to us, and it is clear that MBC’s offering is amongst the most popular in the region. We are embarking on an extremely important stage in our development to become the region’s satellite broadcaster of choice and are preparing to make more announcements shortly, which will continue to strengthen our customer offering.'" -- YahLive's offerings for now can be seen at the Lyngsat Yahsat 1A page. See also yahsat.ae.

Al Jazeera press releaee, 5 Dec 2011, via Poynter: "Al Jazeera English is proud to announce today the opening of a new Chicago bureau and the addition of AJE correspondent, John Hendren. AJE programming became available for the first time across Chicago in October on WTTW, the most-watched public television station in America. This bureau adds to Al Jazeera English’s American bureaus in Washington, DC, New York, Miami and Los Angeles. John joins the more than 150 Al Jazeera English staff based in the U.S., and will be part of Al Jazeera’s expanded coverage from the U.S. heading into the election year. John Hendren starts with Al Jazeera on December 5th as correspondent for the channel’s new bureau in Chicago. John has been at ABC as its White House correspondent since 2006, and previously worked with NPR and the LA Times. ... As part of its commitment to enhancing coverage of the U.S. ahead of the elections, Al Jazeera English’s Americas bureau begin airing the discussion show Inside Story out of Washington D.C. Starting on December, 12, the show will air every weekday at 6:30am and 7:30pm EST."

WorldScreen, 1 Dec 2011, Marissa Graziadio: "Deutsche Welle’s daily European lifestyle magazine euromaxx is getting repackaged by CNCDP China for the Chinese market and other Mandarin-speaking audiences. Under the co-production agreement, CNCDP China will create a Mandarin version, with 78 hours of programming. CNCDP will have broadcast rights for all of its channels and distribution rights to other broadcasters in China. Deutsche Welle (DW) will distribute the Mandarin edition to the rest of the world. euromaxx features European fashion, design, food, culture, arts, architecture and music. Last year, 26 episodes of the series were co-produced with Xinya Media in Singapore for broadcast on its regional channel." -- But who is CNCDP? Is it part of Xinhua's China Network Co. Ltd (also connected to the Xinhua global English news channel CNC World)? If so, it could be "repackaged," indeed. In any case, access to China's domestic is a big deal in international broadcasting.

Deutsche Welle press release, 1 Dec 2011: "Deutsche Welle officially launched 'Destination Europe' on December 1. The multimedia project (www.dw-world.de/destinationeurope) will examine the challenges and opportunities associated with migration and present a realistic picture of life in Europe. The project is being supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and is especially targeted at young people in Africa. ... 'Destination Europe' is available in English, French and Arabic, with a special in German. The 15-part series was written by an African author and looks at topics like living conditions in a refugee camp, the asylum process and examples of successful integration. The video portraits provide interesting insights into the world of migrant workers. Users should experience their hopes, fears and worries."

Ha'aretz, 4 Dec 2011, Gideon Levy: "For many years, until just recently, Israeli journalism enjoyed great liberty. Military censorship contracted significantly; unacceptable institutions like the Editors' Committee effectively ceased to exist and the pressures placed on journalists were negligible. In addition, most branches of the media were in good shape economically. It is ironic that Israeli journalism is falling down on the job precisely in such excellent circumstances. Come the day of reckoning it will be found wanting for these years of blindness, complacency and extreme nationalism. Israeli journalism censors itself to the point of harm. Part of it has become a means of entertainment while inciting our more base passions. Part of it now appeals to emotions, not reason, and deals with trivial rather than important issues, taking part in the campaigns of denial and obfuscation. No one asked this of it, it did so on its own. It often turned propagandist, too. Journalism hasn't been conscripted. It signed up itself. The journalistic tom-toms were beating before the most recent wars, calling in unison for another ferocious assault. The media lined up in support of every war, offering no criticism. That came only afterward, when it was too late to repair the damage. Israeli journalists authorized nearly every transgression, and many forgot the difference between public diplomacy and journalism."

UK Press Association, 1 Dec 2011: "The MP for Great Grimsby said he was an admirer of the BBC, calling it 'an institution of which we in Britain can be proud'. But, he said that institution was now threatened as the licence fee settlement was the 'worst in the BBC's history', frozen at £145 for six years, plus a requirement to finance the BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring from 2014 - a previous responsibility of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He said: 'BBC World Service does a better job for Britain in the world than the Foreign Office and all its pinstriped mandarins put together.'" See also House of Commons Hansard, 1 Dec 2011.

Runcorn & Widnes Weekly News, 8 Dec 2011, Oliver Clay: "Campaigners have been collecting signatures in Widnes to protect Radio Merseyside. Peter and Kathy Krig said proposed changes to BBC funding could lead to the station’s closure. They said cash could be diverted to pay for the BBC World Service, which is paid for by the Foreign Office but will switch to licence payers’ money."

The Guardian, 2 Dec 2011, Maggie Brown: "Three female correspondents – Alex Crawford of Sky News, Sara Sidner of CNN and Zeina Khodr of al-Jazeera – have shared the achievement of the year prize at the 2011 Sky Women in Film and TV awards in central London. WFT said the three women won the award for setting an example to their colleagues, because they were on the streets with the rebels, reporting under fire, while others seemed to report from their hotel rooftops in Tripoli." See also WFTV website.

BBC Worldwide press release, 6 Dec 2011: "BBC Worldwide today announced the arrival of the company’s on-demand Global BBC iPlayer trial service on Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch which will become available on Thursday 8th December. Previously available on Apple iPad, the pilot subscription service will now reach millions of new viewers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. ... In a keynote speech to the Digital TV Summit this morning, Jana Bennett, President Worldwide Networks and Global BBC iPlayer, said: 'This platform extension shows how Global iPlayer isn’t just about moving TV to tablet devices, it’s also about a mobile strategy – about truly getting TV everywhere in a way that it hasn’t been before. We also want the global BBC iPlayer to be truly representative of the whole gamut of British creative output, to represent everything that is great about British content – not just the Best of British TV but the Best of British Culture.'"

informitv, 4 Dec 2011: "The global BBC iPlayer app for the Apple iPad is now available in Canada, although it has yet to launch in the United States. It offers a remarkable range of current and classic BBC programming for a little less than nine dollars a month or $84.99 for an annual subscription. So informitv asks how many subscriptions worldwide would the BBC need to sell to make this worthwhile, and why is it not available in the United Kingdom? ... [I]f we assume that the global BBC iPlayer were to be as successful as Netflix, with say 20 million subscribers across a wide range of devices, resulting in a lower retailer margin of 20%, that would produce a gross revenue of over a billion pounds and a return to the BBC of say £320 million. While significant, in the context of the annual BBC turnover of £3.6 billion it represents less than a tenth of total BBC income, which is less than the corporation needs to find in efficiency savings to balance its budget over the coming years."

Montreal Gazette, 2 Dec 2011, James Berkow: "Daniel Heaf, executive vice-president of BBC Worldwide's digital division, said during a pre-launch demonstration of the Canadian iPlayer app he wasn't trying to pick a fight with the Los Gatos, Calif.-based streaming-video juggernaut. 'Netflix is a very different type of service, it is very broad' Mr. Heaf said. 'It offers tens of thousands of titles across several genres, whereas [iPlayer] is a branded service where we aggregate a very deep type of content; TV content as opposed to film.'"

mUmBrella, 7 Dec 2011: "Dental brand Oral B is the first advertiser on the Australian edition of BBC Worldwide’s iPlayer. The three month deal, which kicks off on January 1, was negotiated by Mediacom in Sydney on behalf of Oral B’s parent company P&G. Scott Hamilton, BBC Worldwide’s regional director of ad sales for Australia and New Zealand said: 'Through this sponsorship deal, P&G gain access to early adopters who enjoy quality BBC content on an innovative and expanding platform. It’s a superior product, a great fit for their target audience and provides an uncluttered user experience delivering Oral B exceptional cut through.'"

ATV Today, 9 Dec 2011: "Series 6 of the world’s longest running science fiction TV series Doctor Who has become 2011’s most downloaded show on iTunes in America."

Dawn, 4 Dec 2011, Kalbe Ali: "In a rare show of solidarity among business competitors, cable operators in Pakistan blocked the transmission of BBC for airing a documentary about the Taliban on November 28. ... Meanwhile, on their part the local cable operators in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad said that the decision had been made by their association due to public pressure. 'Nobody forced us to block or take the BBC off air – this was our decision based on our love for the country. A significant majority of our subscribers also asked us to tell the foreign media that we as a nation stand united,' a cable operator in Rawalpindi said, but declined to give his name on the grounds that it was against the policy of their association."

Daily Times, 3 Dec 2011: "The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has termed the unofficial banning of the foreign news channels, including BBC, across the country through cable operators a violation of the freedom of expression and citizens’ rights to get information. In a statement issued on Friday, the commission called the banning of the BBC and other foreign news channels in the last few days as arbitrary, futile and violation of the basic human rights."

The News (Karachi), 2 Dec 2011, editorial: "The BBC remains available to anybody with a satellite dish connection. Given the limited number of people who might have viewed the programme, and there not being any reports of formal complaints either to Pemra or cable operators themselves, one is led to wonder where the ‘push’ for the ban came from. Of course we have the right to disagree completely with what any channel is saying, and the documentary has already been criticised for its lack of even the basic elements of objective reporting. But at the same time people must have the right to decide what they watch and how they interpret events. It is true channels like the BBC are at times responsible for propaganda. Misinformation is also spread through all kinds of other means. But the right of people to know and to gain access to different views must not be curbed. Blocking their access to what some others may be saying is a crude, unintelligent way to deal with the problem and can only be counterproductive in this age of an unprecedented flow of information."

Dawn, 5 Dec 2011, Hajrah Mumtaz: The fact, sadly, is that the main news coming out of Pakistan is bad, and the only thing this move achieves is restricting Pakistanis` access to international news.

Dawn, 8 Dec 2011, letter from Saad Khosa: "The allegations that BBC has been involved in ‘maligning’ and defaming Pakistan by distorting facts about the actual ground situation are entirely baseless, groundless and unfounded. ... Besides, there is no denying the fact that BBC World News is a vibrant news channel that airs many educational programmes as well."

See previous post about same subject.

Radio Netherlands Media Network, 2 Dec 2011, Andy Sennitt: "As we reported earlier this week, Radio Vlaanderen International will close on 31 December. For the past few years, RVi broadcast only in Dutch, but in what Keith Perron of PCJ Media calls ‘the golden era’, the station had just as big a following as many other international broadcasters. One aspect of the International Service that people remember well was when David Monson hosted Brussels Calling. David could just sit in front of the microphone and make anything come alive. During his time as host of Brussels Calling he released an album of some of his best monologues. ... They include what is widely considered to be the best of all David’s broadcasts, entitled ‘In Flanders Fields (To those who fell)’. He did not have a script - he rarely ever did - and what you hear is completely spontaneous. At the time, this type of live international broadcasting was a rarity." With link to audio archive. See previous post about the closing of Radio Vlaanderen International (the international radio service of the Dutch speaking community in Belgium).

The Herald (Harare), 5 Dec 2011, Stephen Mpofu: "'Hurt your country, everything in it and you will live comfortably (here) in exile.' This probable statement appears to be what makes Zimbabweans working for some radio stations overseas join their anti-Zanu PF, anti-President Mugabe propaganda that tarnishes Zimbabwe's image. ... Listen, for instance, to the Voice of America Radio Station which set up 'Studio 7 for Zimbabwe' which daily broadcasts to this country and has employed Zimbabwean men and women to do its dirty work against Zimbabwe, using American taxpayers' money with the Americans themselves probably unaware of the abuse of their hard-earned money. Then there are other private radio stations mounted on roof or tree-tops in Zimbabwe to complement those foreign radio stations that fall over each other trying to besmirch Zimbabwe's image in the eyes and ears of the world at large to protest the empowerment of the black masses in Zimbabwe through land reform. The propaganda onslaught has done a great deal in promoting competing even contradictory, visions of the country's future with no hint or sign of their convergence for the good of this nation."

VOA Studio 7, 7 Dec 2011, Tatenda Gumbo & Sandra Nyaira: "Zimbabwean legislators are set to discuss a motion calling for the removal of the board of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and to initiate a fresh start to the process of issuing licenses for new commercial radio stations under media liberalization. Mbizo legislator Settlement Chikwinya of the Movement for Democratic Change party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai advised Parliament on the pending motion following the recent award by the Broadcasting Authority of radio licenses to Zimpapers, a state publisher, and AB Communications, a group with close ties to ZANU-PF."

Moneyweb (Johanneburg), 4 Dec 2011, Cathy Buckle: "Shock, intrigue and controversy came with an advert for chicken pieces that was aired on DSTV, a South African satellite television broadcaster that is available in many countries in Africa. The advert came from Nando’s, a South African fast food chain which has a Zimbabwe franchise and outlets in many centres around the country. The advert shows Robert Mugabe standing alone at a Christmas dinner table, holding place name cards of absent guests. To background music of 'Those were the days my friend,' and with actors playing the characters, Mugabe is shown having a water pistol fight with Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, whose is using his trademark golden gun. ... Of course, anyone that hadn’t seen the advert by that stage, made determined efforts to see it and find out what all the fuss was about. Things reached absurd levels midweek when the Short Wave Radio Africa broadcast was jammed just as a news report about the Nando’s advert began. The jamming continued for the next two hours and no one was in any doubt about who was behind the radio’s signal interference."

See previous post about same subject.