News From You

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Week ending July 22, 2006

BBC World Service and BBC Arabic on CANALSAT HORIZONS in Africa – July 21, 2006

From Christine George/BBC WS

Subscribers to CANALSAT HORIZONS in 23 African countries can now access the BBC's radio services in English and Arabic.  CANALSAT HORIZONS is broadcast by Multi TV Afrique, the subsidiary of MEDIA OVERSEAS, CANAL+ GROUP.  Multi TV Afrique has reached agreement with the BBC World Service whose radio programs in English can now be heard on channel 108 and in Arabic on channel 109 within the CANALSAT HORIZONS package.

The 105,000 current subscribers to CANALSAT HORIZONS will now enjoy a range of quality BBC programmes including news, documentaries and analysis, 24 hours a day seven days a week in English and Arabic. The CANALSAT HORIZONS package is available on a subscription basis in: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Simon Kendall, BBC World Service said: “We are delighted with this agreement which provides another platform for our English and Arabic radio services across West and Central Africa.”

Mr. Jean Christophe Ramos, General Manager of MultiTV Afrique, said: “We're thrilled to be adding the BBC's English and Arabic radio news services to the first DTH French platform in Sub-Saharan Africa in its package CANALSAT HORIZONS.”

ITU International steps taken to build global Information Society – July 20, 2006

from Arthur Levin/ITU

United Nations agencies to coordinate implementation of WSIS Plan of Action

Implementation of the outcomes of the recently concluded World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) gathered momentum with the launch of the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS). High-level representatives of twenty-two UN agencies met on Friday, 14 July 2006 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva under the chairmanship of ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi to facilitate the process.

UNGIS will serve as an interagency coordinating mechanism within the UN system to implement the outcomes of WSIS. The Group will enable synergies aimed at resolving substantive and policy issues, avoiding redundancies and enhancing effectiveness of the system while raising public awareness about the goals and objectives of the global Information Society. UNGIS will also work to highlight the importance of ICTs in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

To maximize its efficiency, the Group agreed on a work plan in which it would concentrate its collective efforts each year on one or two cross-cutting themes and on a few selected countries.

In the coming period, UNGIS will focus on bringing the efforts of the UN system to bear on expanding access to communications, for instance through multimedia community centers, teleshops, etc. Drawing on the respective competencies of the different members of the Group, UNGIS will also focus on applications related to e-health and e-tourism. At the same time, the Group will examine the e-readiness strategies and policies of one or two countries, to be proposed by UNDP, to develop a comprehensive toolkit for bringing the benefits of the Information society to developing countries.

During the first year, UNGIS will be chaired by ITU, with UNESCO, UNDP and WHO acting as vice-chairs.

UNGIS has been established by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, at the request of the Summit and in consultation with members of the UN system Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).

WSIS has contributed towards a better understanding of the key issues and challenges of the Information Society. Throughout the process, critical issues such as infrastructure, capacity building, the regulatory environment and financing have been discussed and refined. Pioneering work on financing ICTs for development and on internet governance has resulted in the most comprehensive international documents ever endorsed on the topics at the international level.

The Summit set critical targets for global connectivity and ICT for development to be reached by 2015 and established 11 action lines to achieve the objectives of the Information Society. The outcome outlines a detailed blueprint involving governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations and other international organizations for implementation and follow-up at the national, regional and international levels.

INSI Appeals For Safety of Journalists in Middle East War Zone – July 19, 2006

from Rodney Pinder/INSI

The International News Safety Institute appealed on Wednesday to all sides in the current Middle East conflict to respect the safety and security of journalists and other news media staff.

Already, some journalists have encountered hostility and some have been wounded. Fortunately no one has been killed.

But the conflict in Iraq demonstrates how easily those covering the news are sucked into hostilities. INSI counts 126 dead in the bloodiest conflict for the news media since World War Two.

"Journalists of all persuasions representing news organizations of every stripe are covering the fighting in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel. They have a dangerous and difficult job to do and their safety and independence must be honored," said INSI Director Rodney Pinder.

"All parties to the conflict should remember that without free and open reporting not only the outside world but they themselves will be blinded."

The Geneva Conventions demand respect for human beings in time of armed conflict, and that includes respect for the human rights of journalists, who are classified as civilians entitled to protection from violence, threats, murder, imprisonment and torture.

These legally binding treaties date from 1949 and have been ratified or acceded to by most countries. They form part of international humanitarian law. Violation makes a soldier or militia member guilty of a war crime.

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