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 News From You
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Week ending January 31, 2009
The Special Award is for an outstanding media project or organisation working on the ground in the developing world, which has made a real impact on the lives of those living and working near it.
The deadline for entries is Friday 27th February, 2009.
The winner will be flown to London to receive a trophy at the Awards ceremony on 22nd June 2009, with all expenses paid.
Last year’s winner was Urunana from Rwanda.
Run by the Rwandan NGO Urunana Development Communication, Urunana is a health education radio soap opera that has been running for over 1000 episodes, with an estimated audience of 10 million – two-thirds of the Rwandan population.
Urunana follows a group of characters living in the fictional village of Nyarurembo and, over the last ten years, it has had a proven impact on its audience. To make sure of this, the production team visits rural communities and discusses the storylines with listening groups. They also organise outreach events, which bring actors from the soap to rural areas where they meet the public and perform on stage.
Urunana’s success is especially significant because of the way in which radio was used in the genocide of 1994. Regular announcements were made over the radio waves to kill Tutsis, and the specific names and addresses of the people to target were sometimes given out. However, as Narcisse Kalisa, Managing Director of Urunana DC, pointed out in his speech at the One World Media Awards ceremony, radio is now being used to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Eligibility and criteria
The award is for local radio/TV initiatives (including a specific programme or channel, or a network of stations), print media or new media working on the ground in the developing world addressing social or developmental issues. Advocacy media initiatives working at a grass roots level involving staff from the local area are also eligible to enter.
The jury will give greater consideration to projects with a wider reach and a greater impact. It is also interested to consider new and innovative ways of reaching a wider audience, while making sure that local views and voices are incorporated.
The project must have evidence of lasting beneficial impacts on the local community and, where applicable, how it’s made an impression on public opinion or government policy. If possible, please indicate the enduring success of the project.
The jury would like to see some evidence of sustainability, i.e. national/local commitment to financial support for the longer term.
How to Enter
To enter, you must submit the following:
1) Description of the project (1000-1500 words) highlighting how it fits the eligibility criteria above - explain what makes it unique and remarkable. Please include details of when the project was set up, number of staff and volunteers, how many and who the audience is, what issues are covered and what the local conditions are in which it has to operate (for example, political, social, cultural)
2) Full contact details (including name of Director and website where available).
3) Name of representative who would collect the Award in London.
4) Letters from two independent references who have worked with the organisation and know the organisation well, but do not work for the organisation.
There is no entry fee.
NRJ International, a division of the French NRJ Group, improves its turnover in 2008 to 33.8 million Euros. This is a rise of 5.3 percent compared to the same period in 2007 (32.1 million Euros). Hereby, the international division operates against the restrained trend in almost all European radio markets. The positive development is mainly due to the good performance of the German speaking markets (Germany and Austria).
“The good performance of last year shows the positive impact of the multimedia strategy that the NRJ Group is implementing: ´On air. On line. On demand.` It gives NRJ International the opportunity to offer a variety of individual advertising packages to its clients, coming from radio internet and events”, explains Christophe Montague, CEO NRJ International Operations.
Currently the companies of the French NRJ Group with their brands NRJ and ENERGY are present in 12 countries outside of France. Germany, Austria, Sweden, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine are only a few of the markets in which the brand is active. The company’s consistent international brand policy has made NRJ/ENERGY one of the biggest radio brands in Europe.
The NRJ Group’s management team is pursuing the implementation of a multimedia strategy with an increased focus on radio, television and internet. The objective is the diversification and expansion of the NRJ brand. The different communication channels are consequently cross-linked and combined under the umbrella brand NRJ. Long-term objective of this strategy is to establish NRJ as a trademark that gives the consumer various possibilities for the consumption of music and entertainment.
LSE Media think tank Polis today welcomed the publication of the Government’s Digital Britain report, but called for more radical steps to protect public service media in the UK.
It warned that government has to set Universal 2Mb/s broadband infrastructure as a minimum and allow for the possibility of government action if the private sector does not deliver.
It also said that the Review should take a more radical approach to ensure the provision of public service content.
Charlie Beckett, Director of POLIS said:
‘The Government is grasping the nettle of the major media reforms that need to take place; not only to bring Britain into the Digital Age, but to ensure that our world leading public service broadcasters are not destroyed by digital competition. Today’s interim report outlines some possible steps that need to be taken to ensure that there will still be public service competition for the BBC and that sufficient quality domestic content – including local and national news – will continue to be produced.“
‘Ofcom set out the options for public service broadcasters last week. But the way forward is really a matter for Government. Channel Four clearly requires major surgery if it is to survive the transition to digital and we have to welcome the fact that the Government is considering radical options. The challenge now is to ensure that the interests of viewers, listeners and users in the UK – not those of the powerful media companies or the Government – are at the heart of the debate about solutions.
Dr Damian Tambini, LSE said:
‘Digital Britain could have been more radical – for example by establishing immediately a pilot Public Service Content Commission to prefigure the proposed new Public Service Content Company’ – and we have to hope that they are ready to do so at the earliest opportunity.’
‘BBC Worldwide has long underperformed in marketing BBC content abroad for the benefit of licence fee payers. We welcome the move to enable it to act for other UK content producers. However, we are concerned that any new entity has a clear public service remit, and that innovative new models of delivery of public service content – rather than new models of advertising – are at the heart of the new system.’
Today commercial broadcasters from all over Europe
have shown their commitment to taking action for a healthier lifestyle. When submitting
its Brochure entitled “A Healthy Audience” to the European Commission, the
Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) has shown that the commercial
television industry can play a role in improving the health of European citizens. In its
Brochure, the ACT has laid down the results of monitoring programmes related to a
healthier lifestyle in eight European markets during a period of 12 months. The markets
include Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and the United
Kingdom. With the overview the ACT responds to a commitment of the European
Commission’s “Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health”, which the ACT is a
member of.
Ross Biggam, Director General ACT, said: “Commercial broadcasters have
recognised the increasing interest of European citizens in health and diet issues and
have come up with a wide range of interesting programmes on healthy eating all over
Europe. We are very positive about the outcome of this exercise as it shows our
engagement for a healthier audience and demonstrates that the power of television can
be a positive tool for those wishing to communicate messages on healthy eating and
lifestyle”.
The Brochure lays down detailed information about when and by whom the programmes
are watched and contains information about the audience share, target group, length
and number of episodes as well as the transmission day and time. When analysing the
results, the overall performance of the programmes and feedback by viewers is very
positive. With audience shares of up to 36% and millions of viewers tuning in to watch
the programmes, it becomes clear that television is a medium which has the strength to
attract wide audiences and reach masses even on rather sensitive issues such as
obesity and healthy living. In this context it is also worth noting that some programmes
like “Lazy Town”, “The Biggest Loser” or “You are what you eat” have proven to be so
successful that they are shown in several European markets. The Brochure also
demonstrates the increase in international programme formats over the last ten years,
when successful formats are adapted to the local needs and shown as localised
versions in several European countries.
Els Hendrix, Chair of the ACT Advertising Working Group & Head of European
Affairs ProSiebenSat.1 Group, commented: “Commercial television has a great
strength by being able to portray complex issues in an accessible, entertaining manner.
The ratings for these programmes show that our entertainment-led approach on obesity
and healthy food is successful and helps a wide range of people to address this
sensitive issue more positively and even with fun”.
NEW YORK; January 26, 2009 – Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced that it reached two separate settlement agreements with Ipsos, S.A., Ipsos America, Inc., and Ipsos UK, Ltd., and with International Demographics, Inc. (d/b/a The Media Audit). Both settlement agreements relating to the patent infringement lawsuit that Arbitron filed against IPSOS and The Media Audit on October 10, 2006 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Arbitron's patent infringement lawsuit alleged that IPSOS and The Media Audit infringed three U.S. patents relating to the Portable People Meter electronic audience measurement technology developed by Arbitron. (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,787,334; 5,574,962 and 5,483,276.)
On October 23, 2008, Arbitron and The Media Audit entered into a settlement agreement in which The Media Audit acknowledged that the three Arbitron U.S. patents were valid, enforceable, and not otherwise subject to any equitable defenses. The Media Audit further agreed that, until the expiration of all three Arbitron U.S. patents, they would not make, use, sell, offer for sale, test, demonstrate, distribute, or otherwise engage in activities that potentially infringe the three valid and enforceable Arbitron U.S. patents. The settlement agreement by The Media Audit applies to any systems, methods, devices, or the like, including but not limited to the "Smart Cell Phone" developed by IPSOS, and was previously marketed by The Media Audit in the United States.
On January 13, 2009, Arbitron and IPSOS reached a settlement agreement effectively dismissing Arbitron's patent infringement lawsuit without prejudice against IPSOS. As a result, IPSOS agreed to immediately suspend any and all efforts in the United States related to commercialization, testing, and/or marketing a portable electronics measurement system with regard to any and all forms of media until at least January 13, 2012.
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