Hot topics click link for more
The great and the good of the international community paused to salute World Radio Day, the annual UNESCO event celebrating the contributions of the medium, February 13th. This year’s focus is radio broadcasting’s outreach to people challenged by disaster and relocation. Many functions have been planned to highlight the message.
“For people in shattered societies, or caught in catastrophe, or desperately seeking news, radio brings lifesaving information,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement released by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). “This year, as we start carrying out the Sustainable Development Goals, let us resolve to use radio for human progress. On this World Radio Day, let us resolve to prove that radio saves lives.”
“New developments in radio technology and in the transmission and delivery of radio content, especially through mobile devices and through on-demand media platforms, further extend the means to engage disaster-affected communities,” continued the ITU statement. “These digital innovations are increasingly important in delivering effective disaster preparedness and prevention, while reinforcing the importance of community radio services.” (See the ITU statement here)
The list of significant efforts to reach the vulnerable and needy through radio platforms is long and impressive. Some are organized by well-known agencies, others by volunteers. Online radio channel Jungala Radio, for example, has been broadcasting via Soundcloud since New Year’s Day by and for refugees in the Calais camps. Radio channels and broadcasts for migrant and refugee communities have also been established in Sweden, Germany and Greece.
Twelve-year old Media and Cooperation in Transition (MiCT), a Berlin-based media outreach agency, has earned notice in recent months, perhaps more than wanted, for developing small FM repeater transmitters that are surreptitiously inserted into Syria. “The advantage of this thing is, it’s rather small,” said MiCT project manager Philipp Hochleichter, quoted by Time (February 1). “It runs on 12 volts, so you can run it from your car battery. It’s easy to transport. It’s easy to hide.”
Surprising as it may be to some, human habitation has been centered on the television receiving device only a short time. From the 1950’s onward television overtook living spaces, first in the developed West then, aspirationally, the rest of the world. With that came all sorts of behavioral and social adaptations.
The living room, TV set being the post-modern centerpiece, is undergoing a utility shift from the rise of second screens (and third, fourth, fifth), reports online advertising support group IAB. Half UK adults participating in an online survey told researchers that the glowing box is the “focal point of their living room.” The other half do not. (See IAB presser here)
“Second screening is ingrained to such a degree that all screens are now equal, there’s no hierarchy, only fragmentation of attention,” said IAB’s Tim Elkington. “Actually, switch-screening is a much more accurate term. Furthermore, entertainment is only a small part of the living room media activity. It’s now a multifunctional space where people jump between individual and group activities, be it shopping, social media, emails, work or messaging.”
Significant to ad people worried about losing eyeballs to Facebook, people appear more inclined to use second screen devices during a show than an ad break. “Connected devices have changed the living room and will continue to do so, and advertisers must plan for the living room of tomorrow,” offered Mr. Elkington.
The living room evolved from the parlor, where the home-owner (typically) displayed finery and entertained guests. Household members gathered in kitchens and dining rooms. Times have certainly changed.
All news may well be local but it does travel the world and with amazing speed. News critics, too, are quick on their toes… or keyboards. The Polish government dashed off a few terse comments about a presumptive slight in a BBC Newsnight feature “Is Poland Being ‘Putinized’?” broadcast January 20th. All politicians, in the age of Twitter, grasp the importance of pouncing on any critic.
In a letter to BBC 2 controller Kim Shillinglaw, Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Artur Dmochowski, quoted by State broadcaster Polskie Radio (February 10), called the Newsnight report “superficial and distorted” in a list of complaints. The report focused on steps taken by nativist politicians elected last October to subvert constitutional law and impose direct government control over public and private media outlets in light of the European Commission’s unprecedented decision to review the new government’s relationship with democratic values, if not reality. (See more about media in Poland here)
A spokesperson for the BBC, quoted by the Guardian (February 9), said the letter hadn’t been received but the Newsnight report “gave a fair and impartial examination of the situation in Poland.” With journalistic bristle the BBC spokesperson added how they’d be “delighted” to engage with Polish government officials “at greater length.” (See more about the BBC here)
The report’s title might have been a bit misleading. Referring to Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin, near-total State control over media in Russia notwithstanding, is a red-flag for the new Polish government. And the feeling is mutual, as Russian State propaganda outlet RT noted (February 10). More accurate, or palatable, would have been “Orbanized,” as Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has often declared esteem for Hungarian prime minister Viktor “illiberal democracy” Orban.
While the Newsnight program on BBC 2 is broadcast domestically in the UK, the worldwide reach of the internet is certainly not lost on Polish politicians. Then, too, three-quarters of a million Polish expats currently live in the UK, certainly communicating what the see and hear. Digital market researcher SimilarWeb this week reported 2015 traffic to online news portals in the UK, quoted by the Guardian (February 9), and two of the top ten were Polish. Of course, BBC news sites topped the chart by considerable distance.
The French Conseil d’Etat administrative court denied this week an application by broadcaster NextRadioTV seeking to prevent all-news channel LCI from migrating to free-to-air digital TV. NextRadioTV owns free-to-air DTT news-talk channel BFMTV. LCI is owned by legacy commercial broadcaster TF1.
This legal battle has been going on for months. Last year the Conseil d’Etat overruled media regulator CSA’s decision preventing LCI and Paris Premiere, owned by M6, from joining the band of the free. The CSA (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) had, said the judges, applied “irregular procedures.” (See more about media in France here)
The CSA then allowed LCI temporary authority to begin free-to-air broadcasts while the substantial issues could be examined. That ruling is due later this year. LCI and Paris Premiere have been available on premium cable (read: pay-TV) platforms. TF1 argued that LCI’s future is threatened if it cannot get out from behind the TV paywall. Free-to-air all-news channel i>Télé, owned by Canal+, has been on the air since 1999. Public broadcasters France Télévisions and Radio France are planning (read: threatening) to launch their own all-news DTT channel. (See more about TV news here)
NextRadioTV CEO Alain Weill decided to appeal to the Conseil d’Etat arguing “the CSA must ensure good health (and) the financial balance of existing channels” and if LCI becomes a free-to-air channel BFMTV might shed a hundred employees.
The Conseil d’Etat demurred; NextRadioTV are “not in an emergency situation that would justify suspending the CSA’s decision until the Conseil d’Etat definitively rules on its legality,” said the judges, quoted by challenges.fr (February 9). NextRadioTV was ordered to pay TF1’s court fees.
Radio broadcasters in Greece will soon face a new challenge - licenses. Next month a new FM frequency map for Attica (greater Athens) will be revealed, said Alternate Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis, quoted by I Avgi (February 7). After the requisite period of public consultation broadcasters will be invited to fill out the appropriate forms.
“Our goal is not to disadvantage anybody,” said Minister Spirtzis. “In any case, it will be preceded by an exhaustive dialogue.” Only in the Attica region has Greek radio broadcasting be subjected to licensing rules. Fifteen stations were awarded four year licenses in 2001 and 2002. All were simply renewed thereafter. Licensing national television stations is also in process. (See more about media in Greece here)
The new frequency map may offer more allocations by reducing FM signal spacing. Public broadcaster ERT now uses fewer FM frequencies. Several private-sector radio operations have changed ownership in recent years and some have closed altogether. Plans for digital radio licenses appear abandoned.
The new radio licensing procedure is expected to be similar to television licensing, including staffing and public affairs requirements along with stable financial backing. “If you want more features, you must have certain obligations,” said Minister Spirtzis, who added that power output monitoring will be implemented.
People, it is obvious, are consuming news in new ways. Reporting on media usage with a particular eye on news media Portugal’s media regulator ERC offered that 70% of the population are news users. Television is the greatest access point, followed by social media, then newspapers.
A direct relationship between internet access and online news consumption is a little more hazy. While 87% of Portuguese are using the internet for email and 80% to connect with social media with 60% looking for news at least once a day and just 35% go to the web for “breaking news.” Two-thirds (67%) of those with internet access look at the Facebook news feed. (See more about media in Portugal here)
People between 45 and 54 years are the biggest online news users, younger people go to their smartphones. National news is most accessed (81%), then international news (61%) and health-related subjects (31%). Only 10% are interested in national politics. A scant 3% of those surveyed said they had paid for online content and 62% said they never would. (See more on online news here)
Results of this ERC Portuguese media consumption study are strikingly similar to patterns seen elsewhere. There is a temptation to conclude from it all that new delivery modes have redefined news. Certainly “silo effect” and “confirmation choice” are real concerns for fundamental journalism. But the definition of news - here, me, now - remains the same.
Protestors attacked a remote broadcast vehicle of Czech public broadcaster Cesky Rozhlas (CRo) on Saturday reported news agency CTK (February 7) with others following. The CRo news crew was covering demonstrations in central Prague by far-right extremists sympathetic to Pegida, the anti-immigrant protest group rising in eastern Germany. The attackers attempted to enter the vehicle, threatened the CRo crew and, finally, disabled the remote generator.
Riot police on hand, when asked to assist, were dismissive, telling CRo reporter Filip Titlbach to “take care of yourselves, because you’re liars. Hire your own security guards.” Pegida rioters in Germany - and elsewhere - have regularly targeted “lying press,” news media perceived as unsympathetic to their ugly far-right views. (See more about press freedom here)
“I went to them only when it was unbearable and we needed help,” said Mr. Titlbach. “When they told me this, I ran back to help the technician.” About a thousand protestors descended on the Hradcany Square district near Prague Castle. After the demonstrations broke-up a social center aiding refugees was fire-bombed.
A Prague police spokesperson said there was “no information that police erred in any way. But if anyone has such information, we ask them to contact police supervisors that we will investigate and deal with it.” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec promised to investigate, “particularly the behavior of police officers at the Czech Radio broadcast vehicle.” He wants results of the inquiry “within two weeks.”
|
