Briefing Notes: Dispatches

IBT briefing on Channel 4 Dispatches September 2014

Daniel Pearl -Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 dpearl@channel4.co.uk

Karen Edwards- Executive Producer, Blakeway Karen.edwards@blakeway.tv

Daniel explained the set up at Channel 4. There are 4 commissioning editors who cover the whole of news and current affairs. He has overall responsibility for Channel 4 News and Dispatches. Siobhan Sinnerton has responsibility for Unreported World. Daniel encouraged everyone to take their international ideas to Quicksilver, the production company which makes Unreported World. They have two runs of 8 episodes each year so they are always on the lookout for good international stories.

There are 30 half hour episodes of Dispatches each year – most of these are domestic and Blakeway makes a good number of these episodes. In addition, there will be 8-12 one hour films each year – most of these will be foreign and, again, Blakeway, makes a number of these. Karen recently did a Dispatches called Hunted which investigated the persecution of gays in Russia. LGBT rights is an issue that she remains interested in.

Daniel says he is always in search of a good idea. At the heart of every Dispatches is revelation. These films are journalistic, not analytical, and they need to have something new to say. There’s always a shortage of good ideas so please send any ideas you have to Daniel (if you know you want to see them on Channel 4) or Karen (if you’re also open to seeing them elsewhere – as Karen also makes current affairs programmes for two BBC strands, Panorama and This World).

What’s the difference between Panorama and Dispatches? Not much, it seems. Daniel said that Panorama goes in cycles and so what they are looking for changes. Panorama is about to appoint a new editor so the direction of travel will become clearer soon. Channel 4, in Daniel’s view, is more willing to make mischief and challenge the establishment.

If you take an idea to Daniel and he likes the idea, he will work with you to identify the best outlet – it may work best in a short form for Channel 4 News for example. He sees Channel 4 News as a current affairs programme, taking the news agenda further, rather than just reflecting it.

Karen explained the set up at Blakeway – it is part of the Ten Alps media group which also includes two other independent production companies, Brook Lapping and Films of Record. Karen is head of current affairs and documentaries at Blakeway. She makes programmes for ITV, BBC and Channel 4. Before becoming an executive producer, she was producing Dispatches for 10 years, so she knows Channel 4 inside out. She likes dealing with Channel 4 as they are very flexible and have a number of different places for a good idea – the BBC is more restricted.

Karen loves doing foreign films. She is always looking for stories that feature real people – rather than just tissues. She doesn’t feel that current affairs works without strong personal stories and testimony.

Daniel has few slots for foreign films so the bar is set high – he has turned down some good ideas recently as his main focus is Syria, IS and the Ukraine. Ebola is being covered by Unreported World. Whereas Panorama will automatically cover the big foreign stories, Dispatches will not always do this. He’s currently looking for fresh angles on Syria and wants to find a way of showing what life is like inside IS territory. He recommended everyone to watch the Vice film made inside IS territory.

Daniel was asked whether NGO footage was of interest to him – he said he was always after original footage.

Daniel and Karen were asked about their experience of working with NGOs. Karen had good experiences when NGOs were helping her with access but when the NGO brought the film idea to her she felt there were sometimes unrealistic expectations that she was producing a puff piece. NGOs needed to understand that producers could not relinquish editorial control and had the right to criticize NGOs. This relationship needed to be made clear at the beginning. She did, however, say that she would show NGOs a cut of the finished film for comments and she recognized that safety of contributors was a major issue.

Daniel spoke about sponsored output. The current affairs team could not broadcast sponsored output. However, other teams in Channel 4 could. There would be a mention in the end credits that the piece was funded/sponsored by a third party.

Daniel and Karen were asked whether media officers should pitch to one of them rather than the other. Daniel replied that they could both be pitched to – but if you wanted the option of a BBC or ITV slot then go to Karen.

Daniel was asked if he was interested in tax avoidance/evasion – he said yes. He was also interested in new angles on poverty. He was particularly interested in what he called ‘rubbish jobs’ – people working on zero hours or poverty wages. He’d done several Dispatches on this issue but would do more if the right story came up.

Both were asked what issues they felt were under-reported. Karen said China and Daniel said migration.

Daniel was asked about pressure to get ratings – he said there wasn’t any pressure but that he wanted to appeal to a mainstream audience and didn’t want Dispatches to become niche viewing. He felt that if this happened the strand would not survive. Therefore his aim was that Dispatches should regularly get a 5% audience share.

Mark Galloway 25.9.14

October 2014 newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s October newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Next IBT briefing with Focus on Africa editors

Later this month we’ll be holding our next briefing for IBT members. Our speakers will be Stephane Mayoux and Rachael Akidi. Stephane edits the tv version of Focus on Africa and Rachael edits the radio show. They will talk about the commissioning and pitching process, how they recruit studio guests and who their audience is. BBC Africa is one of the most dynamic sections of the BBC World Service and it has grown its audience in recent years, despite cutbacks across the BBC. It’s also unusual because it is London based, sharing offices with BBC radio shows like Today, The World Tonight etc. It will be interesting to hear about any cross fertilization which occurs between these shows. The briefing will take place at 10am on Thursday October 30^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. Registration is open now via the members’ area of the IBT website. Any problems registering, let me know. Invitations will go out by email next week.

Last month’s briefing with Dispatches

Our briefing with Dispatches was well attended – Daniel Pearl from Channel 4 said he was always short of good ideas for the strand and encouraged IBT members to send their ideas to him. Karen Edwards from Blakeway Productions also welcomed ideas, saying that she is in regular touch with Channel 4, the BBC, ITV, CCTV etc and in a position to pitch to any broadcaster. Notes on the event can be found in the members’ area of the IBT website.

Unreported World

The new series of Unreported World started last week with a powerful film on Ebola. The production team is now working on ideas for the next series. If you are interesting in pitching to them let me know and I’ll pass on their contact details. The RSA will be hosting a screening of an upcoming Unreported World film Syria’s Invisible Refugees. The film looks at the plight of disabled refugees from Syria currently living in temporary camps in Lebanon. The screening will take place at 6.30pm on Wednesday October 8^th and will be followed by a Q and A with the reporter, Giles Duley, and representatives from Handicap International and UNHCR.

http://www.thersa.org/events/our-events/RSA-Screens-Unreported-World

IBT annual dinner

Last month we held our annual dinner for CEOs. David Abraham, the Chief Executive of Channel 4, spoke about the channel’s commitment to international coverage and Nevine Mabro, the Foreign Editor of Channel 4 News, spoke about the programme’s recent coverage of Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and ISIS. Next year we hope to have Tony Hall, the Director General of the BBC, as our main speaker.

Current affairs on the BBC

The BBC Trust has taken a bold step to strengthen its commitment to current affairs on BBC1, by ring fencing output for the first time, requiring the channel to air at least 40 hours a year in peak time. The Trust has long been concerned about current affairs on BBC1. This new quota is one of the main outcomes of the Trust service review of BBC News and Current Affairs to which IBT submitted evidence. The Trust has also instructed the BBC Director of News to come up with concrete proposals to strengthen the range of international stories covered across BBC News. This is an issue that has concerned IBT and which featured prominently in our submission.

Changes at Today

Jamie Angus, the editor of the Today programme has said that he wants to recruit more black staff to his production team and feature more diverse voices on air. He has also acknowledged that the programme has suffered a small drop in its audience. He puts this down to a run of ‘bad foreign news’ and says the show needs to find new ways to refresh its approach to international coverage. Angus said that Today would not stop doing foreign stories, since ‘that would be a betrayal of our audience, we are not going to do it. What we are going to do is think about how we do the storytelling.’ We have invited Jamie Angus to speak at one of our briefings later this year.

Twitter session for CEOs

Our first Twitter session for CEOs will take place next month, on Friday November 21^st. As we have not been able to accommodate all the CEOs who expressed an interest, we’ll be running another session early next year.

FireChat

It’s been reported that FireChat, a new messaging app, is playing a key role in the Hong Kong protests as it is enabling protestors to communicate via Bluetooth when phone and internet lines are down.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/firechat-messaging-app-powering-hong-kong-protests

The civil society response to AIDS

The LSE is holding a public event later this month to debate the global state of the civil society response to AIDS. The event marks the publication of a report which has examined the civil society response and in particular the role of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in building agency amongst some of the most marginalized groups. The event will take place at the LSE at 6.30pm on Tuesday October 14^th. http://www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2014/10/20141014t1830vHKT.aspx

The power of storytelling

This year’s Transformational Media Summit takes place at the end of the month in Washington DC. The summit brings together change makers, storytellers and media professionals who are keen to collaborate to promote change. A discount is available for IBT members who wish to attend. http://tmsummit.org/

Film Africa 2014

This year’s African film festival takes place at the end of this month with some events happening sooner. Details of the programme have not yet been released.

http://www.filmafrica.org.uk/

Media reporting of conflict and disaster

The ODI is hosting an event later this month at the Frontline Club which examines the way the media reports today’s conflicts and disasters. The event entitled, Conflict and Disaster Reporting – Does the Public Still Care? will consider how effective reporting is in engaging the public. It will also consider how humanitarian organisations are working with media outlets to generate interest and understanding of the crises affecting millions of civilians around the world. The event will take place at 8.30pm on Thursday October 23^rd. It is currently fully booked but available to be viewed online.

http://www.frontlineclub.com/conflict-and-disaster-reporting-does-the-public-still-care/

Amnesty Media Awards 2014

This year’s Amnesty Media Awards will be hosted by Lindsey Hilsum and will take place on the evening of Tuesday November 11^th at the BFI Southbank. The awards recognise the vital role that journalists play and the serious risks they face in highlighting injustice around the world.

https://www.eventsforce.net/amnestyuk/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=427&eventID=3&eventID=3&gclid=CjwKEAjw77OhBRCJ7Onfp_HNtwYSJACZqHAW4CjRcoRkO15hynCUTy1siUm9eMtIN60fp_HuRYvQKxoCm7vw_wcB

Best wishes

Mark

IBT’s mission is to use the media to further awareness and understanding of people’s lives in the developing world and the issues which affect them

September 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s September newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

HIV and stigma – the media challenge

Earlier this week we launched our new research report to a packed meeting at the House of Commons – held jointly with the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS. The meeting was chaired by Lord Collins on behalf of the APPG and the panel included speakers who had travelled from Kenya, South Africa and the US to attend. The report examines the role of the media in tackling stigma and includes recommendations as to how it can play a more effective role – and how NGOs can work with the media to achieve this. The report has been warmly welcomed by those working in this field. Hard copies will be sent to all IBT members, and it can also be downloaded from our website.

Next IBT briefing later this month

Our series of briefings with commissioners and editors resumes this month. On September 23^rd we’ll be hearing from Daniel Pearl, Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for News and Current Affairs. Daniel will be talking about how to pitch ideas for Dispatches, the Channel’s principal current affairs strand, which he edits. He also has responsibility for Channel 4 News. We are lucky that on this occasion Daniel will be joined by Karen Edwards, Executive Producer with Blakeway Productions, a leading factual producer. Karen regularly makes films forDispatches. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the best way to achieve coverage of global issues on current affairs TV. If you’d like to attend, please register via the members’ area of the IBT website, as this event is for IBT members only.

Climate change brainstorms

Last year we published The Environment on TV – are broadcasters meeting the challenge? As a result of that report we are now working with all the main public service broadcasters – and Sky – on a series of brainstorms, to encourage them to broaden the range of programming about climate change. We want to encourage producers and broadcasters to reframe climate change so that it is no longer seen as just a green issue – but seen as one that affects all aspects of life. Our first brainstorm takes place next month and will be hosted by Channel 4. Attendees include many of the main independent production companies working in factual tv. We are also working with Love Productions, producers of The Great British Bake Off and Benefits Street, to develop a slate of programmes that feature climate change.

Search for green champions

Entries are now open for the PEA awards, which celebrate green champions from all walks of life. The closing date for entries is October 17^th.

NGOs and the media

IBT is currently preparing a briefing paper which investigates what journalists really think about the aid industry. Many thanks to those IBT members who spoke to Helen Magee, who has been writing the report. We will be circulating the final report to IBT members later this Autumn. In the meantime, congratulations to Mark Goldring, CEO of Oxfam, for braving the Channel 4 cameras and appearing in Undercover Boss. The programme has been generally well received. If you missed it, it’s well worth watching.

Celebrities and the media

New research by two leading academics has indicated that the role of celebrities in media coverage of development may not be achieving the desired results. They say that such coverage is ‘generally ineffective’ at engaging the public with global issues – and may benefit the celebrities more than the issues featured.

Annual dinner for CEOs

Channel 4 Chief Executive David Abraham is the guest speaker at our annual dinner for CEOs later this month. The dinner will also be attended by the Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear.

Twitter session for CEOs

We are about to fix a date for the Twitter training session for CEOs, now that we have a few names of those who have said they would like to attend. If your CEO is interested in coming along, and you haven’t already let me know, please get in touch now.

Blog Action Day

IBT has joined Blog Action Day as one of its partner organisations. The massive blogging event takes place on October 16^th and the theme this year will be inequality. We’ll be encouraging bloggers to write about HIV and stigma and the way in which certain groups – such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who use drugs – are discriminated against and, as a result, have far less access to testing and treatment than the wider population. If you’re interested in taking part, you can register your blog here.

Media trends

Ofcom, the media regulator, has published its annual market report which identifies trends in media consumption. This always makes for interesting reading. For the first time in many years the average amount of tv watched by viewers in the UK has dropped slightly – by 9 minutes a day. Ofcom could not say whether this is due to warmer weather or is indicative of a long term trend. Three quarters of tv viewing is live; one quarter is time shifted.

Best wishes

Mark

August 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s August newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

HIV and stigma – the media challenge

Next month we’ll be launching our new research report which looks at HIV and stigma – and examines the role the media can play in tackling stigma. The report includes recommendations as to how the media can play a more effective role – and how NGOs can work with the media to achieve this. The launch will take place at 6pm on Tuesday September 2^nd at the House of Commons. It will be a joint event with the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS. We have a distinguished panel which includes Anne Soy, BBC correspondent in Kenya; Garth Japhet, the founder of Soul City and Winnie Ssanyu Sseruma, an HIV activist. Sophie Chalk, the author of the report, will present her findings. This is a public event but places need to be booked in advance via the IBT website. IBT members will be given priority.

BBC Trust gives its verdict on BBC television

The BBC Trust has published the findings of its review of BBC television – to which IBT submitted evidence. The verdict on BBC1, 2, 3 and 4 is broadly positive. All four channels are distinctive and well regarded by audiences. However, the Trust noted that BBC1 has a tendency to play safe and needs to take more risks. The Trust also said that the tv channels need to make more effort to reach younger and more diverse audiences. Interestingly, the Trust’s verdict on BBC3 was very positive, given that there are plans to turn BBC3 into an online only channel (although these plans are yet to be approved by the Trust).

Channel 4 News reaches more diverse audience

Ben de Pear, the editor of Channel 4 News, has said that the programme attracts a younger and more diverse audience than any other tv news bulletin. BAMEs make up 23% of their audience; and 20% are aged 16-34. Ben acknowledged that a priority for the show has been to represent the UK’s ethnic minorities on the screen and they have also been trying hard to increase the number of female experts, following a campaign by City University and Broadcast magazine.

House of Lords inquiry will look at expert women

The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications has announced that its next inquiry will look at the level of female representation across news broadcasting. The Committee will look at the representation of women in television, radio news and current affairs in terms of employment, casting and participation. Written evidence needs to be submitted before October 1^st.

Competition gathers pace at the BBC

In a well-publicized speech on the future of the licence fee, Tony Hall, the BBC’s Director General has laid down a new mantra of ‘compete and compare’. This will mean the introduction of greater competition in production, where appropriate, and signals the beginning of the BBC’s attempt to reposition itself ahead of the Charter renewal debate which will take place in 2015, after the general election.

BBC rejects complaint by Lord Lawson

The BBC has rejected a claim by Lord Lawson that he has been banned from appearing on because of his views on climate change. However, the BBC’s editorial unit has ruled that it was wrong for the Today programme to give Lawson equal billing with Professor Sir Brian Hoskins in an interview on climate change and flooding in February. The unit has ruled that ‘a false balance was created in that the item implied Lord Lawson’s views on climate science were on the same footing as those of Sir Brian Hoskins.’ In a statement, the BBC said: ‘Our position continues to be that we accept that there is a broad scientific agreement on climate change and we reflect this accordingly. We do however on occasion offer space to dissenting voices where appropriate as part of the BBC’s overall commitment to impartiality.’

Climate Asia project publishes its data

Climate Asia, the BBC Media Action research project, has launched a data portal which gives detailed information on its research findings. The site contains a wealth of useful information on how people in a number of Asian countries view climate change, where they get their information from and how they could be helped to do more to adapt.

Humanitarian response in acute emergencies criticized

In a provocatively titled report, Where is everyone? MSF has analysed the humanitarian response to a number of emergencies in three hard to reach locations – South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Jordan, in 2012-13. The report concludes that in these emergencies, humanitarian responses have been ‘slow and cumbersome, and lack impact.’ The report has also criticized agencies for evacuating staff and downgrading programmes in acute emergencies. Its conclusion is that ‘most agencies are concentrating only on the easiest to reach populations and ignoring the more difficult places.’ The report prompted an attack on ‘cash-swollen charities’ by Ian Birrell in The Guardian’s comment pages.

Media for development – where’s the evidence?

BBC Media Action has published a new briefing that examines how the media for development sector is addressing the need to produce evidence of its impact. The paper notes that the sector does not have a long history of research or evaluation so presenting evidence of impact can be challenging. The briefing concludes that ‘media for development interventions often do not produce rapid, readily measurable and easily monetisable outcomes. The social change which media for development aims to make is more incremental, less tangible and often not fixed.’ This is an issue which we also consider in our forthcoming report HIV and stigma – the media challenge.

The future of humanitarian reporting

City University has now published the papers which were presented at its conference earlier this year on the future of humanitarian reporting. The conference looked at how NGOs and the media are adapting to the changing media landscape and the impact of this on the reporting of disasters.

Best wishes

Mark

Briefing Notes: ITV News

IBT briefing with ITV News

Key contacts:

Michael Herrod, Head of Foreign News Michael.herrod@itn.co.uk

Tel 020 7430 4411 T: @mherroditv

Delilah Jeary, Series Producer, On Assignment and Tonight Delilah.jeary@itn.co.uk

Tel 020 7430 4625

ITV News

TMichael explained how ITN worked: the biggest team is the ITV News team which produces bulletins for ITV and also does Tonight and On Assignment; there are also the Channel 4 News and 5 News teams. There’s ITN Source, an archive library and ITN Productions which acts as an independent producer specialising in factual programmes. ITV has 3 news bulletins: 1.30pm, 6.30pm and 10pm. The 10 is more international and will sometimes run stories that the other bulletins don’t run; only the 1.30 has studio guests.

ITV News has bureaux in Brussels, Johannesburg, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Beijing and Washington DC. The Joburg bureau is a joint one with NBC News. NBC News also has a foreign desk based at ITN in London and the two organisations collaborate to split costs on stories. Several of the NBC reporters are ex-ITN – like Bill Neely.

ITV News has an international unit with specialist correspondents who fly out to cover major stories: Rageh Omaar, James Mates and John Ray. There are also a number of former foreign correspondents in the general reporting team who may cover foreign stories.

There’s a big commitment to running foreign stories but there are financial constraints. A recent planned trip to South Sudan did not take place on cost grounds.

Michael is also keen to avoid running the same foreign stories as everyone else – so he’s always looking for original pieces. He recently ran a story on tobacco farms in the US which employed children as young as 12 – he spotted this story on a news list from Human Rights Watch.

Michael highlighted a number of foreign stories which he had run recently: a science piece on malaria; a return visit to the Bangladesh clothing factory; a trip to the Central African Republic; a story on the ivory trade which involved filming in Hong Kong and Africa.

Michael likes dealing with NGOs and says that they can be vital to gain access to difficult stories and also help to reduce the cost. Travelling to difficult locations is easier and cheaper with NGOs – as it can mean avoiding paying for commercial flights. Often they require an invitation to go to the country, which the NGO can help facilitate. NGOs can also provide vital on the ground knowledge, and help with security. However, ITV News would not want an NGO to pay for their flights – they would want to pay their own way.

Michael emphasised the importance of NGOs keeping in touch and telling him what they were up to. He’s happy to be called on his direct line – best time to call him is between 10 and 4. He also would like to know if NGOs are planning any filming trips – it’s much better if he can discuss what might work for him before a trip than be presented with material once the filming has taken place. If the filming is of good quality it could be packaged in London by a reporter and it may also be possible to do a separate interview to accompany the piece on the lunch time news.

If you are shooting material which you plan to offer him, he gave a few basic tips. Shoot long shots (as if you’re taking still photographs) and avoid pans and zooms. Do lots of interviews to get first person testimony. Use a decent camera, not your phone. The material has to be broadcast quality. Think of what the narrative is and try and find images to tell the story.

There was a discussion about upcoming foreign stories. He is sending a team to Syria later this month. He’ll be doing a piece in November to mark the 10^th anniversary of the tsunami. He’s unlikely to do a piece to mark the anniversary of the Philippines typhoon – he’s not generally keen on anniversaries. However he may cover the Philippines if On Assignment decides that it wants to.

On Assignment and Tonight

Delilah is the series producer for the new ITV monthly current affairs strand, On Assignment – the half hour show goes out once a month after News at Ten. It was launched two months ago. Each episode has three stories, typically 7 minutes long, but the lengths may vary. They are all original stories, specially shot for the show. Some may be off agenda; others may focus on an angle or aspect of a big foreign story that has not been covered. Cost is a key issue so costs will usually be shared with ITV News – for example their royal reporter was in Australia with William and Kate and stayed on to shoot a story for On Assignment. That’s sitting on the shelf waiting to go out. So far, they have covered Rwanda (20 years on); oil in Norway; legalisation of cannabis in Connecticut; and a story from Hart island, New York. More on what they’ve covered here: http://www.itv.com/news/topic/on-assignment/

There are 10 episodes of On Assignment a year (with a break in August and December) and both Delilah and Michael emphasised what a good opportunity this was for NGOs pitching their ideas – especially as they would get 7 minutes of air time rather than the usual 2 or 3.

Delilah has worked extensively with NGOs and she was positive about these relationships. She worked with CAFOD on a story which involved returning Rageh Omaar to Somalia; with Age UK on a look at the cost of elderly care; with MSF on a film in Syria.

However the MSF film on Syria did not get made – it was for Tonight but the commissioning editor turned it down.

Tonight is the weekly ITV current affairs show which goes out at 7.30pm on a Thursday. ITN makes 10 episodes a year and Delilah manages this output. The show gets an average audience of 3m – more than Panorama, Dispatches etc. It is very consumer focused and predominantly domestic. They’ve also done a lot on the weather as this subject delivers good ratings. Some of these films are very fast turnaround – getting made in just a few days. In the past, Tonight has done the occasional foreign film, but it appears that this is increasingly rare and it is unlikely that it will do many foreign films in the future. On Assignment is being viewed as the foreign strand – all the stories it has done so far have been foreign ones.

A number of On Assignment films are made in advance and Delilah is particularly keen on timeless stories. She’s interested in going to the Philippines for the 10^th anniversary of the typhoon. Rageh Omaar is doing a film in Nigeria whilst he’s covering the missing school girls story. Delilah emphasised that she did not want extended news pieces – the films had to feel very different from what viewers had already seen on the news.

Both Michael and Delilah said they were happy to be contacted by phone or email.

Mark Galloway
May 16 2014.

Briefing Notes: BBC World News

Andrew is BBC World News Editor and he is in charge of all bringing in all foreign content for BBC radio, tv and online for audiences in the UK and around the world, including World TV and the BBC World Service.

Before he became World News Editor he was Editor of the World News Channel for four years. He had a lot of involvement with INGO’s while at World News and regularly ran reports in response to reports released by INGO’s. Before that he was bureau chief for the BBC in Brussels and Washington. He originally comes from New Zealand.

As a large result of the integration of the World Service into the main BBC News operation, there have been a lot of changes in the way in which foreign news is gathered at the BBC in the past year. He has 600 staff in the field to utilise in comparison with the 150 who worked under his predecessor, Jon Williams. His team work closely with all of the BBC’s local journalists around the world.

The 27 language services of the World Service are now also broadcasting on television and online.

Reporting is becoming more diverse with local reporters being used on English output as well as having to service their local World Service language service. They are known as ‘bilingual’ correspondents and are the backbone of the foreign news operation.

As a result of the integration of the World Service the BBC has brought on a lot of new local talent both in front of the camera but also technicians.

Andrew suggests that IBT members should interact with the local bureaux in the countries where they operate and build relationships with them. The local bureaux feed stories into the foreign desk in London constantly. If you approach the foreign desk in London, they are likely to send the story onto the local bureau to get their opinion of the story anyway.

It is still complex and often difficult to get non-breaking news on air and budgets, as ever, are tight, however Andrew believes that foreign coverage is still a very important aspect of the BBC’s delivery – it is what it is known for around the world and is not under threat. In next twelve months or so there will inevitably be less space, however, for international stories because of the Scottish referendum and the General Election.

If a story is dangerous or expensive Andrew says he needs buy in from the programme editors on the main bulletins or Newsnight, for example. If not, he commissions stories from the bureaux himself.

There are numerous daily meetings with the editors of the main news output on the English service and weekly conference calls with the bureaux usually on a Monday.

For Andrew stories which are about to become important are crucial for him. He wants to know about them.

He suggests avoiding diary dates – he is trying to avoid anniversary stories unless they have a 0 on the end, ie 10 years minimum.

The foreign team work with INGO’s especially where access is needed. For example, Lyse Doucet was in Damascus with an NGO recently. This became the lead story on UK output as well as in the BBC’s international output. They now have an entirely Arabic team in Damascus and this has changed the way they cover the story in Syria. Another story they covered was a Save the Children Fund story in South Sudan about infant mortality where access provided by local Save the Children Fund staff was crucial.

Africa is very important to the BBC at the moment – it is a key area of interest for their World TV and World Service output because a key audience for them is in the Asia Pacific region and this audience is interested in Africa. Africa Business Report has been launched (being produced out of Johannesburg) in response to this interest and the programme covers stories about the development of Africa rather than just disaster news which is a good outcome.

They are trying to update the African language services to make them feel more modern and snappy – so shorter items and sounding more like Newsbeat than The Today Programme.

The BBC has extended its operations in South America largely because of the World Cup and Olympics. Andrew is not sure that they will have such a significant presence in 6 years’ time.

Eastern Europe is busy at the moment with the Ukraine story but it is unlikely to alter the BBC’s presence long term.

The Middle East – especially Syria, Egypt, the Middle East conflict and North Africa – is essential.

South East Asia – the BBC will continue to maintain its presence as it stands. The explosion of media in India and now Pakistan has influenced the way the BBC works in the region. In Pakistan there are 10 news channels alone, but they are all privately owned, so the BBC has invested in its Urdu service which is running its own TV show every evening to ensure that audiences there have access to impartial news. This has led to a huge resource in Pakistan which the foreign desk has never had before. The BBC Hindi service is launching its own daily TV programme as well as a version of Newsround in Hindi. This is being launched to engage a younger audience.

The BBC’s move increasingly online is going to progress. The promotion of video online is growing and there is the potential to get huge audience figures for video online from 1 to 3 million viewers who tend to watch the whole story rather than dip in and out. The BBC’s Youtube channels are worth watching as well as checking out local reporters’ Twitter feeds.

All the local bureaux are listed on the BBC News site under the country pages so they are easy to contact. Phone them and build relationships with them.

Andrew says that audiences are increasingly less interested in geo-political stories and more interested in stories where there is an issue which resonates – such as healthcare, science, technology, culture and sport. He cited a story which did really well recently about water bottles which purify water using sunlight. It went out across all the bulletins. Audiences are also interested in stories which affect us all such as corruption, healthcare and policing. They do seasons – such as the cost of childcare (break up of families around the world made this an internationally relevant story), the cost of feeding your children (came out of the baby milk crisis in China). They may do another food season – perhaps focussing on wastage (lack of refrigeration in Africa and India, for example).

There are relatively new Editors in place on all the major news programmes now and they are all broadminded about the talent they use. Jamie Angus, for example, who is Editor of The Today Programme, previously helped launch a number of new World Service language services and then moved to Newsnight. Nomsa Maseko is the most recent hit with the 6 and 10pm bulletins. She covered the Zimbabwe elections for them and it was the first time as far as Andrew is aware that the BBC had an African woman reporting on a major story. Until a few years ago she was a policewoman.

There was a Q and A and some specific points emerged:

Andrew said the BBC would use NGO footage if they are on the scene of an event before the BBC crew. There is a whole team at the BBC which works on user generated content now, verifying it and checking it.
They also might use footage which is branded over a guest speaking it the studio to illustrate a story.
Use Twitter and Facebook to broadcast your own material and contact the BBC to let them know it is there to whet their appetite.
UN Days on their own don’t interest the UK services but they do interest the World Service and World TV.
When you pitch an idea use a short sentence that explains the story and makes him want to find out more. He describes the skill as being ‘headline writing’. You have to be able to sell the story in brief terms.
Celebrities per se are not interesting. Angelina Jolie doing a trip isn’t enough to engage a BBC crew but William Hague going to the DRC to talk about rape was.
If you are asked to do an interview avoid doing it in a radio car – go into the BBC and try to ensure you get interviews on the BBC News Channel and for World TV as well, outlets which are always looking for interesting guests.
Off agenda stories are difficult and their success always depends on the strength of the story. If it is something surprising in someway and somewhere which is unreported but was interesting to the audience previously. The World Tonight, Today, PM and the 6 and 10pm bulletins are the best places to pitch off agenda
stories to.
- Getting stories onto World TV is a good way to get TV content into the system. It will appear on the News Channel and maybe even get picked up by the 6 and 10 if it is a story which appeals to them. It will also go up on the website.
- Business programmes are a good place to pitch ideas – Singapore, Mumbai and Dubai all have business units, as does Johannesburg and London has the biggest unit.
- Anna Williams is the lead planner on the Foreign Desk. Her email isanna.williams@bbc.co.uk. You should ensure you pitch to her as well as the local bureaux.
- Online interviews don’t do well – raw footage, packages and real local people speaking do well.
- Audience feedback suggests audiences want a broader agenda which is good news.
- On NGO trips the BBC will pay its own way but will use an NGO for access.

Sophie Chalk
March 5 2014

Briefing Notes: This World

Email: sam.bagnall@bbc.co.uk

Twitter: @nigelsboot (personal) and @BBCWorld (corporate account)

This World

Sam gave some background on how This World was set up in 2003 as a documentary strand to cover global stories. There has always been a tension between news/current affairs and documentaries with his BBC News colleagues wanting him to cover the news agenda. He has resisted that and, since he took over a year ago, has adopted a documentary approach. There are 12 episodes a year, and most of the time they play at 9pm on BBC2. It’s important for him that This World is at the heart of the schedule and aimed at a mainstream audience. It should be interesting and enjoyable to watch – not a duty.

Sam’s approach is eclectic. Some films will have a presenter; others will take an observational documentary approach. He is interested in covering big themes (population, the rise of the East) through small or quirky or less obvious stories. The approach is story-led rather than issue-led.

He spoke about how competitive the peak time schedule is. It’s important that he gets decent ratings but he is sometimes up against big dramas like Sherlock or 24 Hours in A and E, so it’s tough. The current series has done well in terms of ratings, including (to Sam’s surprise) Hans Rosling’s film about population.

Sam doesn’t usually tackle issues head on and he likes to find a way in that surprises viewers. So, for example, he wanted to do something about the way India is changing, the fact that not everyone is poor. He thought about looking at wealth but decided against as he felt his audience wouldn’t watch – they’d feel that they knew this already. Instead, he decided to focus on obesity and to look at children who were becoming obese. He chose a populist title India’s Supersize Kids and the audience came to the subject.

He wanted to look at population and he commissioned 3 films: Don’t Panic – the Truth About Population (a personal view by Hans Rosling); No Sex Please, We’re Japanese (which looked at attitudes to sex in Japan and reasons for the falling birth rate) and The World’s Busiest Maternity Ward (which looked at a maternity hospital in the Philippines but also looked at how that country is changing at a rapid pace).

He also spoke about Dan Snow’s History of Syria which he said did well in audience terms, whereas other documentaries about Syria had not done so well. He felt there was an audience appetite for this historical context which was lacking in the news coverage. This was followed up with Dan Snow’s History of Congo.

The strand still does investigations. The Shame of the Catholic Church looked at the way the Church in Ireland had dealt with child abuse. The film won a number of awards.

America’s Poor Kids was an observational doc looking at the lives of poor children in the US, made by an independent production company, True Vision.

Sam was asked to explain how ideas got commissioned. He said he received lots of ideas from independents but 95% were binned straightaway. He gave the impression that indies didn’t really get This World and that they were pitching more conventional news or current affairs stories. They hadn’t understood that This World takes a more angular approach.

Sam said he would welcome NGOs suggesting stories to him – just a short email – and he would try to reply. He liked hearing about small stories as they often provided a way in to bigger issues. But, on the whole, he wanted all his films to deal with the big issues of the day. Sometimes he works with indies to develop projects; other times they are developed in house. He doesn’t have a development team. This World is just himself and a series producer.

He was reluctant to talk about what was in the pipeline or which countries or issues he was interested in. He said it wasn’t as simple as that; ideas evolved as a result of lots of conversations and snippets of information.

On presenters, he has no set view. Sometimes a presenter emerges; on other occasions it’s someone like Dan Snow who is part of the BBC ‘family’ of presenters.

He spoke about two films coming up: Robert Peston would be looking at China’s success story and asking whether it was all going wrong; and there would be a film about affluence in Brazil with access to The Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio. There were a lot of Brazilian programmes in the pipeline on the BBC, such as Welcome to Rio.

Some of the films were made by indies but there was no set rule and there were no particular indies that Sam worked with regularly. A company called Wingspan made the Hans Rosling film as they had worked with him before. NGOs could pitch their ideas for This World to indies producers if they had good relationships but it might be better to pitch them directly to Sam.

Working with NGOs

Sam said that his teams often work with NGOs. He’s responsible for the Simon Reeve travelogues and he said that in Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve the team worked with many charities, particularly environmental ones. In India they worked with a charity involved with a turtle rescue project; in Madagascar they worked with WWF; they worked with a charity involved in shark protection in

Mozambique; with a charity working with refugees in Somaliland; with a human rights charity in Sri Lanka.

Sam is also responsible for Toughest Place to be… a format which he came up with, that involves sending a British worker to do his/her job in a foreign country. This series regularly works with NGOs behind the scenes. Sam said that the series had now come to an end but there was a new series in the pipeline featuring a London taxi driver, Mason McQueen, who featured in an episode of Toughest Place to be…

Sam showed 3 clips from sequences in films where the producers had collaborated with an NGO. He said there were strict BBC guidelines which stated that the BBC could not be seen to favour a particular NGO or to endorse it or to solicit funds for it. The guidelines state that: ‘We must retain our impartiality when we cover the work of charities and not appear to favour one charity.’ Nevertheless, Sam said that when his teams worked with charities they would help to publicise the charity if it fitted in with the editorial content of the film.

The 3 clips he showed were:

Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve – this featured the work of a small NGO, Blue Ventures, in Madagascar. It’s a conservation group working on overfishing but it was featured for an innovative family planning project which it was also running in Madagascar, alongside its conservation work. The work of the family planning project was included because it was felt that it fitted in editorially. Blue Ventures were very happy as they received several name checks.

Tropic of Cancer with Simon Reeve – this series covered the issue of child labour and featured a UNICEF-run centre for working children which enabled the children to study, play, get a decent meal, have a shower etc It was featured because the producers thought it was interesting that a major charity like UNICEF was working with factory owners and had accepted child labour as a necessary evil, for the moment at least, because they understood that the families needed the money which the children earned. The focus of UNICEF’s work was to teach the children skills so that the cycle of poverty was broken. Again, UNICEF received a name check and one of their members of staff was interviewed by Simon.

Toughest Place to be a fisherman – this film was made in Sierra Leone with a great deal of help from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) but when the film was shown there was no mention of EJF as it did not fit editorially. There was a ‘with thanks to EJF’ in the end credits. Once the film had been made, EJF used it successfully to lobby the Sierra Leone government to enforce a no fishing zone that had previously gone unenforced causing much hardship to local fishermen as big foreign trawlers were overfishing in the area. Sam then commissioned a follow up film in which the British fisherman went back and in the follow up he was able to cover the lobbying activities of EJF.

Sam’s aim in showing these clips was to acknowledge the enormous help that NGOs often gave film crews behind the scenes but to make the point that the NGOs could not be given name checks within the body of the film unless this could be justified editorially. The BBC’s position is particularly tricky, given its strict guidelines. Other broadcasters are not subject to such strict rules.

The future

Now that Toughest Place to be… has ended Sam is on the lookout for a new format. The Mason McQueen series may work for the moment but a new format will be needed in the long term. There are more Simon Reeve travel shows in the pipeline. This World will continue to be eclectic and story-led. Sam said he welcomed ideas from NGOs but it’s clear that these ideas need to tackle issues in an imaginative and creative way – and surprise audiences.

Mark Galloway

22.1.14

Briefing Notes: Channel 4 News

[Job Rabkin has been dispatched to South Africa for coverage of Mandela and so Rob came in his place.]

Who’s who on Channel 4 News

Nevine Mabro, Head of Foreign News and Head of Channel 4 News Film Fund nevine.mabro@itn.co.uk

Rob Hodge, Deputy Foreign Editor rob.hodge@itn.co.uk

Job Rabkin, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 News Film Fund job.rabkin@itn.co.uk

Their foreign reporting team comprises: Jonathan Miller, Jonathan Rugman, Lindsey Hilsum, Matt Frei (and Alex Thomson). Matt mainly covers Europe. John Sparks in Bangkok covers Asia. They have a few freelancers they work with regularly: Jamal Osman, Inigo Gilmore and Guillermo Galdos (based in Peru).

What is the USP of their foreign coverage?

Nevine and Rob explained that C4News has a small team of foreign correspondents and only two overseas bureaux (Washington and Bangkok) so they are always looking to do things differently from other news organisations, to find their own angle and to cover unique stories, which are not being covered elsewhere. So, for example, this week Alex Thomson has been reporting from the Central African Republic (CAR) whilst other news organisations have been mainly focused on Mandela.

Under their new editor, Ben de Pear, C4N is giving more priority to original journalism and exclusive stories, rather than just following the journalistic pack. So, for example, in Syria they have tried to cover events with small, locally based teams, with good contacts on the ground, rather than parachuting in big teams and big name reporters. In Asia, John Sparks has spent a lot of his time covering Burma. In South America, they have started commissioning more reports from Guillermo. They have used Jamal to cover Somalia but also to bring a fresh approach to other foreign stories – for example he covered the rise of the far right in Greece.

Another USP is the fact that on C4N foreign reports can run much longer than in other news outlets. Alex Thomson has been filing stories this week that are 5-6 minutes long. Rob said that on Al Jazeera stories were typically 1’45” – 2’ long. And films commissioned for the film fund can run 10-12 minutes.

Working with NGOs

Nevine and Rob gave some tips for NGOs pitching stories to them. They found it frustrating that many NGOs sent them generic press releases which didn’t feel tailored or relevant to their needs. They spoke about the need to build relationships, to meet over coffee, to get to know the NGOs. Stories should have a sense of importance and urgency – there should be a real story to tell, with a narrative, preferably an arrangement involving exclusivity. They were also keen to work with NGOs who could help them get access to difficult places – for example, they are working with Save and MSF in CAR. Save helped with visas and transport in country.

The relationship should be mutually beneficial – Save know they will get coverage of the humanitarian crisis in CAR and some mention of their work, whilst C4N know they will get an important story which no one else is covering. This particular relationship has worked well. Nevine and Rob have no qualms about working with NGOs – they are in sympathy with their aims. They will cover the issue but it won’t be PR for the NGO.

There have been bad experiences with NGOs – Nevine cited an example where a C4N team went to Somalia with an NGO (she didn’t name the NGO) with the aim of filming in two places. All was fine to start with, but when they arrived at the second location, they found that they did not have the right permissions and so couldn’t film. The NGO had been responsible for getting the permissions and had messed up. The correspondent (also not named) was furious.

Nevine and Mabro said they were often asked to go on trips with NGOs and most of the time they said no. What made them say yes to the CAR filming trip? There was no tipping point as such said Rob, but they had been watching CAR for some time and had wanted to go. The timing was right. The story was becoming more important and so the offer of access came at the right time. Alex Thomson had been due to go to Afghanistan but they decided to send him to the CAR instead.

The Film Fund

This is a pot of money which Channel 4 gives to ITN to spend on independently made films so these 1012 minute pieces are all made outside ITN, by freelancers and independent producers, although the final film may be voiced by a C4N reporter. Recent examples include a film made in Aleppo, another in Homs, a film in South Africa about militant Afrikaaners, a film following a woman in Afghanistan who had been the victim of rape and ended up marrying the rapist.

The Film Fund used to be run in a traditional way with indie producers pitching ideas and going off and making the films once they’d been commissioned. This has all changed now and is much more fluid. Ideas for the Fund can come from anyone and can be pitched to Nevine, Rob or Job. Next year, Job will focus more on investigations as they hope to do more of these. You can come with a raw idea, some footage, a filmmaker, any combination in fact. If they like the idea they will make it happen. They have a

network of freelancers they work with and some correspondents like Guillermo who they are keen to continue to work with. The ideas can be wide ranging, either a new angle on a big news story or a completely off the agenda story. They do a lot of these films – almost 40 in the past year. It’s fertile ground for NGOs.

The audience

C4N has an older demographic but higher reach amongst ethnic minority audiences than any other news provider. They are also watched by a lot of students. They are trying to broaden their appeal to win more younger viewers but the fact that they are on at 7pm makes this challenging.

What stories are they looking for in 2014?

They plan to cover the Philippines (after Christmas), Afghanistan, Syria, Gaza, Iraq and also they are on the look out for good South American stories for Guillermo as they’d like to do more with him. He’s recently covered animal trafficking in Brazil which went down well – they’d like to do more environmental stories. He has also reported from Tegucigalpa in Honduras (the world’s most dangerous city) and Brazil (favelas). And he is currently doing a piece on illegal coalmining in Peru.

Mark Galloway

10.12.13

Briefing Notes: Unreported World

Monica explained that UW has no set agenda. It has two runs a year and will do a mix of stories but the key is finding good characters and a narrative that shed light on an issue that has not hit the news. The character should come from the country itself and not be a westerner. There needs to be something to film which takes place at the appropriate time. Counterintuitive stories work well – for example rising property prices in Gaza or a British Somali running a successful restaurant in Mogadishu. They tend not to go to the same place (city) in consecutive series but otherwise they’re quite flexible. Ideas for stories set in Europe are particularly welcome.

The main challenge is the schedule. The series is not filmed on an ongoing basis. Instead there are two cycles. The first is in December when they start researching and setting up stories. These are filmed in January/February for transmission in April/May. The second cycle starts in June when they work on the next series. They film in July/August for transmission in October/November. If you have a story you want to pitch, the key is to pitch it either in December or June. There needs to be something that can be filmed in January/February or July/August. They have no flexibility with the schedule. If you have a brilliant idea for an event that is taking place in November for example, it simply won’t happen.

Key contacts:

Monica.garnsey@qsmedia.tv Series editor on maternity leave – back next spring.

Suzanne.lavery@qsmedia.tv Series editor, covering for Monica. I’ve had a word with Suzanne and she’s happy to receive story suggestions in December.

Shaunagh.connaire@qsmedia.tv Associate producer – she’ll be working on the long list of ideas for the next series but she is currently on another project and won’t be back on UW until December so don’t email her now, wait until December.

Eamonn.matthews@qsmedia.tv Eamonn is the Executive Producer at Quicksilver. The company specialises in international documentaries and current affairs. He’s great. He’s worked with IBT in the past. Don’t send UW ideas to him but if you have suggestions for investigations for Dispatches or that would make a good This World then he’s definitely worth making contact with.

Monica said that the UW team are very happy to work with NGOs but she warned that the relationship can be difficult on both sides. If you come with the expectation that you will be able to control what they film then things won’t work out. She gave the example of working with BRAC. BRAC gave UW access to one of the schemes it runs in Bangladesh but when the riots broke out and the film crew wanted to film them then BRAC was very nervous and felt that such filming might damage its reputation/relationships. She also warned that relationships could be complicated and gave the example of a recent film in Yemen which looked at lawyers who were being persecuted. The initial conversations were with Oxfam but when none of the cases which Oxfam came up with worked out, then the UW team went to Amnesty and it was an Amnesty case that ended up in the film. Both NGOs were happy that the film was made but in the end there was no mention of Oxfam’s work. This is the sort of thing

that happens – you can’t predict how the working relationship with the NGO will develop – the priority for UW will always be getting the story. It’s important that NGOs who want to work with UW go into this with their eyes open.

Monica described the way the pitching process works. The AP and series editor will draw up a long list of perhaps 30 ideas in December and June. These will then be discussed with the Channel 4 Commissioning Editor, Siobhan Sinnerton. After this discussion, the ideas will be whittled down to the final 8. It’s always possible that if one of the 8 falls through, another idea will be needed urgently. This happened with the current run. The team had access to film in Bagram prison but when they got to Afghanistan they found that the access did not happen so they quickly searched for another story and came up with the film about violence to women (which goes out tonight).

If you’re pitching to them, they don’t need much detail on the initial pitch. If they’re interested, they will come back to you for more information. Monica also said that a list of possible ideas was welcome rather than just one. A list of 10 will increase your chances of success.

The current run includes the following: kidnapping in Venezuela, looting of artefacts in Egypt, a children’s newspaper in India, treatment of the mentally ill in Mexico. As well as producing UW, Quicksilver also makes films for the BBC strand This World and for the US channel PBS. They have just won an Emmy for their Japanese nuclear film. Quicksilver has a mailing list and they have added the names of everyone who attended the briefing to the mailing list. So you will all receive TX cards for future Quicksilver programmes.

There was a discussion about social media and how effective UW were at publicising programmes. Monica said they could do better but there were time and money constraints. She did, however, say that they were happy to provide clips of their programmes for anyone who wanted to use them. They have an open access rule and past episodes of UW are available on YouTube long after transmission. Channel 4 has also ungeoblocked the show so that programmes can be watched anywhere in the world.

Ratings for the programme vary a lot – on transmission anything between 300 and 900,000. There is a 25% lift from video on demand. Some reporters have a following and their shows tend to get bigger audiences – for example Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Jonathan Miller.

Monica also suggested a good outlet for NGO stories was the Channel 4 indie fund which commissions 10 minute films for Channel 4 News. The commissioner is Job Rabkin who is based at ITN job.rabkin@itn.co.uk We hope to do a briefing with Job and the Channel 4 News Foreign Editor later this year.

Mark Galloway

4.10.13

Briefing Notes: Panorama

Tom has asked that this briefing be off the record so please don’t quote in public from these notes

Panorama overview – Tom gave an overview of the strand. He commissions around 40 half hour programmes a year and 7 or 8 one hour specials which usually run at 9pm but sometimes at 8 or 10.35, all on BBC1. He has an in house team of 30 people and works with a large number of independent producers. The proportion of programmes made by indies seems to be growing as they are coming up with strong ideas (possibly because of the changes to the Channel 4 current affairs strand Dispatches).

Around a quarter of the run is international although there is no quota as such and it depends on the strength of the ideas. Tom believes there is an audience appetite for international stories especially if the timing is right – he gave the example of the North Korea investigation which had Panorama’s highest audience since 2001 – 5.4m watching live and another 850,000 on catch up.

Tom’s strategy – Tom does not really have an overall strategy – he believes Panorama should cause trouble and reveal uncomfortable truths – he cited the example of the FIFA corruption investigation and its timing. He believes it should expose when policies aren’t working and promote change where it is needed, offer a surprising take on familiar issues, start conversations and have integrity by doing what is right regardless of the consequences. He did believe that Panorama should have a different agenda from BBC News and Current Affairs which he sees as too ‘Radio 4ish’.

The role of current affairs – Tom spoke passionately about the importance of current affairs on television and its ability to put an issue on the national agenda and to influence public policy.

Working for the BBC – Tom described how the spotlight is permanently on the BBC and he has felt that as editor of Panorama with the row over the North Korea programme and with the longstanding row with Primark which challenged Panorama’s journalism when it exposed the company’s association with child labour.

Panorama’s international content – Tom’s background is in international news. He worked for the World Service and covered the genocide in Rwanda and events in Bosnia. He has a strong interest in international stories and issues but he has no doubt that any editor of Panorama would want to run a certain number of international episodes.

Working with NGOs – Tom gave a number of examples of recent programmes that had been made in successful collaborations with NGOs: a film on Kony and his present activities (with help from Oxfam); a one hour special on the ivory trade in Africa (with help from WWF and in co-operation with the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol); an investigation into human rights in Azerbaijan to run at the time of the Eurovision song contest (with help from Human Rights Watch); a film on logging in the Congo (with Greenpeace); an investigation into e-waste in developing countries (with the Environmental Investigation Agency).

He also consulted his team to find out how they viewed working with NGOs and one emailed a response which Tom read out. It described a certain mutual distrust with NGOs regarding the media as charging ahead without necessarily thinking about the longer term impact on people’s lives, and the media regarding NGOs as not necessarily delivering on their promises. Tom’s conclusion was that there was a need for greater trust on both sides.

Tom gave one example of a difficult relationship with an NGO concerning a film about human rights in Thailand (not for Panorama) when the producers wanted to focus on the royal family but the NGO they were working with (Amnesty) was concerned about the impact of the film on people in the country. Tom felt the public interest in exposing this issue should come first. He later asked a member of the audience to explain the ‘no harm’ policy which NGOs had – he was not familiar with this.

Tom also mentioned that because of the problems with the Primark film (where some footage was used which was deemed on the balance of probabilities to have been faked), Panorama was now much more cautious about third party footage and would need to verify any footage which it was offered by an NGO.

Stories for the future – Tom is looking at Bangladesh and the clothing trade, at the issues of exploitation of labour and child labour. He’s looking at where multinationals will go next – maybe Burma? He’s interested in stories on migration. He also mentioned child exploitation and the global sex trade. He spoke about his desire to get into places where it is hard to get access. The DRC was mentioned but Tom said the bar would be set very high for a film in DRC. Apparently the BBC’s Director of TV, Danny Cohen, has an interest in DRC after commissioning a film about that country when he was BBC3 Controller. Tom said he was keen to do more in Syria but hampered by the ban on Panorama teams going in at the moment – the BBC currently has a policy of only sending in news teams due to the danger.

More on poverty? Tom was challenged about whether Panorama was doing enough about global poverty and he admitted that it probably was not but that the story needed to be right. There needed to be something dramatic to show, something that would engage a mainstream audience and the possibility of some dramatic footage (maybe even supplied by an NGO). He cited his longstanding interest in the issue of the global movement of people (and reports by Paul Kenyon) as a response to poverty.

How to pitch to Panorama – a number of options: by email to Tom (but he has very little time); an email to a correspondent (they have more time to consider ideas) or by contacting an independent production company that has worked with Panorama in the past. He named some reporters interested in international stories who could be contacted: Paul Kenyon, Jane Corbin (did a film on drone wars in Pakistan), Raphael Rowe (did films on logging, palm oil, e-waste and Haiti). There’s more on the reporting team on the Panorama website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t14n/team

Tom also named a number of independent producers that pitch ideas to him: Blakeway, Insight TV News, True Vision, True North, Nine Lives, Mentorn, October Films and Quicksilver.

When you’re pitching to Panorama don’t just think about the issue but think too about the story and a way of telling the story which makes it accessible to a large audience. Any pitch should have a one line description summing up the top line; a description of how the story could be told, who would be followed, what sort of access was possible etc; a taster tape was also helpful showing some of the footage which might be obtained if Panorama were to go ahead. If it’s an international story, a UK connection helps.

Panorama’s editorial position – Tom was asked about a recent episode which looked at health tourism. He said he didn’t have a set agenda on issues. If he found a good story or angle he went ahead. He would be equally happy making a film which looked at the other side of the issue – ie how people were not getting access to health care which they should be getting.

Panorama’s audience – Tom said he was not under huge ratings pressure but neither was he trying to drive the audience down. He wanted to find ways of telling stories which had wide appeal – hence his decision to hire the footballer Sol Campbell to make a film about unemployment among black boys. He was hoping that this would bring a different audience to the issue. But, generally, he was wary of using celebrities unless they had a close connection with the story. Panorama has a regular core audience which also watches other news and current affairs on tv, but it also has the potential, if timing is right, to reach a much bigger audience as it has recently with its North Korea and Jimmy Savile programmes.

Tom took over in 2010 and the audience grew for the first two years and since then it has held steady. Tom also said that the chat on Twitter and in the blogosphere helped build audiences – he gave the example of the Undercover Care film which started with 2.5m and then, as it was tweeted about, so the audience built, and the programme ended with 4.7m.

Panorama online – Tom did admit that Panorama could be much smarter in what it did online once a programme had been broadcast and how it encouraged audiences to take action. Whilst the BBC and Panorama could not overtly campaign on an issue they could nevertheless give ammunition to campaigners and allow them to run with an issue.

Mark Galloway

17.5.13

Briefing Notes: Al Jazeera English

Ben explained that AJE is just one channel out of 20+ Al Jazeera channels which include AJ Arabic, AJ Balkans etc. It is also trying to get a foothold in the US, having just bought a US tv station. Although the news channels are best known around the world, AJ is the biggest sports broadcaster in the Middle East and Africa. It broadcast the Olympics and Champions League football to these regions. The HQ is in Doha, Qatar and the channel is owned by the Emir of Qatar but it is editorially independent – it is regarded as a form of Qatari soft power. Later this year, the London operation will move from Knightsbridge to the Qatari-owned Shard. AJ is the only global news channel which is based outside the developed world. It was launched 16 years ago with an Arabic news channel. The English language channel followed 6 years ago.

The news channel is unusual since it is not a 24 hour rolling news channel. It runs news and a range of documentary series such as Witness, People and Power, Africa Investigates, Counting the Cost, Earthrise. Ben is in charge of news in London, whilst each of the individual programmes has its own editor – see contacts at the end. All these documentary strands are commissioned out of London but from producers all around the world. News represents around 55-60% of AJE’s output.

AJE aims to have a different agenda from the BBC and CNN so it does not regard itself as a direct competitor. It is trying to opt for a non western news agenda. In news terms, AJE regards countries like the Philippines and Venezuela as equally important as France or Italy. Australia, for example, gets too much coverage by western media according to Ben. They are keen to cover Latin America. Ben says that AJ have been accused of being anti American and anti Israeli. They are not – but they do like to question the received wisdom on an issue, challenge authority and stand up for people whose voices are not heard (AJ calls itself ‘the voice of the voiceless’).

The goal of their news coverage is to focus on the human – the impact of news stories on people. This approach tends to give their news coverage a different feel and pace, compared with other news organisations. Audiences don’t switch on to AJ for a breaking news story; they switch on for a different perspective on the news. They do cover the main news stories of the day but try, where possible, to find their own angle. For example, with the recent coverage of the Pistorius trial, they used the trial as an opportunity to look closer at violence in South Africa and the state of the SA police force. With the resignation of the Pope, they reported on reaction to it in Brazil, Africa and the Philippines.

Ben says that the newsroom team are constantly debating which stories should feature in news bulletins. He says that this is a very different approach from ITN (where he used to work) and the BBC where the main stories of the day are laid down from on high and where there is very little debate about the news agenda. The AJE newsroom has a more democratic feel – anyone can suggest stories whatever their job status.

There is a misconception that AJ focuses mainly on the Middle East and Islam – it does not. However, Middle East stories are given more prominence than elsewhere. Despite being owned by the Emir of Qatar, AJ does not do PR for Qatar and reports on negative stories from the Arab world – for example its coverage of migrant labour in Qatar and human rights abuses in Bahrain.

Structure of the news operation – there are 3 centres: Doha, Washington DC and London. Each centre commissions reports for a particular region. Doha covers the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Washington DC covers North and South America. London covers Europe. Ideas can be pitched to the appropriate regional hub or via Ben and Maria (Planning editor in London). They work along geographical lines so, unlike other broadcasters, they do not have specialist correspondents covering issues. All the specialists are country based.

When should stories be pitched? Ideally, a month in advance. If you’re publishing a new report, for example, if AJE are interested they will want to get a reporter in the field to do a piece and to focus on the human story. They always want to shoot their own pictures and case studies rather than rely on NGO footage (unless there is really no choice in which case they are happy to run with NGO material). They will need time to set this up.

Another piece of advice from Ben: if you’re publishing a report, make sure the author is available to do interviews the day before publication (they like to prerecord interviews the day before) and also on the day of publication (so s/he can come into the studio for a live interview). They prefer studio interviews to Skype.

What makes a story of interest to them? They are always on the look out for something that is new or surprising. It depends on whether it is a busy news day – a story is more likely to get on air at the weekend when there is less around. A well written press release helps, as does an embargoed advance copy of a report.

They are also always on the look out for good interviewees to add to their database so they can call them in as experts to take part in studio debates. London is on air in the evening from 7-11pm. Guests can come in at this time to appear or they may come in earlier in the day to be interviewed by the anchor in Doha. NGO experts may be called in to comment on other stories so get in touch if you have suggestions for articulate interviewees. They are also happy to interview people in the field, for example in remote areas, if you can bring them in via a BGAN. Like other broadcasters, they are always keen to find different voices.

Editors have a planning meeting on a Thursday to look at the following week and then a daily morning meeting looking at the next day’s stories.

There are no official viewing figures for AJ but it is available to view in 250m homes. The biggest audiences are in Africa and the Middle East. AJ Arabic is watched in 22 Arabic speaking countries. They also have good audiences in countries like the Philippines and Malaysia. Their market research suggests that AJ’s audience profile is younger than other broadcasters so they are always interested in stories that touch on young people.

They are very receptive to stories from NGOs and are keen to establish good working relationships. They like to be able to go to NGOs for background, access, an expert voice. They may call NGOs into the studio to respond to a correspondent’s report. They welcome any information NGOs can offer on likely trouble spots/ crisis watching.

There are a number of innovative new media projects emerging out of the new media unit in Doha – for example crowd sourcing reports from Gaza, Somalis texting in etc

Contacts

Ben.Rayner@aljazeera.net Head of News, London

Maria.Hadjiconstanti@aljazeera.net Planning editor, London

Bob.Wheelock@aljazeera.net Executive Producer, Newsgathering, Washington DC. Ramsey.Zarifeh@aljazeera.net Head of planning, Doha

Diarmuid.Jeffreys@aljazeera.net Editor, People and Power and Africa Investigates Flora.Gregory@aljazeera.net Editor, Witness

Neil.Cairns@aljazeera.net Editor, Earthrise

Briefing Notes: BBC Radio 4, Today Programme

IBT off the record briefing

Alexis explained the role of the planning desk – it gets a first look at stories being pitched by outsiders and by BBC correspondents. He receives a huge number of proposals and only has time to scan them quickly to decide whether he’s interested or not. There is no easy way of saying what will interest him – but he is looking for something that surprises or tells him something he doesn’t already know. Does it feel new?

The programme has been affected by cuts and therefore everyone is very hard pressed – they don’t have time to investigate stories to see whether or not they stand up – so they often end up taking instant decisions.

Alexis is personally interested in malaria and landmines but he freely admitted that others on the programme will not necessarily be interested in the same issues as him.

He is always on the look out for stories with strong characters so that the audience can get to know someone at the heart of a story.

The BBC developing world correspondents, Mike Wooldridge and David Loyn also pitch to him. Today is lucky as it is high in the pecking order and BBC correspondents invariably want to do stories for Today if they can, so they will often pitch to Today first before taking the idea elsewhere. Some correspondents also pitch directly to the editor, Ceri Thomas or the deputy editor, Jasmin Buttar, but it is hard to get them to answer emails.

NGOs can pitch direct to the planning desk – see list of contact names and emails below – or to a correspondent. If it’s a specialist subject like an environmental story, it’s probably better to pitch to the specialist reporter like Roger Harrabin. Alexis is happy to be copied in on emails to correspondents.

There is not one person on Today who decides whether to run a story or not – the individual editors have a degree of autonomy. There is a key morning meeting at 11.30 every day which looks at the following day’s programme. The planning desk will hand over stories to the day editor who works from 10.30-8.30pm (on the following day’s show) and s/he will hand over to the night editor who works from 8.30pm-6am when the programme goes on air. The night editor has the final say and may spike a story which the others have liked or may change the focus or approach.

The planning desk has a budget to commission stories from BBC correspondents around the world and it also commissions reports from Today’s own 5 reporters, which include Mike Thomson who covers the foreign affairs brief.

Alexis says that the quality of press releases coming from NGOs is generally good. He likes press releases that have lots of information in; he’s less keen on ones which talk about campaigns. He agreed that the BBC generally has an aversion to NGO campaigns although they are sympathetic to NGO appeals. He also thinks one of the strengths of NGOs is that they have good expertise and experts out in the field who can give first person testimony.

One of the recent achievements of Today has been its coverage of Liberia. The decision to send a presenter to Liberia and look at a country in Africa which was not in the news was taken as a result of a conversation with Save the Children. The original plan had been to go to Ethiopia but that didn’t work out and Liberia was chosen instead. The first trip involved John Humphrys and attracted criticism for the tone of his reporting which Alexis defended as reflecting the views of a large part of the Today audience. Save the Children provided a lot of help with the first trip and there have been two subsequent trips; two more trips are planned. Today has decided to twin with a village in Liberia which also attracted a certain amount of criticism. Audience feedback to the Liberia project has been largely positive.

Today does take criticism on board – for example the fact that it does not have many women appearing on the show as experts has resulted in a producer being given the task of updating the show’s database and finding new experts, especially but not exclusively women.

Alexis gave a couple of examples of stories which were commissioned and the reasons why.

Mike Thomson did an investigation into children in India working on low wages producing goods for companies like Marks and Spencer and Tesco. The story was pitched to Mike by Anti Slavery. Alexis thought it was strong but he also liked the fact that it required the BBC to do some journalism themselves and Mike ended up making two trips to India. Today really got behind the story and eventually broadcast a 14 minute piece which Anti Slavery were very happy with. The relationship with the NGO worked well.

Alexis also spoke about a story which had been on earlier in the day when a reporter in Pakistan, Tulip Mazumdar, filed a story about women in arranged marriages left behind without their husbands and children. This story had been pitched to BBC Impact, a special unit run by Mark Perrow which has its own budget to do stories that can have maximum impact by running across a number of BBC outlets.

Today had the first run of Tulip’s report but they are generally happy to share with other outlets that are on at the same time for example Breakfast and Newsday.

Studio discussions – these also come through the Planning desk and if you have suggestions for suitable experts then let Alexis know. They are usually looking for opposing views on an issue of the day or something more quirky and offbeat. Each studio discussion usually has a clear question which is being addressed. They are trying to feature more women as experts, following criticism from Broadcast magazine and City University. A producer on Today is currently building up their database with some new names so let her know if you have suggestions – it’s Clare Thorp.

Alexis spoke about Thoughtfor the Day, which comes out of the Religion/Ethics team in Salford, and the business news on Today which comes from Simon Haymer’s team.

He talked us through how the running order works – the first hour of the show is mainly about business news and quick factual updates on the main stories of the day, usually single interviews and short packages and Yesterday in Parliament. The 7-7.30 slot is when they start interviewing key players including Ministers and running longer packages from correspondents. 7.30 will be something on the lead story of the day. 7.40 will be something more textured, maybe about the Arts. 7.50 – this is the lead slot apart from 8.10 so it will take the main story of the day. 8 is the bulletin. 8.10 is the big interview.

There was a discussion about the fact that only highlights of each programme go online but Alexis said that reporters often audioboo a piece so that it can be circulated via social media. The BBC is generally happy for its reports to be distributed in this way provided that it is acknowledged that they originate with the BBC. The only problem arises is if there is a rights issue – usually with music or sports.

There was also a discussion about whether Today should be using more indigenous reporters in its international coverage – for example from Liberia. Alexis said there was a place for both but they will be using more World Service reporters on Today as a result of reductions in the numbers of foreign correspondents and the fact that there is now much closer collaboration between BBC News and the World Service. The Today team sits next to the Newsday team now that both are in New Broadcasting House.

The audience for Today is higher than ever – the peak audience is at 7.40 and people typically listen for 40 minutes. The audience has been described as ‘middle England’ and its average age is 52.

Alexis was asked how the programme viewed NGOs and he said that sometimes NGOs will be the story and in the past when they tried to get NGOs to take part in a discussion about whether there were too many DEC appeals, the NGOs chose not to participate. He was surprised by that decision.

He was also asked how he would like to see the programme change in the next few years. He said he would like it to be less ‘fuddy duddy’ and for there to be more interaction between the presenters. On some days it feels very formal.

Contact names and emails

Alexis.condon@bbc.co.uk andToday.planning@bbc.co.uk Today Planning desk

Mark.perrow@bbc.co.uk BBC Impact

Clare.thorp@bbc.co.uk Today database of contacts

Simon.haymer@bbc.co.uk Business news for Today programme

July 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s July newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

IBT AGM

Our annual general meeting will take place later this week – at 5pm on Thursday July 3^rd at the IBT offices in Southwark. This event is open to all members. It will finish at 6.30pm and will be followed by drinks, so that we can say goodbye to our longstanding Chair, John Whitaker, who is stepping down. Our new Chair will be Marie Staunton, the former Chief Executive of Plan International UK.

IBT training events

We held two training events this month, one on Twitter, the other an introduction to stills photography. We’ll be organising more training events in the Autumn. There will be a special session on Twitter for CEOs, which will look at how a CEO’s Twitter presence can help to increase the influence of his/her organization. Please let me know if you are interested in attending so that we can choose the best date for this. We’ll also be organizing a one day video shooting/sound recording session – we’re still planning this, so if you’d like to attend please get in touch so that we can make sure the training we provide matches the needs of IBT members.

Record audience for BBC global news

New figures released by the BBC show that their global audience has increased to a record 265 million people a week. These figures for 2013-14 represent an increase of 9 million on the previous year. The main reason for the increase is the growing audience for the BBC’s tv and online services. Radio audiences are in decline, although radio remains the biggest platform overall. Key increases are in Russia (biggest growth for a single market) and India (where the BBC has launched a tv service for Hindi speaking audiences). BBC World News TV, the BBC’s global tv news channel, has also shown an increase – it now reaches a weekly audience of 76 million.

24 hour rolling news is here to stay

Sky News boss John Ryley has claimed that the future of 24 hour rolling news is secure as long as broadcasters keep innovating to keep pace with viewer demand. Speaking to the RSA, Ryley said that whilst the public appetite for consuming news from a range of providers has grown, this has not adversely affected rolling TV news. However, it has forced Sky to widen its offering to include news on tablets, games consoles and connected TVs, each providing consumers with content in a variety of formats. Ryley also admitted that Sky was paying close attention to new news providers such as Buzzfeed and Vice who are devising new ways of engaging audiences.

Traditional news outlets face growing challenge from online providers

A more detailed analysis of the impact of the digital revolution on traditional news providers can be found in the recently published annual digital news report from The Reuters Institute. The report surveyed 18,000 people in 10 countries and found that some news organisations are being outpaced by the speed of change whilst others are showing signs of rising to the challenge. Established news organisations in some countries, notably the US and Japan, are finding it hard to transform print success to the web. By contrast, in the UK, Denmark, Finland and Germany, traditional news brands have managed to maintain market share at the same time as driving editorial and business innovation. The report highlights the success of the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed in Europe, the US and Brazil. Google New remains a leading player in Italy, France and Germany; while Yahoo! is the top news site in Japan.

Ofcom announces details of its public service broadcasting review

Ofcom, the media regulator, has announced the terms of reference for its review of public service broadcasting. The review will evaluate how effectively the public service broadcasters are delivering the purposes and characteristics of PSB, particularly in the light of changes in the way TV content is distributed and consumed. They are particularly concerned by the impact of new TV content providers such as Netflix. The review will look in detail at the role of Channel 4 and its sustainability. It will also consider the contribution of the commercial broadcasters including Sky. The review will not look in any detail at the BBC as this will be covered when the Charter renewal debate takes place next year. IBT will be submitting evidence to the review later this year.

What do the media really think about NGOs?

It’s clear that the aid industry and development NGOs are the subject of increasing media scrutiny and criticism. In the wake of a number of newspaper articles, programmes on BBC radio and TV, and on Channel 4, IBT has started work on a briefing paper to examine this in more detail. We want to achieve a better understanding of what motivates media criticism, by talking on and off the record to a range of journalists and broadcasters. Helen Magee who wrote our report on media coverage of the famine in the Horn of Africa, has begun work on this and the comments she has received so far have been revealing. One BBC correspondent told her ‘if anything, I don’t think there is enough criticism. We swallow what NGOs do far too easily.’ Another correspondent told Helen that ‘a bit more humility would not go amiss.’ If there are any particular journalists you think we should interview, please let me know. The briefing paper will be available to all IBT members in the Autumn.

Celebs work on TV

Despite the debate about the merits of using celebrities on TV to engage audiences with development messages, such programmes continue to deliver big audiences. David Beckham into the Unknown, shown last month on the BBC in the run up to the World Cup, was the top rated BBC1 show for its slot in the last 12 months, with 4.6 million viewers.

Best wishes

Mark

June 2014 newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s June newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

IBT training events

We have a few places left at our two training events which will take place later this month. Both are aimed at media officers and others who want to enhance their skills. The introduction to stills photography with Crispin Hughes takes place on Tuesday June 24^th. The Twitter training with Mary Mitchell takes place on Friday June 27^th. Further details are on our website. Please share them with any colleagues in your organization who may be interested. These events are free to IBT members but numbers are limited. To register, use the member login button on the home page http://www.ibt.org.uk/

HIV and stigma – the media challenge

Many thanks to all who attended our round table event last month to discuss the initial findings of our report on global media coverage of HIV. The report is now being drafted and will be launched on the evening of Tuesday September 2^nd at the House of Commons, in a joint event with the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS. Invitations will go out nearer the time.

IBT AGM

Our annual general meeting will take place at 5pm on Thursday July 3^rd at the IBT offices in Southwark. This event is open to all members and is the one opportunity that members have each year to hear more about IBT, its activities over the past year and plans for the future. If you’d like to attend please let me know. This will be the last AGM for our Chair John Whitaker who will be standing down. We owe John a huge debt for presiding over a period of great change for IBT. Our new Chair will be Marie Staunton, the former Chief Executive of Plan International UK.

Climate change a priority for Channel 4

Channel 4 has announced, in its annual report, that climate change will be a priority area for factual content over the next year. A number of new programmes are in development. Following the publication of IBT’s report The Environment on TV – are broadcasters meeting the challenge? we have had several meetings with Channel 4 commissioners and they have accepted that the channel has neglected this issue in recent years. The annual report also stated that Channel 4 needs to ‘find the space for more international content.’ This is something that we have raised in meetings with the Channel 4 Chief Executive, David Abraham. David will be the guest speaker at IBT’s annual dinner for CEOs in the Autumn.http://annualreport.channel4.com/

New series of Unreported World

The producers of the Channel 4 international affairs show are now looking for stories for the next series. These will be filmed from mid-July until the end of September. The team at Quicksilver are keen to hear from any IBT members with suggestions for what they should cover. There is no specific agenda for the new series but they would particularly like to hear about stories in Egypt or those which focus on the environment or human rights. If you have suggestions, then get in touch with the joint series editor, Monica Garnsey. Monica.garnsey@qsmedia.tv Monica briefed IBT members last year – notes on her briefing can be found on the members’ page of the IBT website.

BBC News to adopt a ‘digital first’ strategy

A review of BBC News has recommended that a ‘digital first’ strategy should be adopted and has been surprisingly critical of the BBC’s online news content, saying that it is ‘punching well below its weight.’ The review was conducted by Sir Howard Stringer, one of the BBC’s independent executive directors. Stringer called for a ‘shift in mindset’ and a more proactive approach to sharing content with other organisations. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/21/bbc-news-buzzfeed-digital-strategy-sir-howard-stringer

New series for Simon Reeve

Following the success of Australia with Simon Reeve, there will be a new six part series on the Carribean. This will be filmed in the Autumn – if you have any suggestions for stories, please contact me or the executive producersam.bagnall@bbc.co.uk As with Simon’s previous series, this will be a travel show but with a strong focus on environmental stories.

New Panorama editor

Tom Giles has been replaced as editor of Panorama. He will conduct a review of the BBC’s current affairs output to see how it can win bigger audiences especially among young people, and then he will take up a management job. This is a big loss for Panorama as he has been an outstanding editor. Ceri Thomas has been appointed acting editor. A new editor will take over later this year.

Policy briefing on impact of climate change

BBC Media Action has published a new briefing, From the ground up – changing the conversation about climate change. The paper draws on data from the organisation’s Climate Asia project and documents the impact of climate change on the lives of people throughout the continent. It identifies a number of major obstacles to adaptation, one of which is lack of knowledge and information. The report says the media has an important role to play as a potential tool in the fight against climate change but calls for a change in the nature of coverage, so that it moves away from technical language and narratives of victimhood, towards an emphasis on resilience.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/policybriefing/bbc_media_action_from_the_ground_up_climate_change.pdf

Below the Line on Twitter

There was a huge amount of activity on Twitter related to the Live Below the Line campaign but how effective was it? In an online piece for The Guardian, Caspar van Vark analyses the most effective way to use Twitter and other platforms for social media campaigns that tackle food, hunger and malnutrition. One of his conclusions is that celebrity content gets a lot of ‘likes’ but relatively little action or amplification. YouTube videos featuring calls for people to share the video are more successful, but the average viewer stops watching after one and a half minutes. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/may/28/social-media-raising-awareness-world-hunger

Workshop on media representation of international development

The Development Studies Association, a group of academics involved in research on media and development, are organizing a half day event looking at how the media reports international development. It will take place at the London offices of the Open University on Thursday June 19^th. Sessions will look at the role of celebrities and the Africa rising narrative. The organisers are keen to encourage representatives from the NGO sector to attend. http://www.open.ac.uk/ikd/files/dsa_media_flyer.pdf

New books on media and development

Two new books have come out recently which may be of interest. Martin Scott, a lecturer from the University of East Anglia and the author of several previous IBT reports has written Media and Development, an accessible and critical primer looking at some of the key academic debates around these issues. Dan Brockington, from the University of Manchester, has published Celebrity Advocacy and International Development. Both books will be launched on Thursday June 19^th at the Open University event mentioned above.

Access to media after the MDGs

The University of Westminster is hosting a debate later this week which looks at access to media and information after the MDGs. There will be speakers from BBC Media Action, The Guardian, Internews Euorpe and Article 19. The session will look at how to take the issues of media freedom, access to information, data transparency and open government forward after the MDGs. This is a free event which will take place from 6.30 – 8pm on Thursday June 5^th.https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/5th-june-2014-media-development-panel-discussion-tickets-11735331693

What’s been on tv recently…

There have been some outstanding programmes on tv in the last few weeks.

I Bought a Rainforest, an impressive BBC2 series from Keo Films looks at the harsh reality of trying to promote conservation in the Amazon: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0461lhs/i-bought-a-rainforest-episode-1

Welcome to Rio – also from Keo Films, and the successor to Welcome to Lagos/India. It shows what life is really like for people living in the favelas: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b045h914/welcome-to-rio-1-peace

There have been several standout episodes of Unreported World on Channel 4, including Jamaica’s Underground Gays:http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#3705272

And The World’s Dirtiest River: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#3682650

There was also an outstanding Channel 4 News report from Paraic O’Brien, Beneath the streets of Romania’s capital, a living hell: http://www.channel4.com/news/romania-tunnels-bucharest-orphans-photo

Best wishes

Mark

May 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s April newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Next IBT briefing

Our briefing with Michael Herrod, Foreign Editor of ITV News was postponed due to the tube strike. It will now take place at 10am on Thursday May 15^th. If you have already signed up for this event, your place will be held. If you haven’t and would like to end, please let me know as online bookings have closed.

HIV and stigma – the media challenge

Work on our new research report is progressing. Sophie has completed her case study of Swaziland and she’s currently looking at media initiatives in other countries. We’re keen that the report has a global perspective, so if you’ve been involved in any media activities aimed at tackling stigma, please let us know so that we can include these in our research. We’re also keen that the research highlights the role of NGOs in tackling stigma and explores how that work could be more effective. Our round table for IBT members and others involved in this area of work will now take place from 12-2 on Thursday May 15^th. Sophie will present her initial findings. If you’ve signed up for the round table, your place will be held. If you haven’t and you’re interested in attending please let me know.

IBT training events

After the success of last year’s training events we’ll be holding two further events next month. Invitations will go out next week but if you’d like to attend you can register now via the IBT website. These events are free to all IBT members and are specially designed to enable media officers to develop their skill set but others are welcome too. On June 24^th, Crispin Hughes, an accomplished photographer who has worked extensively with NGOs, will be running a one day stills training event. This is aimed at beginners but he will be covering a lot of ground in the course of the day. On June 27^th, Mary Mitchell, a social media specialist, will be running a half day training event for regular Twitter users who want to learn a few new tricks to make their tweets more impactful. Please feel free to pass details of these events on to colleagues in your organization. To secure your place, book now.

IBT lobbying success

The BBC Trust has announced the findings of a major review of news and current affairs. One of the main recommendations is that BBC News should ensure that ‘a wider range of international stories reach domestic audiences.’ This was a key point in our submission to the Trust. Whilst BBC News has a strong track record in covering international stories, the range of stories has diminished over the years, with far more resources going to cover the big foreign story of the day. We have argued that this shift has gone too far and the Trust has supported our view. It has asked BBC News to come up with concrete proposals to extend the range of stories covered. The Trust also praised the merger between BBC News and the World Service and noted that World Service correspondents were increasingly filing stories on domestic bulletins. Its audience research indicated that this development had gone down well with viewers and listeners. The full Trust review can be found here.

BBC to promote ethnic minority experts

Following the success of its training initiative aimed at getting more female experts on the screen, the BBC has announced that it will run two training days aimed at promoting ethnic minority experts. Further details will be posted at a later date on the BBC Academy website.

Short film challenge

The Sundance Institute, in partnership with the Gates Foundation, has announced its first ever short film challenge which invites filmmakers from around the world to submit short films which feature individuals and communities overcoming extreme poverty and hunger. More details here.

One World Media awards

Congratulations to all the winners in this year’s One World Media Awards. The awards took place last night and the range of stories covered in the shortlisted entries was impressive. A full list of winners will be posted later today on the One World Media website.

Debate on how to tackle climate change

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be speaking later today at St Paul’s Cathedral, about the importance of collective action to tackle climate change. Joining her to debate Climate change: building the will for action will be Tony Juniper and Neil Morisetti. The event, which will take place at 6.30pm tonight, is free but registration is necessary.

Best wishes

Mark

April 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s April newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

HIV and stigma – the media challenge
We’re now working on a new piece of research which looks at HIV and stigma, and the role the media can play in tackling this. We’ll be looking at a range of initiatives that have taken place in different countries and assess how successful they have been. We’ll also include a case study of Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV rate. The research will be undertaken in partnership with IPPF but, if you’re interested in this issue, we’d like to encourage you to become involved. We’ll be holding a round table later this month to which all IBT members are invited. The aim of the round table will be to identify media opportunities and challenges, and to help us focus the research so that it is of real benefit to our member organizations. It will take place from 12-2 on Wednesday April 30^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. If you’d like to attend, please let me know.

Next IBT briefing
Our next briefing will be with ITV News. We’ll be hearing from Michael Herrod, Foreign Editor and Natalie Fry, Executive Producer of On Assignment. Michael and Natalie will talk about the sort of stories they’re looking for and the best way for NGOs to pitch ideas to them. This briefing will take place at 10am on Wednesday April 30^th. Invitations will go out shortly but places can be booked now via the members’ area of the IBT website.

On Assignment
ITV’s new monthly current affairs show, On Assignment, was launched last month, with reports from Rwanda, Norway and the US. All three reports were specially commissioned and there are welcome indications that the show will complement the main news bulletins with a feature-based approach. We’ll be hearing more from Natalie Fry, the Executive Producer, at the ITV News briefing later this month.

Unreported World
The Channel 4 foreign affairs show, Unreported World, starts its new run next Friday April 11^th. If you’d like to go on their mailing list and receive advance details of what’s on each week, please let me know, as we’re in touch with the production team.

Channel 4
Ofcom has confirmed that it has renewed the licence of Channel 4 for a further 10 years. Following an extensive public consultation, to which IBT submitted evidence, a new licence has been issued. The only major change has been a tripling of Channel 4’s out of London spend. The international aspect of Channel 4’s remit remains unchanged.

The World Service
From today, the World Service moves from Foreign Office to licence fee funding. The BBC has guaranteed that there will be no overall cut to the World Service budget between now and the end of the present licence fee settlement, in December 2016. There will also be a small additional innovation fund to enable the service to expand its digital activities. Yesterday, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee published a report on the future of the World Service, in which it expressed concern about long term funding and the fact that the World Service will be competing for funds with BBC1 and other domestic tv channels.

One World Media Awards
Congratulations to all those shortlisted for this year’s One World Media Awards. Nominees include Dispatches – Children on the Frontline; Unreported World – The Orphan Business; Al Jazeera’s Orphans of the Sahara, Channel 4’s No Fire Zone and Panorama- Where’s Our Aid Money Gone? The winners will be announced at the awards evening on Tuesday May 6^th. Tickets are available now.

The nation’s viewing habits…
A fascinating report was published last month by TV Licensing, on the nation’s viewing habits. It showed that 90% of television viewing is live; only 10% is time shifted. The report analyses why, even though on demand tv is widely available, most people still prefer to watch live television. Also, unlike in many other countries, the main terrestrial channels (BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5) dominate viewing, and the increasing number of +1 channels has intensified this dominance. BBC3 will be replaced by a +1 channel. The report also confirms the huge growth in viewing on tablets, particularly by children.

Best wishes

Mark

March 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s March newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Andrew Roy briefing
Andrew Roy, World Editor at BBC News, briefed IBT members this week on the changes that have taken place in the way the BBC covers foreign stories. BBC News used to have 150 staff in the field to report foreign news; now, as a result of the integration with the World Service, Andrew can call on a staff of 600. This means that he has much greater access to wider range of foreign stories – but competition to get the stories on air remains intense. Andrew’s advice to media officers was to build relationships with the BBC’s local bureaux and pitch ideas to them. He is in frequent contact with the bureaux and uses them to test any story ideas he receives. A detailed note of the briefing can be found here on the members’ page of the IBT website.

ITV News briefing
Our next briefing will be with ITV News. We’ll be hearing from Michael Herrod who has taken over as Foreign Editor from Tim Singleton; and from Natalie Fry, Executive Producer of ITV’s new current affairs strand On Assignment which will be launched later this month. Michael and Natalie will talk about the sort of stories they’re looking for and the best way for NGOs to pitch ideas to them. This briefing will take place at 10am on Wednesday April 30^th. To guarantee your place book now via the members’ area of the IBT website.

Changes at the BBC
There has been much debate in recent weeks about the next BBC Charter and licence fee settlement. Detailed discussions are unlikely to take place until after the general election. However, the debate has focused on the size of the BBC and BBC bosses have responded by announcing that BBC3 will close as a broadcast channel in the Autumn of 2015, and relaunch as an online service. Most of the money saved by the closure of BBC3 will be diverted to drama on BBC1. This decision is subject to review by the BBC Trust. It’s the first time that the BBC has proposed shutting down a television service. When previous cuts were announced by the BBC Executive which proposed closing 6 Music that decision was overruled by the Trust so it’s possible that will happen again. The Trust has said that it will undertake a public consultation so that licence fee payers can have their say. BBC4 has been saved – for the moment at least – but its future clearly depends on the next licence fee settlement. IBT is opposing the closure of BBC3. We believe that it makes a unique contribution to UK television with its strong track record in innovative international documentaries. We are concerned that this element of its output will disappear when the channel moves online.

ITV and Channel 5
Ofcom has confirmed that it has renewed the licences of ITV and Channel 5. It has also announced that it will undertake a review of public service broadcasting in the UK, in advance of the BBC Charter negotiations. IBT will be submitting evidence to the review.

The Bird’s Eye Film Festival
The Bird’s Eye Film Festival, which celebrates the work of female filmmakers around the world, is back next month for its tenth year. It runs from April 8^th – 13^th and films will be shown at a number of London venues.

The Invention of News
Jeremy Paxman has written a provocative analysis of the news industry saying that ‘the more news there is, the less anyone really needs it.’ He was reviewing The Invention of News, a new book by the historian Andrew Pettegree.

RT – Russia Today
RT, the global news channel funded by the Russian government has suffered serious damage to its credibility with presenters complaining that it has adopted an uncritical pro-Putin line. One presenter quit live on air.

12 Years a Slave
Fresh from winning the best picture Oscar, the Film4 backed feature, 12 Years a Slave, has received the stamp of approval from the US education authorities. The film will now become a compulsory part of the syllabus for all US high school students.

One World Media Awards

Tickets for the One World Media Awards go on sale later this month. The awards, which celebrate the most outstanding media coverage of the developing world, will be hosted by Jon Snow and will take place on Tuesday May 6^th at King’s Place in London.

Best wishes

Mark

February 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s February newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

IBT annual report

Today (7^th February 2014) we publish our annual report for 2013. This was one of our busiest and most productive years to date. We published two research reports, hosted a number of events including briefings and training sessions for our members, submitted evidence to inquiries by Ofcom, the BBC Trust, the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and the House of Lords Communications Committee. We expanded our membership and had regular meetings with media regulators, broadcasters and parliamentarians.

It’s particularly rewarding that our research continues to be widely praised and is of practical benefit to both media organisations and NGOs. We have now built up a substantial body of research, having published 15 reports since 2006. All of these are available to be downloaded from our site. You can read/download the Annual Report from our home page.

This World briefing

Last month, Sam Bagnall, the executive producer of This World, BBC2’s international current affairs strand, briefed IBT members. He spoke about his thinking behind recent commissions and how he had won a regular slot at 9pm on BBC2 by taking a sometimes left field approach to the big global issues of the day. He showed clips from some of his output including Toughest Place to be a Fisherman and Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve, using the clips to demonstrate how NGO stories could be framed to appeal to mainstream audiences. Notes from this briefing are available in the members’ area of the IBT site.

Next briefing

Our next briefing will be with Andrew Roy who has taken over as BBC World editor from Jon Williams. It will take place at 10am on Wednesday March 5^th at the IBT offices. This is a free event for IBT members but places need to be booked in advance. Andrew runs the foreign desk for BBC News so he has huge influence on which stories are covered. He’ll be giving details of key contacts at BBC News, and talking about how the foreign desk works after the merger between BBC News and the World Service, how to pitch stories to his team, what works and what doesn’t, and his experience of dealing with NGOs. Invitations to this event will be sent out next week. If you’d like to attend, you can book your place now via the members’ area of the IBT website, using your organisation’s user name and password. Any problems registering, let me know. This event is on a first come basis and demand is likely to be high.

Future briefings are planned with Michael Herrod, Head of Foreign News at ITV News and Natalie Fay, Executive Producer of the new ITV current affairs show, On Assignment, and also with Jon Zilkha, Head of the BBC Business Unit.

BBC television – strengths and weaknesses

IBT will be submitting evidence later this month to the BBC Trust review of television which covers BBC1, 2, 3 and 4. We’ll be praising the BBC for strengthening its international current affairs output on BBC2 and 3 but criticising it for abandoning international drama and for its lack of international factual output on BBC1. If you have specific views on this output and would like us to reflect them please contact Sophie Chalk, IBT’s head of campaigns, who is writing this submission sophie.chalk@btinternet.com

The death of radio – not yet

The latest audiences figures for radio show that it is more popular than ever. Radio 4 has achieved a record audience with the Today programme now attracting more than 7 million listeners each week. The Asian Network has seen a big increase in its audience. See the BBC’s Rajar ratings

ITV launches new current affairs show

ITV continues its move upmarket with the launch of a new monthly current affairs show to be fronted by Rageh Omaar. The 30 minute programme, to be called On Assignment, will consist of three reports providing insight into some of the biggest stories on the news agenda. The ITN produced show will specialise in foreign stories. The other presenters will be James Mates (Europe editor) and John Ray (Diplomatic correspondent). We’ll be hearing from the Executive Producer of On Assignment at an IBT briefing in April.

The changing face of global news

A recent BBC seminar looked at the changing face of global news and in particular the growing reach of the Chinese broadcaster, CCTV, and Russia’s RT (formerly known as Russia Today), both now broadcasting around the world in English. CCTV has 70 overseas bureaux and a reported annual budget of more than £4bn. For more on this seminar see the BBC’s Journalism Academy

Africa rising

AFFORD, the African diaspora organisation is hosting a one day conference looking at the media’s role in the continent’s renaissance. Delegates will gain a better understanding of the media’s role in explaining how Africa is changing; learn how Africans are using social media; hear about the impact of new media players such as TVC and CCTV; find out how NGOs and western media are responding to these changes. This is a free event and will take place in London at SOAS from 9am-5pm on Monday March 3^rd. Places need to be booked in advance by email to Afford

What’s been on tv recently

There has been a recent run of excellent tv programmes. On BBC2, The Tea Trail with Simon Reeve looked at the production of tea in Kenya and Uganda and exposed some worrying trends. On Channel 4, Dispatches – Hunted captured some extraordinary undercover footage of gangs in Russia pursuing and persecuting gays. On ITV, Exposure – Fashion Factories Undercover investigated the plight of workers in the clothing industry in Bangladesh and captured some truly shocking material. Some of these programmes generated a huge amount of comment on Twitter and it’s worth bearing in mind that broadcasters take this very seriously so if you watch something on tv and want to commend it please make a point of tweeting about it.

Transparency and accountability – Polis journalism conference 2014

Polis, the journalism think tank at the LSE, has announced that Alan Rusbridger, Editor of The Guardian, will give the keynote address at its annual journalism conference which takes place on Friday March 28^th. As always, this promises to be a fascinating event. Tickets can be booked here free of charge

Best wishes

Mark

January 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s January newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

IBT membership scheme

Our new membership scheme came in at the beginning of January. This newsletter is now sent exclusively to IBT members and all our events, for the moment, will be for members only. We have also introduced a members’ area of the website where anyone wishing to attend an event needs to register in advance. If you have problems accessing the members’ area, let me know.

Next IBT briefing

Our next briefing will be with Sam Bagnall, the series producer of This World, BBC2’s international current affairs strand. The briefing will take place from 10-12 on Wednesday January 22^nd at the IBT offices in Southwark. Under Sam’s editorship, This World has hit its stride with some notable films including Hans Rosling’s Don’t Panic – the Truth about Population. Sam is responsible for a large part of BBC2’s international output – and he will show clips from his award winning series Toughest Place to be… in which people from the UK take up jobs in other countries. This factual entertainment format enables UK audiences to experience what life is like for taxi drivers, firefighters, farmers and other workers in developing countries. This is a great opportunity to understand how formats like Toughest Place to be… are conceived and made. If you wish to attend, please register via the IBT website.

Channel 4 News briefing

Last month we held a briefing with Nevine Mabro, foreign editor of Channel 4 News, and her deputy Rob Hodge. It was refreshing to hear their positive attitude to working with NGOs. They explained the thinking behind the programme’s foreign coverage. They have a small team of foreign correspondents and only two overseas bureaux (Washington and Bangkok) so they are always looking to do things differently from other news organisations, to find their own angle and to cover unique stories, which are not being covered elsewhere. They are particularly keen to prioritise original journalism. They’re also keen to report more from South America and now have a regular reporter, Guillermo Galdos, who is based in Peru. More details on the content of this briefing can be found in the members’ area of the IBT website.

Making sense of the global economy

Last month we co-hosted a round table discussion at Channel 4 which looked at media coverage of global economics. It was useful to hear from a range of economic correspondents, including Paul Mason formerly of Newsnight, now at Channel 4 News; Ed Conway from Sky; and Jon Zilkha who runs the BBC’s business affairs unit. Jon will do a briefing for IBT members later this year. We have now published details of the discussion.

Unreported World

Channel 4’s international current affairs strand returns in the spring. The Unreported World team have now started filming for the next series but they still have some slots to fill. If you have any suggestions for stories they should cover please get in touch with the series producer Suzanne Lavery. If you’d like advice on which stories might appeal to them, drop me a line.

The future of BBC News

James Harding, the BBC’s new Director of News has been speaking about changes which he intends to implement. He wants to see more original journalism; an improvement in current affairs output; a broadening of the range of stories and voices; more variety between bulletins and programmes; more of the output from the global news division made available to UK audiences. He also said that he wanted to see special days and seasons dedicated to coverage of big global themes and unreported stories. We’ll be meeting BBC News executives to find out more about these planned seasons.

BBC Trust review of news and current affairs

We have now submitted evidence to the BBC Trust review of news and current affairs. In our submission, we made a number of points about the BBC’s international news output, arguing that it has a tendency to cover a narrow range of stories and perspectives. We expressed concern that the amount of air time devoted to international news appears to have fallen (based on a small week long survey which we undertook). We praised the BBC for the way in which it had integrated the World Service into the BBC News operation and expressed the hope that this would have a positive impact on international coverage by BBC News. See our full submission.

The impact of journalism

One World Media is hosting an event which looks at the impact of journalism. The keynote speaker will be Richard Tofel from the New York-based Pro Publica which is an independent not for profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. The event will take place at 6.30pm on Monday January 27^th at the University of Westminster campus in Regent Street. This is a free event but tickets need to be booked in advance.

Best wishes

Mark

December 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s December newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Briefing with Channel 4 News

Our next briefing will be from 10-12 on Tuesday December 10^th. We’ll be hearing from Nevine Mabro, Foreign Editor of Channel 4 News and Job Rabkin Commissioning Editor for the C4 News Film Fund. This event is for IBT members only. There are a few places left – if you’d like to attend, please register using the members’ area of the IBT website. Any problems registering, let me know.

Making sense of the global economy

We have now launched our new project which explores media coverage of the global economy. Yesterday, Channel 4 co-hosted a round table discussion, chaired by Michael Crick. Attendees included Paul Mason from Channel 4 News, Ed Conway from Sky News, Richard Miller from ActionAid, Loretta Minghella from Christian Aid and representatives from the BBC, government, business and academia. It was an enlightening discussion that looked at ways of broadening economics coverage to include a wider range of voices, including those dissenting from the consensus view that economic growth is good per se, and also the need to reflect more effectively connections between actions we take in the UK and their impacts around the world. We’ll be continuing with this project in 2014.

BBC Charter renewal

The Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has announced a new inquiry into the future of the BBC. This effectively kicks off the public debate about the next BBC Charter. The current Charter ends in December 2016. So we face almost three years of debate about the future of the BBC. IBT will be submitting evidence to the Select Committee. Please let us know if you have any views you’d like us to include. The central argument will be about the optimum size of the BBC. Do we want the BBC as it is, with a licence fee of £145 a year, or do we want a much smaller BBC at less cost? The BBC Director General Tony Hall has begun to address this issue in his public statements. It’s IBT’s view that the size of the BBC is one of its great strengths and, as Tony Hall reminded the audience at a recent VLV event, the BBC is no longer the biggest broadcasting organisation in the UK (that’s Sky) and nor is the BBC the global player it once was (it’s dwarfed for example by CCTV).

The Environment on TV – are broadcasters meeting the challenge?

Following the publication last month of our new research report, examining media coverage of the environment, we organised a round table discussion so that broadcasters and producers could meet scientists and campaigners and look at practical ways in which programme ideas could be developed. With the support of broadcasters, we’ll be doing more work on this next year, brokering new partnerships between producers and climate scientists and campaigners. Copies of the research report can be downloaded from our website.

The Climate Media Net

A new organisation, the Climate Media Net, has been launched to develop tv projects about climate change. The Net will pull in information and stories from a network of experts, including NGOs, and will generate early stage ideas for media content. The ideas will be the starting point for discussions with independent producers, commissioning editors and journalists.

One World Media Awards

The call for entries has just been announced for next year’s One World Media Awards which will take place on Tuesday May 6^th 2014. The annual awards recognise excellence in international media coverage and highlight the role of journalists and filmmakers in increasing cultural understanding and promoting fairness and justice worldwide. For the first time, there will be an award which recognises corruption reporting.

The European Social Documentary

ESoDoc, the European Social Documentary, is open for registration. This training scheme brings together filmmakers, new media professionals and NGO film practitioners who want to develop projects about social issues and find new funding strategies. The project has been widely praised for its innovative approach enabling participants to develop a range of creative and practical skills.

Media coverage of Africa

The BBC Trust has held a seminar to look at media reporting of Africa. The decision to hold this seminar follows discussions that IBT has been holding with the Trust on this issue. The seminar covered a wide range of themes: Is coverage too polarised? Is it either bad news or the Africa rising narrative but not much in between? Are there enough African reporters with access to mainstream audiences? Is there enough coverage of Africa in the mainstream? Is news dominated by the so called ‘NGO agenda?’ There was a widespread feeling amongst attendees that BBC News coverage was improving as a result of the merger with the World Service and the frequent conversations that were taking place between the WS Africa team and the producers of news programmes aimed at mainstream UK audiences. James Harding, the BBC’s Head of News, said he would like to see more coverage of Africa on programmes such the Six O’clock News and the Ten – and that the key was to find more good stories.

Inspiring ideas about Africa

There will be a TEDx event in London on Saturday December 7^th looking at ‘inspiring ideas about Africa.’ The aim of the event is to hear ideas coming from a new generation of African thinkers and leaders. TEDx Euston is an independently organised TED event. There are a few tickets still available.

This newsletter

Many thanks to all those who have given us feedback on the value of this newsletter. From January 2014 it will become a members-only newsletter. If you are currently receiving this but do not belong to one of our member organisations or have not joined as an individual member, this is the last newsletter you will receive. All former and present staff and trustees will also receive the newsletter. If you’re unsure of whether your organisation is a member, you can check here.

New IBT member

We’re delighted to welcome AFFORD, the African diaspora group, as a new member of IBT.

Best wishes

Mark

IBT’s mission is to use the media to further awareness and understanding of people’s lives in the developing world and the issues which affect them

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter please reply with unsubscribe in the subject line

November 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s November newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

The Environment on TV – are broadcasters meeting the challenge?

Last month we launched our new research report at a packed meeting at the House of Commons with a panel which included broadcasters, NGOs and scientists. The report was widely praised for its analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of tv coverage of the environment but the broadcasters disputed exactly what their responsibility was to make programmes that looked at contentious issues such as climate change. However, it was agreed that there was a creative gap and a need for some fresh thinking. Our hope is that the report will act as a catalyst for innovation so we’ll be bringing together a group of broadcasters and independent producers later this month for a round table discussion to see how the recommendations of the report can be taken further. Copies of the research report can be downloaded from our website.

Future briefings

Our next briefing, on Tuesday, the 10th of December from 1000 to 1200, will be with Nevine Mabro, Foreign Editor of Channel 4 News and Job Rabkin who runs the C4 News indie fund. Invitations will be sent out shortly.

Future briefings are planned with Sam Bagnall, Executive producer of BBC2’s This World strand – Wednesday, the 22nd of January 2014 from 1000 – 1200.

Later we hope to have a briefing with Andrew Roy, Foreign Editor of BBC News.

New website – members’ area

We have now launched our new website which we hope will make it easier to access IBT reports and news. The website includes a members’ area where IBT members can register for briefings, training sessions and other events. To access the members’ area, you will need a username and password. IBT has 40 member organisations. Each one has its own user name and password which is available to all members of staff. You’ll be able to obtain this from our key contact at your organisation or direct from me. The members’ area also includes notes from previous briefings.

Changes at the BBC

Tony Hall, the BBC Director General has been talking about changes which he’ll be introducing at the BBC. These include a host of new services and a much improved iPlayer where programmes can be accessed before they are broadcast and for 30 days after broadcast (as opposed to the present 7 day window). He said the BBC needs to be much more responsive to the ways in which audiences are changing. The BBC wants audiences to be more involved in programmes. The full speech can be found here .

The BBC has also come under attack from Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party Chairman, who has indicated that the BBC will have a fight on its hands to hold onto the licence fee when a new Charter comes into place in 2016. DCMS and the BBC have already started work on the new Charter and the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has announced its own inquiry into the future of the BBC to which IBT will be submitting evidence.

We’ll also be submitting evidence to the first BBC Trust review of all its news services. There’s been a lot of change in the news division including major cuts and the merger with the World Service. We would welcome any thoughts from IBT members on how well BBC News is doing in terms of its international coverage. If you’d like to contribute to our submission or make one of your own, please contact IBT’s Head of Campaigns, Sophie Chalk.

Changes at the FT

The Financial Times editor, Lionel Barber, has announced his plans for the next stage in his ‘digital first’ strategy. In future the FT will prioritise its website ft.com and there will be just one global edition of the printed newspaper which will complement the website. Breaking news, exclusives and analysis will all go on the website. The FT has transformed its business model, with online subsciptions now surpassing print circulation.

Creating Global Conversations

The first One World Media Festival called Creating Global Conversations takes place this Friday and Saturday. Highlights include a panel discussion on Putting the ‘foreign’ back into foreign correspondent and a live comedy show by the controversial comedian Jane Bussman which takes a look at what she calls ‘the poverty industry.’ Tickets for all events are free but need to be booked online. The Jane Bussman event is by invite only – if you’d like to attend, email One World Media and mention IBT in your email. Full details of the festival can be found here.

Does your CEO tweet?

An interesting blog from Media First looks at how different CEOs use Twitter, including an amusing account of why Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary did so well and the Customer Service Director of British Gas did so badly. You don’t need to follow their advice but it’s worth taking a look at.

What’s on television

If you’re staying in, there are some great documentaries on tv at the moment. Last night, in the run up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference, Channel 4 broadcast the tv version of No Fire Zone, its investigation into human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, Channel 4 will be showing The Cruel Cut which explores what it calls ‘the complex world of female genital mutilation.’ Look out for a scene where members of the public are asked to sign a spoof petition in support of FGM. On Thursday, BBC2’s This World strand will be showing Don’t Panic – the Truth About Population, which looks at the falling birth rate around the world and how people in the UK have huge misconceptions about what life is like in developing countries. On Friday, Channel 4’s Unreported World continues its current run with a report by Aidan Hartley on Egypt’s declining tourist industry.

IBT governance

We’re delighted that IBT has two new Trustees who will be joining the Board in January. Jessica Harris is currently Director of Investment and Partnerships at Restless Development and will bring invaluable fundraising skills to the Board, and Karina Brisby is a freelance digital content creator and former Head of Interactive Campaigns at Oxfam whose track record of digital innovation will prove equally valuable.

Best wishes

Mark

IBT’s mission is to use the media to further awareness and understanding of people’s lives in the developing world and the issues which affect them

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter please reply with unsubscribe in the subject line

October 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s October newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

The Environment on TV – are broadcasters meeting the challenge?

Later this month we’ll be publishing our new research report which looks in detail at how mainstream television covers the environment and related issues, particularly climate change. The aim of the research is to encourage broadcasters to improve their coverage and to work more effectively with NGOs and climate scientists. The launch will take place at 6pm on Monday October 28^th at the House of Commons. If you’d like to attend please RSVP to Neha Nijhon at Carbon Neutral. At the launch we’ll hear from a panel of experts representing broadcasters, NGOs and climate scientists. Full invite here.

Sky News and Unreported World briefings

Since our last newsletter we’ve held two briefings, with Adrian Wells from Sky News and Monica Garnsey from Unreported World. Adrian spoke about the narrowing news agenda and gave useful tips on how NGOs can piggyback on the main international stories of the day and also explained the different points of entry for NGOs pitching ideas to Sky News. Monica explained how Unreported World works now that there are two runs of eight episodes each year. The strand has no set agenda but is always on the lookout for new stories and issues. A key element is a strong central character with a narrative which can be captured on film in the time available. Monica said she is keen to have more counterintuitive stories like the story of a British Somali opening a new restaurant in Mogadishu or the impact of rising property prices in Gaza. Future briefings are planned with Newsnight and Channel 4 News although no dates have been fixed yet. More on these in next month’s newsletter.

Submissions

IBT regularly submits evidence to inquiries by Ofcom, the BBC Trust, The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and others. We’re pleased to say that these submissions have, in the past, resulted in important changes to broadcast policy. We have recently submitted evidence to Ofcom’s review of the Channel 4 licence in which we supported Ofcom’s plan to renew the licence for a further 10 years. However, we did emphasise the importance of Channel 4 fulfilling its international remit, to bring news and views from around the world. We have also submitted evidence to the BBC Trust review of the proposed licence for the World Service, now that it falls under the auspices of the BBC Trust. We’re pleased that the new licence notes the importance of the World Service and BBC News working together to enhance international coverage aimed at UK audiences, although the primary goal is serving the global audience. The new working arrangements seem to be having a positive effect with more World Service reporters filing stories for BBC News. As a result of our submission we also had the chance to meet Lord Wiliams, the Trustee with special responsibility for the World Service.

Are we making sense of global economics?

Later this year IBT will start work on a new project looking at how effectively the UK media covers global economics, particularly issues like trade and taxation. One of the aims of the project is to look at the link between media coverage and activism. The project will start with a round table at the beginning of December with keynote speeches from Paul Mason, the former Newsnight economics editor and Adrian Lovett, Europe Executive Director for ONE. Other attendees at the round table will include broadcasters and NGO representatives. If you have any thoughts on this issue please let me know.

News in brief

Tonight’s Panorama on Malala continues a strong run from the strand which has been transmitting an impressive series of international reports in the last few weeks, investigating working conditions in the clothing industry in Bangladesh, the plight of Syria’s children and its health care system, and the carnage at the Westgate shopping mall. When Tom Giles the Panorama editor met IBT members in May he spoke about his strong interest in international stories and said that typically one in four episodes would be international.

A new book on media coverage of climate change argues that we should focus much more on the concept of risk in order to explain the impact of climate change to the wider public. More details here.

Another book just published by a group of academics argues that a key aspect of development is the way in which it is reflected in literature, cinema, television and social media. Martin Scott, an author of previous IBT reports, has written a chapter on reality television. Details here.

The Executive Director of Government Communications has warned that ‘the press release is dead’ and urged press officers to become content producers. See his thoughts here.

@_ibt

Follow IBT on Twitter for more regular updates on our work and alerts about tv programmes and events that may be of interest.

Best wishes

Mark

September 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s September newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Sky News and Unreported World briefings

Our next briefing will be Adrian Wells from Sky News. Adrian will be filling in for Tim Miller who has just (this afternoon) been sent to Syria. It will take place, as planned, at 10am on Wednesday September 11^th at the IBT offices. We have a few places left so if you’d like to attend please let me know.

We have also scheduled a briefing with Monica Garnsey, series editor of Channel 4’s all important international current affairs strand, Unreported World. The show has gone through a radical overhaul which Monica will explain. She’ll also talk through the best way of pitching ideas for the strand. This will take place at the IBT offices from 10-12 on Wednesday October 2^nd . Let me know if you’d like to attend.

Our briefings are aimed at media officers and others who want to improve their contacts and understanding of the best way to pitch ideas to commissioners and news editors. These are free events, open to all IBT members, but places must be booked in advance.

Channel 4

We have been involved in talks with Channel 4 about its international coverage. Despite the strength of Channel 4 News, there has been some disquiet expressed about the lack of international programmes outside of news and current affairs. At our recent meeting with David Abraham, the Chief Executive of Channel 4, he reiterated the channel’s commitment to internationalism and particularly to featuring voices from around the world, as a key part of the channel’s output. This is explicitly stated in the Channel 4 remit – as a result of lobbying by IBT. Encouragingly, David mentioned several peak time series in the pipeline which will have international themes and he also spoke about a major new drama, Indian Summers, which will look at the plight of Anglo-Indians at the time of Indian independence. This follows the success of The Promise, a historical drama set in Israel/Palestine.

New IBT research looks at coverage of the environment on tv

In October, we’ll be launching our latest research report which looks in detail at television coverage of the environment. The focus is mainstream tv coverage outside news, and the report asks if broadcasters are meeting the challenge of communicating key environmental issues to mainstream audiences. It will be launched with a panel discussion on the evening of Monday October 28^th at a joint event at the House of Commons with the Climate Change APPG. Invitations will go out shortly. We’ll be then taking the findings of this research and organising a round table with broadcasters to explore what concrete steps could be taken to improve coverage.

Other news in brief

Broadcasters have been speaking about the growing influence of Twitter. At a recent #TweetsFromTheTop event, Daren Childs, the Chief Executive of UKTV, spoke about how his organisation uses instant viewer feedback on Twitter to gauge reaction to shows. This is a useful reminder that it’s always worth tweeting about or commenting on a tv show or news item which you like.

A new piece of research from the Office of National Statistics has found that 55% of adults are now accessing news content online. This is up from 47% last year. The equivalent figure five years ago was 20%. TV news is still the main source of information for most people in the UK but many are checking headlines online during the day or reading stories they are particularly interested in.

If you’re responsible for briefing colleagues in advance of tv interviews, this is a great blog which offers 10 top tips for engaging with the media.

Best wishes

Mark

August 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s August newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

New IBT membership scheme

The IBT Trustees have approved a new membership scheme which will be introduced from January 1 2014. Membership fees for organisations will now be linked to UK income and there will also be individual membership available for freelancers. From this date the IBT newsletter will be for members only and all our briefings and training events will also become member-only events. The aim of these changes is to introduce a fairer and more transparent fee structure and to ensure that the membership fees give IBT an income which helps cover our core costs and ensures our sustainability in the long term. I’ll be writing to all our member organisations in the Autumn with details of the new fee structure. If you’d like to support IBT and our work, please encourage your organisation to retain its membership. More details on the new scheme can be found here .

Twitter training session

Last month we held our first training session on Twitter. Mary Mitchell, an experienced social media trainer, provided tips and suggestions on how to maximise the value of Twitter. The session, targeted at media officers who use Twitter but would like advice on how to use it more effectively, went well and feedback was positive. Following the workshop, Mary wrote a blog about apps like Storify that work well alongside Twitter. See her blog here.

Sky News briefing

A new date for the briefing with Tim Miller from Sky News has now been fixed. It will take place at 10am on Wednesday September 11^th. All those who booked places will automatically be allocated a place.

Changing tv viewing habits

Ofcom has published its annual communications market report which looks in detail at changing patterns of media consumption. It contains a wealth of interesting information: families are increasingly watching tv together in the living room; households now have fewer tv sets; growing numbers of viewers are on a second screen at the same time as watching tv; live tv still accounts for 90% of viewing; people in the UK are watching more tv than they used to; radio listening is holding up well. Full report here .

Public understanding of climate change

The Select Committee on Science and Technology has been listening to evidence from broadcasters, as part of its inquiry into public understanding of climate change. David Jordan, the BBC’s Director of Editorial Policy, told MPs that the BBC had a duty to explain climate change to mainstream audiences and had moved on from ‘false balance’ equating the sceptical point of view with mainstream opinion. Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s Head of Factual, took a different view, arguing that Channel 4 would cover these issues when it could find an alternative point of view. Fiona Ball, Head of Environment at Sky, said that it was making a concerted effort to engage audiences with climate change and, unlike other broadcasters, its corporate and editorial policies were much more joined up.

Broadcast news in brief

– The Government has finally agreed to legislate to end the iniquity that sees public service broadcasters like the BBC and Channel 4 pay to have their channels aired on Sky. Cable platforms like Virgin Media do not levy these charges. Sky has fought a long campaign to resist this change.

– The licences for ITV and Channel 5 have been renewed by the Government for a 10 year period with a statutory obligation placed on them to broadcast national and international news and current affairs in peak time. However, some cuts to ITV’s regional output have been agreed.

– A Sri Lankan diplomat has attacked Callum Macrae, the director of the Channel 4 investigation, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, and threatened to bar him from entering the country to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November.

– As part of the BBC’s annual report, the BBC Trust has expressed concern about falling audiences for some current affairs programmes and has said that the current affairs genre needs to serve audiences better.

– The BBC Trust has also published its latest impartiality review which states that the BBC needs to find more space for ‘contentious opinion.’ This may explain why a UKIP MEP was given a free run on Today to expand on his view that aid money to ‘bongo bongo land’ is largely spent on Ray bans and Ferraris. The Trust has also recommended that the BBC broaden its diversity of voices beyond politicians.

Happy holidays

Mark

July 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s July newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter)

Twitter training session

Our next event will be an informal training session on how to get the best out of Twitter. Mary Mitchell, an experienced social media trainer, will be providing tips and suggestions on how to maximise the value of Twitter. This event is aimed at media officers and others who are familiar with the basics of Twitter, and Tweet in their own name or using a corporate account, but would like to know how to make better use of Twitter. It will take place from 10-12 on Friday July 19^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. There are a few places left – if you’d like to attend, and have not already booked a place, please email me with your name and a sentence or two saying how you use Twitter, and what you’d like to get out of the event – this will help Mary to target the training so that it addresses the needs of the participants. This event is free for IBT members. Places cost £65 for non members.

Sky News briefing

Unfortunately, last month’s briefing with Tim Miller from Sky News had to be cancelled as Tim was sent to South Africa to manage Sky’s Mandela coverage. The event will now take place later this month. All those who booked places will be guaranteed a place, once a new date has been fixed, on Tim’s return to the UK.

IBT AGM

Last month we held our annual general meeting. The consensus of the meeting was that it has been a good year for IBT, but securing our funding base remains a major challenge for the future. Next month we’ll be announcing details of our new membership scheme which will be introduced in January 2014. The aim of the scheme is to make membership fees more transparent and equitable, with the new fee structure based on income. It will involve an increase for some members and a decrease for others. This is the first time that we have increased the membership fee. The AGM also elected three new Trustees to IBT’s Board and we are delighted to welcome them: Margaret Batty from WaterAid, Jane Cooper from UNICEF and Harriet Tolputt from Oxfam.

The future of the World Service

The BBC Trust has published a new service licence for the World Service. This will come into effect in April 2014, when the World Service moves from Foreign Office to licence fee funding. There will be a public consultation to which IBT will be submitting evidence. The new licence gives a clear description of the goals of the World Service and notes that the service needs to be distinctive and innovative, drive a ‘global conversation’ and encourage ‘a shared sense of global citizenship.’ It also outlines how the BBC’s domestic news output will be enhanced by a closer relationship with the World Service. The draft operating licence can be found here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/consult/wsol/wsol_operating_licence.pdf

Whilst the Foreign Office has yet again cut the World Service’s budget, the BBC has said that next year there will be a budget increase.

The World Service has also released its latest audience figures. Despite significant cuts, the network has increased its global audience. Although the global radio audience has fallen, there has been an increase in online audiences and those watching Persian and Arabic TV.

Media news in brief

– Channel 5 plans to revamp its early evening news bulletin into a forum for discussion about the big stories of the day. The revamped 6.30pm bulletin, produced by ITN and titled NewsTalkLive will launch later this month. The 5pm bulletin will remain a traditional news bulletin.

– African news channel TVC News, run by the former head of Al Jazeera English, has launched on Sky channel 572. The 24 hour news channel is based in Lagos and aims to tell stories ‘through African eyes.’ It will also attempt to highlight some more positive African stories.

– ITN chief executive, John Hardie, says that its new online 24 hour rolling news stream Livestream has been a big hit with audiences. He says that correspondents are increasingly breaking stories online rather than on air, and audiences are turning to the internet for their news updates rather than rolling tv news channels like Sky News.

– Digital users are more willing to pay for news on their smartphones and tablets according to new research from the Reuters Institute http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

– BBC3 Controller Zai Bennett has confirmed his commitment to placing international current affairs at the heart of the channel’s schedule. BBC3 will continue with its distinctive approach, using young presenters to reflect life in other countries. The latest example of this genre, India – a Dangerous Place to be a Woman, was broadcast last week to widespread acclaim, and is still available to watch on iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03696fw/India_A_Dangerous_Place_to_Be_a_Woman/

– Al Jazeera, which already has a strong track record in airing more international documentaries than any other broadcaster, plans to boost its documentary output. The aim is to broadcast two original 60 minute documentaries every week – they’ll be commissioned by Diarmuid Jeffreys and Flora Gregory.

– Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s Head of Documentaries has been appointed Controller of BBC1, taking over from Danny Cohen who was promoted to Director of Television. Charlotte is the final appointment to Tony Hall’s new leadership team. There has been speculation that she will make major changes at BBC1. She’s been responsible for innovation across documentaries and it’s likely that under her tenure BBC1’s documentary output will expand.

– The Act of Killing, described as ‘this year’s most talked about documentary’, has been a big hit with festival audiences in the UK and elsewhere. It has also had more than 500 screenings across Indonesia where it has reignited a debate about the massacres of Communists and others that took place in the 1960s. What makes this film different from any other is that the massacres are re-enacted with the perpetrators playing themselves. It’s an extraordinary film and well worth seeing if you’ve missed it.

Best wishes

Mark

June 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s June newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter – pdf)

Next briefing will be with Sky News foreign editor Tim Miller

Our next event will be a briefing and networking event with Tim Miller who runs the foreign desk at Sky News. Sky News has a strong track record of covering a wider range of international stories than other UK broadcasters and Tim is keen to have good working relationships with NGOs. He’ll be talking about the sort of international stories he’s looking for, opportunities for live interviews, how best to pitch and who to pitch to. This is a free event for IBT members only. It will take place at 10am on Friday June 28^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. Places need to be booked in advance. To secure your place, please email me by the end of the day on Friday June 7^th.

Last month’s briefing with Panorama editor Tom Giles

Last month, we held a briefing with Tom Giles, the editor of Panorama. Tom’s background is in international news. He’s worked for the World Service and he spoke about his commitment to international stories. He commissions 40 half hour episodes and 7 or 8 one hour specials each year – roughly a quarter of these are international. He’s keen that Panorama should have a strong investigative element and have its own agenda, not follow the agenda set by BBC News. More detailed notes of the meeting are available to all IBT members.

Why Poverty – where next?

Also last month, we co-hosted a debate with the ODI and Open University, looking at the lessons to be learnt from the BBC’s Why Poverty season. The season of documentaries was a unique attempt to engage mainstream television audiences with the issue of global poverty and the films were broadcast in 72 countries. The goal was to stimulate a global debate about poverty in developed and developing countries. Nick Fraser, the BBC’s series producer gave a frank description of his hopes and how they were not realised. There then followed an animated discussion about where the season succeeded and where it failed, with IBT contributing its view. The consensus was that the BBC did not give sufficiently strong backing to the season, particularly in terms of slots and marketing. A video of the meeting is available to view on the ODI website as well as some notes on what the speakers said.

Public engagement with aid – new think piece from Involve

Involve, the charity which specialises in public participation, has published a new paper called Resetting the Aid Relationship which looks at how DFID and others could be more effective in promoting public engagement with aid by following the example of the science community. The paper includes a number of practical steps which could be taken to achieve a more meaningful engagement of the public in the debate about international aid. Simon Burall, the Director of Involve and one of the authors of the paper, spoke at our Why Poverty event.

IBT AGM

The IBT AGM will take place later this month, at 5pm on Thursday June 20^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. This is a short but important meeting. We will be electing a new group of Trustees as we have now completed the changes to our governance. IBT has been set up as an unincorporated charity with a simpler Trust deed. We are still a membership based organisation and it is the members who elect the Trustees, so please come along and have your say. We try to make proceedings as informal as possible and everyone from a member organisation is welcome to attend. See here for a full list of members.

CBBC and CBeebies

We have submitted evidence to the BBC Trust’s review of children’s services and content. Our submission has praised the BBC for increasing the amount of international content available on both CBBC and CBeebies. At the time of the last Trust review of children’s services, in 2009, we were very critical of the BBC’s track record in this area. As a result, the Trust recommended that the service licence for CBeebies be amended to make a specific reference to fulfilling the global purpose – and this subsequently took place. This change to the licence was the direct result of our lobbying effort and it’s clear that it has had an impact. There are a now a number of new programmes on both CBBC and CBeebies with international themes. In our latest submission we have also noted the BBC’s continuing commitment to Blue Peter and Newsround but we have recommended that the Trust review budgets on Newsround so that more foreign filming can take place. Our submission can be found here.

BBC Online

We’ve also been involved in another BBC Trust review – of its online and red button services. Although BBC Online had been given a target to double the number of click-throughs from BBC sites to external content, it is unlikely to meet this target. This was an issue which we raised in our submission, as BBC Online, particularly BBC News and BBC Sport are significant drivers of audiences to other sites. We’d like to see the BBC doing more in this area and also improving the quality of its curating of external content. There is often a reluctance to connect to NGO sites which are seen as campaigning. The Trust has now instructed BBC Online to ‘continue to increase the number of external click-throughs, and make them more effective and consistent.’ The full report is here.

Future events

Open City Docs Fest takes place in London from June 20-23 at a range of venues including UCL. There are a number of UK premieres and many films which feature global issues. The controversial film The Act of Killing will be followed by a Q and A with director Joshua Oppenheimer. This film has re-enacted a massacre which took place in Indonesia in 1965, with the perpetrators playing themselves.

Africa Gathering celebrates its fifth anniversary with a conference looking at innovation and opportunities for investment in African technology, with a special focus on the role of women. The event will take place from June 21-22 at BBC Broadcasting House.

PhotoVoice is organising a one day conference to look at how NGOs use images to represent developing world issues and people. It takes place on June 8 at Rich Mix in east London.

New members

We’re delighted to welcome two new organisations as members of IBT, International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Malaria No More UK. If you’re interested in joining or know of an organisation or individual who is, here is a link to our leaflet for potential new members.

Malcolm Harper

Finally, I am very sorry to have to announce the sudden and unexpected death of Malcolm Harper, a long time Trustee and friend of IBT and a former Chair of the Trustees. Malcolm made a huge contribution to IBT over many years, finally stepping down as a Trustee last year. As The Times noted in its obituary ‘In a career divided between Oxfam and the United Nations Association, Malcolm Harper devoted his life to humanitarian causes and respect for international law.’ It was always a pleasure dealing with Malcolm and I am very grateful for the support and encouragement which he gave me. He will be greatly missed.

Best wishes

Mark

May 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s May newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter – pdf)

Briefing with Panorama editor Tom Giles

Our next event will be a briefing and networking event with Tom Giles, the editor of Panorama. Tom is the most successful Panorama editor for a number of years. He was responsible for the multi award-winning investigation into private care homes, Undercover Care, and he’s also commissioned a number of important foreign films. However, we’d like to see Panorama give international issues a higher profile and this is something we’ll be raising with Tom at this event. The briefing will take place at 10am on Thursday May 16^th at the IBT offices in Southwark. It’s a free event for IBT members only, but places must be booked in advance. If you’re interested in attending please let me know by the end of this week.

Why Poverty – where next?

Later this month we’ll also be holding a debate to look at the impact of the BBC’s Why Poverty season. It was a unique attempt to engage mainstream television audiences with the issue of global poverty and the films were broadcast in 72 countries. The goal was to stimulate a global debate about poverty in developed and developing countries. But was the project successful and what lessons can be learnt for any future attempts to use the media to engage the public with poverty and development? The series producer, Nick Fraser, will be presenting evidence of the impact of the season and there will be a panel discussion. The event will take place at 10am on Friday May 17^th at the ODI offices next to Southwark tube station. If you’re interested in attending or watching it online, you’ll need to register via the ODI website:

http://www.odi.org.uk/events/3171-bbc-poverty-project-aid-development-public-attitudes

Training events

Last month we held two training events for IBT members with stills photographer Crispin Hughes. Feedback from the events has been positive. The consensus was that the mix of practical and theoretical was about right, and that Crispin was an excellent trainer with a good understanding of the changing role of media officers who were increasingly being asked to take pictures on foreign trips. The sessions were popular with more than 20 different organisations represented. We plan to hold further training events later this year. The next one will focus on how to get the most out of Twitter. Our goal in running these training events is to help IBT members develop their skills so that they can be more effective in a changing media environment.

IBT’s lobbying activities

We have continued to be active on lobbying front. This month we made two submissions: to the House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry into media plurality and to the Ofcom consultation on the new licences for ITV and Channel 5. In both submissions we argued for maintaining the obligations on the commercial public service broadcasters to produce current affairs in peak time, particularly international current affairs. We’re concerned that the ITV current affairs strand Tonight is now producing very little international content despite its close relationship with ITN. We’ve raised this issue with the media regulator, Ofcom, and have asked them to start monitoring the international content on ITV. All our submissions can be found on our website:

http://www.ibt.org.uk/submissions.php

New Trustees

IBT is going through a period of change and we’re delighted that we will be recruiting a number of new Trustees in the next couple of months. If you’re interested in becoming an IBT Trustee please take a look at our website for further details. These positions are only available to IBT members. The deadline for applications is Wednesday May 8^th

http://www.ibt.org.uk/all_documents/overview/April2013_New_Trustees.pdf

IBT marketing video

We are in the process of making a short video for our website so that IBT members are much clearer on what we do and what the benefits of membership are. If you have been to a commissioner briefing and subsequently were successful in pitching an idea to a broadcaster please get in touch so that we can feature this in the video, as it’s strong evidence of the impact of IBT’s work.

Media news in brief

– Last month the BBC drama Casualty featured a storyline about female genital mutilation. The writing was superb and it was very encouraging to see this complex issue featured so prominently in a prime time soap. IBT has been urging the BBC for a number of years to feature international issues in drama and soaps.

– Panorama received much publicity for its undercover North Korea film which achieved one of its highest audiences, with over 5 million viewers watching on the night. However, the LSE has lodged a formal complaint with the BBC Trust after it argued that students’ lives were put at risk by the secret filming.

– Ed Stourton has returned to the subject of aid for Radio 4, this time with the much less controversial Syria: can aid meet the challenge?

– Twitter is boosting the impact of television with increasing numbers tweeting as they watch tv. The most tweeted programme of the month was the ITV drama Broadchurch. There were 260,000 tweets during the last episode.

– There have been some great documentaries this month about the Middle East. Olly Lambert’s film for Channel 4 Syria – Across the Lines gave a graphic account of the deteriorating situation in that country.

– After the success of the BBC2 documentary series Welcome to India, the BBC has announced that it will commission Keo Films to make a third series about poverty in a developing country. Welcome to Rio will be shown next year, when the World Cup takes place in Brazil.

– The Radio 4 Controller has announced that Thought for the Day is looking for more women to take part after recent statistics showed a ratio of 8 men to 1 woman.

– The new BBC Director General Lord Hall has announced that he will beef up Newsnight after its recent troubled past. A new editor will be appointed shortly.

– Unreported World has returned to Channel 4 on Friday nights with reports so far from Cuba, Kenya and Gaza. We’ll be holding a briefing with Monica Garnsey, the series producer, later this year.

Best wishes

Mark

April 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s April newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry.

Welcome to India master class and networking event

Last month we held our first master class which looked at the making of the BBC2 documentary series Welcome to India. We also heard about some forthcoming projects being made by Keo Films and how the production company develops new ideas. The event was packed and feedback was very positive. Comments afterwards included ‘very useful in terms of understanding how documentary makers think about storytelling in innovative ways’ and ‘incredibly useful to have face to face time with the people we pitch to, to understand their needs.’ We’ll be holding more master classes in the future. Notes on the event are available to all IBT members – just email me if you’d like a copy.

Future IBT events

Later this month we’ll be holding two training events on stills photography with Crispin Hughes, an experienced photographer and trainer. These are now fully subscribed, but there will be more training events in the future. Next month, we’ll return to our series of commissioner briefings with Tom Giles, the Editor of Panorama, talking about the BBC’s principal current affairs strand. Future briefings will focus on Sky News and Unreported World.

ITV and Channel 5 licences

Following the publication of our report on the future of current affairs, An Uncertain Future – the threat to current affairs, we are now preparing our submission to Ofcom which is reviewing the licences for ITV and Channel 5. We’ll be arguing that international current affairs on the commercial public service broadcasters has a crucial role to play. This was also the consensus of the round table event which we held in February with current affairs producers and commissioners. We are optimistic that this will remain a statutory requirement when these two licences are renewed next year.

Expert Women database

The BBC has lent its support to the campaign by Broadcast magazine and City University for more women experts on news and current affairs programmes, by launching an Expert Women database and a YouTube channel to showcase some of the new experts who have received media training by the BBC Academy. The training programme is continuing and, whilst many of the women so far have come from the world of science and academia, there is no reason why in future they should not come from the NGO sector. Further information about the database can be obtained from holly.blake@bbc.co.uk

Fall in news site traffic

Latest figures show a slump in traffic to most news websites with only Guardian.co.uk website showing a month on month increase. The latest figures make for interesting reading with the top UK news website Mail Online followed by Guardian.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk, Sun.co.uk, Independent.co.uk, Mirror Group digital, Metro.co.uk and finally Standard.co.uk. The Sun and The Telegraph have both announced that they will start to charge online users.

Apple removes Channel 4’s Sweatshop app

Apple has removed the Channel 4 Education-funded mobile game Sweatshop from its App Store after claiming it was ‘uncomfortable’ with the game’s themes. The game is designed to make youngsters think about the origins of the clothes they buy and involves playing the role of a manager in a factory which is manufacturing goods for a British high street store. After Apple removed the app the team amended it, to make clear that it was a fictitious game but Apple refused to reinstate the app. The game, which has had more than 1 million plays, remains available on the playsweatshop.com site.

One World Media Awards

The finalists in the One World Media Awards have been announced after a record number of entries. Tickets for the 25^th annual awards are now on sale. The event will take place on Tuesday May 7^th at Kings Place in London. http://oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/

Follow IBT on Twitter

For regular updates on our work and on any relevant news in the field of media, development, human rights and the environment follow us on Twitter @_ibt

Best wishes

Mark

March 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to IBT’s March newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry. (Print this Newsletter – pdf)

Welcome to India master class

This month we are organising our first master class. We’re delighted that the producers of Welcome to India have agreed to come and talk to us. This was the standout documentary series of 2012 and successfully brought issues connected to poverty and development to a mainstream audience. It reinvented a format first established with Welcome to Lagos. In this master class, the series director Tom Beard will show clips and talk about the process of development and shooting, what the brief was from BBC2, how he wanted to challenge popular perceptions about poverty and how he looked for strong human stories which highlighted key issues. This is a great opportunity for media officers and others to gain a better understanding of how documentary producers think about stories/issues and how they attempt to make challenging subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. It will also be a good networking opportunity for anyone who wishes to get to know a leading independent production company. Welcome to India was made by Keo Films which has a track record of innovative approaches to international issues. They’re responsible for a range of peak time shows, including Hugh’s Fish Fight, River Cottage and Meet the Natives. Also attending the workshop will be a member of Keo’s development team who will give us an insight into how indies pitch to broadcasters. The master class will take place from 10-11.30am on Tuesday March 19^th. This is a free event for IBT members but places need to be booked in advance. For a current list of members see http://www.ibt.org.uk/members.php Places are also available to non members for a fee of £50 payable in advance. Let me know if you’d like to attend.

Parliamentary event on aid and the role of the media

Last month we held a parliamentary event, in conjunction with IDS, which looked at ways of building public support for aid and in particular at how to engage the media more effectively in this process. The round table was chaired by the Labour MP, Alison McGovern, and attended by a number of Parliamentarians, NGOs and media representatives. There was a strong call from the media side for NGOs to think in terms of ‘stories’ rather than ‘issues’ and a recognition that a more concerted effort was needed by NGOs and Parliamentarians to change the nature of the public conversation and to find concrete examples of the positive impact of aid but at the same time to engage in an honest debate about the limits of aid. Bringing these three groups together was the beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful dialogue. The feedback from the round table has been positive with a number of participants asking for follow up meetings. A briefing note on the discussion is available to all IBT members – get in touch with Sophie Chalk, IBT’s Head of Campaigns, if you’d like a copy. Sophie.chalk@btinternet.com

Impact of IBT report on the future of current affairs

Last month we published our research report An Uncertain Future – the threat to current affairs, which looked at the future of the genre that is considered to be most at risk if the Government takes a deregulatory approach in any future Communications Bill. We held a round table discussion which was attended by leading producers, commissioners, regulators and media journalists. There was a consensus that the report presented a strong case for regulation to ensure that current affairs retains its place in the schedules. The round table was followed by a leading article in Broadcast, the industry magazine and a think piece by Maggie Brown in Guardian Online. We also presented the research findings to officials at DCMS, the department responsible for broadcast policy. The report can be downloaded from the IBT website or obtained in hard copy from the IBT office.

http://www.ibt.org.uk/all_documents/research/An_Uncertain%20Future_the_threat_to_current_affairs.pdf#view=FitV

BBC Trust review of all tv channels and news output

The BBC Trust has announced that it will review all the BBC’s tv channels and news output later this year. This is the biggest ever review undertaken by the Trust and the most important one to date. IBT will be submitting detailed evidence in consultation with its membership. It’s an important opportunity for us to look critically at the impact of the BBC’s global purpose to ‘bring the world to the UK’ and how effectively it is being delivered. In previous research we have found that fewer international programmes are being commissioned and many of these are migrating to the niche channels. Drama is a particular weakness with a near total absence of international dramas – the recent Mary and Martha is a notable exception. News output retains a strong international element but the range of stories being covered is narrowing.

Al Jazeera English briefing

Last week we heard from Ben Rayner, Head of News at Al Jazeera English. Ben gave a useful overview of how the channel works, who commissions stories, what sort of stories appeal to them and names of key contacts. The channel has a particular interest in stories from Africa and the Middle East and strong coverage of Latin America. They are keen to develop good relationships with NGOs and there are opportunities for NGO staff to appear in studio discussions. It was good to hear that Al Jazeera English remains committed to a wider news agenda than the main UK news broadcasters. One of the key findings of the news survey which we published in The World in Focus was the fact that AJE regularly reported from significantly more countries than any other broadcaster.

Live tv watching still dominates

The latest figures on tv viewing from the industry marketing body, Thinkbox, show that the average tv viewer in the UK watches 4 hours and 4 minutes of tv a day. It’s the third year running that it has topped the 4 hour mark. Despite the proliferation of catch up and mobile, most television is watched live by people sitting in front of an actual television: the current figure is 90%, a drop of less than 1 per cent compared with a year ago.

Changes to IBT governance

As many of you know, we have been updating our governance to establish IBT as an incorporated charity. This has now been done, as a result of which we have a new charity number and new Memorandum and Articles. We shall also be electing a new group of Trustees at the next AGM in June. In future, we shall have a core group of 10 Trustees, 6 of whom will represent the membership. All members are eligible to put their names forward. We shall be making a formal announcement about the process for recruiting new Trustees in the next month or so.

Film festivals coming up soon

– The Human Rights Watch Film Festival runs from March 13-22 across a number of London venues. Key films include Salma, a documentary directed by Kim Longinotto, which tells the story of how a young Indian Muslim girl unexpectedly became a famous poet; War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen, a drama shot entirely in DRC which focuses on life inside a rebel camp, and Wadjda, directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, the first full length feature shot entirely inside Saudi Arabia, which tells the story of a girl growing up in a suburb of Riyadh. http://ff.hrw.org/

– The Birds Eye Film Festival is back, also in a number of London venues, from April 3-10. This year it celebrates the work of Arab women filmmakers. Highlights include When I Saw You, a new film by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine’s first female feature director, which tells the story of a young boy escaping from a refugee camp in 1967, and On the Edge, by Leila Kilani, a fast paced drama giving an insight into the dark side of life in the Moroccan city of Tangier.

http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/4921/overview/bev-2013-celebrating-arab-women-filmmakers.html

Best wishes

Mark