Archive for April, 2005

Flirt FM misses out on Smedia award

Thursday, April 21st, 2005

An update on these earlier items about this year's Smedia awards. Unfortunately Kathryn, who was shortlisted for a Smedia award for Flirt FM's morning show Craic of Dawn, missed out in the end. NUI, Galway publications SIN and Criterion, nominated in four categories between them, also failed to get awards, ...

EU members amend support for broadcasters

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005

The EU has announced that it has closed the inquiries into French, Italian and Spanish public broadcasters after those countries agreed to amend the way they treat their broadcasters. As the press release states EU policy since 2001 is that public support for broadcasters "should not exceed the strict minimum ...

BCI policy on commercial radio licensing

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005

The BCI has published its Radio Licensing Policy for Commercial Radio Services though it's not yet on their website. There isn't a huge amount to it - it's 9 pages and something under 2,000 words in total - but is somewhat interesting, and obviously important in light of the current ...

RTÉ television for Irish emigrants in UK?

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005

Labour Party TD Emmet Stagg has been pushing support for Irish emigrants for some time now - particularly those who went to the UK in the 1950s and are now nearing retirement, as this group is particularly vulnerable. Indeed Irish emigrants have the highest rate of homelessness of any group ...

Careful journalism

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

A topic like suicide is something that is both sensitive and requires careful reportage. Poynter Online has a piece by one journalist explaining how she approached her coverage of one teen's suicide.

Crisis time for public service media in Europe?

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

The European Federation of Journalists are "sounding the alarm" on public service media in Europe, with crisis situations in several countries. Many people will have seen the recent reports of plans by the BBC for substantial (further) lay-offs, but the EFJ also lists problems in Portugal, Switzerland and Slovenia. In ...

Telecoms rewrite passes Senate in Illinois

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Free Press today pointed to a Chicago Indymedia story about the passage of the Telecoms rewrite bill in the Illinois senate. The bill still needs to pass in the House. For those who haven't been following this my colleague Sascha Meinrath has (powerpoint) [see also here and scroll down to ...

No one expects the German inquisitor (to be elected Pope)

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

But seemingly it has happened. Not particularly good news for those who were hoping for space for a more progressive movement in the Church, but not particularly surprising either. Looks like we'll need to wait a bit longer for a South American/Asian Pope (seemingly we've already had North African Popes, ...

Taleban back on the air

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

This just in from Afghanistan (via InterWorldRadio):The Taleban movement has launched a pirate radio station in Afghanistan. This is the first time the movement has controlled a radio station since it was ousted from power by US-led forces in 2001. The Voice of Shariat is being broadcast in the ...

Analysing Indymedia

Friday, April 15th, 2005

There's been some interesting discussion in the last day or two among some Indymedia activists about the state of independent media, and specifically the nature and development of Indymedia itself. Kicked off by Rabble's pondering of the difference between GNN, Indymedia and 'OurMedia', and his questioning as to why Indymedia ...