1

ASIAVISIONANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

32

Introduction

Directors’ Note

AVN History

30th Anniversary of AVN foundation

ABU News activities

ASIAVISION Operation 1) News Exchange 2) Data Analysis by Brightcove 3) Statistics in detail4) AVN Coordinators’ Meeting in 20145) Introduction of new AVN User Interface

Global News Forum

Advisory Service

Attachment scheme

Partnership Reinforcement

Financial Report

Appendix & Photo Album

4

5

6

8

9

101013161919

20

22

23

24

25

26

54

The ABU News Department started to publish the AVN Annual Report from 2013 for the first time, soon after producing the first AVN Promo Reel which has also been uploaded in the YouTube site. So, this Report is the second edition. From the outset, there are three major objectives aimed at bringing the AVN Annual Report to the attention of the broadcasting industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first is to highly enhance AVN’s publicity with an eye to attracting more members. The number of members presently stands at 28. Although it rose rapidly over the past three years from 21 in 2011, Asiavision has to go farther to reach 30. The second is to help AVN members educate their TV journalists on the job to realize that with a view to updating daily regional news bulletins, the AVN news feeds may be an unreplaceable news source covering the niche area where the international TV news agencies cannot approach. It also helps all the AVN members’ reporters to be aware of the fact that they now have access to the AVN online platform at any place in

real time through which they can search, find, and download the timely news feeds exchanged. The third is to share with all of our members the trend, information, and experiences coming up from the TV newsrooms of AVN members.

Day by day, staff at the ABU News Department is searching the answer to the essential question: how can we make AVN news activity including TV news exchange more relevant and indispensable to journalists, stakeholders, as well as to audiences as a whole? One of the solutions is information sharing with each other through R & D projects. Under the purpose, the AVN Centre will implement a collective project by which a group of expert journalists from AVN members will work together to explore what trend, wave, and development are taking place in TV news in the Asia-Pacific region. And the fruitful results of the R&D collaboration study will be open to everyone who would like to know in the formats of e-book, issue paper, and video in the near future. PDF files including the AVN Annual Report can be downloaded in the ABU Website.

Introduction With my three years term of service coming to an end at the end of 2014, I look back on the fulfilment as Director ABU News from 2012 up to now. At the beginning, I had pledged to bring change to Asiavision. First, the number of AVN Membership – 23 in early 2012, will be increased up to 30. Secondly, both quality and quantity of AVN News feeds should be highly improved. Thirdly, AVN platforms, both satellite and online will be updated by a sophisticated technology. Lastly, the publicity for Asiavision must be visually enhanced by new high-profile initiatives such as Global News Forum.

In my own evaluation, although Asiavision has still a long way to go, it is obvious that we all made efforts to bring AVN to progress over the past three years. As you can see the tangible results in the AVN Annual Report, the number of AVN Members increased from 23 two years to now 28, while being predictable that the target of 30 may be reached by the end of this year. Since the new User Interface (UI) became fully commissioned in May 2014 to complement the cloud-computing software, as aimed, now all the AVN Member journalists are able to easily download AVN news feeds at any place in real time. And we also enlarged our partnership with Eurovision, ASBU and even UN Institutes like IMF and WFP. What is more is that we have successfully hosted the first Global News Forum in Seoul last year. The second GNF will be held in March, 2015 in Sendai, Japan.

However, some of the main targets are still far away from achievement, In particular, prime among the aims not attained yet is the quality and quantity of the AVN News feeds. The total of News items exchanged is still lingering slightly below the 10,000 items per year level. Picture quality of AVN news feeds downloaded from the online platform still remains at low SD Level, not high enough for HD TV news. Further endeavor is desperately needed, as we stand at the crossroads of life and death.

Director’s NoteIn the Media Big Bang era, just like chaos in the 18th century, the digital SNS wave is also disruptive to TV News in the Asia-Pacific region as well. Now, AVN Members are being drawn into such a whirlpool: increasingly fragmented audiences, an explosion of TV news content, neo-liberal policy for media, bitter competition among news media, concentration & convergence by new kids on the media block, and commercialization of broadcasting. As we all know that the on-going challenges represent more a threat than an opportunity, AVN Newsrooms should be ready to put through innovations to stay relevant. To the end, Asiavision ought to explore, research, and adopt optimal technology, new platforms, and enlarged networks in the years ahead.

The question is what to do, how to do it, and where to go? On the way to searching the answers, I believe that collective wisdom, consensus, and cooperation will pave the way. Therefore, the more active discussion and debate, the more relevant and more competitive Asiavision will be in future. With an eye to calling for timely action, your input will always be welcomed.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Se Deuk (Sedrick) AHN / Director ABU News

76

Back in the 1960s, broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region were troubled by the fact that they had to report TV news on neighboring and regional countries only through western news agencies. This spurred them to map out a way to cover stories through their own perspectives. With the foundation of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in 1964, they began researching from 1969 ways of setting up a news exchange network among members. It was the Eurovision model of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that the ABU members wanted to emulate.

According to Diverse Unity, a record of the birth and development of the ABU up to 1977 written by Sir Charles Moses - the previous General Manager of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1960s – the first step was finally taken in November 1971 with the ABU holding a workshop in Tokyo, Japan which was financially supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).

It took another four years before the next step was taken in January 1975 – a workshop in January 1975 with the specific aim of starting a news exchange programme within the Asia-Pacific region. This was followed by a survey conducted by a three-expert team which visited 13 countries. The team reported to the ABU General Assembly in 1975 that all the 13 members were in favour of establishing a news exchange programme, provided the costs were not prohibitive.

A breakthrough came in the early 1980s when the United Nations (UN) proposed the setting up of a global satellite system for news & programmes exchange through a network of satellites leased full-time. The ABU then agreed to participate in an experiment in connection with the UN proposal. The first ABU experimental operation in exchanging TV news in the Asia-Pacific took place in March 1983 in two zones named Zone A and Zone B. The Zone A transmission coordinated from Tokyo went on for a week involving three TV newsrooms and Zone B coordinated from Kuala Lumpur went on for the whole month of March involving five ABU members. The successful experiment led to the ABU at its 1983 General Assembly resolving that it was time to launch a regional TV news exchange via satellite in 1984.

As a result, Asiavision (AVN) was officially launched on 16 January 1984 with the activation of Zone B, with eight members – namely NBAB-Bangladesh, RTB-Brunei, RTM-Malaysia, PTV-Pakistan, SLRC-Sri Lanka, CCTV-China (a receiving-only member), TVRI-Indonesia, and DD-India. On 5 April 1984, Zone A also started to exchange TV news once a week and six months later, twice a week due to the high cost of satellite transmission. The participants were NHK-Japan, CCTV-China, KBS&MBC-Korea, IRIB-Iran, and SBS-Australia.

AVN HistoryA Brief History of Asiavision

Funding was a critical issue for AVN in its early days and a core funding in 1985 in the form of a US$100,000 grant came from the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), a body set up by UNESCO to assist communications projects in the developing countries.

In 1987, AVN began entering into access agreements with the U.S. television networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC and later CNN for the right to receive and use the AVN stories.

A giant step forward in the operation of AVN came in 1989 with a new concept in the method of transmission. Up till then, the operation system required that the AVN news items be sent by satellite to the AVN Centre in Kuala Lumpur where they were compiled into a package and then re-transmitted to all the AVN members. As a result, it was not only costly, but also cumbersome. So, with effect from 1 May 1989, AVN introduced a multi-origin/multi-destination system or “hot switching”, a mode of transmission that enabled members to exchange their news material directly rather than having it pre-packaged at the coordinating centre. The “hot switching” method led to the elimination of the two Zones system.

AVN then entered the computer age in 1993 which greatly improved efficiency as members were now able to provide their offers and dope sheets directly. For over a decade since Asiavision began, it suffered from two chronic problems - a lack of members and a lack of hard news. In 1996, an Asiavision Review Team recommended that AVN needed to improve its product, widen its coverage, and reduce its cost. Thus, the first AVN managing editor was appointed in 1997 and the AVN transmissions went fully digital in January 2001.

One of the most fruitful results of digitalization was a reduction in the AVN monthly fee. Before going digital, all the AVN members pay a monthly subscription of US$8,500. It introduced a new fee structure on 1 July 2005 by replacing the flat monthly fee for all members with a scale of fees based on members’ operational expenditure. This means lower fees for the smaller AVN members. By 2009, the highest level fee was cut from $3,500 a month to $2,500 and the lowest level from $700 to $500. But, with a view to balancing the AVN budget from a deficit for three years in a row, the ABU News Group in 2012 decided to increase the monthly fee by 20% with the highest level now at US$3,000 a month and the lowest level at US$600.

In November 2009, AVN launched its file-based (ftp) news exchange service. This file transfer system operates alongside the existing satellite-based news exchange. The new system is not intended to replace the satellite news exchange but to supplement it and to offer members a choice as to how they contribute news stories to Asiavision. In August 2012, Asiavision upgraded this file-based service by introducing cloud computing. The Akamai cloud computing service enabled a much faster upload and download of video files as well as the system having a far larger storage capacity.

By 1 July 2013, the total number of AVN members has reached 28, the highest in its history. In expanding its activities, AVN successfully launched on 5 September 2013 in Seoul the Global News Forum – a round-table for TV news decision makers in the Asia-Pacific region. The Global News Forum is to be convened every two years with the second due to be held in Japan.

* Note: The article was written by Se Drick (Se Deuk) AHN, Director ABU News. Most of his references came from Diverse Unity, the record of the birth and development of ABU written by Sir Charles Moses in Australia, as well as the commemoration book titled “Four decades of unity” which was authored by Mr. Hugh Leonard to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of ABU foundation in 2003.

98

With the number of Asiavision members dramatically increasing over the past three years, the ABU News activities have been improved not just in quantity, but also in quality. The ABU News Department accelerated the daily AVN TV News Exchange by introducing a new User Interface (UI) after several trials last year. It has also started to provide to ABU members more and more in-country training where experienced journalists from AVN members conducted professional training in the ABU member organisation in an intensive way: a beneficiary in 2013 was MBC-Maldives and in 2014, it was TV5-Mongolia under the AVN Advisory Service. And by way of the AVN Attachment Scheme, a senior journalist from SLRC-Sri Lanka was trained in the news studio of Al Jazeera’s Asian News Coverage Hub in Kuala Lumpur. In 2013, the ABU News Department planned, launched, and implemented the ABU Global News Forum for the first time in its history. As its missions have successfully been achieved year by year, it is clear that ABU members have harvested more and more benefits from news activities.

Overview on ABU News activities

The AVN 30th anniversary celebration was also held in conjunction with the AVN Coordinators Meeting in KL, Malaysia on 5 March 2014. Dato’ Norhyati Ismail, Director General Broadcasting, RTM delivered the congratulatory speech, remarking that AVN has been a success of the TV News sharing project initiated by ABU members over the three decades in the past, an evidence proving what partnership and cooperation can achieve. AVN invited the former leadership bringing Asiavision from nothing to something to the anniversary celebration. Among the previous leaders invited are Mr Shaun Seow, Chairman of News Group in 2006~8, Mr Sato Toshiyuki, , the Chairman of News Group in 1990’s, Mr Klaus Schneider, the first Managing Editor of AVN, and Mr Alan Williams, the previous Director ABU News. With one voice, the old leaders reckoned, “When AVN was founded in 1984, we doubt if anybody could have predicted whether it could go forward in such a long time, or not. The fact that Asiavision has been growing up bigger, larger, smarter, and stronger over the three decades speaks volumes that all the AVN family had made great commitment to its success.”

30th Anniversary of AVN foundation

1110

1) News ExchangeAsiavision, the ABU’s daily TV news exchange programme, has always been geared towards enhancing and maximising its content for the benefit of its members. This drive for excellence has seen dramatic changes made and innovations implemented over the past few years such as the introduction of ftp (file transfer protocol) in November 2009 and now a new User Interface (UI) for Video Cloud in May 2014.

The introduction of the file-based system was to complement Asiavision’s existing satellite-based mode of exchanging news items among its members. The plus points for the file-based system are that they effectively cost-free and news items can be uploaded at any time to the system. In contrast, exchanging news items via satellite is very expensive as it involves booking satellite space and earth station uplink costs and is also very rigid as the satellite space can be accessed only at the pre-determined time. Despite its advantages, the file-based system was not without its weaknesses – its storage capacity was very limited and uploading or downloading a video file can be very slow and tedious.

Determined to overcome these weaknesses, Asiavision’s file-based system then made its first bold step in trend development by moving up to the Video Cloud system in September 2012. The Video Cloud system was a vast improvement with its huge storage capacity and offering very fast upload and download speeds. A year after its introduction, the Video Cloud system has become firmly entrenched in Asiavision’s news exchange programme when the Second Feed via satellite was terminated in September 2013 as the number of contributors had dwindled to just one, which makes it uneconomical to continue with the service.

ASIAVISION Operation

All the regular contributors had by then moved to the Video Cloud system. Asiavision’s flagship daily First Feed via satellite service however is still running as strong as ever. Asiavision continues to strive to make the Video Cloud system a better service for the benefit of all its members. Thus, a new User Interface (UI) was initiated for the system back in October 2013 and Webvista, a Korean software development company, was engaged to develop the new UI with new tools and functions incorporated into it. After several trials, the new UI became fully commissioned in May 2014. The new UI is download-oriented, aimed at enabling all journalists in members’ newsroom to download AVN material for their organisation’s own use.

Uploading material in Video Cloud is still the purview of the members’ designated AVN coordinator. The Video Cloud service has now become the preferred mode for new members to contribute news items to the Asiavision exchange. The figures for the comparison of contributions via satellite and via Video Cloud over the past 12 months are as follows:

Jul-13 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan-14 Feb Mar Apr May June

Number of stories exchangedvia Satellite in blue and via FTP in purple

458 441 467 481 572 586 611 530 605 591 613 605286 286 315 296 318 273 308 294 300 384 288 305

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

1312

The total number of stories exchanged by AVN members from 2010 is as follows:

Winner Month Event

IRIB June 2014 Insurgency Causing Crisis in Iraq

MCOT May 2014 Thai Political Crisis Leads to Military Coup

KBS Apr 2014 Korea Ferry Tragedy

RTM Mar 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Goes Missing

NHK Feb 2014 Heavy Snowfall Blankets Japan

MCOT Jan 2014 Bangkok “Shutdown” as Thai Political Turmoil Continues

MCOT Dec 2013 Thailand’s Political Turmoil Sees Parliament Dissolved

IRIB Nov 2013 Terror Attack Near Iranian Embassy in Beirut

NHK Oct 2013 Typhoon Wipha Batters Japan

CCTV Sep 2013 Typhoon Usagi Slams Into China

RTM Aug 2013 Malaysian Bus Crashes Into Ravine

CCTV July 2013 Major Earthquake Hits Gansu, China

The following is a listing of the monthly Asiavision Award winners of the last 12 months.

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

02010 2012 2014-June20132011

9004 8467 8974 9310 5434

2) Asiavision Video Cloud Data analysis by Brightcove

Total video titles : 8,391 ( at 1.Aug.2014)Video transcoding setting : 4M, 2.5M, 1M, 0.5MbpsReport period : Sept.2012 – Jul.2014

We added 4M, 2.5M into original configuration to improve video quality that members can download after Asiavision and Brightcove Korea meeting at Apr.2014.

1. Monthly video upload trendsa. Definition : total video titles uploaded in each month.b. Video uploading titles have increased over 10 times from 41 titles of Sept.2012 to 539 titles of July.2014

2. Uploaded video titles by countrya. Definition : uploaded video titles by

each country between report period.b. While report period, MCOT shared

1410(19%) news titles and RTM shared 1165(16%) titles, IRIB shared 879(12%) titles.

c. These big 3 shared totally 47% of total video sharing.

Fiji_FBC, Afghanistan_RTA, Nepal_NTV, Indonesia_Metro_TV, SriLanka_AVN,

Cambodia_CTN, India_IMF0%

Thailand_MCOT19%

Malaysia_RTM16%

Iran_IRIB12%

Algeria_ASBU, Australia_ABC, Brunei_RTB

2%

Korea_KBS11%

China_CCTV6%

SriLanka_SLRC6%

Bangladesh_BTV5%

Turkey_TRT5%

India_DDI5%

Not entered_undefined, HongKong_TVB, Singapore_CNA,

Japan_NHK, Mongolia_TV5, Mauritius_mbc, Macau_TDM,

Vietnam_VTV1%

Upload titles

Upload videos600

500

400

300

200

100

0

2012-09

2012-10

2012-11

2012-12

2013-01

2013-02

2013-03

2013-04

2013-05

2013-06

2013-07

2013-08

2013-09

2013-10

2013-11

2013-12

2014-01

2014-02

2014-03

2014-04

2014-05

2014-06

2014-07

1514

3. Monthly Video Play trendsa. Definition: total video play of each month in reporting periodb. Video play trends have increased over 2 times from 64 play of Sept.2012 to 142 play of July.2014. At

Dec.2012, video was played 157 and there was 194 play at May 2014.

4.Video Play by uploaded countrya. Definition: Video Play count

based on uploaded countryb. Video from MCOT was played

17% of total video paly in reporting period, Videos from KBS has 16% play portion and RTM has 11%, CCTV has 8%. So These big 4 has 52% of total play.

c. This playback portion is coming from big uploader and contents are more interested.

Play count

Japan_NHK, Singapore_CNA, Indonesia_Metro_TV, Macau_TDM,

Australia_ABC, Afghanistan_RTA2%

Bangladesh_BTV, Mongolia_TV5, Vietnam_VTV, Not entered_undefined,

Nepal_NTV, Cambodia_CTN1% SriLanka_AVN, India_IMF

0%

Thailand_MCOT17%

Korea_KBS16%

Malaysia_RTM11%

China_CCTV8%

Turkey_TRT5%

Iran_IRIB5%

SriLanka_SLRC4%

Algeria_ASBU3%

Fiji_FBC3%

India_DDI3%

Brunei_RTB3%

Mauritius_mbc3%

HongKong_TVB3%

Video play trends200

150

100

50

0

2012-09

2012-10

2012-11

2012-12

2013-01

2013-02

2013-03

2013-04

2013-05

2013-06

2013-07

2013-08

2013-09

2013-10

2013-11

2013-12

2014-01

2014-02

2014-03

2014-04

2014-05

2014-06

2014-07

5. Total video view by countrya. Definition: analytics for playback based on

viewer’s IP locationb. Japan users played 40% of total video play and

21% from Australia, 10% from South Korea.

6. Video Qualitya. Definition: Aggregated report of largest video

file’s bitrate of each video titles.b. After meeting between ABU and Brightcove at

Apr.2014 in Seoul, video transcode setting is changed to make higher bitrate but still user are uploading low bitrate video titles.

c. Original video file’s quality should be improved to share higher quality video among members.

d. Report period is between May.2014 and July 2014

Less than 1M9%

3M-4M51%2M-3M

39%

Over 4M0%

1M-2M1%

Maldives, Sri Lanka, Macao,Iran, Afghanistan, Fiji,

Thailand, China1%

United States, Switzerland,Singapore

2%

unknown, Turkey, Brunei, Germany, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Cambodia, France, Algeria, India, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Mongolia, Bhutan, Spain, Pakistan

0%

Japan40%

Australia21%

South Korea10%

Malaysia8%

Indonesia4%

Video view by country

Video count

1716

3) Statistics in detail (Updated from 1st JAN to late July, 2014)

1. News Exchange in 2014

2. Satellite vs FTP

Above is the graph showing the number of items exchanged by platform from January until July 2014. January till July shows the complete and clearer picture on the growth of the favourable platform by members. The graph shows - members have explored and make use of the FTP platform (Brighcove) to send and contribute their news items. April shows the highest number of items contributed via ftp (384 items). As for satellite, it is quite stagnant. (Out of 28 members only 7 are using satellite)

The graph above shows the total numbers of news items exchanged from January until July 2014. The month April shows the highest number of items exchanged (975 items)

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0Jan JulyFeb March April May June

919 824 905 975 901 910 942

3-1 comparison between total and same day itemsGraph shows the number of stories and same day items for the 1st quarter of 2014 in total. Total stories - 6542 and 2247 for same day items. AVN is estimating about 12000 total stories and 4000 same day items by the end of 2014.

3. The same day news items As of Same Days items from January to July 2014, again the graph shows the growth on ftp platform. The number of same day items sent via ftp is progressing and higher than same day items sent via satellite. This is because, AVN has only one session of satellite up linking at 0830GMT which is quite unfavourable for few members to meet the timeline to send the same day items, but as for ftp which stands as an open door platform allowed the members to freely upload the news items at any time . Again, the month of April recorded the highest number of same day items (230 items)

6542

Stories SD Items

2247

8000

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

Total stories and same day items (Jan – July 2014)

611 530 605 591 613 605 617

308 294 300 384 288 305 325

800

700

600

500

400

300

200Jan Feb March April May June July

News Exchanged (Satellite & FTP)Jan - July 2014

Satellite

FTP

1918

4. Who contributed how many? Chart above shows the total number of items contributed by each member from 1st January - July 2014. MCOT-Thailand recorded the highest number.

5. How active based on region and countryMap above shows the region coverage for AVN’s active, partially active, non-active members and network sisters (EBU & ASBU).

4) AVN Coordinators’ Meeting in 2014It was a fruitful meeting for the AVN news and technical coordinators held from 4-6 March in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur meeting was opened by the Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs of RTM, Mr. Muis Shefii and followed by the Director of ABU News, Mr Sedrick Ahn giving his welcome remarks. In his speech, Mr. Ahn said AVN has grown over the years where all AVN coordinators have contributed greatly to AVN’s success with their commitment and hard- work. The meeting also saw members sharing their experiences and information as well as discussing their own AVN desk operations. A total of 5 members were picked for the session, namely CNA – Singapore, IRIB – Iran, BTV – Bangladesh, CTN – Cambodia, and TV5 – Mongolia. The final session of the first day’s meeting saw members discussing various recommendations concerning the Asiavision operations. These recommendations will be compiled and presented to the ABU News Group meeting, attended by members’ head of news, to be held later this year in Istanbul, Turkey.

5) Introduction of AVN User Interface (UI) Under the commitment that Asiavision continues to strive to make the Video Cloud system a better service for the benefit of all its members, a new User Interface (UI) after several trials became fully commissioned in May 2014. The new UI is download-oriented, aimed at enabling all journalists in members’ newsroom to be able to download AVN material for their organisation’s own use.

Uploading material in Video Cloud is still the purview of the members’ designated AVN coordinator. The Video Cloud service has now become the preferred mode for new members to contribute news items to the Asiavision exchange.

<Newly introduced AVN User Interface (UI) 2.0>

Member Numbers of items

Member Number of items

RTA - Afghanistan 8 METV - Indonesia 4

Saba TV - Afghanistan 0 NHK - Japan 625

ABC - Australia 70 KBS - Korea 427

BTV - Bangladesh 203 RTM - Malaysia 719

BBS - Bhutan 0 TV5 - Mongolia 49

RTB - Brunei 79 TDM - Macau 16

CCTV - China 527 MBC - Maldives 2

CTN - Cambodia 17 NTV - Nepal 2

FBC - Fiji 26 CNA - Singapore 57

Forever Group - Myanmar 0 SLRC - Sri Lanka 104

MBC - Mauritius 26 TRT - Turkey 77

TVB - Hong Kong 161 MCOT - Thailand 1047

DD - India 218 RTTL - Timor Leste 0

IRIB - Iran 958 VTV - Vietnam 40

Number of items 2014 (Jan - July 2014)

2120

The ABU Global News Forum was held, for the first time in history, in 63 Convention Centre in Seoul, Korea on 5-6 September 2013. More than 150 news executives from 49 organisations from the Asia-Pacific and around the world have gathered in the Korean capital Seoul to tackle some of the most difficult issues of broadcasting in the digital era.

Taking part in the Asia-Pacific’s first Global News Forum - organised by the ABU and the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) following the ABU News Group Meeting and themed “Breaking the News in the Media 3.0 Era” - participants have been told by some of the world’s leading news media leaders that the old models of broadcasting are no longer enough on their own. Today’s broadcasters have to integrate social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and social networking services if they are to stay in the game. But they were warned too that for broadcasters and news agencies to remain relevant, they also needed to maintain basic journalistic practices such as searching for the truth and ensuring facts were accurate and properly checked.

Keynote speaker Richard Porter, Controller of English at BBC Global News, described the work of their User Generated Content Hub, established specifically to check the accuracy of stories the international broadcaster might use. “Their job is to verify stories and pictures which come in increasing

2013 ABU Global News Forum in Seoul

numbers from the audience – either sent directly to us, or more likely, posted on social media sites,” he said, and gave examples of several occasions where fact-checking had saved the BBC from running false or misleading stories of critical international importance. He said another of today’s greatest challenges was working as efficiently as possible across TV bulletins, TV news channels, radio news bulletins, radio news channels, desktop websites, tablet and smartphone, feature phones and increasingly syndicated and shared on social media platforms. “Multiple means of reaching the audience - one set of values,” he said.

The Forum started with a speech by Mr Gil Hwan-young, President & CEO of the host broadcaster KBS, welcoming “global news professionals from organisations representing the Asia-Pacific regions, such as NHK and CCTV, and the world like BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, as well as representatives of some of Media 3.0 era’s important news distributors, Twitter and YouTube”. “This forum will not only give us various perspectives of the effects of digital media, but also be a good opportunity for us to examine the future of Asia’s journalism,” he added.

Mr Lee Kyeong-Jae, Chairman of the Korean Communications Commission, who himself was a journalist early in his career, gave a congratulatory address and reminded delegates of the

importance of their craft, followed by ABU Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi, who said the GNF had been designed as an international round-table to bring together news decision-makers to confront the mutual challenges brought by the era dominated by the new media and driven by Social Networking Services.

He spoke of the value of sharing experiences, commonalities and differences through organisations such as the ABU and about the need to sustain dialogue about the important principals of their responsibilities. “Audiences expect accurate, timely, reliable, accountable, transparent and impartial information,” he said. “That is the only way to win the trust of and serve the public. Media should have a strong sense of social responsibility to offer true, accurate and objective reports.”

Mr Alexey Nikolov, Managing Editor of Russia Today was one of numerous speakers who laid before the GNF different perspectives on journalism in the Media 3.0 Era, saying the world had become bigger, not smaller, because those who did not have a voice before now do. He said there was now no such thing as one truth because of the myriad of voices and services available. He said that the world of Media 3.0 news organisations could no longer think in terms of 24/7, but of 86,400/7 – the number of seconds in a day.

2322

Given that AVN Advisory Service has been supporting a in-house training for AVN members mainly in the underdeveloped countries by providing training experts from our members, TV5- Mongolia has requested AVN Centre to organize an in-house training. As TV5 is one of the most active AVN members hosting News Group Meeting in 2008, TV5 is entitled to get the benefit of Advisory Service. Under the agreement that AVN Fund should bear the flight fares of three trainers – one TV Producer from KBS-Korea and two professional from TBS-Japan, TV5 has provided the accommodation for them during the training period on 8~11 April. Three Trainers educated a score of TV journalists, TV producers, and the administrative staff on the main topic of the challenges from Digital SNS Big-Bang and the way to overcome it. Trainees were educated in an interactive manner in which Trainers taught them with a diversity of case-study on the recent exemplary TV programs that they planned and produced as TV Professionals on the job.

Advisory Service for TV5-Mongolia

As it was reported last month, under the new Attachment Scheme, in early March Mr. Hissella Issiella Kankanmalage from SLRC-Sri Lanka spent one week as the first beneficiary to stay and learn at Al Jazeera News Bureau in KL, which is Asia Hub of Al Jazeera. There is the second Attachment Scheme in next fiscal year 2014/2015 under which AVN Centre will send 2~3 journalists from AVN Members to KBS Newsroom in late September and to send 2~3 journalists to NHK Newsroom in March 2015. The plan will be discussed in the annual News Group Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey on 18~20 August, 2014.

<An appreciation letter from Mr Mothilal Hissella, SLRC-Sri Lanka>

Attachment Scheme

Dear AVN Centre Staff,

Report on the Attachment at Aljazeera Media Network in Kuala Lumpur

I am happy to inform you that I spent a nice period of one week at Aljazeera Media Network in KL from 10th to 14th March. Thank you very much for offering me this valuable opportunity.

It was a nice experience for me to work with world recognized journalists from around the world. We shared our experiences & interacted among each other in many common areas of journalism. The staff of Aljazeera was very kind on me & they extended a great support during my stay there. I got a chance to travel away from Kuala Lumpur for News coverage with their crews. I will highlight some of the main topics that I had been working with them during my stay. Several pictures to prove my activities at Aljazeera are attached here.

1. How to write Television News 2. How to Arrange a News room in a limited space.3. How to use verbs in a news script4. How to avoid using Adjectives in a news story5. How to get the top line right6. One thought per sentence7. Writing to pictures8. How to use Natural sound in a news story9. Transitions10. Bold & Memorable writings

11. Utilizing the Diminutive Option12. Redundancies13. Cliches Jargon & Journalese14. Conversational Style15. Use of Active voice in News scripts16. Acronyms17. Writing to Graphics18. How to avoid Confusing words & phrases19. How to use social media for News making20. How to use the digital technology at News productions21. How to communicate with viewers

I am expecting to share this knowledge with other colleagues in SLRC. It will help us not only to improve our individual skills but also to improve our daily offers of Asiavision. On behalf of SLRC AVN Desk I would like to extend our gratitude & warm wishes to you for giving us this valuable opportunity. Hope to work very closely with you in our future activities.

Thank you very much.

RegardsMothilal Hissella Producer SLRC AVN DeskSri Lanka

21.03.2014

2524

The Senior Editor of Asiavision, Tan hockguan, attended the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) Coordinators Meeting 2014 in Algeria. This was the second time that Asiavision was present in the ASBU meeting following the participation of ABU News Director Sedrick Ahn in 2013. The annual ASBU meeting was held in Algiers, from the 28 Feb to 2 March 2014. The meeting was a gathering of ASBU’s news, sport and programme coordinators. The ASBU Coordinators Meeting was conducted in Arabic but Tan had a colleague from Algerian TV who helped translate the proceedings into English. Prior to the start of the ASBU meeting, Tan had arranged to visit the ASBU Center in Algiers and to meet with the Head of ASBU Unilateral Coordination Z. Hafid. The meeting with Hafid was to explore ways of enhancing the cooperation between Asiavision and ASBU in exchanging news items. During the visit, Hafid arranged for Asiavision to be given access to the ASBU News Center’s web portal. ASBU began uploading its news items to Asiavision via file transfer in early 2012. In return, ASBU has access to the Asiavision feeds, both via satellite and file transfer.

Partnership Reinforcement

Financial Report

Based on the draft unaudited accounts, it is forecast that AVN Budget might be able to getsome surplus, roughly more than US 100,000$ in operational management as you can see inthe chart below. In fact, it took 4 years for Asiavision to turn it from deficit to surplus since suffering from annually increasing deficit from 2010. One of the major factors contributing to surplus is the reduction of the cost for platform service providers.

First of all, the old platform called Prime-Drive was terminated last year, resulting in a savings of US 14,400 $ for the 2013/2014 fiscal year. Secondly, the removal of the second slot of daily satellite transmission added further savings, about US 36,000$ a year. When it is broken down, 20,000$ comes from the rate reduction by the renewed contract with the satellite space provider, Eurovision. And also 16,000 $ is reduced from NHK-G Media service payment.

From a view point of income, it is also contributed to surplus that AVN Centre successfully attracted 5 more new members who paid high monthly fee. However, despite the better outlook on the balance sheet of AVN Budget, a chronic problem is still haunting Asiavision Budget year by year. To say it bluntly, more than 10 members have not paid their due fees. Now, the total of outstanding Fees amounts to US 167,954 $. AVN leadership should come up with strong methods in order to reduce the default rate, recently 30% in comparison with the total budget. A few of members, paying the lowest fee, have outstanding invoices which are over 12 months old.

Income & spending

Breakdown Draft Account 2014 (A)

Audited Account 2013(B)

Difference A-B Planning for 2014/2015 Fiscal

Income AVN Fee 609,000 523,400 +85,600 616,200

Content Sale 69,576 69,576 0 80,000

Interest from AVN Fund

90,102 100,129 -16,628 85,000

Doubtful debts recovered

10,819 0 +10,819 0

Total 779,497 693,105 +86,392 781,200

Expenditure Activity Expenses 97,849 399,238 -1,389 450,000

Staff Labor Costs 183,228 182,747 +481 220,000

Travel & Conference

35,317 36,852 -1,535 40,000

Overhead Service Charge

25,000 -25,000 0

Others(see file attached)

41619 69,823 -28,204 360,000

Total 658,013 713,660 -54946 770,000

Surplus/ Deficit +109,723 -20,564 +130,287 +11,200

Unrealized Exchanged Gain/Loss 27,207 -111,902 139,109 N/A

Outlook of 2013/2014 AVN Budget Balance (Currency: US Dollar)

2726

(i) Online Survey in February, 2014Ahead of the AVN Coordinators’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the AVN Centre conducted a survey in February, 2014 to gauge the trends and expectations of Asiavision members. Although the respondents were plummeted to compare in 2013, there were 18 respondents received this year. Below is a summary of the results. The new User-Interface for Akamai – so called AVN Operation Software 2.0 was opened for a test run to all members. Most of them responded that the interface is user-friendly and found no problem with it.In 2013, the majority of respondent agreed with the introducing Storyful news service. This year, they were asked on when they would like it to be subscribed by AVN:

(1) When the AVN Budget returns to a surplus from the current deficit 24%(2) If the majority of members go for it by voting in the News Group Meeting 35%(3) When the Advisory Task Force Group recommends AVN to adopt it 18%(4) Any time in 2014 if the News Group approves it in its meeting later this year 24%

Since the removal of AVN second feed from the satellite schedule starting August 15, there is an increasing number of online-based platform use to contribute and/or download news items as responded by the members in the survey below:

(1) Satellite feeds only 12%(2) File-based stories only 18%(3) Both sources used 59%(4) None, we have not used AVN stories 12%

The majority (59%) of respondent have used both sources, i.e.: the AsiSat-5 satellite and the Akamai. While only 12% have never been used AVN stories from both sources.

There is an increasing number of members use the file-based Akamai daily compared to 2013, as shown in the charts below:

AVN Centre plans to use the Skype application for easier real-time communication during the satellite feed everyday. However, the majority (59%) of the respondents disagree as showed in the graph below:

Appendix

(1) Never use it 6%(2) Occasionally: 2~3 times a month 18%(3) Regularly: 2~3 times a week 35%(4) Daily 41%

In the survey, members were asked about their expectations on terms of news topic/content to receive from others. The following are what they expect:

(1) Human interest 35%(2) Sports 0%(3) Catastrophe 12%(4) Economics 12%(5) Art & Culture 6%(6) Science & Technology 6%(7) Politics 12%(8) General 18%

Human Interest news item is the most expected from the members to receive from others, followed by General, Catastrophe, Economics, Politics, Art & Culture, and Science & Technology items. Sports is the least they expected to receive.

Most respondents (41%) agreed that in order to increase the usage of the AVN feeds as a useful news source, the improvement of picture quality, at least to SD level, is the most important thing that needs to be improved. While some (35%) suggested that news topics should be more international-minded, 12% of respondents suggested the more advance platform and technology, and to increase the number of items to 50 a day.

Disagree59% Agree

41%

35%

12%12%

41%

Increase number of items to 50

Improve picture quality, at least to SD level

News topics: should be more international-minded

Platform & technology: should be more advance

Daily37%

Daily41%

Never use it

21%

Never use it

6%

Occasionally21%

Occasionally18%

Regularly21%

Regularly35%

2013 2014

(2)

(1)

Q) With the main purpose of giving all the journalists in AVN member newsrooms access to AVN news feeds by clicking URL (http://www.abu.org.my/asiavision) anywhere in real time, the newly developed User-Interface has been launched for daily operation on 19 June. We would like to research the level of users’ satisfaction. How much is it improved with regard to user-friendliness, including downloading process? (1) Highly improved, as a result most of our journalists can have access to the new UI

(2) Highly improved, the number of users is increased from just a few to two digits

(3) Highly improved, but the number of users is still a few as it used to be

(4) Partly improved, however there is little change in AVN news feeds usage in our TV newsroom

(5) Not satisfied, many functions should be far more updated

(3)

(2)

(1)

(5)

(4)

Q) As the News Group decision-making process is far more important than the Coordinators Meeting, two delegates will be invited to the ABU News Group Meeting from 2015 onward. Vice versa, for the annual AVN Coordinators Meeting only one delegate may well be invited. Do you agree to this plan?

(1) Yes

(2) No, it should not be changed at all

Q) At the last ABU News Group meeting, it was agreed that Asiavision should be more transparent and that we should share with members a detailed financial report and its accounts. Do you agree to the plan that AVN Centre should conduct an independent overall audit to look into how sound AVN fund and budget management is by an ombudsman from one of our members? (1) Yes, we should do so 14 74%

(2) No, not necessary 5 26%

(2)

(1)

7 37%

2 11%

6 32%

3 16%

1 5%

(ii) Online Survey in July, 2014The AVN Centre conducted an online survey in July to gauge the trends and expectations of Asiavision members ahead of the 2014 ABU News Group meeting to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Below is a summary of the responses received on the main topics concerning the future direction of the AVN news exchange program:

14 70%

6 30%

Q) How many Asiavision news items do you put on air in your news bulletin in a week/month? (1) 1~2 a month 7 35%

(2) 1~2 a week 2 10%

(3) 3~5 a week 6 30%

(4) more than 1 a day 5 25%

(3)

(2)(1)

(4)

2928

(3)

(1)

Q) Which platform does your station use to contribute/download news items i.e.: the AsiaSat-5 satellite and/or online-based platform? (1) Satellite feeds only 3 15%

(2) File-based stories only 6 30%

(3) Both sources are being used, 10 50%whenever it is necessary

(4) None, we have not used AVN 1 5%stories at all

(3)

(2)(1)

(4)

Q) How often do you send (contribute) your news feeds to AVN in a week? (1) Not at all, my station only receives 1 5%

(2) More than 15 times 6 30%

(3) 5~15 times: once or twice a day 8 40%

(4) Less than 5 times 5 25%

(3)

(2)

(1)

(4)

Q) How often do you use the file–based Akamai platform? (1) Never use it 2 11%

(2) Occasionally: 2~3 times a month 5 26%

(3) Regularly: 2~3 times a week 6 32%

(4) Daily 6 32%

(3)

(2)

(1)

(4)

(3)

(2)

(1)

(4)

Q) In order to increase the usage of the AVN feeds as a useful news source, what is the most important thing that needs to be improved? (1) Number of the items: it must be increased, at least double (50 a day)

(2) The quality of the pictures: it should be improved at least to SD level

(3) The topics of the news: they should be more international-minded

(4) Platform and technology: it should be far more advanced

(2)

1 5%

4 21%

14 74%

0 0%

Photo Album

3130

32