a lot to loose, a future to win

In Malta, a couple of hundreds of media experts and TV professionals did talk last week about the ways of coming out of the crisis. The challenge: we have to adapt ourselves to the new media and to find new ways of communicating. We have to risk and to be creative… to survive.

Pierre Duret (EBU), Alex Pletser (RTBF), Pablo Carrasco (Canal Sur TV) and José-María Siles (aNews) in the ETVN plenary in Seville, Spain.

The crisis accelerates the media revolution. We journalists still have a lot to loose  to win a future.We in aNews are involved at a European level in a project absolutely innovative to make information on line, using traditional platforms in a new common way to make information, interactive and multicultural.

Spain will take part in the hard nucleus of European Television Network, ETVN. 71 millions euros are at stake: a succulent contract to make information at crisis time. Yes, I did: to make information, because once awarded the tender, the editorial line will be in professional hands.

The audiovisual industry in Spain bets for Europe. Both public and private: on the one hand, the Spanish public televisions; on the other, the private Telecinco and Antena 3.

Because this all about: giving credibility to the information to wake up an interest about the EU among citizens. There are three applicants to ‘the century contract’ but the final decision is two months late. The European Commission had to make its decision public before Christmas and we still have no news right now. There is something sure: the decision will not be definitive. The three candidates will be preselected and then the politic fight will start.

In the ‘EBU consortium’, coordinated by The European Broadcasting Union, and leaded by a French-speaking Belgian television: the Belgian RTBF, although modest, is leading. Spain makes double with TVE audiences and some regional televisions. Apart from EBU and Center TV Düsseldorf, aNews will be a subcontract in RETV consortium. Anyway, Spain is already the best represented country in the project.

new journalism

Our correspondent agency will soon celebrate its first year of existence, 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Then with TVE and now with aNews, we have always fought for quality and rigour in news reporting, every day searching for a new challenge, a new frontier. If the Berlin Wall fell again tonight, we would already be there.

The world changes and we all change with it. In the case of aNews, the current crisis pushes us to do more and helps us visualize this new service which is provided by all-time correspondents. We are journalists with extensive professional track records, but we have adapted to the new times. We have taken on the role of entrepreneurs in the audiovisual information market because we believe in the new journalism.

aNews is itself a product of this willingness to adapt. We are a correspondent agency based in Brussels, from where we cover news in Europe and coordinate our global platform. Our network of TV correspondents keeps on growing, especially in Europe and the Americas. We already have journalists in Berlin, London, Rome, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

We offer the quality that we have always expected of ourselves for our work as correspondents. The difference lies in the cost; aNews’ rates benefit from shared logistics and a modern production set-up so that TV stations end up paying the price of a freelance journalist for the services of a correspondent a la carte. We cover breaking news but also offer investigative documentaries, special and live broadcasts.

The internet plays a key role in our development strategy, but we also work with the classic transmission and broadcast technologies, via satellite and optic fiber. Being multicultural is another of our strengths. The majority of our correspondents are bilingual English/Spanish speakers, which goes some way to explaining why our list of clients is beginning to include international TV stations in need of new journalists: in other words, reporters who know how to get there first and understand the demands of new media.

sealing a deal

saving the planet!

Climate change is here and threatens us all, say Hollywood actors, film directors, environmentalists and politicians in a new UN public service announcement series, launched today.

Jeffrey Nachmanoff, co-writer of blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, an apocalyptic science-fiction film that depicts catastrophic effects of global warming, has directed the series which urges viewers to sign the Climate Petition (www.sealthedeal2009.org).

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “The series is aimed a promoting public awareness and catalyzing action at the highest and humblest level to boost the prospects for a wide-ranging and transformative agreement at a crucial UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in less than 80 days.”

Speaking about the project, Jeffrey Nachmanoff said: “Climate change is such a pervasive and persistent challenge that it’s difficult to get people to focus on it constructively. The Copenhagen conference represents a specific moment in time, and is an opportunity for action. My hope is that this campaign will encourage people to increase public pressure on world leaders to seize that opportunity.”

The hard-hitting, Seal the Deal! public awareness campaign is being launched at the start of Global Climate Week, 21-25 September and was shot in six locations across four continents.

The videos feature President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives; Don Cheadle -Hollywood actor, film producer and author; Professor Wangari Maathai – Nobel Peace Prize Winner; Midori Goto – UN Messenger of Peace; Phillipe Cousteau – Animal Planet presenter and environmentalist; Saba Douglas-Hamilton – wildlife film maker.