Global news shakedown

“In India we have a vibrant multi-party democracy.
Politics is as much of an entertainment as that provided by Bollywood”
– Prem Prakash, chairman of New-Delhi based Asian News International

Every month, it appears, a new news channel is being launched somewhere in the world. It started with Ted Turner’s Cable News Network (CNN). Then Rupert Murdoch’s SKY entered the fray and others followed.
During the next year, English-language Al-Jazeera International, 24-hour Arabic language BBC and a French language global news channel are expected to be launched. Add to this numerous new regional 24-hour news channels, including services in Russia, India and Venezuela, already operating.

The question put by session chairman Jim Laurie was: “Are we being well served or are we getting news ad nauseam?” Answers varied regionally, from the United States and Europe to Central Asia and India, while the Middle East was viewed as potentially the most competitive new market.
Jim Gaffey, an independent producer at NextStep Television in the United States, said: “One of the dangers of 24-hour news in the US is that there are only one or two stories each day. The question in my mind is whether the audience is being well served.

“When the tsunami hit Thailand (December 2004), an estimated 75 million people tuned into CNN that month and about 65 million to Fox TV. They have become the tail that is wagging the dog.”
The story is different in India. Prem Prakash, chairman of New Delhi-based Asian News International, said: “In India we have a vibrant multi-party democracy. Politics is as much of an entertainment as that provided by Bollywood.

“Most of the channels have been making money and each one is trying to outdo the other in breaking news. Most of these news channels – five in English, others in regional languages – bring home to people issues that would be brushed under the carpet.

“There has been a lack of information in the countryside. Now, most 24-hour news channels in India have made themselves relevant to the Indian scene and none of them is being pushed around by the government,” Prakash added.

From Central Asia, Gadilbek Shalakhmetov, founder of the inter-governmental “MIR” Television channel and a member of the Kazakh parliament, said: “Back in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving mixed populations in seven different countries, the idea of establishing a CIS-wide channel (“MIR”) was accepted. It was launched in 1993.

“What was important was that we had news at three hour intervals. Not only news is important but also cultural programmes. We received budget funding but now it is becoming some sort of a cultural channel. MIR Television aims for tolerance.”

Dr Dariga Nazarbayeva, chair of the Eurasian Media Forum’s organising committee, spoke from the floor about the CaspioNet satellite channel broadcasting in Russian, English and Kazakh but not yet for 24-hours.
Referring to MIR, she said: “When the Soviet Union disintegrated… the establishment of an inter-state TV channel funded by CIS countries was not really successful.”

The Middle East is viewed as the most competitive new market for television news. “This reflects to a large extent the importance of the area, being the base of Islam. We are entering exciting times,” said Jihad Ballout, director of media relations for Al-Arabiya news channel in the United Arab Emirates.
“We have only one Arabic language that everybody understands. We have certain uniformity. I believe the reason for people going to Arabic news is that the Arab world is going through a painful period of change. I think everyone wants to be part of this change.

“I believe the Arab world could sustain one, two or even three Arab news channels. This would be sustainable,” Ballout added.

To underline the importance of the Arabic market, two organisations – German-based Deutsche Welle Television and EuroNews, created in 1992 as an initiative by a group of 11 European public broadcasters – are looking at having Arabic services.

Deutsche Welle Television’s managing director, Christoph Lanz, said his organisation planned an Arabic channel broadcasting up to 12 hours daily by the end of 2006.

“What is needed… between Europe and the Middle East is to try to overcome prejudices and explain why people see things the way they see them as a way to overcome some of those prejudices,” Lanz said.
For EuroNews, Donald Lawrie, its French-based director of worldwide distribution, said the company, a genuine alternative to CNN, was looking to revive the station’s Arabic version.
Asked why EuroNews had seven channels for different language versions and no anchors, Lawrie said: “We are not presenter-led, making us a genuine alternative to others. We take a European-neutral line so viewers can make their own minds up. As for seven languages, viewers should be able to have their own news in their own language.”

Are news channels making money? Al-Arabiya’s Ballout said: “Arabs, for the first time, have enjoyed their own indigenous and professionally-run news service. They are not very receptive towards accepting a service that is public or government-funded.

“They may be wary of accepting services that express what a government thinks. Al-Arabiya would be the only one run on a commercial basis. The rest survive on handouts,” he said.

Lanz said Deutsche Welle, which is not a commercial operation, was not making money. “None of us in the trans-national business, if you take a real close look at the figures, are making money.”
Asked if Germany, whose government funds Deutsche Welle, gets some benefit from the station’s broadcasts, Lanz said: “I hope we get the benefit that people in different cultures understand each other better. That, as a journalist, is what I hope.”

Gaffey, of NextStep Television in the United States, said: “Most news channels in the U.S. are making money but there is not enough room for many players.”