ITV

Tag: Al Jazeera

  • Al Jazeera tops Forbes’ list of top 40 Arab brands

    Al Jazeera tops Forbes’ list of top 40 Arab brands

    MUMBAI: Forbes has compiled its list of the top 40 Arab brands based on extensive international survey measuring brand loyalty and consumer perception. Al Jazeera ranks number one in Forbes Arabia’s list, followed by Emirates, Almarai and Al Arabiya Media. Overall, companies from eight countries made the final cut. Represented industries include media, airline, retailing, real estate development, leisure, food and beverages, and cosmetics.

    Forbes Arabia is the Dubai-based Arabic edition of the business magazine Forbes. Arab companies that cater to markets throughout 19 Arab countries were eligible for the list. To identify the Top 40 Arab Brands, Forbes Arabia factored in customer perception, and how well companies adapt their brand to a changing market environment.

    Forbes Arabia editor-in-chief Sulaiman al-Hattlan says, “With competition heating up in Arab countries, brands have become an effective way for a company to distinguish itself from competitors in terms of image and product offerings. The key question for those building Arab brands is how to think globally and act locally. The first of its kind, the Forbes Arabia Top 40 Arab Brands list looks at companies that have created strong brands not only in Arab countries, but that are also gaining recognition worldwide” .

    An online survey was conducted for Forbes Arabia by UK market research firm YouGov that drew on consumers from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

    The Forbes Arabia research team ranked each brand by giving points to how well customers recognised, and trusted each Arab brand, and how well companies adapted their brand to a changing market environment to service their customers.

  • AL JAZEERA INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES SHIULIE GHOSH AS NEWS ANCHOR AT THEIR DOHA HEADQUARTERS

    24 July 2006 – Al Jazeera International, the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, announced today that they have appointed renowned correspondent Shiulie Ghosh as news anchor at their Doha headquarters.

    Shiulie joins a large team of diverse on-screen talent based around the world at the channel’s broadcast centres: from Ghida Fakhry and Dave Marash at their Washington DC centre, to Veronica Pedrosa and Teymoor Nabili in Kuala Lumpur through to Felicity Barr and Stephen Cole and at the channel’s London broadcast centre.

    Speaking on Shiulie’s appointment from the channel’s headquarters, Director of News, Steve Clark said, “I am pleased to have Shiulie on board. She brings a wealth of experience in news reporting to the channel and is a great addition to the team.”

    “I’m thrilled to be joining Al Jazeera International and to be part of this exciting television project which will balance the information flow from South to North, bridging cultures for English speakers around the world,” said Shiulie Ghosh.

    Shiulie joins Al Jazeera International from ITV News where she was a correspondent and a presenter covering a range of major events around the world. Her reporting from Thailand on the Asian tsunami was awarded the 2006 Alfred I. Dupont Columbia News Broadcasting Award. During the conflict in Kosovo, Shiulie was based in southern Italy, where she reported on the bombing missions flown by NATO crews.

    She secured the first television report from the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible heading for action off the coast of Montenegro. Post-conflict, she reported on the continuing tensions in the divided town of Mitrovica.

    Shiulie first joined ITV News as a general reporter in January 1998 and later spent three years as Home Affairs Editor of ITV News. Shiulie has covered a wide range of prominent domestic stories for ITV News including the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the May Day disturbances and the death of the Queen Mother.

     

     

    In 2001 Shiulie was named Best Television News Journalist at the British Telecom Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards.

     

     

    Her journalistic career began in 1989 when she joined BBC Radio
    Cleveland as a programme assistant. In 1990 she became a news trainee at the BBC and went on to report for BBC’s East Midlands Today. By 1991 Shiulie was regularly presenting their half-hour news slot – one of the youngest people ever to do so. In 1993 she joined the BBC’s Country File programme as a presenter and this was followed by a move in 1995 to Newsroom South East as a reporter/presenter.

     

     

    Shiulie was born in the UK and spent the early part of her childhood in India with her family. When she was five the family returned to the north-east of England where she was raised and educated. She has a BA (Hons) Law degree from the University of Kent.

     

     

     

    About Al Jazeera International

     

    Al Jazeera International is the world’s first English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Broadcasting from within the Middle East, looking outwards, Al Jazeera International will set the news agenda and act as a bridge between cultures. With unique access as the channel of reference for Middle East events, and broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC, Al Jazeera International will balance the information flow from South to North, providing accurate, impartial and objective news for a global audience from a grass roots level, giving voice to different perspectives from under-reported regions around the world.

     

    Al Jazeera International is building on the ground-breaking heritage of its sister Arab-language channel – Al Jazeera, which was responsible for changing the face of news within the Middle East, now extending that fresh perspective from regional to global.

     

     

    For further information please contact:
    Doha: Charlotte Dent or Lana Khachan: +974 489 2320/1
    Email: press.int@aljazeera.net
    mailto: press.int@aljazeera.net
     
  • Al Jazeera International gears for Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre

    Al Jazeera International gears for Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre

    MUMBAI: Doha based — Al Jazeera International, the yet-to launch 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel has roped in Divya Gopalan and Hamish MacDonald have joined the channel’s team of on-screen talent.

    Divya and Hamish will be the channel’s weekend news anchors for Al Jazeera International’s Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre, one of four regional broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC. They join the weekday news anchors Veronica Pedrosa and Teymoor Nabili, formerly of CNN International and CNBC Asia respectively.

    Gopalan brings the channel over 10 year’s experience in international journalism including roles with BBC News, CNN and American networks NBC and CNBC. MacDonald meanwhile joins Al Jazeera International from the UK’s Channel 4 News where he built a career as a news producer and reporter covering a range of international stories.

    Al Jazeera International MD Nigel Parsons said, “I am pleased to confirm our weekend presenters who bring a dynamic approach to news reporting in keeping with the channel’s aim of bringing a fresh perspective on world news while maintaining the highest journalistic standards.”

    Already on the board, are name likes of Sir David Frost, Veronica Pedrosa and Riz Khan.

    At the BBC Gopalan worked on daily news and current affairs programmes such as Hard Talk. Her portfolio included major news stories such as the Iraq war, the Asian Tsunami, the Bali and London bombings. She also covered the 1997 Hong Kong handover for NBC and at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival interviewed Palm D’or winner for best actress Maggie Cheung and best director nominee Wong Kar Wai. Gopalan was the first ethnic Indian newsreader on Hong Kong television.

    Starting her on-air career as a sports reporter, Gopalan interviewed some of the biggest names in the sporting world like tennis stars Steffi Graf, the Williams sisters, Anna Kournikova, F1 star Jensen Button, and International soccer players including Gianfranco Zola and Andy Cole.

    Gopalan has a truly global background, she is of Indian origin and was born in Hong Kong. She was also brought up in the Philippines, educated in North America and spent five years living and working in London and is fluent in four languages.

    MacDonald has covered major stories at Channel 4 including the Asian Tsunami and the London bombings. He reported live for Channel 4 and ITV news and reported as an eyewitness for Australian Networks 9, 7 and ABC.

    He began his TV career with WIN television in Canberra as a politics reporter and presenter. From there he moved to the UK and freelanced for a short period, before joining the Channel 4 news team as a producer.

    MacDonald trained in journalism at Charles University in Australia and began his career as a Talk Radio presenter and newsreader on Radio 2BS Gold. He is the first Australian news anchor to join the Al Jazeera International news line-up of on-screen talent.

  • AL Jazeera International ropes in ABC Richard Gizbert to present ‘Listening Post’

    AL Jazeera International ropes in ABC Richard Gizbert to present ‘Listening Post’

    MUMBAI: The soon to launch 24- hour English news and current affairs channel Al Jazeera International has designed a news show Listening Post. The show will be presented by the former ABC news journalist, Richard Gizbert.

    A weekly insight Listening Post will bring news from around the world into how the news is handled by the world’s media and assess how news reporting changes depending on where it is coming from. It will monitor and examine all forms of media, all over the world. From the biggest network to the most obscure web bloggers Listening Post will report critically on what they cover – and what they don’t. It will examine the big stories and explain how and why coverage of them differs in different parts of the world, informs an official release.

    Listening Post is a fully commissioned jointly owned programme with Moonbeam Films Ltd. As a commissioning house, Al Jazeera International’s programmes will include material gathered from freelancers and independent companies all across the globe through a unique commissioning site: www.ajicommissioning.net

    Gizbert joins Al Jazeera International’s line-up of on-screen talent from ABC News where he worked since 1993. Starting as a correspondent in their London bureau, he has reported abroad on many of the major international stories such as the conflicts in Iraq and the continuing unrest in the Middle East.

    Al Jazeera International programme director Paul Gibbs said, “Listening Post is Al Jazeera International’s eyes and ears on the world’s electronic media. It’s a fantastic addition to our line-up of extensive programmes.”

    Graduated from Algonquin College in Ontario, Gizbert, previously worked as a correspondent-producer for CJOH-TV in Ottawa, where he produced in-depth features for Sunday Edition, the national current affairs programme. Prior to that, Gizbert was CJOH’s parliamentary correspondent for five years, responsible for national political coverage. For his reporting of a bus hostage situation on Parliament Hill, he received the National Award for Breaking News Coverage.

    From 1983 to 1985, he was a correspondent and political editor for CFTO-TV in Toronto, covering federal politics and co-anchoring special events coverage.

  • Al Jazeera International ropes in Channel Five’s Barbara Serra as presenter

    Al Jazeera International ropes in Channel Five’s Barbara Serra as presenter

    MUMBAI: The yet to launch 24-hour English news and current affairs channel Al Jazeera International has announced that they have appointed Barbara Serra as presenter in their London broadcast centre.

    Serra will report from across Europe during the week and will present the news on weekends.

    Before joining Al Jazeera International, Serra was one of the main presenters on the UK’s Channel Five News. She was the first, and to date the only, second-language English speaker to present a flagship news programme on terrestrial British television, informs an official release.

    Speaking on Barbara’s appointment news director Steve Clark said, “I am pleased to confirm that Barbara Serra has joined the news team in London. Over the coming weeks we will be announcing more of our on-air talent around the world.”

    Al Jazeera International London bureau chief Sue Phillips said, “I am delighted that Barbara is joining the team here in London. She brings a wealth of experience and talent to our impressive line-up of presenters.”

    Barbara Serra said, “Much of today’s international politics focuses on the Middle East, so it’s great to be a part of the only global news channel headquartered in the region. Al Jazeera International’s journalists come from all over the world and we’ll be able to give a truly global perspective on the news to a potential world audience of one billion English speakers.”

    Seera’s career started at the BBC, where she worked as a presenter/reporter for BBC London News, produced on Radio 4’s Today Programme and regularly presented EuroNews on BBC Radio Five Live.

    In 2003, she joined Sky News as a reporter, working on both domestic and international assignments. She has covered a wide range of stories, from the death of Pope John Paul II in Rome, to the Michael Jackson trial in California. She trained as a journalist at London’s City University.

  • Al Jazeera hosts international television production festival from 27 March

    Al Jazeera hosts international television production festival from 27 March

    MUMBAI: The second Al Jazeera International Television Production Festival, under the patronage of the chairman of the board of directors, Aljazeera Network H E Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, is to be held from 27 to 30 March at the Doha Sheraton.

    The festival’s aims is to promote better cooperation and understanding among people and cultures, by offering a platform for cross-cultural communication and interaction, as well as bringing the work of independent film makers to the forefront.

    In a press conference Al Jazeera channel’s public relations and media department director Jassim Ibrahim Fakhroo, managing director’s administrative assistant Mohamed B al-Sada, and Al Jazeera Production Centre’s director Abbas Arnaout outlined the networks plans for the festival.

    The competition will cover four categories: Documentaries that portray facts through the use of video tape or cinema technology; Current Affairs including investigative programmes that tackle political or social issues with analysis of their various aspects; and features that convey a clear picture of an event. There is also an opportunity to promote a channel or a programme through promotion category.

    As many as 94 films from various countries will be screened at the festival “This includes 34 films in the competition section, and Chinese, Iranian, French, and Latin American films,” officials told a press conference.

    The competition films are from satellite channels, television stations, production institutions and independent filmmakers. Gold, silver and bronze awards will be provided to the following categories: 3 for non-Arabic documentary films; 3 for non-Arabic investigative reports; 3 for non-Arabic features, 3 for Arabic documentary films; 3 for Arabic investigative reports; 3 for Arabic features and 3 for promotions.

    “A salient feature of the festival is that entry is free to all screenings,” the officials explained. The competition films are being shown in Sheraton’s Majlis hall from 28 to 30 April, whereas others would be screened in Salwa 1, 2 and 3 halls, starting from 10 am and going on up to 10.15 pm.

    Last year’s golden award winning films are to be shown on 28 March. They are ‘Road to a Lesser Sunset,’ ‘El-Tantora,’ and ‘Living Among Us,’ all in Arabic with subtitles in English. There will also be a book fair in which Arabic and non-Arabic books, and documentaries on CDs will be available to the public.

  • BBC, Reuters to host global media conference

    BBC, Reuters to host global media conference

    MUMBAI: The power of trust in the media and citizen journalism are among the topics to be discussed by top media names at a two-day forum in London next month, to be hosted by the BBC and Reuters.

    The 2006 We Media Global Forum will bring together personalities from media, business and technology to discuss and collaborate on how the media can foster trust and influence global issues in a world made smaller by the Internet. The Forum takes place on May 3 and 4, presented by The Media Center, a US-based non-profit think tank committed to building a better-informed society in a connected world.

    The speakers include actor Richard Dreyfuss, Google partnerships dierctor Joanna Fields, Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, Meetup.com founder and CEO Scott Heiferman, Al Jazeera DG Wadah Khanfar, Global Voices co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon, Guardian Newspapers CEO Carolyn McCall, BBC global news director Richard Sambrook, Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger.

    The event will have a live broadcast of the BBC’s World Service programmes, World Have Your Say, and an interactive experience with the Digital Assassins, a group of disruptors and innovators in digital media. Day 2, at Reuters global headquarters in CanaryWharf, includes a series of satellite-linked “town hall” meetings around the world, and an in-depth look by venture capitalists and business leaders at the changing economics of media and value of social capital.

    The Global Forum will offer glimpses of the future in short “Future Forward” segments – first looks at emerging technologies and media from leading developers, entrepreneurs and companies. BBC DG Mark Thompson said, “Trust has always been central to BBC values. We all know the pressures that news organizations face in this fast changing multi-media world. I am delighted to welcome participants to the We Media Global Forum and I hope that it will provide a valuable opportunity for all of us to share our insights.”

    Glocer said, “The balance of power between content creators, suppliers and consumers is changing, with an end to the notion of a passive audience. The ramifications of this new phenomenon are most acutely felt in the area of trust. As consumers, this democratization of media will have profound effects on where we source news and entertainment, and whom we trust. For a company like Reuters, this is a great time to be taking a 150 year-old news brand in exciting new directions.”