ITV

Tag: Jon Sopel

  • BBC World News’ editorial reshuffle

    BBC World News’ editorial reshuffle

    MUMBAI: BBC World News today announced two major changes. While Yalda Hakim joins as the new face of its news programme Impact, BBC World News lead anchor Jon Sopel will be moving stateside as he becomes BBC North America editor.

     

    Hakim had joined the international news channel in January 2013 as the lead reporter on the Our World current affairs strand. Her reports from conflict zones such as Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan have earned headlines around the world.

     

    She is known to have gained unprecedented access to Afghanistan’s Bagram jail just before 65 detainees controversially walked free and last October landed a scoop interview with President Hamid Karzai. She has interviewed survivors of the garment factory collapse in Bangladesh and investigated people-trafficking and torture in Yemen as well as America’s use of drones in the region.

     

    Born in Afghanistan, Hakim is an Australian. Among the many languages, she speaks Dari, Hindi and is learning Mandarin. And while looking forward to her new role, she is also keen to retain her ‘boots on the ground’ reputation. Hakim said, “I really believe the best way to tell a story is by being there and hearing from people first hand. I love being out in the field and I want to bring the Impact viewers with me. It’s a chance to show them more of the tales from behind the headlines. Plus I get to work with an absolutely fantastic team and help reinforce BBC World News’ position as the leader in global breaking news.”

     

    She added, “The timing of the show means we’ll be connecting with Asia and I am very excited to be given this opportunity to create an identity for Impact which excites this switched-on and news hungry audience. My background and experience mean I have a huge passion for stories coming out of this region and I am really looking forward to sharing this with our viewers around the globe.”

     

    Praising Hakim’s reporting, BBC World News head of news James Stephenson said, “I am delighted that Yalda has agreed to become the main presenter of Impact. She has made an enormous contribution to the channel since she joined last year with her investigative reporting from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and elsewhere. She will continue to combine that work in the field with her new role.”

     

    Meanwhile, BBC World News lead anchor Jon Sopel will be moving stateside as he becomes the BBC’s North American editor. While he will be stepping down as presenter of Global, viewers will still be able to see Sopel when he reports on America’s big stories for both the BBC domestic and international output.

     

    Thanking Sopel for his contribution to the channel Stephenson acknowledged the importance of the US market to BBC World News.

     

    He said, “Jon is an outstanding presenter and has played a major role in raising the profile of World News with his sharp journalism, tireless pursuit of big news-making interviews and evident sense of humour. He will be a big loss to Global, which he has presented since its launch. However, I am pleased that with World News now expanding rapidly in the US, Jon will continue to play an important part in the future success of the channel in a vitally important part of the world.”

     

    While looking forward to his new role Sopel said he was sad indeed to leave Global. He commented, “It is a huge honour to take on the role of North America editor. What is decided in Washington affects the whole world, and it will be a great challenge to report on the workings of the White House and Congress – and of course following the next presidential election. But it’s about bringing the whole of the US alive to our audience and I will relish travelling widely in this fascinating, complex and beautiful country. This was the only opportunity that could have pulled me away from presenting on BBC World News, of which I have nothing but fond memories.”

     

    World Service Group English controller Richard Porter said, “I’d like to thank Jon for playing such an important part in the re-launch of BBC World News from our new studios, and I’m delighted that he will continue his association with us in his new role in Washington. He and Yalda have been at the forefront of the changes which have been welcomed by viewers around the world. Yalda will be taking on a more prominent role as the main anchor of Impact, but she will still find time to continue her outstanding work as a film-maker and investigative journalist.”

  • Arnab Goswami’s brand of journalism is infotainment, says NDTV’s Vishnu Som

    Arnab Goswami’s brand of journalism is infotainment, says NDTV’s Vishnu Som

    MUMBAI: Sensationalism vs old style journalism: The debate on highly opinionated journalism vs plain reporting of events as a journalist can be unending. But when it comes to highly capital intensive television journalism, the debate boils down to viewership and its monetisation.
     
     
    Times Now Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s brand of aggressive journalism, some call it sensationalism while the man himself describes it as passionate journalism, was the subject of a panel discussion on ‘The Big Fight For Primetime’ at FICCI Frames 2014.
     
     
    NDTV Editor Vishnu Som, when prodded by BBC Global News Senior Anchor Jon Sopel, said “An editor’s job is to provide news. I believe Arnab does infotainment.”
     
     
    Som though admitted that the issues taken up by Goswami are valid but his style and way of presenting is different. “We cannot be aggressive beyond a point. I don’t think it is for journalists to define news. You just report it,” said Som.
     
     
    News that does not get the eyeballs is not good enough content from the monetisation point of view. “If it does not get good ratings, it is not good content. It is all about viewers. That connect has to be there. If not, it cannot be monetised,” said Zee Media group CEO Bhaskar Das, claiming Goswami’s primetime show advertisement slots sell for Rs 25,000 per 10 seconds, while it could be Rs 20,000 for NDTV and is barely Rs 2,000 for Zee News.
     
     
    Arnab has made himself a brand and he has been rewarded for it, said Das, who was with the Times of India group when Times Now was launched.

     

    MCCS India CEO Ashok Venkataramani said brand building is equal to the charge of your slots and once you have built a brand, the ad slot charge can be higher than what the ratings demand. “The best way to get advertising revenue is by stopping TRPs. My Hindi and Marathi and Bangla channels don’t get high revenue because of ratings but because they are premium channels.” MCSS owns ABP group of news channels.

     

     
    NDTV’s Som said, “We dont believe in TAM. We have done five studies to know that we are the number one channel and people may disagree. What the advertisers are looking at right now is corrupted data  (in the form of TAM ratings).”
     
     
    The news television industry is heavily dependent on advertising revenues and the quality of journalism is directly impacted by the revenue flow. “If advertisers cut rates, we can’t do good journalism,” Som said.
  • Can social media be a useful tool this election?

    Can social media be a useful tool this election?

    MUMBAI: The largest democracy of the world is set for the “big fight”. The General Elections are just a month away. The biggest challenge in front of the parties: to woo the public/voters who have have grown in more ways than one, thanks to the social media and the availability of information on the finger tips.

     

    The requirements of the political parties to win the voters confidence: more than just promises. And thus, they are doing everything possible to grab the voters’ attention – from being present on news channels and spending big moolahs on advertising, the political parties are doing everything to be actively involved with the voters on the social media.

     

    And if elections and social media both have become so big, the FICCI Frames 2014 could not have missed having a session on the raging topic. Thus, “Internet and Democracy: Interloper or Catalyst?” – a session that discussed if internet is a mere communication tool and an intruder into our privacy or is it an unparalleled minefield of education, community-building and a catalyst for social and economic change.

     

    Anchored by BBC Global News senior anchorperson Jon Sopel, the session saw panelists President Obama’s campaign PR expert Roger Fisk, Google India public policy and govt relations head Chetan Krishnaswamy, NDTV.com managing editor and NDTV director of strategy Suparna Singh, NowFloats.com founder Ronak Samantray, Harvard University Berkman center for internet & society Mike Best.

     

    Sopel brought to the fore the examples of Egypt and Libya because of which established social media as a tool for gaining freedom and ending the misery.

     

    Fisk elaborated on Obama’s election campaign, which is termed by many as the first political campaign in history to truly exploit the power of the social media to spread the word, garner support and engage people. “My experience in social media is that it helps amplify human nature. It lets people have dialogue with each other. Social media opened up the political campaign to people and gave them a chance to be part of the campaign – up, close and personal.”

     

    But cut to homeland and Singh didn’t sound optimistic about social media and politics, at least not in the present edition of the elections. She thinks it can become a catalyst of change, but we are one election away from it. “There is only limited exchange of opinion of social media today and is mostly crowd-based anger,” she remarked as she spoke of the recent incidents in Delhi between AAP and BJP supporters. “The #ViolentBJP and #NaxalAAP trended a week ago but if we take a closer look into such trends we will see how we are losing on an opportunity of using the social media well. People on twitter don’t want to listen to others but only want others to hear what they want to say. There is just too much noise.”

     

    Nonetheless, no one can deny the fact that the internet has become an important part of people’s lives today and social media is also a major part of it. On the growth of the internet, Krishnaswamy says that since 2000, internet has seen a tremendous growth in India. He predicts that by the end of this year, there will be 250 million users and believes that by the 2020 there will be half a billion internet users. “The most interesting part of it is that the next 100 million users will come from non-English speaking sections of our society,” he says while adding that language content has increased by 57 per cent in the recent past and hence, it shows how center of gravity is shifting.

     

    “The urban voter is using a lot of time online and looking at choices. And if a politician has an online presence, he/she is seen as more dynamic than others by these voters,” points out Krishnaswamy.

     

    Taking a cue from here, Singh adds, “Social media is also helping new political parties like AAP and independent candidates, who don’t have huge advertising or PR expenditure, to spread their word among people as well as interact with them.”

     

    The discussion concluded with the thought that social media is more than a communication tool but it hasn’t been exploited completely. Changes are needed before it can be used as an important tool, especially during elections.

  • Arabsat to bring HD BBC World News to the Middle East

    Arabsat to bring HD BBC World News to the Middle East

    MUMBAI: BBC World News is set to broadcast in high definition on Arabsat throughout the Middle East beginning 5 August.

     

    The agreement allows viewers in the region to access BBC coverage in HD, including international news, documentaries, entertainment and arts programming. Among the shows on the schedule is Global, a daily news program hosted by Jon Sopel. Arabsat will be BBC’s first distribution partner in the Middle East to offer the news channel in high definition.

     

    BBC Global News distribution director Colin Lawrence remarked: “We are pleased to be able to partner with Arabsat to launch BBC World News HD across the Middle East, bringing our audience closer to the news than ever before. BBC World News HD will showcase our commitment to impartial and high quality journalism, and will showcase our news programs at their best.”

     

    Arabsat president and CEO Khalid Balkheyour added: “We are very proud of the long term partnership with BBC and value their confidence in Arabsat. We are pleased to be the first satellite operator to bring BBC World News HD to its viewers in the region. Known for its professionalism and impartiality, the BBC enjoys a very good reputation and a wide range of viewers and followers in the Middle East.”

  • BBC World News and BBC.com launch ‘Live the Story’ global campaign

    MUMBAI: BBC World News and BBC.com will launch ‘Live the Story,’ a new brand positioning and global marketing campaign on 14 March.

    The activity will include television, press, online, radio, out of home and experiential media. The campaign will span consumer and trade media with particular focus on Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and additional activity across other European markets and the US.

    In January, BBC World News relaunched from Broadcasting House in central London, with new studios, new programmes and a refreshed line-up of presenters including Jon Sopel and Yalda Hakim alongside BBC World News on air personalities such as Komla Dumor, Mishal Husain, Lyse Doucet and Stephen Sackur.

    The BBC‘s international news operations have provided global audiences with high quality, impartial and engaging news content for many years.

    The new brand position is ‘Live the Story’. It focuses on BBC World News and bbc.com/news unique ability to engage its audiences through its story telling.

    The activity will include TV, press, online, radio, OOH and experiential media. The focus of the media plan will be Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong. However, there will be activity across other European markets and the US.

    Komla Dumor tells of the pride surrounding African football, Lyse Doucet talks about the immediate aftermath of a car bomb, Laura Trevelyn describes natures force during hurricanes and David Shuckman speaks of the majesty of a space rocket taking off. All ads share the same thing – insight that only a BBC journalist living the story can share.

    There is also a substantial digital element to the campaign that follow the lead of the television creative and offers users an added layer of interactivity. In addition, there will also be interactive press ads, digital out of home ads and experiential activity.

    BBC Global News Ltd sales and marketing director Chris Davies said, “Our correspondents and presenters live through the most amazing, terrifying, and sometimes life-changing moments so that they can bring these experiences directly to our audiences. Who better then to be the focus of both our brand campaign and of our marketing efforts. Our journalists often put themselves in danger to tell us the real story and as they live the story, so do we”.

    The TV ads were directed by Kyle Cooper and all display his trademark use of detail, texture and atmosphere.

  • BBC World News picks Jon Sopel as lead anchor

    BBC World News picks Jon Sopel as lead anchor

    MUMBAI: BBC News presenter and reporter Jon Sopel has been appointed as one of the lead anchors of BBC World News.

    Sopel will present an afternoon show that will launch early next year from the channel’s new home at New Broadcasting House in central London.

    Sopel will continue to present on the BBC News Channel and BBC One, in addition to his BBC World News role, as well as being deployed on domestic and international live coverage reporting across BBC TV channels and on the web.

    Global News controller of English Richard Porter said, “We’re delighted that such a well-respected presenter as Jon is joining the BBC World News team. He has a wealth of experience, from his international reporting from Paris and the US, and as a presenter on The Politics Show, the BBC News Channel and BBC News at One. I’m sure he will be a great addition to the team.”

    Sopel added, “I am absolutely delighted to be joining the channel to create a new show at a time when BBC World News is going from strength to strength, both in terms of investment and ambition. I just can’t wait to get started.”

    Sopel is currently in the US covering this year’s presidential campaign.

    He brings international and UK experience to his new role. He is currently one of the lead anchors at the BBC News channel in the UK, where in the past few years he has anchored coverage from the Middle East during the Israel Lebanon war; Sri Lanka after the tsunami; New Orleans after Katrina; Beijing for the Olympics, and South Africa for the World Cup.

    Sopel also served as the Paris correspondent for BBC News.