September 2016 Newsletter

ibt_admin
ibt_admin 6th September 2016

Tufail Hussain in an IDP camp in Port Sudan. Photo: Islamic Relief



Welcome to IBT’s September newsletter with an update on our work and relevant news from the media industry.    (Download/Print this Newsletter)

 

Next briefing – with ITV’s On Assignment

Our next briefing will be with the editors of ITV’s international current affairs strand, On Assignment. It will take place at 10am on Tuesday September 20th. If you’d like to attend please register via the IBT website. The speakers will be Natalie Fay, Executive Producer and Delilah Jeary, Series Producer. They will show clips from the programme and talk about the ideas they are looking for and how best to pitch to them. The monthly strand is made by ITN and features three specially commissioned short films – it’s a great opportunity for IBT members to get off agenda stories onto prime time television.

http://www.itv.com/news/topic/on-assignment/

 

Next training event – an introduction to virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) is an increasingly important tool for NGOs and many have successfully used it in their campaigning, communications and fundraising work. In this half day event for IBT members, two VR experts, Mark Atkin and Tim Millen, will take us through all the key aspects of VR and how it can best be used by NGOs. They will look at the benefits for NGOs of using this new technology, how to make a VR documentary and the strengths and weaknesses of VR. We’ll also hear from Catherine Feltham who will talk about her own experience of making a VR film for WaterAid about a village in Nepal http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/virtual-reality The event will run from 9-2 on Friday October 21st. Lunch will be provided. If you’d like to come, register via the IBT website.

 

Climate change think piece

We will be publishing a new research report in December, a year after the COP21 global climate change talks in Paris. The aim of the report will be to look at media –particularly television – coverage of climate change and whether it has changed significantly since Paris, given the global consensus that climate change requires urgent action to mitigate its impacts. The report will be written by Professor Joe Smith from the Open University, who has collaborated with us before on our climate change work. It will be presented to a round table of media industry leaders. The speaker at this event will be Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief. We are keen to hear from IBT members who have been working on the issue of climate change. If you have had any dealings with the media on this topic and are happy to share your experience please let me know.

 

BBC Charter and Channel 4 update

The draft BBC Charter is due to be published later this month. We will be looking out in particular for the wording of the new global purpose – something we have been actively lobbying on in recent months. We will also be arguing that international content on the BBC should be measured and used as a marker of distinctiveness. Although there is a new Secretary of State at DCMS, it’s not yet clear what impact this has had on the Charter renewal process. In the meantime, Channel 4 has asked for clarity over its future. It had been thought that privatization of the channel had been ruled out but the new team at DCMS has said that it remains an option. IBT has strongly opposed privatization as we believe that it is likely to result in a diminution of the channel’s public service content – and international programmes such as Unreported World are especially vulnerable.

 

Book launch – media coverage of Africa

Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century – this new book looks at media coverage of Africa and tries to go beyond the usual stereotypes of ‘darkest Africa’ or ‘Africa rising’. The launch takes place at 7pm on Tuesday September 13th at SOAS. http://www.royalafricansociety.org/event/africas-media-image-21st-century

 

NGO communications

Charity Comms has launched its Inspiring Communicator Awards for 2016. The aim of the awards is to recognize and celebrate inspirational communicators in the charity sector. It’s free to enter and anyone can be nominated. http://www.charitycomms.org.uk/awards?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=ICA%20launch%20email&utm_content=05092016&utm_campaign=ICA%202016

 

Coming up – on radio, television and in the cinema

Costing the Earth – in this week’s episode, Big Oil Big Trouble, Tom Heap examines how the oil companies have responded to the threat of climate change. First broadcast is on Radio 4 at 3.30pm Tuesday September 6th. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07syt8k

When Two Worlds Collide – a superb documentary charting the violent conflict in Peru, between the Government and the indigenous people, over natural resources in the Amazon rainforest. Opens at Picturehouse Central in London on Friday September 9th

https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Picturehouse_Central/film/when-two-worlds-collide

The True Cost – this feature length documentary investigating the impact of the global clothing industry on people and the planet, will be screened at the RSA on Monday September 19thhttps://www.rsm.ac.uk/events/events-listing/2015-2016/groups/global-health/fig07-global-health-film-initiative-the-true-cost-screening.aspx

The Chronicles of Nadiya – this BBC1 documentary series is still available to watch on iPlayer. It featured Nadiya Hussain, winner of last year’s Great British Bake Off, travelling to Bangladesh and exploring the country and its food. It’s refreshing to see BBC1 making such populist and accessible content about a country like Bangladesh.

 

Best wishes

Mark

 

IBT’s mission is to use the media to further awareness and understanding of people’s lives in the developing world and the issues which affect them

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