AIBD General Conference Held in Tehran

The administration of Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) meetings in Tehran highly assisted the interaction of media managers of seventeen world countries, and marked a major stride for growth and development of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in the arena of global media.

The 42^nd round of AIBD annual meetings was convened in Tehran as of August 25-27, in the presence of forty-five foreign guests, in addition to Iranian and Asian media figures. Guests from South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Singapore were in attendance in this general conference. This round of AIBD annual meetings was held in the presence of IRIB director, AIBD manager, and secretary general of Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, president of AIBD General Conference, in addition to a number of managers and representatives of Asia Pacific radio and television networks.

Concurrent with the 42^nd round of AIBD annual meetings, IRIB was unanimously chosen to head AIBD General Conference in the years 2017 and 2018.

Meanwhile, in an inaugural speech to the 42^nd round of AIBD meetings in Tehran; IRIB Director, Dr. Abdol-Ali Ali-Asgari, noted that IRIB is one of the largest media organizations in the world. IRIB maintains thirty-one national radio and TV networks, in addition to sixty-six provincial radio and TV networks, and forty-eight international radio and TV networks, adding up to an overall 145 networks.

He went on to add that: Currently more than 70% of programs are produced in the country. He went on to point out  Press TV, Al-Alam, and Hispan TV who respectively air programs in English, Arabic, and Spanish languages, are considered as the highest-rated channels of IRIB international networks. Every year, more than 5,000 hours of TV programs, hundreds of films, and thousands of minutes of animations are produced in IRIB, part of which are exported to other countries. In the technical realm, the process of establishment of high definition TV networks has begun for a number of years; while modern media projects are also underway.

At the end of his remarks, IRIB director noted that this three-day meeting will play an effective role in the reinforcement of the spirit of cooperation, amity, and solidarity among media officials across Asia.

AIBD was founded in the year 1977, under UNESCO supervision. This institute is a unique organization, which renders services to Asia-Pacific Committee member states and United Nations Economic and Social Council. The Malaysian government hosts this institute, whose Secretariat is located in Kuala Lumpur. AIBD member states include developed countries, such as Japan, Korea, Iran, and China, and lesser developed countries, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bhutan, and Pakistan.

The goal behind establishment of this institute has been circulation of media know-how and technology among member states. This institute maintains an educational function, and operates to boost the level of media personnel. For instance, if one of the related member states announces its need for an educational course for directing programs for children, this institute makes the necessary arrangements to this end, inviting experts of this realm from the related member states, or other countries to hold educational workshops.

As of the year 1992, IRIB has been an AIBD member and has effectively cooperated with AIBD in the past twenty-four years. This cooperation has been cemented in recent years, as the result of expansion of media relations with Asia-Pacific countries, and utilization of each other’s potentials and capacities.

For instance, last year, IRIB has cooperated with AIBD for organization of four educational workshops; the first one of which was held at IRIB University in November 2015, on the topic of production of TV programs for children. Two other educational workshops on the topics of HD TV, and DVBT2 (Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial) will soon be convened.

IRIB University is the only university active in the field of media in West Asia, which maintains more than forty years of experience, educating the human resources which media need. This university trains students in engineering courses, journalism, media management, production, direction of films, and animation. This university has announced its preparedness to assist AIBD in implementation of its educational courses, upon reliance on its seasoned lecturers and advanced educational facilities.

The Secretary-General of Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, Sadollah Nasiri Qeydari, was one of the speakers at AIBD meetings. He mentioned that AIBD renders services to UN Economic and Social Council, while adding that media effectively contribute to achievement of sustainable development, especially throughout the developing and developed countries. Media can boost transparency and facilitate dialog among people and decision-makers.

He went on to point out that UNESCO has named May 3 as the global day of freedom of press, and February 13 as the global day of radio, in order to encourage decision-makers to establish networks and to provide access to data via radio. He reminded that in recent years, UNESCO has focused on media literacy of youths so that they would be able to access and analyze information.

Meanwhile, the President of AIBD General Conference, Rosarita Niken
Widiastuti, has expressed hope that AIBD general conference meetings would be venues for exchange of experiences and access to plans in the future. She underlined that we should foresee the future developments and support beneficial programs for improvement of their quality, with due consideration of the sources of revenues. Also, she noted, this institute is prepared to cooperate with member states to fill the vacuum, resulting from insufficiency of educational sources.

During AIBD meeting, two TV and two radio programs were selected from 30 TV, and 25 radio programs, presented by 17 member states.

“Shingal’s Children Banished by Daesh” a production of Iran’s Press TV by director Bijan Zamanpira, was the winner in the Best TV Program category.

Shingal is an Iraqi city, in which Daesh terrorists have slaughtered thousands of people, in addition to abduction of hundreds of women. According to latest horrific figures, at least 300 children and elderly have lost their lives amid these heinous crimes.

Meanwhile, a documentary on Bagan from Korea, and a radio program on the poor region Dongguan in China were among other winners.

MR/MG