SacredFacts

Sarkozy re-organises French international broadcasting

Source: La Chaine Info, Paris

"French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken of plans to revamp the country's foreign broadcasting network during a news conference for French and foreign journalists.

In reply to a question from Radio France Internationale journalist Genevieve Goetzinger about the reform of foreign broadcasting, he had the following to say on La Chaine Info TV this morning, 8 January.

He said: "I've worked a great deal on this subject with [Foreign Minister] Bernard Kouchner and [Culture Minister] Christine Albanel. I hope it will be as rapid as possible and definitely this year. The idea is to create a France World [France Monde] label. That is a holding company that would unite the resources of TV5, France 24 and RFI in ways still to be debated, which would enable all these networks, made up of great professionals, to broadcast a much more imposing French presence than at present.

"The resources could be mutualised. We could rely on complementary networks of correspondents which are, moreover, pretty impressive: I'm thinking of RFI. We could give a new editorial identity to TV5 and we could benefit from the success of France 24. The problem is that we've got one that's well broadcast but has editorial issues, another that has no editorial issues but isn't broadcast well enough and a third that needs to rely on the other two because it's only got radio and TV's essential.

"There are other issues to debate and are already the subject of differences between us. We don't necessarily agree on everything. I think a public channel, France-World, that would of course retain the identity of each of the participants but a state-owned brand can only speak French and I'm not inclined to use taxpayers' money to fund a channel that doesn't speak French. There could perfectly well be subtitles according to region - Spanish, Arab, English - to provide France's point of view. Between Al-Jazeera and its Arab point of view and CNN and its Anglo-Saxon point of view, we'd like to provide a French point of view but to do so, I'd really prefer it to be in French because providing a French vision in Arabic or English might be interesting but we'd find it hard to make ourselves understood."

Live and wireless

Three signs that the wireless revolution is almost upon us.

First, I got hold of an Apple Ipod Touch. Yes, it looks beautiful, the screen is great quality, it makes watching video on the move a pleasure. But for me the real breakthrough is wireless connectivity that simply works. It picks up networks in a moment, and the zoom function on the screen means for the first time web on the move is easy and a pleasure.

John Naughton agrees.

Then, the BBC announced its "free wifi content" deal with The Cloud - the wireless hotspot provider. At any Cloud hotspot you can get BBC content - including video and audio - without paying for access. Just go straight to the BBC site. We'll see more "free access" deals - with commercial sites - I am sure.

Finally listening to Digital Planet on the BBC World Service I heard an interview with Padmasree Warrior, Motorola’s chief technology officer, about Wi-max. It's been promised for a long time, but it now appears to be arriving with 17 cities in Pakistan already connected....

Bring it on...

Developing the Future

Thanks to David at SixtySecondView for pointing me towards this year's Developing The Future report on the future of IT in the UK. Sponsored by Microsoft, with City University, the British Computer Society and Intellect, the trade association for the UK high tech industry. It has contributions from Will Hutton, Julie Meyer, Digby Jones, and others. Key findings - the Knowledge economy will soon contribute 50% of UK GDP; London will overtake New York as a financial centre and will have a growing role as an innovation hub driving eonomic growth in the UK; Private Sector investment on intangible assets now equals that in tangible assets (£127bn pa); the IT industry faces a skills shortage; the UK needs appropriate intellectual property rights to support innovation in the digital age.

(Not sure about that last one...)

So, with proper government support, the IT industry can drive a prosperous future for Britain. It says here.
Actually, a good read although the sponsors and purpose need to be kept in mind.

Al's Climate Crusade

I promised to reflect on the Al Gore road show. Having presented his slides 1100 times (I'm told), won an oscar with the documentary and presented his five point plan to Congress he's moving up a gear. He's seeking to recruit supporters to take his slide show and cascade presentations around the world - providing in depth "training sessions" for them - and is planning to spend $100 million a year for the next three years on a media campaign, starting this year with the Live Earth global concerts on July 7th (7/7/07). Who has time to run for President? There's no question that the charisma, energy, eloquence and passion of an A list politician with a mission is powerful. But what of the content? He's impressive on the science, but more impressive on the politics - clearly attempting to provide hope for those who might despair in the face of his apocalyptic warnings.

The event brought together a collection of CEOs, government officials, NGOs, teachers and others - all pretty much supporters (I made it clear I was there as observer not advocate). On hand were scientists Sir Peter Knight from Imperial College and the Director of the British Antarctic Survey Prof Chris Rapley.
They asserted there were no serious sceptics about Climate Change (but were very defensive about Channel 4's "Great Global Warming Swindle" going to great lengths to criticise the programme, the commission and outline the flaws..I would have expected greater confidence in discussing it).
Overall it reinforced my view that - whether or not you believe climate change is caused by man - no-one seems to question global warming is happening and that, as a precaution alone, we should cut CO2 emissions which will mean compromising our lifestyles. Which is where it starts to get really interesting...Recognition of Climate Change extends across the political spectrum. What to do about it, does not.

I then read a piece in the latest British Journalism Review by Eleni Andreadis and Joe Smith about media coverage of climate change. They rightly say:

The history of climate-change reporting is one of a long period of passivity punctured by a more recent burst of alarmism. ...it is essential to recognise that climate change is, by its nature, a very tricky issue to cover.

Reporting risk is never straightforward.
They argue that journalistic scepticism and weakness on economics are to blame for a delay in public understanding of the seriousness of climate change. Plus too great a weight being given to maverick voices in the search for "balance". Interestingly, Gore said the scientific culture of peer review and scepticism was also interpreted as uncertainty about the science by the media and had contributed to some confusion.

They conclude:

Journalism has helped to bring much of the British public to a new understanding of its precipitous relationship with its environment. It now has a key role in provoking and presenting the political and economic debates about how we can progress towards an ecologically sustainable society.

In other words, news coverage should move on from the science to the politics and economics of hard choices. I agree we need to invest heavily in reporting those elements, which take in every aspect of how we live our lives and how we work. But I suspect in confronting those hard choices, people aren't ready to leave the scientific debate quite yet.

Modern work

In a discussion about managing constant change two interesting observations were made.

1: "Most jobs are increasingly a series of projects". This is certainly true of mine and seemed to ring a bell with all the other senior managers gathered. So when did that happen and why? And while we're all diverted on projects, who's running things?

2: When discussing "change" with teams, it sounds like an admonition (as in "Change or Die!"). Is there a less pejorative word? Progress? Improvement? Future? Forward? They all sound like doublespeak.

UK Start Ups

The Observer profiles some under-30 British internet entrepreneurs. However it's not a full answer to the pervasive question of why the UK seems unable to produce promising start-ups in spite of our track record in innovation and the creative industries. A much picked over conundrum over the last couple of years.

Monocle Magazine

I hope Monocle Magazine - the new publication from Tyler Brule who launched Wallpaper - succeeds. But I'm afraid the first edition is a disappointment. The magazine aims to combine reportage, business news, culture and design for an upmarket or aspirational readership. He raised £5m to launch and intends to produce ten copies a year selling at £5 a time - with a target circulation of 150,000 split across the USA, Europe and Asia. There seems to be plenty of luxury-end advertising.

The idea of another quality magazine with an emphasis on design and the visual as well as long form journalism is attractive. However, having bought the first copy today, it feels a long way short of what it could be.

Firstly, the conventional A4B4 size does not allow design and photography to be as strong as I'd hoped. Matt paper does not do justice to some good photography. (And we could do with some serious photo-journalism at the moment.) It's thick - there's plenty to read. But the lead feature on the Japanese navy does not seem either important, different or interesting enough to launch a new concept in serious coverage of global affairs. The whole magazine has an Asian feel to it - as many fashionable innovations do at the moment - which may just be a feature of the launch edition or something more intrinsic.

A Q&A with the CEO of Lego is fine as the centrepiece of its business coverage - but it's too soon to tell whether it can offer business features of any weight. Altogether it feels rather like an extended in-flight magazine - gliding at 30,000 feet above the real world. The website offers a second by second countdown to the next edition. Actually, I can wait, really.

I'll give Monocle another try, but fear it may be headed for the same fate (and for the same reasons) as that 1980's news magazine start-up with an emphasis on photo-journalism - James Goldsmith's Now!

So, what now?

The Guardian magazine has a good piece by John Harris on how Prime Ministers cope with retirement. One day they are ruling the country with hoards of people at their command. The next, they are at home, with nothing to do and no-one to help them do it.
It chimed with a conversation i had last week with a friend about how CEOs cope with retirement, whether voluntary or enforced. In his case, he sold his company for a considerable sum and in his 50s had to decide what to do with the rest of his life. To his credit, in the american tradition of philanthropy, he set up a non-profit organisation which is now recognised as a leader in its field and saving lives.
But he told of a friend of his who, a few weeks away from enforced retirement from being CEO of a global brand, went to a charity dinner. Only when he arrived did he discover his company was sponsoring the event and the rest of his management team were on the VIP tables at the front. He was at the back. He was confused and puzzled - but his wife just said "Get used to it"....Some men, used to making major moment by moment decisions in their careers, are paralysed when they have to decide about their personal future.
How people cope with this sudden life change, the choices they make and the reasons why is fascinating. There's a book here I think...

Africa Media Development

The World Service Trust (part of the BBC division I run) has just published the findings of a research project assessing the state of the media landscape in 17 sub-Saharan countries. The African Media Development Initiative reports a massive proliferation in Africa's media over the last 5 years, particularly in radio and print media.

However, the research team also found low professional, technical and ethical standards, insufficient training, low journalistic salaries and status, inadequate investment and widespread government control.

The idea is to create a Pan-African media facility, providing funding and expertise in support of media development across the continent.

Offset that flight....

So where were we? I survived a week on the slopes at (reasonably) high speed. However, everywhere I turned the debate about air travel, and its effect on the environment, seemed to be raging.

In the EasyJet in-flight magazine, CEO Andy Harrison was keen to address the Stern Report and dispel some myths: in built simplicity and a low-cost approach makes them more efficient than others he says; they therefore balance economic development and impact on the environment; they support EU emission trading; taxation is not the answer ("giving the government money does not improve the environment") but reform of state subsidised airlines might help. And, he says, aviation accounts for just 1.6% of global greenhouse gases anyway. Remember that figure.

Then in The Guardian, George Monbiot gets stuck in as usual: Uk airplane emmissions by 2050 will account for 49% of the governments CO2 reduction targets. And planes other greenhouse gases create a global warming effect 2.7 times greater than Carbon dioxide alone. Aviation, he says, will account for between 91% and 258% of the greenhouse gases the UK will be permitted to produce in 2050 (Are you following these figures?) and, he says, emission trading won't work - the answer in his view is to limit airports and travel.

Over in the Telegraph, Andrew Pearce doesn't bother too much with the figures. He just berates environment minister Ian Pearson for suggesting we shouldn't indulge in cheap flights and basically argues that you can't ignore the market. Quite where that leaves the planet, he doesn't say.

Meanwhile in Newsweek, Richard Branson says investment in science can make the skies green - which is why he's supporting a $3billion project for biofuel production. The Prime Minister, having bought offsets for his holiday flights, seems to agree Science will be the answer.

As I reflected on all this over a Chocolat Chaud at 1600m, I also read that it was the warmest alpine winter for 1300 years, that if I had travelled by train to the Alps I would have been responsible for 5.7g of CO2 per kilometer as opposed to 180g by plane, but that at least the resort I was in runs its lifts on hydroelectricity. And although over the border the upmarket Swiss resort of Zermatt proudly declares itself to be car-free, there is a very busy heliport bringing in rich skiers.

So what to make of it all? A classic battle of mis-matching statistics - figures which don't relate to each other and which are cherry picked and spun to suit commercial or political (including environmental) interest. It leaves the layman confused rather than illuminated. In such circumstances the only thing you can be really sure of is that the stakes are higher than Mont Blanc and the debate has a long way to run.

And that hot air rises.