International Indigenous Broadcasters Conference

PUBLICITY RELEASE
TUESDAY MARCH 9 2010

Taiwan Indigenous Television Hosts International Indigenous Broadcasters

Indigenous broadcasters representing Australia, Canada, Hawaii, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Africa and Taiwan will gather for the second ever World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference in Taiwan this week.

Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV) and Public Television Services (PTS) – under the umbrella of the Taiwan Broadcasting System – will host WITBC ’10 at the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung from Wednesday March 10 to Friday March 12, 2010. The theme of the three-day event is ‘Facing the Challenges in the Digital Age for Indigenous Media’ and the programme will cover a range of topics including new media challenges, the changing role of indigenous broadcasters in revitalising native languages and cultures, and the maintenance of core cultural values whilst operating successful television organisations.

A key outcome of the first conference in 2008 was the establishment of the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network (WITBN) representing nine indigenous television broadcasters: National Indigenous Television (NITV), Australia; Aboriginal People Television Network (APTN), Canada; TG4, Ireland; Maori Television, New Zealand; NRK Sami Radio, Norway; BBC ALBA, Scotland; South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa; Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV)/Public Television Service (PTS), Taiwan; and S4C, Wales.

Since WITBC ’08, senior executives of the member organisations have been meeting on a six-monthly basis to plan, develop and implement a range of key initiatives. This has resulted in the development of the first WITBN-produced series, Indigenous Insight, a weekly 30-minute summary of the key news and current affairs stories provided by member organisations. A programme exchange scheme has also been introduced which involves specific documentary programmes being pooled and all contributing members having access to a source of quality indigenous programming at minimal cost.

Other key areas of focus have been related to the sharing of knowledge and information between members. To that end, two one-day workshops covering programming and news and current affairs are being held prior to the start of WITBC ’10 with WITBN sponsoring senior managers from each of the member organisations to attend these workshops. The development of staff exchange programmes is also being prioritised with the first of those exchanges occurring later this year between Maori Television and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network of Canada.

At WITBC ’10, the inaugural chairman of WITBN, Jim Mather from Maori Television, will hand over the leadership mantle of the network to the hosts, TITV, for the next two years. The conference will conclude with the new TITV chairman of WITBN outlining their vision for the future of WITBN. “The past two years have been important in terms of laying solid foundations for the establishment of the network,” Mr Mather says. “It is my hope that it will continue to flourish as the platform for indigenous broadcasters and our collective commitment to our languages and cultures.”

For more information about the conference which will also be webcast, go to www.witbc2010.org.

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