Media Prima eyes Maldives

Media Prima Berhad (MPB) is exploring opportunities in the Republic of Maldives.

MPB chairman Dato’ Abdul Mutalib Razak last month led a delegation to visit the South Asian island to help the country develop its media and broadcast industries.

The visit, which was made upon the invitation of the republic’s Ministry for Tourism, Arts and Culture, also explored opportunities for training of local media and broadcast personnel, and the sharing of expertise in the field of broadcasting, especially in the areas of management, financing, marketing, productions and technical.

MPB, which has investments across different types of media, has been actively exploring opportunities outside of Malaysia. It recently expressed interest in Oman and Pakistan.

“The working visit is very much in line with our regional expansion strategies and will allow us to explore opportunities for collaboration,” said Dato’ Abdul Mutalib.

“The invitation by the Republic of Maldives is testimony to the growing reputation of MPB within the regional broadcast industry, particularly the excellent work in building our TV networks to be the leading media platform in Malaysia,” he added.

Publicly-listed MPB recently expressed support for the government’s digital TV initiative.

MPB said it has been investing in digitising its broadcast infrastructure and adopting state-of-the-art digital technologies. Its broadcast infrastructure at its Sri Pentas facility in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, the company said, is already fully digital and ready for the shift from analogue to digital transmission.

MPB, which owns the free-to-air TV networks TV3, 8tv, ntv7 and TV9, also conducted a digital broadcasting pilot trial last quarter as part of its digital strategy.

Source: apb-news.com

Maldives vows to open state media

The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, says his government is to open up its state-controlled media.

President Nasheed is on an official visit to the UK, where he met the Queen and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The president told the BBC he was seeking investors for a deregulated media sector that would ensure press freedom and competition.

Mr Nasheed took over in October 2008 from Abdul Gayoom who ruled the nation of nearly 1,200 islands for decades.

Mr Nasheed said: "We need to privatise Radio and TV Maldives and distribution networks. I have come here to see whether investors in the UK are interested."

The government operates Voice of Maldives radio and Television Maldives. The first private radio station opened in 2007 and a handful of private TV stations have been licensed.

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called the radio licence charges exorbitant.

Priorities

Mr Nasheed is making his maiden European trip since becoming the country's first ever democratically elected president.

He accepted an invitation from the Queen for dinner and an overnight stay in Windsor Castle.

Mr Nasheed said he was looking for environmentally friendly investors.

The Maldives president also delivered a lecture at the Royal Commonwealth Society on "Embracing the Future".

He thanked the UK public for helping his fight against President Gayoom's three decades of authoritarian rule.

"The changes that have been brought to the Maldives have been assisted very much by the civil society and people in the United Kingdom. So we wanted to say thank you," he told the BBC.

The country's coffers were "left empty" by the previous government and the new administration is seeking funds to consolidate democracy.

Empowering a "dysfunctional" judiciary, upgrading an education system, resolving issues like overcrowding in the capital, Male, and helping young drug addicts were among his priorities, he said.

The president also thanked India and Sri Lanka for their "excellent support", political and financial, since he took power last year.

Mr Nasheed said he was committed to eradicating Islamic fundamentalism but that the task was made difficult because growing radicalisation in Pakistan was encouraging Islamist groups in the Maldives.

He said he would tackle what he called a serious issue for the Maldives by consolidating democracy and offering better education opportunities.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Call for preparation of action plan for community radio in Maldives

Independent and representative committee should formulate draft of a community radio policy.

At a National Orientation on Community Radio in the Maldives, concluded recently in Male, the county's capital, participants called for the appointment by the Ministry of Information and Arts, by September 2007, of an independent and representative committee comprising all stakeholders, to formulate the draft of a community radio policy in Maldives, ensuring transparency in the process.

By the end of 2007, the committee should provide recommendations relating to all aspects of community radio including independent programming, technical regulations, sustainability and transparency both on behalf of the government as well as civil society, strategies and a three-year action plan for the introduction of this new information and communication development tool, including a pilot initiative for possible completion in December 2007.

It was also noted that in the meantime, preparatory capacity building in community broadcasting techniques in collaboration with the existing Atoll Media Centres and VOM will immediately follow with UNESCO/IPDC and other United Nations assistance in keeping with the One UN approach to development assistance in this country.

These recommendations formed part of an 8-point package for study by the Government including the acceptance of the international definition of Community Radio, operationalisation and implementation of Community Radio in Maldives by 2010; reinforcement and capacity building of participatory programming in Maldives, continued and systematic awareness and engagement on the potential of Community Radio in collaboration with the Government and civil society, formulation of programming guidelines to ensure editorial independence and appropriate responses to the needs of the communities, and processes within and outside the legal framework, to ensure ownership and management of the Community Radio by the community.

The National Orientation was attended by over 60 participants including Community Radio experts from the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India, media professionals, representatives from non governmental organizations and other civil society bodies, UN staff, senior officials from the Government and the National Security Force, and the Youth movement, as well as senior staff of the Voice of Maldives.

This overall exercise was organized by the Voice of Maldives, in collaboration with UNESCO within the context of the reform agenda of the Government of Maldives, which places special emphasis on public participation, and inclusion of all especially the poor and marginalized in promoting good governance practices and the raising of awareness of human rights especially amongst the most vulnerable including women, youth and citizens in the outer Atoll islands.

Source: UNESCO