Middle East

The largest cable television provider in Israel, HOT, is a new DW broadcasting partner and is including the flagship channel DW in its basic programming package. The partnership marks DW’s first major appearance on the Israeli television market. DW is available in a news package next to major international news brands such as the BBC, Sky News, Fox News, France 24, Euronews, CCTV1 and NHK World. Along with over 800,000 cable subscribers, HOT also provides Internet and telephone services for a combined 1,3 million households. Around 200 national and international channels are provided by HOT, including many exclusive channels that aren’t available with the competing Israeli provider YES.

Asia

DW’s flagship English channel is now available on IPTV and Satellite in India via Airtel, a major global telecommunications company based in Delhi. DW is included in Airtel’s IPTV basic service package and is also with six DTH satellite programming packages. Airtel operates in 20 countries in South Asia and Africa and is the largest mobile operator in South Asia. Through this new partnership, DW has the potential to reach an audience of 4 million viewers in India.

DW’s Mongolian partner MNBC is now broadcasting DW in German via a DVB-T2 signal. MNBC is the first provider of second-generation digital broadcasting in Mongolian and services the capital city Ulaanbaatar with local and international channels on pay TV.

DW is now broadcasting digitally in Afghanistan via the digital service OQAAB. The contract allows for the broadcast of DW’s complete program.

Latin America

DW (Latinoamérica) is now available on IPTV in Mexico via the pay TV provider AXTEL. AXTEL currently has 90,000 subscribers in Mexico’s largest cities including Mexico City, Cuidad Juarez, Monterrey, and Puebla. The Spanish-language programming from DW (Latinoamérica) is included in the ULTRA programming package.

DW has taken a big step forward in developing closer cooperation with Egyptian partner ONTV, one of the most popular news and information networks in Egypt. The new DW-ONTV co-production, Women at a Turning Point, represents the first time the two broadcasters have worked together on a production and is a turning point in their ongoing four-year partnership. Women at a Turning Point will begin broadcasting May 2 on DW (Arabia).

The host of Women at a Turning Point, Reem Magued, is a highly recognized media personality in Egypt and has been described as one of the most vocal Egyptian journalists when reporting the truth about important internal events to local audiences. DW’s new partnership with Magued is just the latest example of ongoing close cooperation with Egyptian media. Last year, famous Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef was a keynote speaker at the Global Media Forum. Other cooperative initiatives with Egyptian media include  development workshops with DW Akademie.

As an international broadcaster, DW has an important role to play in providing Egyptians with an impartial international perspective they can use to better understand events affecting their lives. Press and media oppression in Egypt is a pervasive issue and journalists or bloggers can face severe punishment for doing their jobs. Egypt ranks 158 out of 180 in the 2015 Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders.

 

DW has received permission from the Russian media regulatory authority, Roskomnadzor, to continue broadcasting in Russia. DW is an important source of international news and information in Russia, where independent media is under pressure and unbiased information is becoming harder to access. Russia currently ranks 152 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders.

The new 10-year permit is an extension of a 2005 broadcasting license allowing DW to broadcast in German and English via satellite and cable partners. DW is currently present in the Russian media market with DW (Europe), broadcasting a 24-hour television program in English and German via the Hotbird  satellite.  DW (Europe) will be replaced on June 22 by the new 24-hour English-language channel, DW.

The license extension comes amid tightening of media law in Russia, aimed at making it more difficult for foreign broadcasters to operate. The new laws, which were passed last October, allow foreign broadcasters very limited ownership of media transmitted in Russia.

DW broadcasts in Russia through local distribution partners and via satellite. DW’s main cable partners in Russia are Trikolor TV, MTS, Rostelekom and BeeLine. The new license also makes DW Russian content available to online audiences.

Asia

DW has a new radio partner in Afghanistan. Radio Arakozia will now be broadcasting the evening program from DW Pashto daily. The Afghani partner is one of the most popular radio stations in Afghanistan with one of the largest broadcasting ranges in the country and a strong presence in Pashto-speaking areas.

Representatives from DW were at the Asian Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Digital Broadcasting Symposium in Kuala Lampur. The representatives from DW’s technical operations department presented DW’s potential new distribution channels to a large assembly of international experts at the three-day conference. DW and ABU have a long history of cooperation.

 

A group of international DW Akademie trainees from the 2012 to 2014 program has won the 2015 CNN Journalist Award in the “online” category. “Meine Oma, das Regime und ich (My grandma, the regime and me)” is a German-language multimedia project that shares the stories of six women from around the world who have all lived through dictatorships and social upheaval. The jury recognized both the production quality and the effect of the powerful narratives, all of which provide a rich example of how to tell stories using a combination of journalistic mediums online.

Stories from countries as far removed as China and Brazil all open an intimate window on history and culture while expressing a common tone  of adversity and perseverence which resonates with people all over the world.  The success of the project and its global significance is indicative of how DW Akademie combines a wide diversity of young talent with innovative methods of teaching and producing journalism.

The CNN Journalist Award distinguishes the best and brightest young journalists who work with international news. The prize was given out at an awards ceremony on March 24 in London.