In the run-up to elections in Chad, CFI is forging ahead on its remit to foster professionalism among staff at the state TV channel Télé Tchad. First introduced in 2009, the training course will be wound up with the third session held in N’Djamena from 27 July to 5 August.

At this workshop, two CFI experts, Frédéric Bouquet and Auberi Edler, free-lance directors and chief editors, will be training ten members of staff from Chad TV (a chief editor, a director, journalists, graphic artists etc.). It will focus on the organisation of election nights, especially on the creation of a studio programme and techniques for leading debates and conducting interviews. The course will also cover debate time-keeping, raising viewer awareness of the importance of the vote and its organisation, as well as on the graphic artwork to present the results.

Fitting campaign coverage into the schedule

In the past years, CFI has experimented and developed several training sessions in Africa on major issues pertaining to media coverage of campaigns, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Burundi and Côte d’Ivoire. In Chad, the first training session, in November 2009, concentrated on news reporting. Supervised by Yves Bruneau, Chief Editor and Fabien Cordier, TV reporter, it was geared around the Télé Tchad newscast. The second part of the course, which took place from 5 to 9 April 2010, focussed on adapting the programme schedule during the run-up to elections. Frédéric Bouquet and chief editor Daniel Grillon worked with the channel’s programming and production teams (directors, editors, assistant directors, programmers, producers etc.) on setting up regular slots throughout the campaign, like a “campaign diary”, debates and one-on-one interviews.

Event

2010 African Athletics Championship

From 28 July to 1 August 2010, CFI staff will be in Nairobi, Kenya, alongside African journalists commentating the 17th African Athletics Championship. Unlike in Addis Ababa in 2008, this competition is now fully organised and produced by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA). CFI is a partner of this organisation to handle the live broadcast on African screens and to support journalists providing commentary.

Throughout the championship, CFI will be offering its African TV partners images of the competition with commentary, in French and English, by African professionals trained by two CFI experts.

2010 French Network Abroad Days

As every year, CFI will be attending the "French Network Abroad Days" to be held on 19, 20 and 21 July 2010 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, with “France tunes in to the world” as the main theme.

In the field

Africa

Chad, 25 July - 5 August, training on the organisation of an election evening

CFI staff will be back in Chad for a third training session catering to journalists at Télé-Tchad as they gear up for the forthcoming elections. The first session, in November 2009, focussed on reporting news. The second, held in April 2010, focussed more specifically on adapting the programme schedule to cater to the election campaign. This third training session will explore the organisation of an election evening.

Mali, 26 July - 7 August, support to create a new graphic identity

At the request of the Mali state broadcasting corporation, ORTM, CFI is sending graphics expert Clément Deneux, to Bamako for two weeks, in order to help the TV channel create a new graphic identity.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Vietnam, 7 - 21 August, training for presenters

The Vietnam news agency (AVI), a new partner in Vietnam, has called on CFI to train its TV journalists to present a newscast. CFI is organising two weeks of coaching on broadcasting for 10 Vietnamese journalists, supervised by Isabelle Malivoir, Assistant Chief Editor for TV5 Monde.

Sport

Football - FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup - 21 July to 1 August 2010

In partnership with the AUB, CFI is offering to broadcast 22 of the competition matches to AUB members.

Programmes

Special programming for the 50th anniversary of Independence for many African countries:

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Independence for many African countries. To celebrate these events, CFI will be offering the documentary series Les Précurseurs (Pioneers) to its African TV partners in the coming weeks. This series draws eight portraits of Africans having played an important role in the their country’s independence, including Barthélémy Boganda, a priest from the Central African Republic, Senegalese politician Lamine Gueye and Guinean Rabiatou Diallo.

As every year, CFI will be attending the "French Network Abroad Days" to be held on 19, 20 and 21 July 2010 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris with “France tunes in to the world” as the main theme. Haiti will be the country of honour.

Each year, these days bring together over 2000 professionals involved in French initiatives abroad in the sectors of culture, the economy and development, research and teaching. All the players in international cooperation are invited along, including leaders in civil society, cooperative agents, players in the private sector, local authorities, academics, scientists working in research and of course all those working for the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Paris and abroad.

The 2010 days will feature four workshops and five plenary sessions on 20 and 21 July :

  "Haiti bounces back" ;
  "Knowledge diplomacy" ;
  "Digital opportunities for France in global communications" ;
  "Development and globalisation : how to mesh development aid, growth and Millennium Development Goals" ;
  "Creative output at the core of cultural initiatives abroad". The regularly updated programme for these days may be viewed online.

This annual event is a special occasion for sharing, brainstorming and communication between all those working to leverage France’s international footing and solidarity.

Canal France International (CFI), France Télévisions and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) launched "Maarifa" under the aegis of the Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean in April 2010. This project aims to support TV channels in the Mediterranean and the Arab world in developing interactive and educational audiovisual programmes.

As part of the call for projects that ended on 15 June 2010, the jury selected those submitted by Arrabia, a Moroccan educational channel produced by the Moroccan broadcasting corporation, SNRT; Wattan TV, a private Palestinian channel, and JRTV, Jordan Radio and Television. Maarifa, which means “knowledge” in Arabic, has a budget of €500,000, and aims to help these stations to provide young television viewers access to new educational media. This audience represents 45% of the population the channels serve.

Bringing culture and leisure together

Arrabia has submitted a drama called Mektaba ("Library" in Arabic), edutainment for the family bringing together culture and leisure. Wattan TV proposed Chabaab ("Youth"), a twelve-episode studio programme that will provide a voice for young people and use a multi-platform approach (TV, web and social networks). Lastly, JRTV’s project, Madrassati ("My School"), with the support of the Jordan Education Initiative, looks to introduce digital and multimedia content into classrooms.

Official press conference

These three projects were officially introduced to the press on 5 July in Marseille. This press conference was attended by Renaud Muselier, President of the Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean, Salaheddine Maaoui, Managing Director of the ASBU, Patrick de Carolis, Chairman and Managing Director of France Télévisions, Alain Belais, Chairman of the Board of CFI and Director of International Relations for France Télévisions and Etienne Fiatte, Managing Director of CFI.

Three teams of experts will swing into action through to December 2011 to support the television production crews, from developing format concepts through to broadcast. Etienne Fiatte explained, "Maarifa looks set to accomplish two of CFI’s main objectives: strengthening ties with the Arab world and training journalists to harness the power of digital media".

A round table is scheduled for 8 - 9 July in Maputo to discuss and promote cooperation between Portuguese-language TV channels. It is organised by CFI and will bring together TV channel management from Mozambique (TVM), Angola (TPA), Cape Verde (RTC), Guinea-Bissau (RTGB) and Sao Tome and Principe (TVS).

This two-day workshop will give participants the chance to brainstorm the development and enhancement of their broadcasts through the programmes offered by CFI. It is also a chance to put all their resources to work to drive cooperation. CFI will prepare a report on its work in Portuguese-speaking Africa and will present its new programme purchasing and distribution policies to the programming directors in attendance. This new orientation focusses on TV channels’ involvement in programming acquisition.

Exchange of programmes among the channels

They will also cover questions concerning dubbing and subtitling in Portuguese, the circulation and exchange of programmes among the channels as well as training. Another workshop will focus more specifically on commentary, news and strategies involving the acquisition of broadcasting rights for sporting events with each channel’s sports programming director present. After the first successful round table in 2009 in Sao Tome and Principe on the fringe of a training course covering the media’s educational role, CFI demonstrates its wish to continue its work with its Portuguese broadcasting partners.

Having donated a camera and an editing bench to the Media Operations Centre (established by Reporters Without Borders following the earthquake), CFI initiatives are now focussed on technical advice and training. In late May 2010, Serge Braconnier, engineer at France Télévisions, went to assess the technical appliances available to Haitian TV and to give them advice on the reconstruction of their work setup. He also repaired some on-site equipment.

Two training courses for Haitian journalists

In the meantime, two training courses have been held on the island. The first, led by director Philippe Radoux, catered to 10 young journalists, cameramen and editors from state TV and commercial channels in Haiti, organised as a mini newsroom at the Media Operations Centre. The second workshop was led by sports journalist Romain Grimaud. The aim was to prepare Haitian journalists to commentate matches during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, built around practical tips and match commentary simulations. The training course was held at the Croix des Bouquets, the new site of the Haitian Ministry of Youth and Sports.

93 hours of French programmes for state TV

Lastly, alongside CulturesFrance, Arte and some other French operators, CFI has offered Haitian TV a selection of French programmes. In late May, the French ambassador gave the Managing Director of the state TV channel a DVD containing 93 hours of French programmes, including fiction, documentaries and children’s cartoon series.

Event

Maarifa, supporting the production of educational multimedia programmes for TV channels in the Arab world: short-listing of three projects

A press conference, with the participation of Patrick de Carolis, Chairman of France Télévisions and Etienne Fiatte, Managing Director of CFI, is to be held on 5 July in Marseille to present the selected projects. Further to the call for projects issued in April 2010, the selection committee met on 22 June to assess the ten applications submitted, and selected three of them: MEKTABA (“library” in Arabic) from the Moroccan educational channel Arrabia (SNRT), CHABAAB (“youth”) from the commercial Palestinian channel Wattan TV and MADRASSATI (“My school”) put forward by Jordan Radio and Télévision (JRTV).

In the field

Africa

South Africa, 11 June - 11 July , a team of African journalists to commentate the 2010 FIFA World Cup

For the first time ever, a team of 17 African professionals, selected from African TV channels, and trained by CFI, will be providing live commentary of all of the matches for 41 African TV channels. Having been entrusted with the marketing of rights by FIFA, the AUB (African Union of Broadcasters) teamed up with CFI to produce and broadcast the 64 matches live. Two 26-minute daily magazines focussing on Africa, its players, teams and supporters during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will fill viewers in on what’s going on behind the scenes.

Madagascar, 28 June - 2 July , report on the audience study

CFI teamed up with France Télévisions Publicité, RFI, TV5 Monde and Canal+ Horizons, to launch together with TNS-SOFRES a benchmark study on Africa for four countries: Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC and Mali. This assignment in Madagascar is to report on the study.

Madagascar, 28 June - 2 July , programming workshop and audit on the organisation regional news desks

Coinciding with the audience survey report, a training workshop is being held in Madagascar, focussing on programming for executives from the state TV channel (RTM). Once on site, the expert will also carry out an audit of the RTM’s regional news desks.

Mozambique, 8 - 9 July, programme seminar for Portuguese-speaking Africa

In partnership with the Mozambique state TV channel (TVM), CFI is leading a 2-day seminar catering to its five TV partners from Portuguese-speaking Africa (TPA-Angola, RTC-Cape Verde, RTBG-Guinea-Bissau, TVM-Mozambique, TVS-Sao Tome & Principe), to which it supplies French programmes in Portuguese as well as sports programmes. The purpose of the meeting: to gain better insight into their expectations in terms of programmes and facilitate the sharing of their resources.

Mediterranean Region and Asia

Maldives, 3 - 17 July, production workshop on programmes handling environmental issues

CFI is organising a production workshop on short programmes addressing global warming and ensuing climate change, in collaboration with the IRD, a research institute for development. This 2-week workshop is geared around the writing, shooting and editing of subjects under the supervision of two experts, a scientist specialising in global warming and a director.

Palestine, 25 June - 9 July , new workshop on the blog “An-Nathra”

In November 2009 CFI launched the blog “An-Nathra.com ”, in collaboration with Palestinian NGO TAM with support from the French Consulate in Jerusalem. Two experts from the website Rue 89 spent ten days in Bethlehem, with 10 young Palestinian women, to set up this news blog. The training course was then continued in Paris, with the “bloggers” taking a more in-depth look at how to work in a Web newsroom. CFI is organising another assignment in Bethlehem to select and train new participants in the project.

Bangladesh, 3 - 10 July , consulting for the channel BTV

Further to a request from the Asia Broadcasting Union (ABU), CFI is conducting a consulting mission (feasibility study, technological choices, budget etc.) for BTV (Bangladesh Television) to support its switch to terrestrial digital TV.

Turkey, 13 - 18 July , assistance with the production of films with the Greenhouse Foundation

The Greenhouse Foundation is launching a support programme for the creation of documentary films on the themes of racism and human rights. CFI is backing this project with a financial contribution. Three seminars have been planned in Turkey, to take place over a year.

Programmes

Special programming for the 50th anniversary of Independence for many African countries:

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Independence for many African countries. To celebrate these events, CFI will be offering the documentary series Les Précurseurs (Pioneers) to its African TV partners in the coming weeks. This series draws eight portraits of Africans having played an important role in the their country’s independence, including Barthélémy Boganda, a priest from the Central African Republic, Senegalese politician Lamine Gueye and Guinean Rabiatou Diallo.

This project is part of a more general support programme set up by the EBU for some of its members. Participants come from TV channels in Albania (RTVSH), Belarus (BRTC), Bosnia (BHRT), Bulgaria (BNT), Georgia (GPB), Malta (PBS), Moldavia (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), Serbia (RTS) and Ukraine (NTU).

CFI suggested teaming up with the EBU and ARD to organise this introductory workshop in Hamburg, at the ARD headquarters. It has been designed for news directors and managers working for European operators. First of all, CFI expert Damien Charton, former journalist at France 24, will discuss changes to the newsroom, the new duties and opportunities to produce and circulate news. Then a tour of the German TV channel’s facilities will give participants a chance to check out newsroom operations in the digital era: issues, new working setup, monitoring production procedures for a newscast etc.

While attending the Black Screen festival in early June, CFI officially announced the holding of an African TV Day (JTA) scheduled for 27 February 2011, during the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). Seven members of the African Association of Private TV Producers (APPTA) will be partnering CFI: Golfe TV (Benin), Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), STV2 (Cameroon), DRTV (Congo Brazzaville), RTT (Niger), TV Renaissance (Burundi) and 2STV (Senegal). FESPACO and the Black Screen festival will also be involved.

Aiming to promote African works on television, the programme directors from the seven TV partners drew up the programme schedule for this future African TV Day during the business meetings in Yaoundé. The idea is to put forward a programme everybody can relate to, featuring entertainment, discovery, news, sport and fiction.

Participants have realised that it is a great opportunity to foster new relations within APPTA and the sharing of best practices. Preparation for African TV Day will involve the sharing of programmes, co-productions and the pooled purchasing of independent production. Let’s look back at the first meeting, held on the fringe of Discop Africa, in Dakar, February 2010 with Mactar Silla, President of the APPTA and Managing Director of STV2, who presented the project to us: Insertion de la vidéo de Mactar.

Event

South Africa, 11 June - 11 July, a team of African journalists to commentate the 2010 FIFA World Cup

For the first time ever, a team of 17 African professionals, selected from African TV channels, and trained by CFI, will be providing live commentary of all of the matches for 41 African TV channels. Having been entrusted with the marketing of rights by FIFA, the AUB (African Union of Broadcasters) teamed up with CFI to produce and broadcast the 64 matches live. Two 26-minute daily magazines focussing on Africa, its players, teams and supporters during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will fill viewers in on what’s going on behind the scenes.

In the field

Africa

Cameroon, 29 May - 5 June, CFI partners the 14th Black Screens Festival in Yaoundé

Mindful of supporting film production in Africa, CFI will be announcing the winner of the Best First Feature Film Award, which goes to a young director, at the 2010 Black Screens Festival. The film will then be made available to CFI’s French-language TV partners to be broadcast on their TV channels.

Senegal, 31 May - 1 June, programme short-listing seminar

CFI has organised a two-day meeting in Saint Louis, Senegal, with seven programme directors from TV channels in Benin, Burundi, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, to come to a joint decision on the programme selection that CFI will buy for its TV partners.


Mediterranean Region and Asia

Azerbaijan, 6 - 9 June, prospecting and support for programme acquisition

During this assignment in Bakou CFI aims to meet managing directors and programme directors from two TV channels, Lider TV and ITV, in order to examine their programme schedules and their needs with respect to content and training.

Albania, 6 - 19 June, training course on video reporting

The Albanese press agency, ATA, has asked CFI to train six journalists from Tirana in video reporting. The workshop will be led by Edward Goldstein, a journalist dispatched by the AFP Foundation. The theory lessons will focus on the basics of TV reporting, and during the hands-on session subjects will be produced for ATA’s commercial use. This is CFI’s first ever cooperation assignment in Albania.

Armenia, 10 - 25 June, part 2 of a training course on the production of a news magazine with the Caucasus Institute

The Caucasus Institute called upon CFI to organise hands-on training sessions on TV journalism for its international class, led by two CFI experts. An initial session took place from 2 to 16 May. This second session will focus on the production of a short-format magazine.

Event

Cannes, 10 - 24 May : training course for journalists during the Cannes Film Festival

From 10 to 24 May, CFI will be bringing together a team of 10 cultural journalists from TV channels in Armenia (ARMTV), Burkina Faso (RTB), Egypt (ETV), the Philippines (ABS-CBN) and Senegal (RTS) to cover the 63rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

For 14 days, these journalists will be producing 2-minute subjects for newscasts and cultural TV magazines on their respective channels. The Cannes Film Festival is a unique cultural event for southern TV channels offering their viewers a glimpse into this newsworthy extravaganza.

In the field

Africa

Cameroon, 25 - 29 May : presentation of the Africascope audience study

From 25 to 29 May, CFI will be presenting the results of the Africascope audience study for three Cameroonian TV channels (two state-run and one commercial), in Douala and Yaoundé. Programming workshops will also be held to concur with this presentation.

Haiti, 17 May - 6 June : assistance programme for Haitian TV channels

After an initial assignment, conducted in March by a CFI expert, to take stock of the needs of Haitian audiovisual media, this second trip to Haiti aims to implement priority initiatives. Firstly, 94 hours of programmes will be made available to commercial and state operators in Haiti. Moreover, two experts will visit Port-au-Prince to set up a TV studio at the Media Operations Centre, set up by Reporters Without Borders for journalists working for the press. The necessary equipment to carry out this project will be purchased and made available by CFI.

Mediterranean Region and Asia

Algeria, gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Algerian television (EPTV) has asked CFI to help prepare to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Four workshops have been scheduled in Algiers :

   From 30 March to 4 April, and from 11 to 15 May : live match commentary, with Philippe Doucet, journalist for Canal+.

   From 6 to 13 April : summarising and news topic production, with Fabien Duflos, TV reporter at Canal+ Sports.

   From 12 to 18 April : production, animation and broadcasting of a studio show, with Frédéric Gaillard, Production Director for the Sports Department of France Télévisions, and Dominique Le Glou, sports show presenter for France Télévisions.

Thailand, 1 - 29 May : writing, filming and editing a documentary

State TV channel Thai PBS is restructuring and positioning itself as an educational TV channel. It has asked CFI to organize a 3-phase training course for its staff. The first workshop, devoted to writing, will be held in Bangkok from 1 to 10 May, supervised by Nadine Picard, a free-lance director. Another free-lance director, Kristell Lansonneur, will handle the shooting phase of this project, during the second workshop from 7 to 15 May. Finally, the last part of this module, from 23 to 30 May, has been entrusted to Barbara Tapie, a free-lance editor and director who will finalise the participants’ work by giving them advice on how to edit their documentaries.

Sri Lanka, 1 - 15 May : training course for instructors in journalism

In partnership with Young Asia Television, an organisation that trains young professionals working for Sri Lankan television, CFI is sending free-lance deputy chief editor Antoine Orcelli to Battaramulla, to train instructors in journalism. The expert will lead two modules for these instructors, which will help improve the quality of the reports produced by Sri Lankan journalists, who have not benefited from sufficient training throughout the years of conflict.

Vietnam, 16 - 29 May : training course on the showcasing of sporting events

In partnership with the Conference of the Youth and Sports Ministers of French-speaking Countries (CONFEJES), CFI is working with sports journalists in French-speaking Asian countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand). A workshop is being set up in Hanoi for 18 journalists and cameramen from 8 regional TV channels, to help them showcase major international sporting events for which these channels regularly buy the rights. Two experts, Philippe Doucet, journalist at Canal+ and Eric Mingant, a free-lance TV reporter, will be introducing these professionals to the directing of reports and short subjects and editorial strategy for this type of event.

Thailand, 17 - 21 May : training course for Burmese journalists

The AFP Foundation is organising a training course in Bangkok for Burmese journalists from the independent press group, Eleven Media, to prepare for the forthcoming elections. It has called on CFI to help fund this workshop covering the following themes : international journalism standards, journalism in hostile and dangerous territory, managing websites. This partnership will also be a first opportunity for contact with Burmese journalists.

Programmes

Gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July. To help CFI’s TV partners adapt their schedule to this sporting event, CFI has selected several documentaries that will be offered to them in the weeks to come :
  Nelson Mandela : In the Name of Freedom (52’)
  The Adventure of African Football (2 x 52’)
  Political Assassinations : the End of Apartheid) (52’)
  Le Ballon d’or (The Golden Ball) (90’), feature film by Cheikh Doukouré

Sport

UEFA Champions League final on May 22 2010 : “Bayern Munich / Internationale” in Madrid at 18:30 GMT (Kick off at 18:45 GMT).

In the field

Africa

Burkina Faso, 4 - 7 May, training course for producers

CFI is fostering professionalism among Burkinabe producers, by offering them a three-day training course, providing advice relative to the legal, contractual and promotional aspects of production. Two CFI experts will lead this workshop for seven of the biggest production companies in Burkina.

Burundi, 23 - 30 April, CFI partner of the International Festival of Cinema and Broadcasting of Burundi (FESTICAB)

CFI supports African film production and will present a special award, at the second edition of the International Festival of Cinema and Broadcasting of Burundi (FESTICAB) in Bujumbura, honouring the work of a young director from Burundi. The work will be available for broadcasting to all the CFI French-language TV partners in Africa.

Mediterranean Region and Asia

Sélection of the journalists for the "Cannes seen by ..." operation in the Philippines

After Egypt and Armenia, CFI is wrapping up the selection of the candidates for the "Cannes vu par..." project in the Philippines, from 10 to 21 April. This project is due to run during the next Cannes Film Festival, from 12 to 23 May 2010. During this course, 10 journalists from five of CFI’s TV partners will be supervised by Yvan Avril, Chief Editor at France 3 Orléans, and two independent directors, Max Court and Sonia Chabour. They will produce six short subjects for each of their TV channels, in the language and from the editorial angle of their choice, as well as a jointly produced magazine during the festival.

Algeria, gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Algerian television (EPTV) has asked CFI to help prepare to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Four workshops have been scheduled in Algiers:

  From 30 March to 4 April, and from 11 to 15 May: live match commentary, with Philippe Doucet, journalist for Canal+.

  From 6 to 13 April: summarising and news topic production, with Fabien Duflos, TV reporter at Canal+ Sports


  From 12 to 18 April: production, animation and broadcasting of a studio show, with Frédéric Gaillard, Production Director for the Sports Department of France Télévisions, and Dominique Le Glou, sports show presenter for France Télévisions.

Thailand, 1 - 29 May, writing, filming and editing a documentary

State TV channel Thai PBS is restructuring and positioning itself as an educational TV channel. It has asked CFI to organize a 3-phase training course for its staff. The first workshop, devoted to writing, will be held in Bangkok from 1 to 10 May, supervised by Nadine Picard, an independent director. Kristell Lansonneur, another independent director, will handle the shooting phase of this project, during the second workshop from 7 to 15 May. Finally, the last part of this module, from 23 to 30 May, has been entrusted to Barbara Tapie, an independent editor and director who will finalise the work of the participants by giving them advice on how to edit their documentaries.

Georgia, 30 April- 8 May, third training session for GPB

The new management of Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB) have asked CFI to transform their second state TV channel into a parliamentary TV channel. Further to a first assessment assignment conducted in December 2009, CFI offered Georgian Public Broadcasting the services of Eric Moniot, Director General of LCP-AN, for a week of work in Tbilissi. During a visit to Paris, the GPB delegation identified programme formats and management models that could serve as a base for their organisation. The assignment consists therefore in adapting and developing an organisation (organisation charts, human and technical resources, program schedules), prior to the launch of the TV channel.

Sri Lanka, 1 - 15 May, training of instructors in journalism

In partnership with Young Asia Television, an organization that provides training for young professionals working for Sri Lankan television, CFI is sending Antoine Orcelli, independent deputy chief editor, to Battaramulla to train instructors in journalism. The expert will lead two modules for the instructors, which will help improve the quality of the pieces produced by Sri Lankan journalists, who have not benefited from sufficient training throughout the conflict year.

Lebanon, 4 - 7 May, Development of the L’Orient-Le Jour Website

CFI is setting up a project involving the modernisation of the websites of the various titles of the Le Commerce du Levant and the L’Orient-Le Jour group, with a 4-phase assignment:

  An audit to assess and put recommendations forward for technical and editorial development

  A first training session geared around writing and Web marketing

  A second training session on content production techniques, especially multimedia and video

  A last session, finally, to support the work of the Web team on the occasion of a major event such as the Foire du livre francophone (French-language book fair).

The first assignment will be led by David Botbol, a France Télévisions Interactive expert in Beirut. He will examine L’Orient-Le Jour’s needs and expectations, and will offer to chart the group’s Internet development.

Programmes

Gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. To help CFI’s TV partners prepare their programming around this sports event, CFI has selected several documentaries that will be offered to them in the weeks to come:

  Nelson Mandela: In the Name of Freedom (52’)

  The Adventure of African Football (2 x 52’)

  Assassinats politiques : la fin de l’Apartheid (Political Assassinations: the End of Apartheid) (52’)

  Le Ballon d’or (The Golden Ball) (90’), feature film by Cheikh Doukouré

From 5 to 9 April 2010, CFI will be leading the second training session for Télé Tchad staff. Daniel Grillon, free-lance Chief Editor, former Regional Director of France 3 Méditerranée, and Frédéric Bouquet, free-lance director, are in N’Djamena to supervise 10 managers involved in the TV channel’s programming policy. This team is working to adapt the programme schedule to fit programmes about the elections and election night in.

Steered by the Gret (a solidarity-based organisation working in international cooperation), with participation of the AFP Foundation, this project, running from 2009 to 2010, aims to foster freedom of expression, democratic pluralism and news in Chad. For Florence Minery-Lemoine, Gret Media Programme Manager: “CFI and Gret have complementary skills. CFI makes a crucial contribution to training insofar as professionals really need to get hands-on training and share experience.” Since 2005, CFI has made supporting electoral processes in African one of its priorities. In Chad, in the run-up to the elections, strengthening the media is vital for several reasons: it is the first vector of political parties’ campaign messages; it is also the primary forum to lead election debates with the media coverage chosen. In this, it plays a capital role in training and civic education.

This project is funded by the European Development Fund, as part of the Chad Electoral Reform Support Programme (PARSET).

In the run-up to elections in Burundi, with five national and local elections scheduled between May and August 2010, French Cooperation has set up a Joint Media Support Plan (PACAM). It has called upon CFI to organise a training course for the media in Burundi as part of this plan.

This plan has set forth six strategic points ranging from the production of programmes to logistic and technical support, with the rollout of “Media Synergy 2010”, a joint programme focussing on the elections and broadcast simultaneously on all radio stations, captured by TV channels and featured in articles in the press.

The CFI training course, held from 14 to 21 March 2010, catered to eight journalists and three producers from state TV and radio. With a hands-on approach involving simulation exercises, it especially focussed on the organisation, capturing and leading of election debates, a few days ahead of the official election campaign in the media.

Mission accomplished for the “From reporting on the economy to investigative journalism” training course in the DRC. Etienne Fiatte, Managing Director at CFI and Guillaume Pierre, Director for Africa, were in Kinshasa on 10 March 2010 to wrap up the third session of an especially popular training course.

In 2009 and 2010 CFI set up a series of training courses about reporting on the economy and investigative journalism for journalists from ten commercial channels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These three sessions, which took place in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, aimed to hone the professional skills of 10 previously hand-picked journalists to work successively on 2-, 6- and 12-minute formats. The purpose was not only to improve the level and diversity of TV news but also foster freedom of speech and raise the quality of democratic debate in the DRC.

Alongside Christian Fienga, free-lance director, CFI got three other experts involved in the project : David Kleinman, editor at France Télévisions, Thierry Vincent, Assistant Chief Editor at Canal+ and Renaud Feyssaguet, free-lance director and journalist.

All the reports shot by the Congolese journalists have been or are due to be screened on their TV channels, the directors of which have been involved throughout the training course, to brainstorm possibilities of development of this type of report. CFI will be making the best reports available to its entire network in Africa.

In order to shore up the impact of this initiative which proved highly popular among the Congolese professionals, CFI suggested repeating it in late 2010-early 2011 for journalists from other Congolese provinces.

“With support from the Franco-British ‘Media for Democracy and Transparency in the DRC’ project”

On 13 April 2010, CFI will be offering a special edition of the French science magazine C’est pas sorcier in the thick of the Congo river basin rainforest.

To celebrate the 15th year of France 3’s TV magazine C’est pas sorcier, its two presenters, Frédéric Courant and Jamy Gourmaud, will be taking TV viewers on a special adventure into the thick of the Congo river basin rainforest. As usual, while Fred sets out to meet the pygmies, Jamy enlightens viewers, providing scientific backup from his lab.

2010 having been declared the International Year of Biodiversity, CFI has for the past months been offering its partners a selection of programmes and training courses on the theme of sustainable development.

Thanks to CFI, African TV channels partners of CFI can thus broadcast this special 110-minute edition, produced with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French region of Brittany, on their own waves.

In the field

Mediterranean region and Asia

Selection in Armenia and the Philippines of journalists for the “Cannes seen by...” operation

After Egypt, CFI is forging ahead in Armenia and the Philippines, with the short-listing of candidates for the “Cannes seen by...” project to take place during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, scheduled from 12 to 23 May 2010. During this course, 10 journalists, working for five of CFI’s TV partners, will be supervised by Yvan Avril, Chief Editor at France 3 Orléans and two free-lance directors, Max Court and Sonia Chabour. They will produce six short subjects for each of their TV channels, in their language and from their chosen editorial angle, as well as a joint magazine during the festival.

Thailand, 15 - 30 March, interactive “Discover Thailand” programme

CFI is leading a workshop for its partner MCOT-Channel 98 on the creation of a fun, educational programme, to showcase regions of Thailand, with interactive viewer participation via SMS. The aim is to help MCOT produce a pilot programme further to the training course.

Algeria, 30 March-4 April, 6-13 April and 12-18 April, preparing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Algerian television (EPTV) has asked CFI for assistance in preparing to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Two training sessions have been planned for around 15 journalists and chief editors working for the channel. The first, focusing on live match commentary, will be supervised by Philippe Doucet, journalist commentator at Canal +. The second session will address the production of sports reports and will be led by Fabien Duflot, sports reporter at Canal+.

Africa

Benin, 27 March - 4 April, training on the capturing of plays at the theatre

At the 2010 edition of the International Theatre Festival in Benin (FITHEB), and at the request of the SOPAT (Société de Promotion Audiovisuelle de Théâtre) and the state broadcasting corporations in Mali (ORTM) and Benin (ORTB), CFI is organising a training course on the capturing of theatre for television, based on plays created during the Festival.

Programmes

Programming a special edition of C’est pas sorcier

CFI is getting involved in the broadcasting of a special edition of C’est pas sorcier (a French science programme) on the Congo river basin, produced by the French region of Brittany and the French Development Agency (AFD). On 20 April, this edition will be made available to five of CFI’s African TV partners in Gabon, Cameroon, DRC, Congo Brazzaville and the Central African Republic.

2010 Kora Awards

CFI is teaming up with the Kora Awards, and for 2010, is offering to broadcast the entire music competition in Africa. The final, to be staged on 4 April in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, will be broadcast to the 45 countries covered by CFI’s satellite network.

Sports

Champions League Matches for CFI TV partners in Africa:

  BAYERN vs MANCHESTER March Tuesday 30th (direct)

  ARSENAL vs FC BARCELONE March Wednesday 31st (direct)

Event

Launch of the “Cannes seen by” operation in Egypt, Armenia and the Philippines

CFI is preparing one of its major projects for the year: assisting an international mini-editorial department comprised of 10 journalists working for five of CFI’s TV partners in the south for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, scheduled from 12 to 23 May 2010. They will be supervised by Yvan Avril, Chief Editor at France Télévisions and two free-lance directors, Max Court and Sonia Chabour. They will produce six short subjects for each of their TV channels, in their language and from their chosen editorial angle, as well as a joint magazine during the festival.

CFI is currently organising several workshops to shortlist candidates in Egypt, Armenia and the Philippines. The African participants are also due to be designated shortly, in the wake of workshops organised in Niger and Burkina Faso.

In the field

Africa

Burundi, 25 - 30 March, training on the production of election debates

Working on a Joint Media Support Plan (PACAM), French Cooperation has called on CFI to prepare journalists from Burundi to cover the various elections to be held in Burundi between May and August 2010. This training course, involving the Burundi state TV channel, RTNB, as well as the commercial channel Télé Renaissance, will assist with producing election debates and supervise journalists in the organisation and leading of these debates.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Thailand, 15 - 30 March, interactive “Discover Thailand” programme

CFI is leading a workshop for its partner MCOT-Channel 98 on the creation of a fun, educational programme, to showcase regions of Thailand, with interactive viewer participation via SMS. The aim is to help MCOT produce a pilot programme further to the training course.

Malaysia, 22 - 26 March, workshop on the production of children’s programmes

In partnership with the Asia Broadcasting Union (ABU), CFI is pushing ahead with its initiatives in favour of the production of children’s programmes, contributing to two workshops attended by some dozen Asian TV programme managers. Further to these workshops, several educational fictions will be produced by the participants.

Algeria, 23 - 30 March, preparing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Algerian television (EPTV) has asked CFI for assistance in preparing to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Two training sessions have been planned, supervised by Philippe Doucet, journalist commentator at Canal + and Fabien Duflot, sports reporter at Canal+.

Iraq, 21 - 26 March, investigative and partnership-seeking assignment

At the request of the Iraqi Kurdistan Ministry of Further Education, the AFP Foundation has called on CFI to examine the possibility of organising a training course for young students of journalism. CFI will be dispatching Jean-Claude Perpère, former Chief Editor at France Télévisions, and Rose-Marie Deleskiewicz-Sailahan, journalist assigned by the AFP Foundation to Erbil.

Programmes

Programming a special edition of «C’est pas sorcier»

CFI is getting involved in the broadcasting of a special edition of C’est pas sorcier (a French science programme) on the rivers in Congo, produced by the French region of Brittany and the French Development Agency (AFD). This edition will be offered to CFI’s African TV partners in March, with a customised introduction.

Sports

Champions League Matches for CFI TV partners in Africa:

  Tuesday 16 March: Chelsea vs. Internazionale, live

  Wednesday 17 March: Barcelona vs. Stuttgart, live, and Bordeaux vs. Olympiacos, recorded

Event

Paris, 1 to 5 March, 3rd advanced session on sports commentary and reporting
This workshop, organised in partnership with the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), and with support from the French Professional Football League (LFP) and Canal+ Horizons, is teaching some 20 African professionals to produce the commentary and daily magazines for the forthcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup for African TV channels. This training course has been coordinated by Philippe Doucet, LFP consultant, and is being supervised by Robbie Thomson, English-speaking journalist, Sylvie Mervant, Production Officer at France Télévisions and Arnaud Ursule, journalist for Télématin.

In the field

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo, 4 January - 11 March, Part 3 of the training course on economic and investigative journalism

The course began with two workshops, one in Kinshasa in October and the other in Lubumbashi in December 2009. Part 3 of the course, devoted to economic and investigative journalism and designed for a group of ten Congolese journalists, got under way in January in DRC. The ten journalists are currently shooting their subjects prior to editing. Their 13-minute reports are to be screened in mid-March.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Damascus, 1 - 12 March, training of TV Reporters

Organised by the AIBD (Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development), in cooperation with the ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union) and the IBU (Islamic Broadcasting Union), this training course caters to TV reporters from various Syrian media. CFI is sending Khalid Aoutail, free-lance reporter, to supervise some fifteen professionals selected by the ASBU. On the agenda: a recap of the basics of journalism and the work of TV reporters (groundwork, writing, shooting and editing the subjects), then the directing of subjects.

Programmes

Special “International Women’s Day” programming

CFI is getting involved in International Women’s Day on 8 March, offering its African TV partners a series of three documentaries and one feature, produced in Africa, as from 11 February:

   En quête d’équité is a documentary from Burkina Faso, directed by Jean-Claude Frisque. Based on true accounts of life in Burkina Faso, Benin and Guinea Bissau, it relates women’s day-to-day involvement in the management of natural resources and puts the spotlight on their crucial yet fragile role. It also underlines the importance of gender equality, which offers the opportunity to make our societies fairer, driven more by solidarity and more effective in the preservation of the environment.
   Râ, la réparatrice, a Malian documentary by Mamadou Cissé, portrays the everyday life of a young girl from Bamako, Râ, working in a sphere usually dominated by men: repairing generators.

   Le Monologue de la muette, Senegalese documentary by Khady Sylla, depicting the life of Amy, a maid in service since the age of 12, with no contract or pay slip. Short listed for the Cinéma du Réel 2008.

   Une femme pas comme les autres, a feature from Burkina Faso directed by Aboulaye Dao, casting a playful eye on polygamy as viewed by women and experienced by men. Best TV feature award at Fespaco 2009.

Sports

Champions League Matches for CFI TV partners in Africa:

  Tuesday 9 March: live
  Wednesday 10 March: live and recorded
  Tuesday 16 March: live
  Wednesday 17 March: live and recorded

Tour du Mali, 7 - 13 March 2010
For this first edition of the cycling Tour du Mali, CFI will be offering 13-minute daily reports to its network of African TV partners.

Event

Iraq, 15 - 26 February, training course on “reinforcing media coverage of elections”

Catering to some sixty journalists working for the press, TV and radio, this training course has been organised at the request of UNESCO Baghdad which put up most of the funding. It has been scheduled to take place a few days before the Iraqi parliamentary elections on 7 March. This is CFI’s first ever operation in this country. The four experts will be giving priority to the impartial handling of information. They will also insist on the role of Iraqi institutions and respect for these as well as on the representation of women and young people within the electoral process. The training course will be divided into two sections: from 15 to 22 February, targeting 20 Iraqi journalists and 20 Kurd journalists. 20 other journalists will be attending the second part, from 22 to 26 February.

On the field

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo, 4 January - 11 March, Part 3 of the training course on economic and investigative journalism

The course began with two workshops, one in Kinshasa in October and the other in Lubumbashi in December 2009. Part 3 of the course, devoted to economic and investigative journalism and designed for a group of ten Congolese journalists, got under way in January in DRC. The ten journalists are currently shooting their subjects prior to editing. Their 13-minute reports are to be screened in mid-March.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Georgia, 14 - 19 February, project for a parliamentary channel

GPB (Georgian Public Broadcasting) is planning to turn its second state channel into a parliamentary channel. To this end, it hopes to examine the various formats and programmes of the two French parliamentary channels and use French experience of management and the organisation of an institutional channel as a springboard. Alain Valentini, Chief Editor at France TV conducted an initial audit in Tbilissi in December 2009. For the second operation scheduled for 14 to 19 February, CFI will be playing host in Paris to GPB’s Vice-President and the second channel’s Head Producer. On the agenda: a series of meetings and work sessions with the CSA (the French audiovisual regulatory body) and French TV channels LCP An, Public Sénat, TV5 Monde etc. as well as the viewing of French political programmes. The last phase of the operation consists in assisting the GPB project managers in drawing up the specifications of the new channel.

Sultanate of Oman, 5 - 16 February, workshop on documentary writing skills

This training assignment for the Sultanate of Oman’s state television was designed to reinforce its teams’ skills in writing and making documentaries. Programme viewing and writing exercises were part of the course led for CFI by Guillaume Hecht, producer at Films du Scribe. This was CFI’s first mission for Oman television and provided a great opportunity to strengthen ties and open perspectives for a more extensive training programme.

Syria, 12 - 19 February, organisation of the production of a cartoon series

CFI is helping Syrian television organise the production of a series of fifteen 12-minute cartoons. Corinne Destombes, Production Director at Folimage, a French cartoon animation studio, will spend a week at the studio in Damascus coaching the team of twenty. This will be CFI’s first consulting mission for Syrian television and will lay the foundations of a future partnership agreement with the channel.

Programmes

Special “International Women’s Day” programming

CFI is getting involved in International Women’s Day on 8 March offering its African TV partners a series of three documentaries and one fiction, produced in Africa as from 11 February :

  En quête d’équité is a documentary from Burkina Faso, directed by Jean-Claude Frisque. Based on true accounts of life in Burkina Faso, Benin and Guinea Bissau, it relates women’s day-to-day involvement in the management of natural resources and puts the spotlight on their role, crucial yet fragile. It also underlines the importance of sexual equality, which offers the opportunity to make our societies fairer, driven more by solidarity and more effective in the preservation of the environment.

  Râ, la réparatrice, a Malian documentary by Mamadou Cissé, portrays the everyday life of a young girl from Bamako, Râ, working in a sphere usually dominated by men: repairing generators.

  Le Monologue de la muette, Senegalese documentary by Khady Sylla, depicting the life of Amy, a maid in service since the age of 12, with no contract or pay slip. Short listed for the Cinéma du Réel 2008.

  Une femme pas comme les autres, a feature from Burkina Faso directed by Aboulaye Dao, casting a playful eye on polygamy as viewed by women and experienced by men. Best TV feature award at Fespaco 2009.

Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo: support for the directing of sports reports

In November 2009, the programme selection committee meeting in Cotonou highlighted the expectations of CFI’s TV partners with respect to sports reports, for inclusion in their magazines. In response, CFI sent two experts from ISP production, specialised in this field, to teams of journalists and cameramen at Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV) and the Democratic Republic of Congo state-run channel RTNC 1, from end January to mid-February. They have been helping the students to select, choose locations for and shoot 4-minute subjects, which will then be offered to CFI’s TV partners.

Sports

Champions League Matches for CFI TV partners in Africa :

  Tuesday 16 February: AC Milan vs. Manchester United, live, with commentary in English

  Tuesday 16 February: Olympique Lyonnais vs. Real Madrid CF, live, with commentary in French and Portuguese Broadcast simultaneously on Pro 1 and Pro 2. NB: only AC Milan vs. Manchester United will be available online on www.cfi.fr .

  Wednesday 17 February: FC Porto vs. Arsenal FC, live, with commentary in French, English and Portuguese

  Wednesday 17 February: FC Bayern München vs. ACF Fiorentina, recorded, with commentary in French, English and Portuguese

  Tuesday 23 February: VfB Stuttgart vs. FC Barcelona live

  Tuesday 23 February: Olympiacos FC vs. FC Girondins de Bordeaux recorded

  Wednesday 24 February: FC Internazionale Milano vs. Chelsea FC live

  Wednesday 24 February: PFC CSKA Moskva vs. Sevilla FC recorded

In the Med-Asia region too, new agreements set out the current terms of cooperation between CFI and broadcasting partners. Some channels have been offered a ground-breaking scheme to purchase French programmes as part of a three-year support process.
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) has just signed this new cooperation agreement with CFI. It will thus benefit fully from the schemes and supervision set up by CFI.
In this spirit of sharing expertise and collaboration, CFI and the French embassy in Tbilissi have embarked on an audit and a strategic consulting process to assess how to shape the parliamentary channel GPB intends to launch.

In its drive for partner empowerment, CFI has just launched a campaign to renew agreements with over 70 operators in Africa.
These agreements reflect a greater level of broadcaster involvement in choosing programmes bought by CFI, prompting them to buoy up the funds earmarked by CFI for African production with the contribution of a set, reasonable proportion.
The Niger broadcasting corporation, ORTN, is the first African channel to have signed and returned this agreement.
CFI is delighted with the quality of relations with this operator and their responsiveness.

Event

Democratic Republic of Congo, 4 January - 11 March, Part 3 of the training course on economic and investigative journalism

The course began with two workshops, one in Kinshasa in October and the other in Lubumbashi in December 2009. Part 3 of the course, devoted to economic and investigative journalism, designed for a group of ten Congolese journalists, got under way in January in DR Congo. The ten journalists are currently shooting their reports, which will then be edited down to 13 minutes, scheduled for presentation in mid-March.

In the field

Mediterranean-Asia

Sultanate of Oman, 5 - 16 February, workshop on documentary writing skills

This training mission for the Sultanate of Oman’s national television authority was designed to reinforce its teams’ skills in writing and making documentaries. Programme viewing and writing exercises were part of the course led for CFI by Guillaume Hecht, producer at Films du Scribe. This was CFI’s first mission for Oman television and provided a great opportunity to strengthen links with the broadcaster and open perspectives for a more extensive training programme.

Bhutan, 15 January - 15 February, Newsroom Management workshop

After the workshop organised in partnership with ABU in 2008, the directors of Bhutan Broadcasting Services (BBS) asked CFI to organise a new one-month mission for its newsroom journalists. This Newsroom Management workshop focused on human resources management, news treatment, subject selection processes, information source assessment and the production of a daily news programme.

Syria, 12 - 15 February, organisation of the production of a cartoon series

CFI is working with Syrian television on the organisation of the production of a series of fifteen 12-minute cartoons. Corinne Destombes, director of production at Folimage, a French cartoon animation studio, will spend a week at the studio in Damascus coaching the team of twenty. This will be CFI’s first consulting mission for Syrian television and will lay the foundations of a future partnership agreement with the channel.

Programmes

Cameroon and DR Congo: support for sports report production

One fact to emerge from the November 2009 meetings of the programme preselection committee in Cotonou was the demand among partner television channels for reports on sports subjects for their magazines. Between January and mid-February, to address this demand, CFI is sending two experts from the specialised company, ISP production, to work with teams of journalists and cameramen from Cameroon (CRTV) and DR Congo (RTNC 1) television. They will help the trainees to choose, locate and shoot 4-minute features that will then be offered to the African TV channels who are partners of CFI.

Event

Tanzania, 18 - 27 January, Protecting and Promoting Archives

At the request of the East African Broadcasting Association, CFI has just launched an 18 month project to assist the state radios and TV channels of three countries in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda) with the definition of a policy to protect and promote their archives. The aim: to reposition archives at the core of the programming process by facilitating access to them. This project is part of the Plan Images Archives scheme initiated by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE). The first assignment is due to start on 18 January at the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.

In the field

Mediterranean region and Asia

Nepal, 11 - 16 January, Newsroom Management Workshop

Conducted in collaboration with the Asia Broadcasting Union (ABU), this training assignment caters to chief editors and journalists from Nepal TV. CFI is in charge of transferring know how on newsroom organisation and editorial issues, providing a Chief Editor to this end, while the ABU is handling technical matters (technical newsroom configuration and managing equipment).

Bhutan, 15 January - 14 February, Newsroom Management Workshop

After an initial workshop organised in partnership with the ABU in 2008, the managers at Bhutan Broadcasting Services (BBS) have asked CFI to provide coaching over one month for journalists in their newsroom. This Newsroom Management workshop will focus on managing human resources, working on news and the process for making editorial choices, assessing sources of information and putting together a daily newscast.

Sport

Cycling, broadcasting of the fifth Tropicale Amissa Bongo

CFI will be offering its African TV partners daily reports on the 5th Tropicale Amissa Bongo race, to be held from 19 to 24 January on the roads of Gabon, between Bongoville and Libreville. These 5-7’ bulletins will be broadcast at 8.30 pm GMT and the day after at 2.35 pm GMT.

Football: broadcasting the Match Against Poverty

At 6.30 pm GMT on Monday 25 January, CFI will be broadcasting the Match Against Poverty live to all its African TV partners. The full proceeds of this match organised by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) will go to aid the earthquake victims in Haiti.

This match, to be held in Lisbon, will feature a host of soccer stars, such as Zinédine Zidane and Fabien Barthes. CFI commentary will be provided by Remy Tissier and Laurent Fournier in French, and by Robbie Thomson in English.

Timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, CFI, France Télévisions Distribution and UNESCO are acting to support the broadcasting of the documentary Nous resterons sur terre (We’ll stay on earth).

Aware of the crucial role of the media in informing and attracting the attention of the public to climate change issues, CFI is offering its TV partners the chance to broadcast the documentary Nous resterons sur terre (We’ll stay on earth) free of charge throughout the conference in Copenhagen. It has already proved a hit with the 250 international broadcasters who met in Paris in early September at the UNESCO conference on Broadcast Media and Climate Change.

This documentary by Olivier Bourgeois and Pierre Barougier, highlighting the dramatic impact of human activity on our planet, attempts to raise awareness on the state of the planet. It includes hard-hitting accounts from two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Wangari Maathai and Mikhail Gorbachev, British environmentalist James Lovelock and French philosopher Edgar Morin.

In Copenhagen, heads of state from developing countries have not hesitated in voicing contradictory opinions, calling on developed countries to act more fairly and with more consideration for countries in the south, given that they bear the consequences of the havoc wreaked by climate change even though they only account for a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

State TV channels in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldavia, Montenegro, the Seychelles, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Niger, Uganda and Senegal chose to broadcast this powerful documentary to millions of TV viewers, thus showing their support for this cause.

Event

Launch of the Maarifa project

CFI has just launched the Maarifa project (“knowledge” in Arabic), with a presentation for members of the Asian States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) attending their AGM. This ambitious project, which consists in developing educational multimedia programmes with partners from Mediterranean region, will be deployed over two years, with support from the ASBU and France 5. At least 20 skills transfer workshops, interspersed with plenary meetings, will be organised at the selected TV channels. The next major date for Maarifa : March 2010 for a meeting in Cairo to get an overview of educational TV in Europe and the Mediterranean region.

In the field

Mediterranean region and Asia

Armenia, 13 - 23 December, creation of a blog in partnership with the Caucasus Institute

CFI and the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, Armenia are organising a training session for around 15 students of journalism at the Institute, focussing on the creation of a blog. The syllabus will feature writing exercises, work on editorial content and multimedia editing.

Thailand, 14 - 20 December 2009, auditing mission on the visual identity of the TV channel TPBS

The Thai state TV channel TPBS is undergoing restructuring, positioning itself as an educational channel. It has called on CFI to conduct an initial auditing mission, in order to put this new identity across on the screen with a new look and feel and graphics charter.

Nepal, 11 - 16 January 2010, Newsroom Management Workshop

Conducted in collaboration with the Asia Broadcasting Union (ABU), this training assignment caters to Chief Editors and journalists from Nepal TV. CFI is in charge of editorial and organisational issues for the newsroom, providing a Chief Editor, while the ABU is handling technical matters (the technical configuration of the newsroom and how to manage equipment).

Programmes

Broadcasting of the documentary Nous resterons sur terre (We’ll stay on earth)

Nous resterons sur terre (We’ll stay on earth), an outstanding documentary highlighting the dramatic impact of human activity on our planet, was made available to CFI’s TV partners in Africa, the Mediterranean region and Asia from 7 to 18 December. This initiative expresses CFI’s desire to consolidate its ties with French producers and distributors and to contribute to the global availability of their works.

Sport

The African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) and CFI are offering TV partners a chance to broadcast the FIFA World Player Gala 2009 taking place on 21 December from 7.00 to 8.00 pm GMT. CFI will be providing French commentary for the programme.

CFI now has a new African TV partner : the Liberian state television LBC (Liberia Broadcasting Cooperation).
Further to the agreement signed with CFI, LBC will be starting to broadcast the English-language set of programmes put forward each month by CFI to its African partners, as of this week. This agreement may pave the way to other forms of cooperation between CFI and this African channel in the coming months.

Event

Paris, 29 November - 11 December 2009, Part 2 of the “An-Nathra/A view” training course on the creation of a Palestinian women’s blog

This session follows on from Part 1 which took place from 1 to 14 November in Bethlehem. In association with Rue 89, a French Web site devoted to news and debate, and the French Consulate in Jerusalem, CFI is offering 10 Palestinian journalists a training course on the creation of a blog covering local news. Led by Marie-Sophie Keller, Editor and Webmaster, and Sébastien Foll, Webmaster, both from Rue 89, Ophélie Neiman, a free-lance multimedia journalist, and Lelia Mezher, a journalist in the Political Affairs Department of the Lebanese daily newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, this second session will mainly be focussing on the management of a blog, journalistic writing and the insertion of multimedia content.

In the field

Mediterranean region and Asia

Poitiers, 4 - 12 December 2009, 32nd Rencontres Internationales Henri Langlois

The 32nd edition of the Rencontres Internationales Henri Langlois festival is paying tribute to young Asian directors on the theme of musical creation in their countries. The five short-listed directors have participated in workshops with CFI on the directing of documentaries, in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia. The documentaries will undergo their final cut in Poitiers, France from 4 to 12 December, followed by the award ceremony.

Singapore, 7 - 9 December, documentary workshop

This 3-day workshop, for 15 documentary producers from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, aims to raise participant awareness of how the European market operates and facilitate their documentary project development. It has been organised by CFI in cooperation with the Singapore Media Academy.

India, 6 - 10 December 2009, “Journalism for multimedia” workshop

CFI is teaming up with the ABU (Asia Broadcasting Union) for a regional workshop focussing on the organisation and management of a digital newsroom, as well as the role of journalists working in a multimedia environment for various media (television, the Internet, mobile TV etc.).

Georgia, 6 - 19 December 2009, training on the directing of news subjects

Third and final part of this three-part training course for second-year students in the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) international class. Two experts will be supervising 23 students during this session, covering the directing of TV magazine subjects.

China, 8 - 18 December, a training course for TV reporters

CFI has called on Didier Désormeaux, Director of the France Télévisions University, to lead a master class on the role of TV reporters at the Communication University of China (CUC) in Beijing which trains the vast majority of CCTV executives. He will then move on to Southern TV (STV) in Guangzhou (Canton), which wishes to offer 14 of its junior TV reporters an opportunity to enhance their versatility, speed and best practices in journalism.

Armenia, 13 - 23 December, creation of a blog in partnership with the Caucasus Institute

CFI and the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, Armenia are organising a training session for around 15 students of journalism at the Institute, focussing on the creation of a blog. The syllabus will feature writing exercises, work on editorial content and multimedia editing.

Thailand, 14 - 18 December 2009, auditing mission on the visual identity of the TV channel TPBS

The Thai state TV channel TPBS is undergoing restructuring, positioning itself as an educational channel. It has called on CFI to conduct an initial auditing mission, in order to put this new identity across on the screen with a new look and feel and graphics charter.

Programmes

Broadcasting of the “RFI Discovery Award”

RFI has called on CFI for technical support in the broadcasting of this annual musical award ceremony which celebrates young African singing talents. After filming the concert in Cotonou on 28 November, with the Benin TV channel (ORTB), CFI will be making this concert available to its African TV partners in December.

Sport

Champions League matches to be broadcast for CFI’s African TV partners : next matches on

  8 December : Marseille vs Real Madrid

  9 December : Dynamo Kiev vs Barcelone

Event

Training course on “Sports media and team sports” in Congo Brazzaville
CFI has organised a workshop scheduled from 23 to 29 November 2009, catering to journalists from central Africa on the broadcasting of sports events especially team sports. 20 journalists and 10 directors from central Africa (Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad and Central African Republic) will be hosted by the Congo Association of Sports Journalists (AJSC) for training on the premises of the Congo state television dispensed by four CFI experts.

In the field

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo, 16 November - 5 December 2009, training course on economic reporting in the DRC

Part 2 of the training course on reporting on the economy and investigative journalism targeting journalists from the Democratic Republic of Congo and organised with backing from the Franco-British project Media for Democracy and Good Governance in the DRC. This project aims to help a dozen young journalists from Kinshasa and Lubumbashi to hone their professional skills and thus contribute to upgrading the standard of televised newscasts.

Benin, 17 - 28 November 2009, training on biographic reporting

Part 2 of the training course on biographic reporting, to prepare for the 50th anniversary of independence for many African nations. This workshop targeting eight African directors will be led by French director Maurice Raymakers. Held in Cotonou (Benin), it has been organised by CFI in collaboration with the International Council of French-Speaking Radio and Television (CIRTEF) and the French audiovisual institute (INA).

Mediterranean region and Asia

Georgia, 15 - 25 November 2009, training course on the directing of news subjects

Part 2 of the training course organised with the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) for second-year students in the GIPA international class. This session will cover the use of new media and the mastering of technical tools.

Sport

2010 FIFA World Cup, Final Draw on 4 December at 17:00 UT

CFI, in partnership with the African Broadcasting Union (ABU), will be offering African TV partners the chance to broadcast the final draw of the 2010 FIFA World Cup groups live in Cape Town in South Africa.

Champions League matches available for CFI’s African TV partners :

  24 November 2009 : FC BARCELONA vs. FC INTERNAZIONALE MILANO, live

  25 November 2009 : AC MILAN vs. OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE, live and FC PORTO vs. CHELSEA FC, recorded

In the field

Africa

Chad, 9 - 20 November 2009, training to prepare to cover the elections in Chad In collaboration with the GRET, which for the past several years has been conducting a project to support professionalism in the Chadian media, CFI will be working from 9 to 20 November with journalists from Télé Tchad. The first of three training sessions will be led by free-lance Chief Editor Yves Bruneau and Fabien Cordier, TV Journalist and Instructor for France 3 Aquitaine. It will cover the technical and editorial basics of news reporting, and an introduction to the specifics of political reporting. In all, 16 French- and Arabic-speaking professionals at the Chadian state television and an instructor from the network of instructors in journalism in Chad, Media Excel’ Formation (ME’F), will follow this session.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Bhutan, 30 October - 11 November 2009, training on digital archives For the third time this year, Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) has called on CFI for support in its development and modernisation process. For ten days, Michel Dauzats, Project Manager at the French Audiovisual Institute (INA), will be teaching ten trainees about the digitisation to preserve the channel’s audiovisual heritage. Other future initiatives, involving the INA and other European players on the audiovisual scene, are in the offing for countries with similar digital archive needs to those of Bhutan.

Palestine, 31 October - 14 November 2009, creation of a blog by Palestinian journalists In association with Rue 89, a French Web site devoted to news and debate, and the French Consulate in Jerusalem, CFI is offering 13 Palestinian journalists a training course on the creation of a blog covering local news. For two weeks, two experts from Rue 89, Sébastien Foll, Internet Developer and Marie-Sophie Keller, Journalist and Webmaster, will be teaching the budding bloggers how to write for the Web and the technical know-how necessary to produce and edit multimedia content. A second session may be organised in Paris in December 2009. CFI is thus fostering the circulation of local news in a region dominated by international news, giving former trainees a chance to hone their Internet skills.

Georgia, 15 - 25 November 2009, training on the directing of news subjects at the GIPA (2/3) The next part of this three-part training course which started on 25 October, for second-year students in the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) international class. This second part will be covering writing for the Web : mastering the technical tools and software and putting together multimedia content.

Programmes

17 - 18 November 2009, annual seminar for Programme Directors from CFI’s African TV partners The annual seminar for Programme Directors from CFI’s African TV partners has been scheduled for 17 and 18 November in Cotonou (Benin). It will take place just after the SEFOR, an annual training session organised by the International Council of French-language Radio and Television (CIRTEF). Special programming for World AIDS Day To mark World AIDS Day on 1 December, CFI will be offering its African TV partners a special set of programmes throughout November, comprising documentaries and fiction produced in Africa. For the first time, a series of 15 shorts in the eight of the most common languages in Africa (French, English, Portuguese, Hausa, Swahili, Lingala, Fula and Yoruba) as well as in sign language, will be available.

Live broadcasting of the Mo Ibrahim Award Ceremony on 14 November CFI will be broadcasting the third Award Ceremony for the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership to its African TV partners, live on Saturday 14 November.

Sport

Beach soccer

As from 16 November, the ABU (African Broadcasting Union), in partnership with CFI, will be broadcasting matches of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009, due to take place from 16 to 22 November, for CFI’s African TV partners.

This second training course on sports commentary and reporting will be bringing together 14 journalists from English- and Portuguese-speaking Africa. Once again at the helm to supervise the team, French Professional Football League (LFP) consultant Philippe Doucet explained the setup for this new session.

How are you tackling this second edition ?
I’m excited, full of expectations. Working in other languages and cultures is always fascinating. I have already experienced diversity at a training course in Cameroon, where I discovered multilingualism. These few days training these 14 journalists will be rich both for them and for me.

How are you going to factor these language specifics into the training course ?
Unlike the previous session, this training course will comprise plenary sessions, and special workshops catering to specific features of commentary, according to language (English or Portuguese). I will be seconded by Robert Thomson, a free-lance journalist, for the commentary in English and by Rui Orlando, a commentator for Sport TV in Portugal, for the Portuguese commentary.

Would you say that English- and Portuguese-language commentators have differing characteristics ?

Yes, of course, I see this every day in our job. French-speakers for example show a tendency to loquacity, even verbosity. English-speakers remain more pragmatic, making terse, factual statements. Portuguese speakers, on the other hand, do tend to wax lyrical. The fact-based approach may prove useful to the Portuguese poets, who may similarly inspire the English speakers.

Event

CFI and the French Professional Football League (LFP) join forces to train African journalists From 26 October to 6 November 2009, the second edition of the operation "Ten days with League 1" will be bringing together 14 sports journalists from TV channels in English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Africa (Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Gambia, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Cape Verde). The first edition had been aimed at journalists from French-speaking Africa.

For ten days, journalists will be tackling a host of themes including the preparation and commentary of live matches as well as the management of interviews. The training course will then continue in the field as from 29 October, with four teams of journalists going out to the Bordeaux, Olympique de Marseille, Stade Rennais FC and AS Saint-Etienne training centres. At this point, they will conduct interviews and draw portraits of players and will attend the weekend meets. The duly edited subjects will be broadcast on the African channels involved in the project.

Programmes

New strategy for the Mediterranean region and Asia A new partnership strategy between CFI and its TV partners in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Asia will be introduced as from January 2010. Given the swiftly changing TV scene in these countries, with the emergence of new players, new technologies and new viewer expectations, CFI has been prompted to reconsider its traditional cooperation methods.

To discuss the setup of this new approach, CFI is holding a meeting in Paris on 5 and 6 November, to be attended by decision-makers from the TV channels in question : TV Klan (Albania), H1 and Ararat TV (Armenia), Lider TV and ITV (Azerbaijan), BHRT (Bosnia-Herzegovina), HRT and TV SLJEME-Z1 (Croatia), GPB (Georgia), RTK (Kosovo), MRTV (Macedonia), RTCG (Montenegro), RTS, RTS Digital and RTV Voivodine (Serbia), VTV and Ho Chi Minh TV (Vietnam) and NTCU (Ukraine). Sport Champions League matches for CFI’s TV partners in Africa :

  3 November 2009 : MILAN AC vs. REAL MADRID, live.
  4 November 2009 : LYON vs. LIVERPOOL, live, and ARSENAL vs. ALKMAAR, recorded.

FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria During this competition, CFI and the AUB will be making 35 matches available to African TV partners.

Tour du Faso, 23 October - 3 November 2009 A daily 15-minute report will be available for TV channels belonging to the CFI network in Africa.

In the field

Africa

Niger, 25 October-1 November, production of short reports for televised newscasts and magazines
During the International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA), this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, CFI will be training eight journalists in the production of short subjects to be included in televised newscasts and magazines. Every day, two 3- or 4-minute subjects will be produced in Niamey and broadcast to CFI’s TV partners.

France, 26 October - 6 November 2009, training course on the commentary of live football matches for around fifteen journalists from English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Africa : for more details, see above.

Mediterranean region and Asia

Georgia, 25 October - 7 November 2009 : training on the directing of news subjects (1/3) for second-year students in the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) international class. Since 2005, CFI has been developing training initiatives with the GIPA. CFI courses are scheduled to round off the tuition programme, supporting young journalists in the preparation of their end-of-course assignment, for either TV or Web-oriented projects. The first session focuses on the production of short news subjects (2’ to 3’). Two free-lance TV journalists, Mélanie Dalsace and David Cantiniaux, are supervising 23 journalists in the organisation of the newsroom and shooting subjects.

Event

European Development Days (DevDays), Stockholm : 22-24 October 2009
Organised jointly by the European Commission and the European Union presidency, the DevDays this year will be bringing together nearly 4,000 people and 1,500 development organisations. The aim of these days is to make development aid more effective, to build an international coalition against poverty and to reach the Millennium Development goals. Democracy, climate change and economic crisis will be debated at this fourth edition.

A CFI stand will be welcoming visitors to the development village in the French pavilion.

Programmes

Children’s rights
To celebrate Universal Children’s Day on 20 November 2009, CFI will be offering its African TV partners a special series of programmes, from 15 October to 5 November featuring five documentaries and a feature film of African origin.

  Four documentaries lasting around 26’ from the documentary series focussing on children’s rights, Droit dans les yeux, (Look right), a joint International Council of French-Speaking Radio and Television (CIRTEF) and CFI production (15 October 2009)
  The 52’ Senegalese documentary Poussières de ville (City dust) directed by Moussa Touré, about a gang of young boys from the streets of Brazzaville (29 October 2009)
  Les inséparables, a feature directed by Christiane Chabi Kao (Benin), in which a young mother, Tine, sets out to find her children sold off in town as servants by her husband

See the trailer for these programmes :

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Sport

* Football

20 and 21 October 2009 : Champions League, two matches broadcast live for CFI’s African TV partners

  Tuesday 20 : LIVERPOOL FC vs. OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS live
  Wednesday 21 : REAL MADRID CF vs. AC MILAN live and CHELSEA FC vs. CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID recorded

13 and 16 October : semi-finals and final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt
13 October : Ghana vs. Hungary at 2.30 UT and Brazil vs. Costa Rica at 6.00 UT

24 October 2009 : launch of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria

  Opening match Nigeria vs. Germany broadcast live for CFI’s African TV partners
  25 October : three matches : Iran vs. Gambia, Colombia vs. the Netherlands and Turkey vs. Burkina Faso

* Tour du Faso, 23 October-3 November 2009 CFI will offer a daily 15-minute report to TV partners in its African network.

In the field

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo, 2-18 October 2009, training workshop : “From reporting on the economy to investigative journalism”
Led by independent director Christian Fienga, this workshop targets a dozen young journalists from Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. They will be able to examine ethics, the basics of journalism and basic techniques for putting together short subjects (2 to 3 minutes), along with hands-on case studies. Two local experts will also be contributing to this workshop : Francine Mukoko, free-lance journalist at the RFO International TV Footage Agency (AITV), and Kibambi Shintwa, Director of Tropicana TV and the ANEAP (DRC association of private audiovisual companies).

Niger, 25 October-1 November, production of short reports for televised newscasts and magazines
During the International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA), this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, CFI will be training eight journalists in the production of short subjects to be included in televised newscasts and magazines. Every day, two 3- or 4-minute subjects will be produced in Niamey and broadcast to CFI’s TV partners.

Yemen, 16-23 October 2009, structuring of the educational channel Sheba TV
Further to a request from the general management of the educational channel catering to young people, Sheba TV, CFI will be auditing the channel. This young channel was founded in 2008 and broadcasts six hours’ worth of programmes with an educational/young people/travel slant every day. The expert Patrick Hoste, from the audiovisual and consulting firm Swimming Pool, will pinpoint leads to boost the channel.

Event

CFI is training young journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo
With support from the Franco-British project “Media for Democracy and Transparency in the DRC”, CFI is organising three training workshops on the following theme : “From reporting on the economy to investigative journalism”. This project will give some dozen young journalists from Kinshasa and Lubumbashi a chance to hone their professional practices and thus contribute to upgrading the standard of televised newscasts.

Programmes

Kirikou screened in Africa
Further to the planetary popularity of Kirikou and the Sorceress and Kirikou and the Wild Beasts at the box office, Michel Ocelot’s famous character is back, this time making his TV debut in a fun TV series that blends cartoon and animal documentary genres. 30 3-minute episodes of Kirikou discovers the animals of Africa will be available to TV partners in Africa in French on 7 October 2009 and in English on 23 November 2009.

27 September - 6 October 2009, 6th edition of the International French-language Games in Beirut
African TV partners will be able to broadcast the highlights of the International French-language Games : the opening ceremony, daily reports and TV magazines by TV5Monde including the programme L’invité. More details on cfipro.net.

Sport

29 and 30 September 2009 : Champions League, 2 matches broadcast live for CFI’s African TV partners

  ACF Fiorentina vs. Liverpool FC, Tuesday 29
  Manchester United vs. VfL Wolfsburg, Wednesday 30

For each Champions League match in the 2009-2010 season, CFI will be putting a link on its Web site www.cfi.fr for Africans to watch the match live on the Internet (€3/match) or on their mobile phone (€2/match) via the UEFA Web site.

24 September - 16 October : FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt
CFI will be broadcasting some twenty matches for its African TV partners, with commentary in French, English and Portuguese. More details on CFI’s professionals Web site : cfipro.net.

In the field

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo, 2-18 October 2009, training workshop on “From reporting on the economy to investigative journalism”
Led by independent director Christian Fienga, this workshop targets a dozen young journalists from Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. They will be able to examine ethics, the basics of journalism and basic techniques for putting together short subjects (2 to 3 minutes), along with hands-on case studies. Two local experts will also be contributing to this workshop : Francine Mukoko, free-lance journalist at the RFO International TV Footage Agency (AITV), and Kibambi Shintwa, Director of Tropicana TV and the ANEAP (DRC association of private audiovisual companies).

Mediterranean region and Asia

Mongolia, 5-6 October : Eric Soulier, CFI Director for the Mediterranean region and Asia, will be participating in the General Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in Ulan Bator.

On 16 September 2009 in Nairobi, CFI organised a seminar on “International information, the French approach” with France 24 for 20 or so chief editors from private and state TV channels in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Burundi. Folly Bah Thibault, presenter of The Week in Africa on France 24 contributed to the seminar. We asked her about the specifics of this French news channel.

What did you contribute to this seminar ?
I gave a presentation on France 24 and its editorial line. The channel positions itself as an alternative to CNN and BBC World, as it endeavours especially to promote French values throughout the world. France 24 is well established in West Africa, we are the leaders in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Were your discussions with the chief editors fruitful ?
Some chief editors objected that France 24 gives preferential coverage to French-speaking Africa. What they would like is for news to be reported on their region, by journalists in the region. In the beginning, France 24 did focus on West Africa, but today, the channel has gained a stronger footing and is now available in three languages (French, English and Arabic). Lately, reports have been put together in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

How might France 24 better meet the expectations of chief editors in English-speaking Africa ?
France 24 broadcasts a weekly TV magazine on African news which aims to improve coverage of eastern and southern Africa. In Nairobi, Africa 24 produces reports and would like to sell them to foreign channels. This seminar held at Discop Africa has given me the chance to meet journalists and envisage collaborations.

Briefly, how does France 24 set itself apart from the competition ?
The French approach is to always debate, leave room for discussion and call matters into question. For example in Gabon, France 24 was the only channel to give the various presidential candidates a chance to speak. We conduct serious research to ensure that we cover all viewpoints.

As part of the Plan Images Archives scheme initiated by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE) in 2003, CFI launched the “Protecting and Promoting Archives” project for the state TV channels in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania on 15 September, in Nairobi. This initiative, scheduled to run over 18 months, aims to put forward new technical and strategic directions for these TV channels. Programme Director at the KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation), Monica Waceke spoke about archive management there.

How are KBC archives handled for the moment ?
For the time being the KBC has engaged in a process to identify content to be digitised. We have a historical TV channel in the pipeline, so we need to identify content to be used on this channel. Our chief archiving challenge today is the sheer diversity of formats, alongside a lack of viewing equipment and storage. Once we have resolved these issues, digitisation will facilitate availability and use of this content.

How do you hope the Plan Images Archives can help conserve KBC archives ?
The KBC’s aim is to train the staff involved and to boost its digitisation capacity. We will also endeavour to reorganise archiving, a crucial step for archives to become a core element in programming.

Event

16-18 September 2009 : second edition of Discop Africa in Nairobi (Kenya)
On the fringe of Discop, CFI will be conducting two major cooperation initiatives with state and private East African TV channels on archives and information :

  On 15 September, as part of the Plan Images Archives scheme initiated by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE) in 2003, CFI is organising a seminar to present the “Protecting and Promoting Archives” project for state TV channels in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Over the next 18 months, regional workshops will help technical directors and chief information officers from these channels to improve their skills in the field of IT and the switch to digital. These tailor-made workshops will encourage the development of archive-based co-production.

  On 16 September, CFI and France 24 are organising a seminar entitled “International information, the French approach” for 20 or so chief editors from private and state TV channels in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Burundi.

At Discop Africa, the CFI Director for Africa will participate in the workshop MADEINAFRICA PART III : “the basics underpinning distribution of audiovisual content”.

Sport

Champions League : broadcasting of matches for the next three seasons
Scheduled for 15 and 16 September 2009, three matches will be available to African TV partners :

  15 September : Marseille vs. Milan AC (live)
  16 September : Inter Milan vs. Barcelona (live) and Lyon vs. Fiorentina (recorded)

FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt : 24 September-16 October 2009
CFI will be sending its African TV partners 32 of the 52 matches.
  Thursday 24 September : Egypt vs. Trinidad (live)
  Friday 25 September : Paraguay vs. Italy and Nigeria vs. Venezuela (live)
  Saturday 26 September : Cameroon vs. South Korea and Ghana vs. Uzbekistan (live)
  Sunday 27 September : Brazil vs. Costa Rica and United Arab Emirates vs. South Africa (live)

On the field

Mediterranean-Asia

Lebanon, 21-26 September : training course on sports journalism : covering international events.
On the initiative of CFI and the CONFEJES (Conference of Sport & Youth Ministers of French-Speaking Countries), in partnership with the CIJF (International French-language Games Committee) and the Antonine University, 20 or so French-speaking sports journalists (from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Chad and Tunisia) have been invited to follow a workshop to prepare for covering international, multi-disciplinary sports events, to be held one week before the International French-language Games. The very next week, these journalists will be able to put what they learned into practice, providing commentary of the International French-language Games for their respective TV channels.

Lebanon, 23-27 September : support for the production of the International French-language Games.
Further to the assignments conducted in Lebanon in July 2009, Frédéric Gaillard (Director of Production, France 2) and Patrick Montel (anchor and journalist, France 2) will be going to the various Games production sites, four days ahead of the competition, to support staff at Future TV.

Qatar, 13-18 September : feasibility study on the setup of a French-language radio in Doha.
Jean-Claude Kuentz, the independent expert sent by CFI to conduct this assignment, will examine the conditions and legal formalities to obtain a radio licence. He will assess the French-speaking potential in Qatar, the socio-professional categories of French speakers, their audiovisual equipment and consumer habits. This analysis will help to hone editorial leads for this pipeline station, the possible multimedia formats and the advertising potential to fund the radio.

Africa

Kenya, 15 September 2009 : seminar to present and launch the “Protecting and Promoting Archives” project (more details on the project above).
The aim of this seminar is to lay the foundations for strategic brainstorming on archives. David Hivet, Director of the Sales Department, French audiovisual institute (INA) will be appearing to talk about the INA’s experience.

Kenya, 16 September 2009 : seminar on “International information, the French approach” (details above), with the following contributors :

  Folly Bah Thibaut, anchor for The Week in Africa on France 24, on editorial specifics at France 24,
  Georges Kazolias, AITV reporter, on news agency status issues,
  Daniel Couret, in charge of new technologies at France 24, on news coverage for the channel’s Web site,
  Jeff Koinange, a K24 anchor, on international news from the African TV channels’ viewpoint.

UNESCO organised a conference on the theme "Radio-television and climate change: a mission for public service " on 4 and 5 September 2009. In the course of the 2-day event around a hundred media professionals from Deutsche Welle, the BBC, France Télévisions, UER and COPEAM amongst others, discussed the role of the media faced with this ecological challenge. Mr. Sidiki N’Fa Konaté, Managing Director of the ORTM (Mali Broadcasting Cooperation (ORTM)) and President of the Network of Public Broadcasters in French-speaking Africa (RAPAF) also attended the conference. A very active contributor during debates held at Unesco, particularly during the session "What are radio and TV broadcasters doing and what more can they do”, he put forward a number of arguments for French-speaking African TV channels to consider.

In your dual capacity as Managing Director of the ORTM and President of the RAPAF, what are you expecting to achieve at this conference?
First of all we need to recognise the role the media plays in raising awareness amongst the general public about issues like global warming and other environmental issues. Then it’s a question of factoring local conditions in. What does global warming or the hole in the ozone layer mean for the farming population where I live? People have to take these problems on board, and ultimately television has to report on this in a way that viewers can relate to, in the relevant languages and with a keen focus on the viewers’ own experience. TV and radio broadcasters have an important whistle-blowing role.

Can you cite an example of a programme produced on this theme by any RAPAF member channels?
At the ORTM for example, we have a 90-minute programme broadcast every Friday called “pwi kom pwi” which targets the rural community. The programme features debates with experts, information on which fertilisers to use and reports on initiatives taken at local level.

How could CFI support the African TV channels in this area?
Further to this conference, I intend organising a RAPAF-wide workshop to bring together specialists and look at environmental issues with journalists from each TV channel. Top priority is to educate journalists, who need a firm grasp of the topics to be able to cover them. Production initiatives also need to be rolled out. CFI could support producing subjects on successful local initiatives, by organising some way of pooling the resources of RAPAF member channels. Then these subjects could be offered to CFI’s African TV partner network. These are two initiatives which could be introduced quickly.

Event

4 - 5 September 2009 : Climate change & television
CFI is teaming up with the conference on “Radio-television and climate change : a mission for public service” organised by UNESCO on 4 and 5 September 2009 to discuss the capacity to provide information and the availability of relevant information and reliable references.
Etienne Fiatte, Managing Director at CFI, will be participating in the round table on “Growing media skills to upgrade programming” on Saturday 5 September alongside the BBC World Service Trust and Deutsche Welle. For more details, click here : UNESCO

Programmes

Biarritz, 7 - 11 September 2009 : at Le Rendez-Vous TV France International
CFI supports television channels in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, now member states of the European Union, at this French TV screening market. As it gradually winds down its commitments, CFI is offering purchasing credit on French programmes to each of the five television channels. As in previous years, CFI will also be taking part in this meeting as a buyer of programmes for its TV partners.

Sport

Golden League
On 4 September 2009, CFI will be broadcasting for its TV the latest Golden League 2009 meeting live from Brussels.

Closure of the athletics season
On 12 and 13 September 2009, the top-ranking athletes in the World Athletic Tour Standings will be meeting up in Thessaloniki (Greece) for the IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final. On 13 September, CFI will be offering its African TV partners a 13-minute report of the previous day’s events, and two hours of live broadcasting as from 04.06 pm GMT (commentary in French and English).

NB : as from Spring 2010, the Golden League will be replaced by the Diamond League consisting of 14 meetings instead of six. For more details, click here : IAAF

In the field

Africa

Côte d’Ivoire, 31 August - 11 September 2009 : a training course on reporting during the run-up to elections in Abidjan
Radio Television Ivoirienne (RTI) has elicited CFI’s support to prepare its journalists for the presidential elections in November. 14 chief editors, journalists and TV reporters from RTI will attend a 2-week course covering the basics of political reporting, supervised by Auberi Edler, a free-lance chief editor, writer and director and Frédéric Durand-Drouhin, a free-lance TV reporter. This course has been organised further to an agreement signed in February 2009, whereby RTI’s Managing Director entrusted CFI with the assignment of supporting the channel’s strategic development over a 3-year period.

Programmes

On 3 and 6 August 2009, CFI will be offering its African TV partners a Nigerian feature film for the first time. Changing faces by Faruk Lasaki will be available in English and French.

Read the interview with Faruk Lasaki to find out more.

Sport

World Championships in Athletics From 15 to 23 August, CFI will be covering the 2009 World Championships in Athletics live from Berlin for its African TV partners.

CFI will be rolling out technical and editorial resources on site. A mobile control room will be customising the signal supplied by ZDF, the host TV channel.
A team of journalists and experts who are widely recognised in Europe and Africa will provide French- and English-language commentary for this major competition. CFI will be broadcasting accounts from athletes and personalities, as well as immediate post-event interviews with the competitors in the mixed zone.

In Paris, 3 journalists will be hard at work putting together daily 6 minute summaries, in French and English, with highlights of the morning sessions.

In the field

Mediterranean region

Lebanon, July-August 2009
2 field missions will be carried out with Future TV to support the production of the Francophone Games, to be held in Beirut from 27 September to 6 October 2009.
Future TV is the host broadcaster of this event.

  1st mission addressing technical resources : from 26 to 31 July. Two experts in the production and filming of sports events, Frédéric Gaillard, Production Manager for France 2, and Bruno Hullin, freelance director, will meet Future TV directors and technicians to help them optimise the coverage of the Francophone Games.

  2nd mission addressing editorial resources : from 29 July to 6 August. Patrick Montel, journalist and presenter for France 2, and Stéphan Malin, freelance editor (Stade 2), will work with Future TV journalists on the production of 6-minute daily roundups.

Africa

Gabon, 10-21 August 2009
Preparation of the coverage of the elections, that are scheduled to be held on 30 August 2009, for journalists of Gabonese TV channel RTG1. This training mission will be carried out by Philippe Dessaint from TV5Monde and Xavier Deperthes, TV journalist for France 3’s national editorial department.

Event

16 & 17 July 2009 : French network abroad days
The French Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs is bringing together its agents posted in Paris and abroad, managers of cultural centres and institutes, Alliance Française and other schools abroad, representatives of economic missions and from the corporate world, operators and partners of the Ministry at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. For two days, they will be discussing four themes : better regulation of globalisation ; renewed partnerships ; reasserting solidarity ; living diversity.

On 16 July, CFI will be organising a working breakfast with its special contacts posted in French embassies abroad. A CFI stand will be open to all participants.

Sport

Golden League in Athletics
CFI is broadcasting Golden League meetings to its African TV partners. 10 July 2009 : meeting in Rome, 17 July 2009 : meeting in Paris

Tour de France
From 4 to 26 July 2009, daily and weekly bulletins of the Tour de France will be offered to most of CFI’s African TV partners.

In the field

Asia

Bhutan, from 25 June to 12 July : training session on Newsroom management for chief editors at the BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service), led by Olivier Michel, expert journalist and presenter for France 3 Rhône-Alpes Auvergne.

The Mediterranean region

Jordan, from 11 to 17 July, audit of JRTV (Jordan Radio & Television) : assessment of human and technical resources, analysis of the business, definition of the channel’s needs by Marc Olivier, chair of TV Numérique and former Chair and CEO of Tele Più (Canal+ Italy).

Africa

Senegal, from 6 to 8 July : during the 7th Tënk or pitch sessions held during the festival Le Louma in Saint-Louis, Senegal, Sébastien Ravet, in charge of African production and programmes at CFI, will be meeting independent producers coming to present new projects that CFI may support via a pre-purchasing scheme.

Senegal, Dakar, 5-7 July : Jérôme Néraudau, of TNS SOFRES, will be submitting an audience study conducted end March 2009, as part of Africascope, for RTS and 2STV. Africascope is an annual survey conducted by TNS SOFRES in five major African cities (Abidjan, Dakar, Douala, Kinshasa and Yaoundé) on behalf of CFI, TV5Monde, France Télévisions Publicité International, Canal+ Horizons and RFI.

New broadcasting methods have taken African channels global and today raise the issue of broadcasting rights. New, private channels enjoy considerable funding and contribute to a diverse content offer in their respective countries. Given the pressure to achieve high audience ratings and the variety of content available, programming needs to be honed and new audiences conquered.

For all of these reasons, CFI commissioned a field study from consulting firm Media Consulting Group (MCG) to assess the operability of its current technological setup and programme offer, ten years after it was first set up.

Conducted in April and May 2009, this study examined 21 African channels*, 11 state-run and 10 private, bringing together all the TV partners’ managers and teams, who greatly appreciated CFI’s initiative in light of the issues addressed. This study focussed on several topics : programme information, reception quality, recording and storage means, broadcasting rights issues and the shape of the competition.

The final report confirmed that CFI has one of the best technical schemes in Africa today and its signal is considered to be “clean”.

MCG thus highlighted four new leads to optimise the broadcasting of CFI’s programmes :

• Supporting partners in their switch to digital (servers, televisions without cassettes etc.),
• Supporting archiving policies,
• Involving partners in editorial choices and stepping up its African programme offer,
• Gradually improving its model based on a free service, exclusivity and broadcasting rights.

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* Countries involved : Senegal, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Cameroon, Kenya and Tanzania

Sport

Athletics : Golden League
On 3 July 2009, CFI will be broadcasting the Oslo meeting to practically all of its African TV partners. Organised by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), the 12th edition of the Golden League will be taking place from 14 June to 4 September. It comprises 6 meetings, in Berlin (4 June 2009), Oslo (3 July 2009), Rome (10 July 2009), Paris (17 July 2009), Zurich (28 August 2009) and Brussels (4 September 2009).

FIFA Confederations Cup (14-28 June 2009)
Since 14 June, CFI has been broadcasting the competition matches to its African TV partners (more details in the online file).

Festivals

23-26 June 2009 : Sunny Side of the doc
Margaret Goubin, CFI programme acquisition manager will take part in the 20th edition of this international festival which every year brings documentary professionals together in La Rochelle. She will be short-listing programmes for the attention of CFI’s TV partners.

2-9 July 2009 : LOUMA, African documentary fair in Saint-Louis, Senegal
From 3 to 5 July, the manager for African production and programmes at CFI, Sébastien Ravet, will be participating in the first edition of the Video Market. He will select titles from a catalogue featuring some hundred films of African origin or about Africa, for the attention of African TV partners.

Concurrently, during the 7th Tënk or pitch sessions, held from 6 au 8 July, he will be meeting up with independent producers coming to present new projects that CFI may support via a pre-purchasing scheme.

In the field

Asia
Bhutan, from 25 June to 12 July : training session on Newsroom management for chief editors at the BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service), led by Olivier Michel, expert journalist and presenter for France 3 Rhône Alpes Auvergne.

CFI has set up a policy in Sub-Saharan Africa to support the best African productions. This has led to the appointment of a manager for African production and programmes : Sébastien Ravet. Back from the pan-African Film Festival, Black Screen, organised in Cameroon in early June 2009, he explained CFI’s directions in terms of African production.

You handed out the Best First Feature Film award at the festival Black Screen, what prospects does CFI off this award-winning programme ?

As the top network for the circulation of audiovisual programmes in Africa, CFI quite naturally joined forces with the festival Black Screen to sponsor the Best First Feature Film award. This prize, worth a million CFA francs went to Malifa Mabouba, from Gabon for her film Le divorce. To support this young director’s work, CFI has acquired the broadcasting rights of her film and will be offering it to all its African TV partners. This film will thus reach a huge audience.

Alongside the festival, a seminar with the programme directors from seven TV partners was organised, what was the outcome ?

The aim for CFI is to optimise the broadcasting of programmes it buys for its TV partners.

The TV channels are henceforth involved in all editorial choices as to the programmes purchased by CFI. The most programmes at the seminar will be purchased.

The advantage of this method is to promote the programmes offered by CFI for its TV partners for a period of three or four months. We also strive to encourage creation on their TV channel of slots for theme-base programmes on World topics (healthcare, AIDS, women’s issues, children etc.) and thus assist TV channels in their public service remit.

This seminar also aims to foster dialogue among programme directors and a dozen or so independent producers, and provided an opportunity to discuss the funding of African productions by TV channels.

Support for African production is an important part of CFI’s action in Africa, what are you actually hoping to achieve in this sphere by the end of this year ?

CFI has suggested excluding the country of the producer/director in agreements, in order to encourage the funding of production by local channels. The producer sees an opportunity to negotiate the programme with channels in their home country and CFI ensures a high profile in other countries where they would find it difficult to sell their rights.

CFI is partnering Louma, the African documentary festival, to be held in Senegal from 2 to 9 July. This business meeting will be bringing together many independent producers as well as programme directors working for African TV channels. In November 2009, at the SEFOR**, CFI will be organising a second meeting with all the programme directors working for French-speaking Sub-Saharan TV channels. Lastly, on a daily basis, we receive producers and help them to develop their projects.

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*ORTM - Mali RTI - Côte d’Ivoire CRTV / Canal 2/ STV - Cameroon RTG1 - Gabon TVT - Chad

** SEFOR (SEminaire FORmation or training seminar) is an annual event organised in Africa by the CIRTEF (Conseil International des Radios Télévisions d’Expression Française). This meeting brings together French-language media from the South. At each edition, on the fringes of SEFOR, CFI brings together the programme directors of French-language TV channels in Africa.

Sport

FIFA Confederations Cup From 14 to 28 June, South Africa will be hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup. Often considered a warm-up for the FIFA World Cup, scheduled in South Africa for 2010, this competition brings together the six champions from all six continents (Spain, the US, Iraq, Brazil, Egypt and New Zealand), Italy, as the 2006 FIFA World Cup Winners, and the host country, South Africa.

CFI will be broadcasting all matches to its African TV partners. This operation is underpinned by a three-way partnership between FIFA, CFI and the AUB (African Union of Broadcasters), which latter owns the rights.

Event

Discop East : As part of a study of needs and resources of TV channels in the Balkans, the Caucasus region and Central Asia, Christophe Dehlinger, CFI representative for the Mediterranean region, will be going to Discop East in Budapest (17-19 June) to start this quality survey. The outcome of this survey will be rounded off with a quantitative analysis that CFI will leverage to replace its offer-oriented strategy with one centred on responding to demand, in terms of both programmes and transfer of skills in the Mediterranean-Asia region.

On 21 June 2009, for the Fête de la musique (French music festival), CFI is offering its 70 African TV partners a special programme, featuring Jacques Sarrasin’s documentary On the Rumba River about the founder of Congolese rumba Antoine Kolosoy, aka Papa Wendo (in French, English and Portuguese) and Black music, des chaînes de fer aux chaînes en or (from iron chains to gold), a documentary by Marc-Aurèle Vecchione on the African roots of music born in the US.

On the field

Africa

South Africa, from 12 to 20 June : during the FIFA Confederations Cup, CFI will be organising a support assignment for capturing and broadcasting sports programmes.

Françoise Mas, Acquisitions Manager for "Features and Children’s Programmes" at CFI, was at the 62nd Cannes film festival from 13 to 24 May. She looks back at this event.

This year, there was a bonanza of French films at the festival and the film market, in the official selection and other selections, which should provide CFI with the opportunity of offering its TV partners some really great films, following the regulatory schedule.

Anticipating the choice of programmes

By pinpointing a number of exciting French productions, I was able to make our choices for the future. I took out options on Un prophète by Jacques Audiard, winner of the Grand Prix awarded by the jury and which could be made available to all CFI’s TV partners, Les herbes folles by Alain Resnais and Le père de mes enfants by Mia Hansen-Love, both eminently suitable for scheduling in countries in Central and Eastern Europe and L’affaire Farewell by Christian Carion, a spy thriller of which some initial footage was presented at the film market.

In 2007, we had pre-selected Persepolis from the official competition. It will be available for CFI’s TV partners in Africa in August 2009. Likewise in 2006, Bamako, by the Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissako, was presented to our African TV partners in February 2009.

Brainstorming support for African production

Furthermore, at the Cinémas du Monde stand, I took part in the Africadoc workshop, a development programme for African documentary films, the aim of which is to foster a new generation of film-makers from countries in Western, Central and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

The Louma (Market) scheduled in St Louis, Senegal, for the first week of July, was a primary focus of this presentation. As in the past six years, it will feature the “Tënk” pitch sessions as well as a new feature of special interest to CFI, a library of videos available for purchase, comprising a catalogue of some hundred films of African origin or about Africa.

Presenting CFI’s new strategy

Lastly, I presented and explained CFI’s new directions, with respect to acquisitions and footing in the various zones, to contacts I made. I developed our new policy of programme offers based on choices emitted by our partners at specific committee meetings or from catalogues.

Event

Macao, China - Asia Media Summit on 26 and 27 May : at this conference organised by the AIBD (Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development), the CFI Director for the Mediterranean region and Asia, Eric Soulier, will be meeting the main operators in the region, especially television directors from Fiji and Indonesia.

CFI is joining forces with the 13th edition of the “Black Screen” festival, to be held in Yaoundé (Cameroon) from 30 May to 6 June. The film that wins the Best First Feature Film award will be bought by CFI and made available to its 70 African TV partners. On the fringe of this festival, CFI will be bringing several programme directors together to involve them in editorial choices prior to decision time. Moreover, CFI will be providing the festival team with the services of a TV journalist to coordinate and organise the production of a 10-minute, daily TV magazine, broadcast on CRTV, Canal 2 and STV.

Sport

Champions League Final : on 27 May, viewers of CFI’s African TV partners will be able to watch the Manchester United vs. FC Barcelona match broadcast live from Rome. African viewers are bound to be supporting “Barça”, which will be fielding Samuel Eto’o from Cameroon, Yaya Touré from Côte d’Ivoire and Seydou Keita from Mali.

In the field

Asia

Vietnam (Hanoi), from 18 to 27 May : developing a programme for children, training for producers working for VTV6. After addressing concepts and strategies in programming for children, participants will develop a programme project (concept, writing and shooting plans).

Vietnam (Hanoi), from 25 to 30 May : Vietnamese state radio, The Voice of Vietnam, set up the news channel VOV TV in September 2008. At its request, CFI will be sending out an expert to audit this nascent channel’s needs (structure, management, human resources and identity). A training plan will next be put forward to VOV TV.

Africa

Cameroon (Yaoundé), 5 and 8 June : the audience study conducted in December 2008 by TNS Sofres, as part of the annual survey Africascope, will be submitted to CRTV, Canal 2 and STV2.

Event

Programmes : CFI will be supporting its TV partners in the Balkans and the Caucasus region at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival from 13 to 24 May 2009. CFI will be making three festival features available :
  the opening ceremony, broadcast live ;
  a daily 25’ TV magazine with a roundup of news from the previous day ;
  the closing ceremony, broadcast live.

Chad : a Communications Convention is scheduled to take place from 11 to 14 May in N’Djamena. The GRET (Research and Technological Exchange Group), supported by CFI and the AFP Foundation, is in charge of organising this gathering, the aim of which is to encourage freedom of expression, democratic pluralism and information in Chad

Sport

The second leg of the semi-finals in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup will be made available for African TV partners :

  Tuesday 5 May 2009, ARSENAL vs. MANCHESTER UNITED (live)
  Wednesday 6 May 2009, CHELSEA vs. BARCELONA (live)
  Thursday 7 May 2009, HAMBURG vs. WERDER BREMEN (live) and FC SHAKHTAR DONETSK vs. DYNAMO KYIV (recorded)

On the field

Africa

• Benin, Mali, Togo and Senegal : from 29 April to 5 May, auditing assignment for the Network of Public Broadcasters in French-speaking Africa (RAPAF). Bernard Broyet, the designated France Télévisions director, is meeting with four managing directors from the network in order to analyse RAPAF organisation, aims and means.

• Chad : audit of production resources at the Chad state television, Télé Tchad, from 11 to 14 May, with a view to setting up a production unit for local programmes.

• Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania : 24 March-28 May, qualitative study on CFI programme take-up methods used by its TV partners. Goal : find out whether the CFI programme distribution method is technically adapted to the new, competitive African broadcasting scene.

From 11 to 14 May 2009, a Communications Convention is scheduled to take place in N’Djamena, Chad. With support from the European Commission, the Chad Ministry of Communication and the GRET (Research and Technological Exchange Group), this event is part of the Chad Electoral Reform Support Programme (PARSET), within the European Development Fund, the aim of which is to support the media in a democratic process.

The aim of this Communications Convention is to encourage freedom of expression, democratic pluralism and information in Chad, with an examination of conditions and resources for helping the media in Chad to make credible, reliable information available and to spark rich and responsible political debate.

The project initiatives aim to support professional drives, smooth the production and broadcasting of news and encourage the expression of diverse opinions.

GRET, with support from CFI and the AFP Foundation, is organising this gathering and coordinating training courses aiming to step up media capacity in Chad.

In a second phase, CFI will be setting up three training sessions to support the media in Chad with the coverage of the forthcoming legislative and municipal elections.

After two years in operation, the RAPAF (Network of Public Broadcasters in French-speaking Africa) is at a crossroads. As an association of professionals in state-run audiovisual media, the RAPAF has to choose which aims to focus on in order to face up squarely to the emergence of private media groups and foster audience loyalty. To achieve this, CFI, which has supported the RAPAF since its inception, hopes to consolidate the association’s structure and is setting up an audit of its organisation to help draw up a plan of action for the future. The RAPAF has set itself the following aims :
  promotion and consolidation of radio and television as a service to the public ;
  creation of an alliance between players in state-run audiovisual companies to prepare together for the changes wrought by the pre-eminence of new technologies ;
  development of sharing in all sectors and lines of business on the state-run audiovisual scene ;
  instigation of negotiations for the acquisition of television rights, especially for sport ;
  provision of consulting services and assistance for its members (training, financial management, administration, etc.).

Bernard Broyet, a France Télévisions director, expert in issues such as lobbying, associations, and organisation is currently carrying out an assignment (29 April to 4 May 2009) with four managing directors from the network (from Benin, Mali, Togo and Senegal). In light of his recommendations, CFI will be able to set up initiatives alongside the RAPAF to defend the interests of state-run television channels and assist it in its future challenges.

Event

CFI is making the UEFA Champions League semi-finals available to its French-language TV partners in Africa :

  Tuesday 28 April 2009 - BARCELONA vs. CHELSEA (live)
  Wednesday 29 April 2009 - MANCHESTER UNITED vs. ARSENAL (live)

The UEFA cup semi-finals will be made available to practically all CFI’s TV partners in Africa :

  Thursday 30 April 2009 - WERDER BREMEN vs. HAMBURG (live) and DYNAMO KYIV vs. FC SHAKHTAR DONETSK (recorded)

On the field

Africa

• Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania : 24 March-28 May, qualitative study on CFI programme take-up methods used by its TV partners. Goal : find out whether the CFI programme distribution method is technically adapted to the new, competitive African broadcasting scene.

• Benin, Mali, Togo and Senegal : from 29 April to 5 May, auditing assignment for the Network of Public Broadcasters in French-speaking Africa (RAPAF). Bernard Broyet, the designated France Télévisions director, is meeting with four managing directors from the network in order to analyse RAPAF organisation, aims and means.

As from 9 April, ten African journalists (from Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo) are splitting into groups to visit three French clubs : Olympique Lyonnais (OL), Olympique de Marseille (OM), and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Supervised by Canal+ TV reporters, the journalists will be conducting interviews of African players, including Mamadou Niang and Bakari Kone (OM), Jean-Alain Boumsong, Jean II Makoun, Abdulkader Keita (OL), Larrys Mabiala and Stephane Sessegnon (PSG). They will then attend the League 1 matches scheduled that weekend.

Once edited, the subjects will be offered to CFI’s African TV partners.

The training course organised jointly by the French Professional Football League (LFP) and CFI comprises a section covering sports commentary techniques.

The ten journalists each tried their hand at providing “live” commentary of the Champions League quarter-finals held on 7 April (Manchester United vs. FC Porto, and Villareal CF vs. Arsenal). Each 45-minute commentary was recorded, for analysis with Philippe Doucet the following day.

The best two journalists then provided live commentary on 8 April alongside CFI commentators, Romain Grimaud and Laurent Fournier, for Barcelona vs. Bayern and Liverpool vs. Chelsea.

This initiative demonstrates CFI’s determination to provide hands-on experience during its training courses.

Event

Champions League Tuesday 7 April 2009 :

• match broadcast live, Manchester United vs. FC Porto

• recorded match, Villareal CF vs. Arsenal FC

Wednesday 8 April 2009 :

• match broadcast live, FC Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich

• recorded match, Liverpool vs. Chelsea

UEFA cup Thursday 9 April 2009 :

  match broadcast live, Paris Saint-Germain vs. Dynamo Kiev

  recorded match, Hamburg vs. Manchester City

The second-leg matches will be taking place on Thursday 16 April 2009.

On the field

Africa

• Gearing up for the 2010 World Cup, CFI is organising a training course on the coverage of football matches, with the French Professional Football League (LFP) and in partnership with the private French channel Canal +. 4-14 April, 9 journalists from Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and Senegal will come to France to learn about live sports commentary. This training course is the first step to prepare journalists working for CFI’s TV partners in the run-up to the big-time event in 2010.

• Senegal, Dakar : from 13 to 18 April, AITV-RFO and CFI are jointly organising an advanced training course on TV reporting and Internet broadcasting techniques for 11 journalists from West Africa who act as AITV correspondents.

• Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania : 24 March-28 May, qualitative study on CFI programme take-up methods used by its TV partners. Goal : find out whether the CFI programme distribution method is technically adapted to the new, competitive African broadcasting scene.

Asia

• Thailand, Bangkok : from 17 to 25 April, a regional training course for Asiavision partner countries (Asiavision being a bartering system for news subjects, set up by the ABU - Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) addressing the responsibilities of chief editors (role, management of an editorial team, hands-on exercises using the technical resources of the host television MCOT-Modernine TV).

Set up in 1999, the BBS, or Bhutan Broadcasting Service-> is one of the youngest television corporations worldwide. Most of its technicians and journalists used to work in radio and therefore really need to be trained to deal with visual aspects of broadcasting. Since 2005, CFI has assisted the BBS by providing training courses that closely fit their needs. The training courses led by CFI for this young, dynamic TV channel have addressed reporting, formatting of programmes for young people and support for the coverage of the first general election in the country.

In brand-new studios and premises, the BBS called upon CFI, last February, for the design of the decors and layout of the new television centre. Jean-Philippe Duron, free-lance art director whose field of expertise spans not only television but also theatre and fashion shows, brought his savoir-faire to the Bhutanese professionals. He spent a week providing consulting services, training BBS staff, and raising their awareness to the concept of visual identity. By the end of his assignment, tangible progress had been made since three decors had been designed. The new BBS centre will be inaugurated next June to celebrate the channel’s tenth anniversary.

While India, China and Japan play an active role in development aid in Bhutan, the BBS has favoured French cooperation by renewing its trust in CFI. Further to this latest successful assignment, a training course and support for the channel’s visual identity will be set up in the course of 2009.

Event

5 April : 52 state-run CFI TV partners in Africa will be able to watch the entire Paris Marathon on Sunday 5 April, with commentary in French and English.

On the field

Africa

• Sao Tome : 3rd training session on the production of mini-documentaries from 19 March to 3 April. The aim of this training course : to improve the quality of TVS’s educational audiovisual productions.

• Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania : 24 March-28 May, qualitative study on CFI programme take-up methods used by its TV partners. Goal : find out whether the CFI programme distribution method is technically adapted to the new, competitive African broadcasting scene.

• Gearing up for the 2010 World Cup, CFI is organising a training course on the coverage of football matches, with the French Professional Football League (LFP) and in partnership with the private French channel Canal +. 4-14 April, 9 journalists from Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and Senegal will come to France to learn about live sports commentary. This training course is the first step to prepare journalists working for CFI’s TV partners in the run-up to the big-time event in 2010.

Event

28 March : the 37th World Cross Country Championship, held in Amman, Jordan, will be available for CFI’s TV partners in Africa.

On the field

Asia

• Thailand, Bangkok : 21-28 March, training course for young documentary directors/editors. 3rd session focussing on directing, editing and postproduction.

Africa

• Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania : 24 March-28 May, qualitative study on CFI programme take-up methods used by its TV partners. Goal : find out whether the CFI programme distribution method is technically adapted to the new, competitive African broadcasting scene.

• Cape Verde : 26 and 27 March, Paris will be playing host to the new Chairman of RTC (Radio & Television Cape Verde) to discuss RTC technical matters and a project to renovate the archives. Visits to news channels Euronews and France 24.

• Sao Tome : Third training session on the production of mini-documentaries from 19 March to 3 April. The aim of this training course is to improve the quality of TVS’s educational audiovisual productions.

One and a half years after the launch of iléo-i, TV magazine for Indian Ocean islands, CFI took part in the fifth editorial meeting with its Chief Editors. On the agenda : a review of the subjects already broadcast and a critical review of the first five editions, as well as preparation of the line-up for the forthcoming programmes.

At this meeting on this unifying project, the editorial teams from ORTC (Comoros), TVM (Madagascar), MBC (Mauritius), RFO Mayotte, RFO Réunion and SBC (Seychelles) worked together to come up with solutions to ensure the magazine would last. Watched by a highly responsive audience, iléo-i has fulfilled its aim : it has instigated dialogue between Indian Ocean islands.

Improvements

This mid-way assessment brought some shortfalls to light. Topics are often covered in a style resembling news reports. Iléo-i must therefore refocus on writing for magazines, to tailor its angle so that the islanders can relate to it, to show the lifestyles of these people who are so near yet so far from each other. Iléo-i could thus claim to truly reflect the way of life in this part of the world.

Furthermore, the limited number of sections planned at the time of the launch could not embrace the diversity of subjects put forward. They have now been increased in order to broaden the magazine’s scope.

Given the need to develop the show, CFI set up a training course on writing for magazines, from 4 to 11 March 2009, concurrently with the editorial meeting scheduled in Comoros. The magazine approach was studied in terms of writing, filming and editing.

On the road to success

The Chief Editors of iléo-i are examining all possibilities for development. They are envisaging striking up partnerships on a bartering basis with partners such as airlines and hotel chains.

For the moment, geographical constraints in the Indian Ocean (isolated islands, far from one another) do hold up the sharing of reports. An ambitious project involving satellite broadcasting is due to be up and running in September 2009.

Resulting from a certain drive in the region, this project involving six countries is backed by the Indian Ocean Commission (COI) and CFI. The channel managers and editorial teams seem highly motivated by this collaboration. Iléo-i could in the medium-term become a monthly programme in order to foster loyalty among eager viewers.

On the field

Asia

• China - Guangzhou (Canton), 10-20 March : second week of the training course for junior TV reporters at Southern TV. Aim : to develop versatility, speed and best practices in journalism.

• Thailand, Bangkok, 14-21 March : training course for young documentary directors/editors. The subjects produced focus on current topics such as water.

Mediterranean

• Tunisia, Tunis, 15-22 March : further to a request from the ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union), CFI has set up a regional training course on the presentation and leading of TV debates for journalists and chief editors from Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen.

Africa

• Sao Tome : as part of its International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), UNESCO has joined forces with CFI and RTP (Radio Television Portugal) to help reinforce the capacities of journalists and directors at TVS (Sao Tomé Television). A third training session on the production of mini-documentaries will be taking place from 19 March to 3 April. The aim of this training course is to improve the quality of TVS’s educational audiovisual productions.

Last Saturday (7 March), the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) handed out its awards. The Golden Stallion of Yennenga award went to Teza (Morning Dew) directed by Ethiopian Haïlé Gérima. The winner of the Silver Stallion of Yennenga and the special jury award was Nothing but the truth by John Kani (South Africa). Lastly, the Bronze Stallion of Yennenga was bestowed on Mascarades by Lyes Salem (Algeria).

While the awards for features are eagerly awaited, Fespaco also sets out to honour shorts, documentaries and films in the TV Video category.

This year, CFI reasserted its commitment to encouraging production in the South, in particular by sponsoring the official “Television Video” category which aims to encourage budding directors.

Abdoulaye Dao (Burkina Faso) thus received the prize for the best TV Video fiction for Une femme pas comme les autres (An unusual woman). The TV Video jury’s special award went to the film When we were black by Khalo Matabane (South Africa). Missa Hébié (Burkina Faso) won the best TV Video series award for L’As du Lycée (Top of the Class). Lastly, the TV Video series jury’s special award went to Cameroon’s Joséphine Ndagnou for Paris à tout prix (Paris at Any Cost). This film will be offered to CFI’s African TV partners by end 2009.

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Find out more about the CFI/Fespaco partnership

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You can view the full list of award-winners on the Fespaco Website, www.fespaco.bf (in French only).

Events

Champions League, second leg matches : on 10 and 11 March, CFI will be offering its African TV partners an opportunity to watch the first knockout round.
  10 March : Liverpool v. Real Madrid (live) and Juventus Turin v. Chelsea (recorded)
  11 March : F.C. Barcelona v. Lyon (live) and Manchester United v. Inter Milan (recorded)

Digital Broadcasting Symposium in Kuala Lumpur from 10 to 13 March : Eric Soulier, Director for the Mediterranean-Asia region at CFI, will be participating in this annual conference organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).

On the field

• Training course for junior TV reporters for Southern TV in Guangzhou (Canton), China (10 - 20 March)

• Training course on the writing of documentaries for directors at TV channel MCOT (first of three sessions) in Bangkok, Thailand (7 - 14 March)

Events

FESPACO :

Monday 2 March

• CFI round table on “Distribution and economic outlets for African audiovisual productions”, chaired by Catherine Tasca, Vice-President of the French Senate.

• CFI’s 20th anniversary celebration.

Thursday 5 March

• Screening of “Regards d’Afrique”.

Saturday 7 March

• CFI awards in the official “Television-Video” category.

Every day : CFI will be making a cultural magazine show available to 75 African TV channels. This Fespaco news show will be produced by CFI, a team of African journalists and RTB.

Assignments on the field

• Training of TV newscast and magazine presenters for TRANS TV in Jakarta, Indonesia (28 February - 7 March)

• Training course on the production of a daily cultural magazine on Fespaco news with RTB (Radio Télévision du Burkina Faso) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (22 February - 8 March)

• Training course on writing for magazine shows for the editorial staff of the regional magazine for the Indian Ocean ileo-i [TV channels in the Seychelles (SBC), Mauritius (MBC), Madagascar (ORTM), Comoros (RTUC), Réunion and Mayotte (RFO)] in Moroni, Comoros (2 - 8 March)

CFI is participating in the first edition of DISCOP AFRICA held from 25 to 27 February 2009 in Dakar, Senegal.

This trade fair is bringing together programmers, producers, content distributors, TV advertisers and advertising agencies, all wanting to move the African audiovisual scene forward. Nearly 300 participants are expected.

The programme will include information sessions and round tables led by over 40 African and international experts, as well as scheduled meetings between buyers, those selling audiovisual content and TV advertisers.

Guillaume Pierre, CFI Director for Africa, will be participating in the round table on “Highlighting various support programmes for the development of TV in Africa” at 1.00 pm on Thursday 26 February.

CFI supports the African audiovisual sector, offering 75 TV partners around 2,500 hours’ worth of programmes including films, documentaries, children’s programmes and sport in French, English and Portuguese every year.

To assert its identity and preserve its cultural heritage, the African audiovisual scene needs to enhance its programming offer. By participating in this first edition of DISCOP AFRICA, CFI has confirmed its support for modernisation of Southern media.

After its traditional two-month winter break, the prestigious club football championship, the UEFA Champions League, is back with a bang.

To celebrate, CFI has opted for four bumper matches. On Tuesday, the top clubs from France (Lyon), England (Manchester United), Italy (Inter Milan) and Spain (FC Barcelona) will be out on the field. Top-level sport will continue on Wednesday with Real Madrid v. Liverpool and Chelsea v. Juventus Turin, a match that’s slated to bring back fond memories.

Matches will be broadcast on eight days through to the final, scheduled in Rome on 27 May.

The following matches will be offered to CFI’s TV partners in Africa :

• 24 February 2009 at 7.45 pm GMT : FC LYON v. FC BARCELONA

• 24 February 2009 at 10.00 pm GMT : INTER MILAN v. MANCHESTER UNITED

• 25 February 2009 at 7.45 pm GMT : REAL MADRID v. LIVERPOOL

• 25 February 2009 at 10.00 pm GMT : CHELSEA v. JUVENTUS

Events

Champions League : CFI is offering the following matches to its TV partners in Africa :
  Lyon v. FC Barcelona (live) and Inter Milan v. Manchester United (recorded) on 24 February,
  Real Madrid v. Liverpool (live) and Chelsea v. Juventus Turin (recorded) on 25 February.

Discop Africa (25 - 27 February) : the CFI Director for Africa will be participating in the round table on “Highlighting various support programmes for the development of TV in Africa” on 26 February.

CFI partners Fespaco : launch of the 21st edition of Fespaco (Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou) on 28 February.

Assignments on the field

• Technical assessment and maintenance for the Comoros television (18 - 25 February)

• Training course on the writing of single TV films for TRANS TV in Indonesia (21 - 28 February)

• Training of TV newscast presenters for TRANS TV in Indonesia (28 February - 7 March)

• Training course on the production of a cultural magazine focusing on Fespaco news with RTB (Radio Télévision du Burkina Faso) in Ouagadougou (22 February - 8 March)

From 9 to 13 February, CFI and the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) jointly organised a training seminar on Athletics and Television in Senegal. 62 African journalists from 21 different countries enjoyed a comprehensive training course on image production (the technical equipment and specific methods for international mobile video broadcasting...), editorials (the role and involvement of the media, particularities of media professions, interviewing techniques, hosting programmes etc.) and knowledge of sports (how sports have changed within a global context, particularities of African athletics...). This training was led by three professionals from CFI (Jean-Claude Perrin, former French national athletics trainer, Florence Vallée, consultant, and Nathalie Houllé, producer at France Télévisions), three professionals from the IAAF, one professional from the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ACNOA) and four former Senegalese athletics champions. Training took place in an atmosphere comparable to that of a real athletics competition, in the Léopold Sedar Senghor stadium in Dakar, with - amongst other activities - a simulated IAAF meet. This initiative received the full support of the ACNOA and the Conference of the Youth and Sports Ministers of French-speaking Countries (CONFEJES).

Aware of the difficulties for journalists to cover athletics, CFI and the IAAF have signed an agreement to optimise TV coverage of events organised by the IAAF, promote and increase the popularity of athletics in Africa, especially through cooperation and training initiatives in Africa.

After Dakar and Brussels, Paris played host on 28 January 2009 to a press conference held by Fespaco (Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou) at the French film library. This 21st edition, celebrating the festival’s 40th anniversary, is geared around “African film : Tourism and Cultural Heritage”. Michel Ouédraogo, Fespaco Managing Director, hopes to breathe new life into the festival, making this edition “an arena for experimentation”. Aside from the official competition and the International African Film and Television Market (MICA), FESPACO 2009 will be paying tribute to all forms of art with dance, music and theatre during the “Musical Nights” and exhibitions of photos and posters.

FESPACO is also a great place for discussion and meetings in which those working in the film and audiovisual industries can debate and brainstorm needs and developments in their line of business. As an official partner of the festival, CFI will be organising a round table chaired by Catherine Tasca, Vice-President of the French Senate, on the theme “Distribution and economic outlets for African audiovisual productions”. This is a core issue for those working in the African film and audiovisual industries, and CFI is delighted to be able to contribute to the debate. Round table participants are expected to include Congolese author and director Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Burkina director Aminata Diallo, the head of ARTE Editions Adrienne Frejacques and the Managing Director of ORTB (Office de Radio Télévision du Bénin) Julien Akpaki.

Last week, the managing directors of 12 TV channels benefiting from the French Government’s Priority Solidarity Fund (FSP) to support African television met in Paris at the closing seminar organised by CFI.

The aim of this project, initiated and funded by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to foster cultural diversity and local African production, was to help modernise African TV channels. 12 private and state-run channels from French-speaking countries in Africa were thus selected for their development potential : ORTB (Benin), RTB and Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), Canal 2, CRTV and STV2 (Cameroon), RTD (Djibouti), ORTM (Mali), ORTN and TV Ténéré (Niger), RTS and 2STV (Senegal).

From 2003 to 2008, CFI conducted organisational studies in each of these TV channels, then viewership measurement studies and quality studies as to viewer expectations in terms of programmes, and lastly, training workshops focussing on the main aspects inherent in managing TV channels.

At this seminar, the managing directors from all 12 TV channels participating in the project were able to talk with top-level personalities. They met Alain Joyandet, Secretary of State in charge of Cooperation and the Promotion of the French Language from the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and Michel Boyon, president of the CSA (the French audiovisual regulatory body), with whom they discussed regulation tools. Led by Alain Belais, Chairman of the Board at CFI and Director of International Relations at France Télévisions, they were then received for lunch with Patrick de Carolis, Chairman of France Télévisions.

This long-term project has especially reinforced the trusting relationship between CFI and these TV channels. In the future, CFI shall be setting up an agreement scheduled to last several years to govern the relations with the TV channels benefiting from this fund, taking a more individualised approach and concentrating on projects focussing on structure.

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Find out more about the viewership measurement studies conducted by CFI

On 12 January, CFI will be offering to broadcast live the FIFA World Player Gala 2008 from the Zurich Opera House for all its African TV partners.

This year, five male and five female football players (as opposed to three per category in previous years) are vying for the top honours :
  The Brazilian Kaká from AC Milan (defender of the title),
  The Argentine Lionel Messi from FC Barcelona,
  The Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United,
  Spaniards Fernando Torres from Liverpool FC and Xavi from FC Barcelona,

  The German Nadine Angerer from FFC Turbine Potsdam,
  The Brazilians Cristiane from VfL Wolfsburg and Marta, defender of the title tipped to join a US women’s league team,
  The German Birgit Prinz from FFC Frankfurt,
  England’s Kelly Smith from Arsenal.

The FIFA Fair play and Presidential awards will also be handed out at the same ceremony.

Look forward to 12 January, at 18.58 GMT, for this event with commentary in three languages (French, English and Portuguese).

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Find out more on the FIFA Web site : http://fr.fifa.com/

In Cambodia, few programmes for young people are produced despite a large audience and high demand. This has prompted CFI to put forward a training session to Apsara, a private TV channel, on how to design and produce TV programmes for the 15-to-25 age group.

In October, Stéphane Bouillaud, an expert in programme design and production, conducted this two-week training course which resulted in the creation of a pilot programme for the 15-to-25 age group. The concept is simple : three candidates travel throughout Cambodia in search of Khmer identity, in the course of which they have to take up four athletic or intellectual challenges as quickly as possible while spending the least possible sum of money.

In a relatively short period, and with modest resources, the trainees managed to produce an original, well-paced televised competition with which the 15-to-25 age group can identify.

For a preview of this programme, check out the trailer below :

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Since 2005, CFI has been offering three training sessions each year to second- and final-year students of the international class at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), a journalism school that attracts students from the entire Caucasus region. Last November, CFI asked Joëlle Stechel, instructor at the French Higher School of Journalism, to conduct a GIPA workshop on reporting. After noticing that sound and image are often poorly or insufficiently utilised in news reports by Georgian TV channels, Joëlle Stechel invited students to produce long reports (6 to 10 minutes), without commentary, on a single theme : Tbilissi. Their assignment was to film their personal view of the city, choosing an angle and characters and telling a story using sound and pictures. Bewildered at first by this approach, the students then took to the exercise and measured the importance of choosing a location and drafting a detailed synopsis before filming.

Six subjects were filmed, the best two of which can be viewed below :
  Tbilissi at dawn
  Tbilissi seen through the eyes of typical Tbilissi milkmen, who travel from the countryside to the city each morning to bring Matsoni yoghurt and milk to city-dwellers.

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In March 2007, CFI teamed up with the International Council of French-Speaking Radio and Television (CIRTEF) to organise a training session on the techniques used to direct documentaries targeting African directors. One of the aims of this training course was to produce a documentary series on the theme of children’s rights. Out of around 20 directors who submitted scenarios, seven were selected to take part in four training sessions led by director Jacky Attala, which took place in 2007 and 2008.

The resulting documentary series will be offered to our TV partners in the coming months.

As a taster, CFI is presenting extracts from three of the documentaries in this series :

  Bataille pour l’école (Fighting for school) by Edgar Konan (Côte d’Ivoire)

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  Mariage et école à contre courant (Weddings and schooling : going against the grain) by Jean-Marc Bado (Burkina Faso)

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  Naître et exister (Birth and existence) by Mariette Chantal Mélé (Benin)

For the eighth year running, CFI is offering the coverage of the Tour du Faso cycling race taking place from 24 October to 2 November 2008. On Friday 24 October, 96 cyclists from African and European teams set out from Kokologo on a course of nearly 1,300 kilometres, broken down into ten stages. They are scheduled to arrive in Ougadougou on 2 November 2008.

Throughout the 10-day Tour du Faso, CFI will be providing its African TV partners with a 13-minute daily programme featuring a digest of the day’s cycling, as well as a magazine topic on the event. A 52-minute “Best Of” featuring the highlights of the competition will be available at the end of the Tour.

With 16 international teams in the running, the 22-year-old Tour du Faso is a key event in the African sporting season, organised jointly by the Burkinan Ministry of Sport and ASO, a French organisation belonging to the Amaury group.

From 31 December 2008 to 11 April 2009, CFI will be broadcasting the entire Kora Awards. Starting with the presentation of nominees through to the awards ceremony to be held in Lagos (Nigeria), 11 programmes are to be made available to CFI’s African TV partners.

The partnership agreement that CFI has just signed with the Kora African music awards will extend the reach of this great African event celebrating the achievements of musicians from all the over the continent since 1994.

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More information on the Kora Awards website

Further to a request from TV Novi Sad, the Serbian television operating in the Voivodine province, CFI has helped breathe new life into Novi Sad’s weekly political debating programme, Signal.

On 9 September 2008, a faster-paced programme, in an entirely new setting, hit the waves live. The magazine has been enhanced with footage to present the content of the show, reports, vox pops and viewer participation in the form of questions and text messages at the end of the programme. Moreover, a cartoonist produces sketches inspired by the ongoing debate. The presenter, who underwent a makeover herself, has also adopted a new approach to leading debates, with a tougher, more incisive manner. This new version of Signal is now fully in line with European standards.

The 4th edition of the Nuits de la Musique (Music Nights), organised by SDC Productions, took place on 23 August 2008 in Libreville, Gabon. African and international artists, such as Fat Joe, Mokobe, Slai, Les déesses and Lokua Kanza, provided all-night live entertainment, before an audience, at this huge show draped in African colours.

On this occasion, CFI offered its African TV partners 3 hours’ worth of broadcasting of this joyous, Pan-African show.

During the 2008 Olympic Games, CFI will offer all of its TV partners a daily short programme produced by TV5MONDE. "Un jour, un athlete" (one day, one athlete) will give a general snapshot of a French-speaking athlete participating in the Games in Beijing. Alone in front of the camera, the athlete will confide and talk about their sport, beginnings, sporting challenges and their feelings about the Games. These daily compositions will serve to boost our partners’ sports news and magazine shows.

CFI will also offer all of its TV partners a TV5MONDE short on the meeting organised by Abdou Diouf, the Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) taking place the day after the Olympic Games opening ceremony, on 9 August 2008. This French-speaking event will bring together French-speaking heads of state and government, sports ministers, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, IOC members, chairs of international federations and national Olympic committees, committees for the Games being hosted in Vancouver, London and Sochi and for the cities bidding to host the 2016 Games, together with French-speaking athletes and artists.

The second General Assembly of the RAPAF (Network of Public Broadcasters in French-speaking Africa) took place on 8 and 9 July 2008 in Dakar. Twenty-five Director Generals from French-speaking African televisions joined forces with representatives from CFI and the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie).

Initially, discussion topics focused on themes that had been brought up at two conferences. The first conference, held by the Senegalese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, was on the role and position of Africa in the 21st century. The second by François Bonnemain (Chairman of the Board, CFI) concerned public televisions and the state. Then, throughout the second day, participants debated the issue of sports rights.

Nowadays, French-speaking African public televisions suffer from two major drawbacks : the increasingly exorbitant cost of sports rights and the fact that public broadcasting receives insufficient funding from the state. Within this context, together with the increasing competition that the public sector faces from the private sector, the RAPAF has reiterated its goals, supported by CFI : to strengthen links between public televisions around the continent, step up exchanges and co-productions and focus on joint projects.

From 23 to 28 June, CFI played host to a delegation from the Cape Verde television including Marcos Fortunato Oliveira, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Francisco Monteiro, Director of the Studies, Planning and Information Technologies Department.

As part of the modernisation and restructuring of Radio Télévision du Cap-Vert (RTC), the party came to Paris to meet the major French media groups (France 3 Ile de France, RFO, France 24, INA, TV5 and RFI) as well as the regulatory body, CSA, with a view to assessing the support RTC could enjoy.

This mission was also an opportunity for RTC and CFI to consolidate the cooperation ties fostered in the past several years. CFI will be sending representatives to Praia, in autumn 2008, to assess the present situation at RTC and examine new avenues of cooperation.

Jean Mino, Managing Director at CFI, has just signed an agreement with Harold Martin, President of the Government of New Caledonia. This agreement confirms the allocation to CFI of a subsidy in excess of €50,000 earmarked for the installation of two new transmitters in Vanuatu (CFI has been co-operating with the Vanuatu state television, SRTV, since 2004). These new facilities will improve the signal for the islands of Efate and Santo. The SRTV Editorial Department will also be getting some new production equipment and ensuing training courses set up by CFI. This operation will be funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

Furthermore, CFI is consolidating its links with the Oceanian sporting bodies thanks to a partnership agreement signed with Ms Pascale Bastien-Thiry, Chair of the Organising Committee for the Pacific Games, which are to be held in New Caledonia in 2011. CFI will thus be providing its expert knowledge for the media coverage of this event.

You have just spent three days at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival, how was it ?

You go to Cannes to see films. I saw seven, but nothing to write home about. The other purpose of my trip was to meet people. After all, everyone in films goes to Cannes. I spent a lot of time at the “Les cinémas du Sud” pavilion, which is a great place to meet people. There were lots of visitors and informal meetings with professionals from both the North and the South with an interest in films from the South.

How is CFI involved in promoting films from the South ?

CFI’s chief line of business is the programme library. CFI provides its TV partners with films from the South, in particular via the operation Regards d’Afrique, instigated by the Programmes Department. CFI’s second aim is to work in cooperation and technical assistance. This line of business includes assistance with project development via the organisation of training workshops (we have just set up an operation in Burundi, to support eight film-makers). And this year, the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs entrusted CFI with the management of an aid fund in Africa, which means we will be able to develop around fifteen audiovisual projects by the end of the year.

How did you come to make this documentary ?

I worked as a journalist for six years. I found it frustrating because articles are so short-lived. I needed to get to the bottom of things by directing documentaries.

Did you encounter any difficulties filming "Une affaire de nègres" ?

It’s a difficult theme to address... when you tackle issues like the military, politics, democracy and human drama. It took me four years to make this documentary. I took the time to compile the information, even though throughout the project, I was really worried that I might not get to film it.

Was your documentary well-received in Cannes ? What did you aim to achieve in Cannes ?

It was not in any of the official award categories. It was presented at the “Cinémas du Sud” Pavilion. It was also screened at the Marché du Film. Overall reactions were quite positive. Aside from presenting my documentary, I also took advantage of being at the festival to meet distributors.

What do you have lined up for the ongoing promotion of your documentary ?

On 26 June, with support from CFI, my documentary "Une affaire de nègres" will be screened in Paris at the Club de l’Etoile, for professionals and the press.

What did you aim to achieve in Cannes ?

Firstly, I go to Cannes to view French films in the running for the awards, in the parallel categories such as the Directors’ Fortnight and the International Critics’ Week but also and especially for the Marché du Film. I can then short-list some French productions of interest to CFI and make some choices ahead of schedule. Secondly, the Cannes Film Festival is a great opportunity to meet professionals in the industry. I can consolidate ties with suppliers like Gaumont, MK2, Pathé, Les films du Losange, Celluloid Dreams and Pyramide, meet new partners (Memento Films) and show our interest in their films. Given the Festival mood, it’s easier to approach some contacts who, when in Paris, are less likely to pay attention to CFI and the special issues we address.

Which films did you spot at the Festival that you intend to offer CFI’s TV partners ?

This year, we have taken out options on the three French films in the running for awards : A Christmas Tale by Arnaud Desplechin, Frontier of Dawn by Philippe Garrel and The Class by Laurent Cantet, as well as The Feelings Factory by Jean-Marc Moutout, and Summer Hours by Olivier Assayas, presented at the Marché du Film. In 2006, we short-listed Days of Glory by Rachid Bouchareb which was in the competition that year. It will be offered to CFI’s TV partners in Africa in October 2008.

Marianna Petraki, journalist for international news on the Greek state television, and an active blogger on news-lab.net, will be taking part in the Cannes Film Festival for four days.

What do you aim to achieve at the Cannes Film Festival ?

I’m in Cannes thanks to CFI’s invitation. Over the next four days I will be contributing to the news-lab.net blog with updates on Cannes. I will especially be covering the latest at the “Les Cinémas du Sud” pavilion.

What topics will you be addressing in your articles ?

This year, the “Les Cinémas du Sud” pavilion is paying tribute to women film-makers from southern countries. I’m going to write portraits of women directors and actors. I will also be putting together some “in brief” topics on the debates at the pavilion, and articles describing the general atmosphere, especially on the Croisette.

Find out more at : http://news-lab.net/blog/

The Albert Londres award ceremony was held for the first time in Africa in Dakar on 10 May.

On this occasion, CFI has set up a two-pronged initiative:

  a training workshop on investigative journalism led by two former award-winners, Manon Loizeau and Alexis Marant, who won the prize in 2006 for their documentary, La malédiction de naître fille (The curse of being born a girl).

  a special programme offer for CFI’s 73 African TV partners with a TV film, Cayenne, les amants du bagne (Cayenne, the convict lovers) and a documentary, La malédiction de naître fille (The curse of being born a girl).

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The 2008 Albert Londres award-winners:

70th press award: to Benjamin Barthe for his series of articles on Gaza published in Le Monde and L’Express between April 2007 and January 2008

24th audiovisual award: to Alexis Monchovet, Stéphane Marchetti and Sébastien Mesquido for their documentary film Rafah, chroniques d’une ville dans la bande de Gaza.

Throughout the five days of competition, our 15 young “TV journalist-reporters” are producing daily 13-minute-long magazine shows : “the Championships newsround”, under the expert eye of Philippe Radoux.

How is the production of this 13-minute newsround organised ?

Every morning we start off with an editorial meeting where we pick the day’s topics, chief editor and the film crew.

After this, three teams go out into the field with a topic to cover. Then they all come back to sort through and edit their footage.

Apart from that, one person stays behind to follow the competition events so as to highlight the most exciting moments.

Now that you have produced three “Championships newsrounds”, how might you go about improving the end result ?

This training is going along at a pretty hectic pace (one 13-minute show per day), and we could have used a few extra days to shoot some background material for example.

How did you prepare for the 16th African Athletics Championships ?

I already worked as a journalist at the African Athletics Championships in Mauritius in 2006 in the post-event interview area. This experience gave me a solid understanding of the African athletes’ performances. As I also do athletics commentary for MBC, I have regular access to the athletes results and records.

What is the most important quality to have as a journalist conducting post-event interviews ?

I interview athletes after what can often be pretty punishing races, so I would say that an important quality is to be at ease in both French and English, but, above all, to put the athlete at ease as they will have just finished their event.

What technical system has been put in place for the coverage of the championships ?

Three production control rooms have been set up on site at the championships :
   One master control room for the races and protocol ceremonies,
   A secondary control room for the throwing events (shot put, discus, javelin),
   A further secondary control room for jumps (long jump, high jump and triple jump).

All the footage is then processed by the master control room to provide an international broadcasting signal.

This system is possible thanks to our production team and equipment which include : 16 cameras, 3 directors, 3 sound engineers, 3 visual engineers and 16 cameramen, etc.

What is your role during these championships ?

My work is split into two stages. Firstly, I proposed to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) the specifications for the technical system required.

Then, throughout the championships, I coordinate the specific features of the CFI broadcasting signal by :
   Adding French and English commentaries, as well as the post-event interviews.
   Inserting the daily topic featured in the 13-minute show, produced by the trainee journalists.
   Managing the transmission of the personalised broadcasting signal to the control room in Paris, to later be sent out to our 73 African TV partners.

During the 16th Championships, CFI, in partnership with Ethiopian state television (ETV), is organising training for 15 English- and French-speaking African sports journalists. These “young” TV journalist-reporters will have to produce a 13-minute show which will be presented to 73 CFI TV partners. The programme will present : sports news, best moments, behind-the-scenes, and portraits of major athletic figures.

How have your first few days in Addis Ababa gone ?

The first shooting went well. There’s a real will to focus all our efforts on achieving our goal, namely, the production of a daily 13-minute show. The training has given us the chance to improve our working methods and to gain new and unique experience. What’s more, I’ll be able to put what I’ve learned to good use within my editorial team at RTNC.

Could you give us a taster of this first show ?

It’s being edited as we speak. We did some shooting at yesterday’s gala evening. We also filmed athletes in training. The Ethiopian who currently holds the marathon world record, Gebreselassie spoke to us briefly about the Beijing Olympic Games. This 13-minute show will also feature Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, the world record breaker at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.

The CFI programming schedule promises its TV partners originality with the documentary series “Regards d’Afrique” (portraits from Africa).

This original collection of 10 portraits of African film directors is an exceptional opportunity to discover the history of cinema from the entire continent.

Within the African slot scheduled for the first Thursday of every month on Afrique Pro, CFI’s programmes department intends to couple the broadcasting of each of these portraits with a feature-length film from each director.

The scheduled broadcasting of these programmes will go on from May 2008 until February 2009, just a few weeks before the opening of the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), and will be as follows : in May, Cheick Oumar Sissoko (Mali) ; in June, Johnson Traoré (Senegal) ; in July, St Pierre Yaméogo (Burkina Faso) ; in August, Gaston Kaboré (Burkina Faso) ; in September, Moustapha Alassane (Niger) ; in October, Philippe Mory (Gabon) ; in November, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad) ; in December, Charles Mensah (Gabon) ; in January 2009, Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania) ; and in February 2009, Cheik Doukouré (Guinea).

For 5 days, Jean-Claude Perrin, an indisputably major player on the athletics scene, will be the CFI consultant. He will also support CFI’s TV journalist-reporter training, arming 15 trainees with the basics of athletics coverage.

What’s your first impression of the group of trainees ?

They are young, attentive and exceedingly passionate about the world of sport. They have lots of interesting ideas which they are going to be able to take further thanks to CFI. This training does have an important educational aspect, which goes to show that CFI’s activities go further than simply broadcasting sports events.

In your opinion, will there be a healthy crop of records broken at the 16th African Athletics Championships ?

Addis Ababa comes at a critical time, just 100 days before the Olympic Games. The Championships bring together the elite of African track athletes. And let’s not forget, Ethiopia and Kenya will also be making their selections here for the next Olympic Games. All in all, I can’t wait for tomorrow.

For the 4th time in a row, CFI will be attending the African Athletics Championships. This year, the championships’ 16th edition is being held in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia from 30 April to 4 May 2008. Every day there will be over 3 hours of live broadcasts for 73 African TV partners. CFI will provide technical support for Ethiopian television (ETV) in order to transmit an international broadcasting signal. Furthermore, 15 journalists from English and French-speaking Africa, trained by experts from CFI in sports journalism, will produce a 13-minute-long daily magazine show at the ETV studios.

CFI and the Singapore MDA (Media Development Authority) have announced their first joint project at MIPTV 2008, in Cannes, France, involving the launch of a cross-platform challenge to foster cooperation between French and Singaporean producers.

To take up this challenge in the form of a competition organised by CFI and the MDA, in partnership with TV France International, participants are to present programme concepts on topics of European and Asian interest, with the potential for cross-platform exploitation. An international jury of media experts will designate two winning projects, to be awarded €15,000 each.

For the third year running, CFI is partnering FIGRA. This International Festival of News Reporting will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary from 26 to 30 March 2008 at Le Touquet in the north of France.

CFI will be honouring African production by selecting four documentaries in the African documentary section : Barcelone ou la mort (Reach Barcelona or die trying) directed by Idrissa Guiro, Foly directed by Sophie Comtet Kouyate, Femmes à l’ombre (Women in the shadows) directed by Odette Ibrango, Les filières africaines de la prostitution (Prostitution : the African connection) directed by Olivier Enogo. These documentaries were recently offered to CFI’s partner televisions.

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To find out more about these four films, download the PDF fact sheet here :

Ileoi is the first televised magazine show for the Indian Ocean featuring reports from six televisions in the region. Initiated by CFI in partnership with the Indian Ocean Commission in the form of three training courses conducted over the past three months and largely backed by RFO, Ileoi is now in its editing and broadcasting phase.

Mid February, the first edition will be broadcast by the six televisions in the Indian Ocean. This 26-minute bi-monthly magazine aims to foster cultural dialogue with reports on current affairs, history and the cultures of the region. Its editorial and broadcasting results from collaboration between the editing teams of televisions from the Seychelles (SBC), Mauritius (MBC), Madagascar (ORTM), the Comoros (RTUC), La Réunion and Mayotte (RFO).

Beginning January, CFI expert Danièle Jeammet and the magazine editors met to draw up the final line-up of the first edition of Ileoi. They also approved the magazine’s final visual identity, executed by Didier Leclerc, director and graphic artist at RFO. The show will be set to music by François Causse, also from RFO. The line-ups of the next two editions have also been finalised. This first serried will comprise six editions. With backing from RFO, the partners’ motivation and CFI’s expertise, Ileoi looks set for a rosy regional - and even international - future.

From 21 January to 2 February, the eight trainees at the CFI workshop held during FIFO (the International Film Festival for Oceanian documentaries) took a look at traditional Oceanian sports. They were divided into three groups, to direct three 5 minute documentaries featuring original portraits : Ruta, a 25-year-old Tahitian girl, fruit carrier ; Fortuné, javelin thrower ; Patrice, stone lifter. Screened during the festival’s closing ceremony, the films met with a warm reception.

On 29 January, Jean Mino, Managing Director of CFI met Ms Hu Fang, Vice-President of the Communication University of China (CUC), in Paris. This partnership project, initiated by Eric Soulier, CFI Representative for Asia-Pacific, would lead to CFI organising a series of training courses and master classes with the CUC, led by French experts for professionals from Chinese televisions. The first master classes would be open to journalists from CCTV2, the country’s economy-oriented television. They have been slated to start next April, on a monthly basis.

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A prestigious Chinese university, the CUC boasts 15,000 undergraduates and 15,000 students in vocational training on two campuses located in Beijing and Nanking. There is also a huge network of alumni who hold most management positions in the major Chinese televisions.