Dear Friends,

SNIPPETS
DECEMBER 2011

1991 – 2011:
FEB CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF SERVICE AND FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRISTIAN COMMUNICATORS. THANK YOU ALL - AND WE WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR

 In this Edition: Europe; Africa; Asia; Central America; Global; Middle East; USA

• FEB DRESDEN CONFERENCE 2012
  David Nolent from TopChretien and Gary Hoogvliet have confirmed as Speakers for the 2012 FEB Conference, Kim Hotel, Dresden, 22-25 March 2012. David Nolent is Director of Evangelism for TopChretien, France, and Gary Hoogvliet is Director of Broadcasting for UCB in the UK. Other Speakers include Felix Widmer; Thorsten Grahn; Wayne Pederson; Bex Lewis; Henryk Krol and Wilfried Schulte. Registration Forms are available online or contact the FEB Office.Contact: feb@feb.org
   
• HUNGARY
  FEB Chairman, Harvey Thomas, participated in the European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI) Conference in Budapest on 6-7 December. The Conference was held in association with the Visual World Foundation with the theme of "Media Education and the Citizen". Harvey interviewed EAVI Secretary General, Paolo Celot on the Media Education of European citizens, which is a central focus for EAVI.
  Contact: Irena Panayotova irena.panayotova@eavi.eu
  

• UK
  UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that 20 UK towns and cities are expected to get their own local TV stations. The first "pioneer" areas include Belfast, Brighton and Hove, Cardiff, Glasgow, Grimsby, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Swansea. Over 65 towns applied earlier this year. The government hopes to licence the first local stations from summer 2012. "I am confident these new stations will provide local communities with programming which is relevant to their daily lives, will support local democracry and enhance local communities", said Mr Hunt.
  Source: BBC News
  
• EUROPEAN COMMISSION
  Technology and Media Companies including Apple, Google and Facebook have joined a coalition put together by the European Commission to "deliver a better Internet for our children". The initiative, led by EC Vice President Neelie Kroes, has agreed a Statement of Purpose covering 5 areas: Simple reporting devices to enable effecting reporting and responses to content that is harmful to children; age-appropriate privacy settings; wider use of content classification; wider availability and use of parental control; and effective take-down of abusive material. FEB is actively supporting this initiative and is discussing additional measures to protect Minors with MEPs and Officials.
  Source: European Commission
  
• UK
  The Baptist Times Newspaper is to close at the end of 2011 after 156 years of continuous weekly publication. A special edition will be published in January 2012 to celebrate the paper's history and the contribution it has made to the life of the Baptist Church. Falling cirulation and the difficulties of selling advertising space has contributed to its demise. However, the Baptist Times will survive as an online resource from next spring, with a news digest, opinion pieces and features at www.baptisttimes.co.uk
  Contact: Mark Woods editor@baptisttimes.co.uk
  
• NORWAY
  Norea Media Mission's General Manager, Tore Askildsen has been elected as Mayor for Mandal for the Christian Democratic Party (KrF). Martin Birkedal is acting as General Manager of Norea.
  Contact Martin Birkedal martin.birkedal@norea.no
  
• UK
  Meryl Streep's performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (UK Release date: 6 January 2012) has had many comments - both positive and negative. Damaris Trust has created a free package of Resources for Church and Community Groups, exploring some of the significant life issues featured in this film. Visit www.damaris.org/theironlady
  Contact: Holly Price holly.price@damaris.org
  
• EUROPEAN UNION
  The European Union's Civil Liberties Committee has proposed amendments to current Regulations aimed at enhancing transparency, accountability and democracy in the EU by allowing greater public access to EU documents, and setting out principles and exceptions to such access on the grounds of public or private interest. The amended Regulation 1049/2001 will be put to a Parliamentary vote in December.
  Source: European Union
  
• UK
  The TWR-UK website now has a section called, "We speak your language" containing a selection of broadcasts available in Arabic, Cantonese, Polish, Bengali, Hindi and other languages. These programmes are suitable for those who are residents in the UK but whose "Heart language" is not English.Visit www.twr.org.uk
  Contact: Russell Farnworth info@twr.org.uk
  
• NETHERLANDS
  "Mobilising Your Mission" is the theme for the ICCM's International Conference on Computing and Mission 2012 being held 8-11 February 2012 in Zelhem, Netherlands. David Housholder from Interserve USA is the keynote speaker. The Conference will include 12 technical workshops.
  Contact: Mick Leggett itdept@hcjb.org.uk
  
• UK
  The Evangelical Alliance has Researched how UK Evangelicals use old and newer forms of communication. In the last week, 97.3% had used email to an individual; 55.1% had sent group email; 45.9% had posted messages on social networks; 43% had commented on other people's pages and 39.4% had used the internet from a mobile phone. Only 12.5% used Twitter; 9% had taken part in a conference call or video conference; 8.9% had uploaded a video clip to Youtube or a similar service and 2.6% had appeared on radio or TV.
  88% of respondents agreed that the internet provides an excellent way for Churches and Christian organisations to communicate although it was apparent that going online is currently an individual preference rather than a cultural norm in Church Communities. Online giving to charities went up 85% between 2008 and 2011 - with 53.6% of the survey respondents making donations online; 13.1% by text; 81.9% by cash or cheque and 85.1% by direct debit or standing order.
  Contact: Lauren Sibuns l.sibuns@eauk.org
  
• FRANCE
  

• SPAIN
  "Mi Esperanza" (My Hope) is a national evangelistic event taking place in Spain from 15-17 December. 1400 evangelical churches are taking part and inviting people to homes to hear a 30 minute TV programme with testimonies, music and a brief evangelistic message from Billy Graham. Spain's population is 46 million - with approximately 450,000 Evangelicals.
  Contact: Ana Maria Huck eea.malaga@evangelismoenaccion.com
   
• UK
  Correction: The OneSheep Consortium website www.onesheep.org will not publish content as mentioned in last month's "Snippet", it will be a sign-up form for their email newsletter. HCJB Global and FEBA UK are founding members of the OneSheep Consortium which aims to help Christian enterprise by empowering content creaters to produce media that connects.
  Contact: Mark Taylor mtaylor@feba.org.uk
   

• SOUTH AFRICA
  African Enterprise will hold a city-wide Mission in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa from 12-18 August 2012 50 years after the first AE Mission in Pietermaritzburg. This will be followed on 19 August by a Jubilee Celebration at the AE Centre.
  Contact: Miles Giljam m.giljam@aeint.org
   

• KOREA
  According to "The Next Web" - new legislation from Korea's Communications Committee will see authorities begin to censor social networking and mobile applications before the end of 2011. Separate teams will also be formed to monitor radio and programming channels. Korean web users and civil protection groups argue that the new teams will limit citizens' freedom of speech - and that social networking services are a "personal media for communication that cannot be censored".
  Source: The Next Web
  
• GUAM
  TWR President Lauren Libby visited the island of Guam to celebrate the on-air dedication of two newly upgraded 250,000 watt digital-capable Thomson transmitters, which have been installed to provide increased signal coverage to China and south-east Asia. The new transmitters join three existing 100,000 watt units.
  Contact: Branko Bjelajac bbjelajac@twr.org  
  
• VIETNAM
  The Bill Gates Foundation has provided a US$30m donation to a rural Internet initiative in Vietnam. The donation, together with $3.64m worth of Microsoft software will go towards a government initiative providing basic computer skills and the internet to 760,000 people. 12,070 internet-ready computers will be set up in 1,900 public libraries in 40 of Vietnam's most disadvantaged provinces. Currently only 31.6% of the population has access to the internet at home.
  Source: The Next Web
   

CENTRAL AMERICA

• JAMAICA
  The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will visit Jamaica from January 21-31 2012 to kick-off a year of events to mark the 50th Anniversary of the country's independence from Britain. He will preach at an ecumenical service in Montego Bay and a special service at the Cathedral in Spanish Town. Director of the Jamaican Tourist Board, Elizabeth Fox, said, "2012 marks the start of a significant year in Jamaica's history. Jamaicans are deeply religious people and Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country in the world. We hope that religious groups will come back and visit during the Archbishop's visit."
  Source Christian Today 

• LinguaDMS
  TWR International has developed LinguaDMS (LDMS), a new online tool to manage, archive and distribute digital files such as videos, audio files and text documents. LDMS serves content to websites, mobile applications, Internet radio and terrestrial broadcast outlets. It will complement the traditional broadcast stations around the world and will continue to evolve as digital technology changes.
  Contact: Felix Widmer fwidmer@cttw.at
  

MIDDLE EAST

• CYPRUS
  SAT-7 PARS is now available on IPTV Television. GLWiZ is the largest source of web-streamed Iranian television worldwide with over 120 channels and hundreds of thousands of subscribers. This media platform allows SAT-7 to reach a wider audience in Europe and as far as North America. GLWiZ and most other IPTV sites are currently blocked within Iran. Viewers can watch the low resolution feed for free at www.glwiz.com or pay for a high resolution version.
  Contact: Rita Elmounayer ritaelmounayer@sat7.org
    

NORTH AMERICA

• CANADA
  BBC Worldwide has launched iPlayer in Canada. The Canadian version offers up to 1500 hours of viewing and a subscription service accesses a full selection of programmes. Canada is the 16th country to have the commercial iPlayer, with launches earlier this year in Australia, Western Europe and Scandinavia. Plans to launch in the USA have been delayed to allow time to focus on some editorial and technical issues.
  Source: C21Media.net
   ________________________________________________________________

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