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 SNIPPETS
JANUARY 2012

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

• EUROPEAN UNION
  The European Parliament has backed proposals to open up more EU documents to public scrutiny. The proposals include digital data such as audio and video recordings as well as text. They would also reveal how ministers vote at EU meetings to improve accountability and to limit the exceptions under which information can be withheld on the grounds of security or intellectual property rights. Maros Sefcovic, EU Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations said that many of the amendments will be accepted by the Commission.
  Source: European Parliament
  
• UK - PROTECTION OF MINORS
  The British Phonographic Industry's (BPI) Parental Advisory Scheme has been extended to mark explicit content in digital music and video downloads using a logo signposting unsuitable files on sites including iTunes, HMV and Amazon. The scheme will provide consistent labelling - and should help parents to monitor their children's online music and videos.
  Source:BBC News 
   
• SPAIN
  International Media Ministries (IMM) hosts "Connect 2012" a three-day Conference in Madrid from 17-19 April 2012. Phil Cooke will be the Guest Speaker, and Workshops will include: "Website and Design"; "Working with Oral Learners"; "Video over IP"; "Expectations with Media" and "Media beyond Sunday Morning". On 19th April there will be a Gala Dinner to celebrate 30 years of IMM, with Guest Speaker Greg Mundis. Visit www.imm.edu
  Contact: Tamara@imm.edu
  
• SERBIA
  In 2011, the Serbian Bible Society published the Gospel of Mark in the southern Serbian Roma dialect. One of the main translators, Serif Bakic is pastor of a Roma church in Leskovac, and oversees the ministry of Ikonos. Ikonos produces programmes in the Romano-Serbian dialect.
  Contact: office@twr-serbia.org
   

• UK
  Premier Christian Media submitted a Report, "The Marginalisation of Christianity in British Public Life", to a recent UK Parliamentary Inquiry investigating Religious Discrimination. It found that a significant number of UK Christians perceive a strong bias exists against Christians in public life and increased marginalisation of Christianity. Christians believe that the media often represents Christianity in a negative and misleading way. There has also been inconsistency in the way Law Courts interpret equality laws in relation to Christians.
  Contact: Sharon Molloy sharon.molloy@premier.org.uk
  
• SWITZERLAND
  Swiss TV is to introduce HDTV on 29th February 2012 on six TV Stations. Fenster zum Sonntag will broadcast a programme in HD for the first time on March 3rd 2012 "Erstens kommt es anders".
  Contact: Juergen Single juergen.single@sonntag.ch
  
• CZECH REPUBLIC
  The Czech Republic's Coalition Government has approved a multibillion dollar plan to compensate Christian groups for property seized by the former Communist regime. The plan is expected to be passed by Parliament. Czech churches will get 56% of their former property back and 59 billion koruna ($2.9 billion) in financial compensation, paid to them over the next 30 years. In return, the state will gradually stop covering their expenses, including salaries over 17 years. In 1948, the Communist regime confiscated all the property owned by churches.
  Source: Associated Press
  
• HUNGARY
  Hungary could face legal action from the European Commission if it fails to bring its new constitutional provisions into line with European Union law. The Commission is concerned that the Hungarian media law may restrict press freedom. Hungary's Constitutional Court has also rejected the country's restrictive new Church Law as well as its Media Law and the criminal code. The Church Law, which would have taken effect on January 1st, only includes 14 Christian churches and Jewish congregations, forcing all others to seek recognition from lawmakers. The Hungarian Court has also rejected aspects of the Media Law, including rules on content regulation and confidential sources.
  Source: European Voice
  

• WEST AFRICA
  "The last quarter of 2011 showed a growth in the responses from viewers of Christian television programmes in West Africa", reported Martien Timmer, International Director of 3xM. In November alone, 3xM colleagues in West Africa received 45,000 responses, of which 35,000 were from Central African Republic.
  Contact: Martien Timmer info@3xm.nl
   
• SOUTH AFRICA
  A commercial FM Radio Licence for Durban has been awarded to One Gospel KNI FM for a Gospel Music Station. This is the first commercial radio broadcast licence awarded to the Association of Christian Broadcasters (ACB) and the culmination of two ACB members working together. The station will be broadcasting in isiZulu and will be on air in May.
  Contact: Dave Hotchkiss djhotchkiss@telkomsa.net
  
• SOUTH AFRICA
  South African Regulator ICASA has issued a 145-page discussion document on the broadcast regulatory framework for the digital era. There will be regional presentations and a March deadline for written comments.
  Contact: Dave Hotchkiss info@acb.org.za
     

• INDIA
  India is being closely monitored by human rights groups as there are signs that enmity towards Christians is growing. Christians have been threatened and attacked by extremists, with several incidents around Christmas time. The All India Christian Council is asking the Indian Government to pass a bill to curb communal violence and seek justice for victims, and has also launched a nation-wide prayer campaign.
  Source: Christian Today
   

• CHRISTIAN DIGITAL RADIO
  The growth of digital radio in Australia has been faster and stronger than most other countries, with research showing that over 960,000 Australians in metropolitan cities are tuning into digital radio. More than 600,000 digital radios have been sold since the end of 2009. Inspire Digital is Australia's newest Christian radio station, broadcasting on DAB+ in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
  Visit www.inspiredigital.com
   

• VISION RADIO NETWORK
  Sydney has another new Christian Radio Station launched in December by Vision Radio Network. It broadcasts on 1611AM and includes contemporary Christian music, messages from international Speakers and Bible teaching. Vision Radio Network now has 514 locations around Australia.
  Contact: Ian Worby iworby@ucb.com.au
   

• OLYMPICS
  FEB Member, 2K Plus International Sports Media, will be reporting from the 2012 Olympic Games in London for over 1000 radio stations around the world. They will produce reports, news and features with a Christian perspective in six languages including English, Arabic, French, Creole, Portuguese and Spanish. 2K Plus works in partnership with major Christian broadcasters such as TWR, HCJB Global, FEBA and CVC - and is currently looking for a French language producer and two English language journalists on a voluntary or secondment basis.
  Contact: Adrian Barnard office@2kplus.org.uk
   

• OLYMPICS
  'More than Gold' is running 11 Church Workshops throughout the UK from February to April in the run-up to the Olympics. The "Get Set Training Day" Workshops will give Churches ideas and resources on how to run Community Festivals; Using Sport to impact every age-group; Reaching Children and Youth and Using International Mission Teams. 
  Contact: David Willson info@morethangold.org.uk
   
• APPS DOWNLOADS HITS RECORD HIGH
  According to analytics firm Flurry, over 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December. The USA was responsible for nearly half of the downloads, followed by China and the UK. The UK had 81 million downloads, with Canada having 41 million, and both France and Germany 40 million. USA had 509 million and China had 99 million. Flurry also estimated that nearly 7 million Android devices and iPhones were activated on Christmas Day.
  Source: BBC Technology
  
• BROWSER & TEXT MESSAGING USAGE
  Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the world's most popular browser, both it and Mozilla's Firefox have lost market share to Google's Chrome in 2011, which is now firmly in second place. Internet Explorer currently has a 39% market share, Chrome 27% and Firefox 25%. Also, a recent Forbes Report indicates that text messaging may be on the decline. In Finland 8.5 million text messages were sent on Christmas Eve 2011, down 22% from 10.9 million sent on the same day in 2010. Hong Kong reported a 14% drop and Australia a 9% decrease. It seems that more people are using free social networking sites to send messages via the internet.
  Source: Mashable
   
  

MIDDLE EAST

• TOUCHLESS SMARTPHONES AND TVS
  According to a small Israeli start-up company called XTRA3D - there will soon be no need for TV remote controls as you will be able to make hand gestures to control the channels and adjust the volume. XTRA3D is a developer of motion capture technology and has just received an US$8m investment to bring the first motion-control smartphone to the market early in 2012. Webcams and 2D cameras are used to extract 3D out of a 2D image and the company claims that the technology can be installed into any consumer electronics device.
  Source: BBC Technology News
  
• PROJECT HANNAH LAUNCHES IN ARABIC
  TWR launched Project Hannah broadcasts in Arabic in the first week of January 2012. The weekly "Women of Hope" 30-minute programmes are broadcast on Saturdays at 9.11pm (21.11) on 1233 kHz AM/MW. Schedules for other Arabic programmes can be found at www.arabicprograms.org
  Contact: Branko Bjelajac bbjelajac@twr.org
   

• CHRISTIANITY IS WORLD'S LARGEST RELIGION
  According to a recent study "Global Christianity" conducted by the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, Christians are by far the largest religious group in the world. A hundred years ago Europe was the centre of world Christianity, but today the Americas are home to more than a third of all Christians. The United States has the world's largest Christian population of more than 247 million, followed by Brazil and Mexico. China is also in the top ten, with an estimated 67 million. The study calculates that there are nearly 2.2 billion Christians around the world - about one third of the world's population. Islam is the world's second largest religion with 1.6 billion followers. The number of Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from about 9 million in 1910, to 516 million today.
  Source: CNN 
   
• SUPREME COURT DECISION
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Religious workers cannot sue for job discrimination, saying for the first time that churches - not courts - are the best judges of whether clergy and other religious employees should be hired or fired. It tempered its decision by refusing to describe what constitutes a religious employee so it is unclear whether anti-discrimination laws protect them or not.
  Source: Religion News
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