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FORD
FOUNDATION SUPPORTS GLOBAL AWARENESS AND PUBLIC MEDIA PROGRAMMING: 13/10/2007
(MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 13 October 2007 --
The Ford Foundation is celebrating a new season of the Global Perspectives
Project, an innovative public media initiative that brings programs by
independent producers from around the world to U.S audiences and takes American
programs overseas.
The
initiative is a project of ITVS
International, a division of the Independent
Television Service (ITVS). With a $5 million grant from Ford, and support
from the State Department as well as other major foundations, the project
presents a diversity of opinions and human experiences from an array of
different cultures and offers an opportunity to promote a dialogue on
international affairs.
The
project also provides a perspective of ordinary life in the United States to
overseas audiences. “True
Stories: Life in the USA,” a series of independent documentaries by U.S.
filmmakers, is being broadcast in Malawi and Peru and expects this season to
expand its global reach to Hong Kong, Colombia, Bahrain and Indonesia.
“Americans
and people in other countries need new ways to see each other,” said ITVS
President and CEO Sally Fifer. “They need a chance to hear each other’s
voices and see the world through someone else’s eyes.”
Global
Cultural Exchange
The $19
million Global Perspectives Project was launched in 2005. Through television
broadcasts, community outreach, online efforts and other initiatives, the
project is advancing a global cultural exchange between the United States and
Africa, Asia and South America.
From
October 2007 through 2008, nearly 40 programs created by independent producers
from around the world will be broadcast on PBS, the new digital PBS World
channel, and six commercial channels including Sundance Channel and National
Geographic Channel.
Among
the films scheduled to air in the United States are: “Please Vote For Me,” a
documentary by Weijin Chen, which follows Chinese elementary school students who
are introduced to the democratic process through a campaign for class monitor;
“Black Gold,” by Nick and Mark Francis, which takes a revealing look at the
$80 billion coffee industry through the story of an Ethiopian coffee grower; and
“Iranian Kidney Bargain Sale,” by Nima Sarvestani and Malla Grapengiesser, a
behind-the-scenes look at young Iranians who sell their kidneys. Fifty
additional programs by international producers are expected to be broadcast
through 2010.
Going
beyond sensational news headlines, the programs produced by American filmmakers
for global audiences aim to provide compelling stories about everyday life. The
True Life series includes documentaries about a rural West Virginia coal-mining
community, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a Hawaiian surfer
battling breast cancer, a boxing gym in the South Bronx and mandatory student
drug testing in a small west Texas town. The series is expected to be available
in nearly 40 countries by 2010.
ITVS was
created in 1991 after a decade-long effort by independent media artists and
community activists to ensure diverse voices were present on public television.
In 1988, Congress passed legislation establishing ITVS, which serves as a bridge
between producers and public television. ITVS programming reflects the voices
and visions of underrepresented communities and addresses the needs of
underserved audiences, particularly minorities and children. ITVS International
promotes the exchange of independent documentary films, presenting international
voices to U.S. audiences and American stories to audiences abroad.
Investing
in International Programming
Since
1951, Ford has been a leading force behind public media and a longtime investor
in independent films. Ford’s support of the Global Perspectives Project is
part of a larger effort to provide access to programming that addresses
important civic and social issues. A key aspect of this work is in broadening
the public’s understanding of international affairs, enhancing viewers’
knowledge of world events and bringing global perspectives to American
households.
“The
foundation remains committed to supporting grantees that are finding innovative
new ways to serve a wider, more diverse audience and help us better
understand the issues we face as global citizens,” said Susan V. Berresford,
president of the Ford Foundation.
Other
public media grantees focused on international programming include:
Link
TV broadcasts programs that engage, educate and activate
viewers to become involved in the world. Launched in December 1999 on
DIRECTV and later on DISH Network, Link TV engages its viewers with global
perspectives on news, cultural events and foreign affairs. It is using a $4
million Ford grant to enhance significantly its programming and marketing
efforts. With this support, the 24-hour television network hopes to attract
sustainable sources of revenue for long-term operation.
PBS
World, the 24-hour digital broadcast channel that launched in August, aims
to increase diversity in public broadcasting’s services and content. Funded,
in part, by a $2 million Ford grant, the new channel debuted on 55 stations
throughout the nation and serves a wide range of viewers who are interested in
understanding the world at large. PBS World features around-the-clock nonfiction
and documentary programming, as well as signature series such as
“Frontline,” “Nova,” “BBC World News” and “ITVS International
Presents.”
OneWorld
US, a web-based resource for domestic and international affairs, reaches
five continents and produces content in 11 different languages with the main
goal of broadening the world view. OneWorld US launched in 2000 and is part of a
global network of NGOs and partners. With $1.25 million in Ford support, it is
strengthening its Public Media, Alliances and Public Engagement programs; and
developing the technologies necessary today to easily communicate and access
content.
The
Sundance Documentary Fund, created in 2001 by the Sundance Institute,
supports U.S. and international documentary films and videos on human rights,
freedom of expression and social justice issues. With a $5 million grant from
Ford and ongoing support from the Open Society Institute, the fund plans to
expand significantly its operations to support films and videos that explore a
wider range of topics including arts and culture.
Greater
Washington Educational Telecommunications Association (WETA), the public
broadcasting affiliate in the Washington metropolitan area, produces “The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Forty percent of the news program is devoted to
international affairs. The “NewsHour” reporting team has already developed a
cost-efficient model for overseas coverage that utilizes the latest technology
and can produce in-depth reporting as well as respond swiftly to major news
developments, without expanding its infrastructure. A $300,000 Ford grant to
WETA is helping “NewsHour” expand its international field reporting,
supporting several overseas trips to developing countries and nations at the
center of international crises.
Public
Radio International (PRI), a producer and distributor of global news and
cultural programming, including “BBC World Service” and “PRI’s The
World,” provides more than 400 hours of weekly content on public radio. A
$2.25 million Ford grant is supporting current programming and the launch of a
major new initiative, “Our World,” which will integrate on-air reporting and
analysis of global news events throughout the entire public radio broadcast
schedule. “Our World” was developed to help the American public better
understand its role in the world and the interconnection between local and
global issues.
To learn
more about the foundation’s media-related support, stay tuned for the next
issue of Ford Reports and visit us online at www.fordfound.org/program/media.cfm.
The Ford
Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than
half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions
worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing
poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human
achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in
Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.
Photo
credits:
Kenya Media: Wendy Stone
Control room: Steven Rubin
Vietnam Film: Eric Herter
Labels:
GAVI Alliance,
Mary Robinson, Madeleine
Albright, Andrew
Maguire
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