EVENTS: Children’s media experts to converge in Kuala Lumpur for Asia’s first WSMC

Registration has opened for the seventh World Summit on Media for Children (WSMC), taking place for the first time in Asia in September this year. More than 1,000 producers, broadcasters, media regulators, educators and community leaders are expected at the event in Malaysia.

In sending out invitations around the world, ABU Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi said the event in Kuala Lumpur from 8-10 September will offer "an important opportunity to evaluate the health of children's media". "The ABU, together with its partners RTM and the World Summit on Media for Children Foundation, is especially proud to be organising this event during our 50th Anniversary year," he said.

"The Summit aims to address issues such as funding quality content, keeping pace with children's use of technologies and the gap between the haves and the have nots. As well as shining a light on children's media, we hope WSMC 7 will create a charter of guiding principles and produce practical outcomes for everyone involved in this crucial field."

This is the first time the summit will be held in Asia and it will provide a great networking opportunity for content producers, broadcasters, media regulators, media professionals and community leaders committed to a positive change in the quality of media for children in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.

"Already this Summit is shaping to be one of the most important events of its kind, with more than 100 experts from around the world sharing presentations in 14 conference sessions," Dr Mottaghi said. In addition to the main program, the event will feature more than 10 high-level workshops, a number of side events and an extensive exhibition.

"If you and your organisation have anything at all to do with media and children, this World Summit is for you," Dr Mottaghi added. 

The World Summit will be hosted by the Malaysian Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and Radio Television Malaysia (RTM).

Registration details and more information is available at the WSMC website.

NEWS / AWARDS: Little girl’s struggles wins 2013 Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award

The heart-rending story of a small girl's struggle in a Manila slum has won this year's Asia-Pacific Child Rights Awards for broadcasting.

Reel Time: Bone Dry, a documentary by GMA Network, spotlights child malnutrition in the Philippines, where two in ten children are undernourished. 

Filmed in the Tondo district, one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the country, the documentary tells the story of Mary Rose, a 10-year-old whose height and weight are those of a five-year old child. She lives with her five siblings, who have all been diagnosed as severely malnourished.

The award, created by the ABU, UNICEF and the CASBAA media association in 2001, is given annually to the best television program produced in the Asia-Pacific with a focus on children's rights. It is being presented on 24 October during the CASBAA Convention in Hong Kong.

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EVENTS: CCTV hosts ABU youth documentary series meeting for first time

TV producers from throughout the Asia-Pacific are meeting in Beijing this weekend to launch the latest season of the ABU CARE co-production series.

The theme for Series Three of the Change Asia, Rescue the Earth project is “Youth and Future”. Each participating broadcaster will be required to produce a documentary regarding youth-related issues by early next year and the programs will be distributed to all participating organisations for broadcast.

With the project now entering its third season, the initial Producers’ Meeting is being hosted by China Central Television for the first time. CCTV has assumed the role of Executive Producer for this series, with Korean Broadcasting System as the Project Manager.  

Fifteen ABU members are in Beijing presenting their storyline proposals: NHK-Japan, KBS-Korea, RTHK-Hong Kong, RTM-Malaysia, Metro TV-Indonesia, NBT-Thailand, LNTV-Laos, BBS-Bhutan, THAI PBS-Thailand, VTV-Vietnam, CCTV-China, IRIB-Iran, TRT-Turkey, RTTL-Timor Leste and MEDIACORP-Singapore.

full article on the ABU website

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Child Rights Award 2012: A call to broadcasters

CASBAA, ABU and UNICEF are calling for entries for the 12th Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award from broadcasters and producers in the region.

Programmes both for children and about children are eligible and can cover any children’s rights issue. Entries can include documentaries that detail the plight of children, dramas that help break down stereotypes and discrimination, or animation that teaches and entertains.


Entries must have been broadcast between June 2011 and May 2012 and must be received by 8 June 2012. The Award will be presented during the ABU General Assembly in mid October 2012.

For further information, click here.

For further information, please contact:

Adela Chen, CASBAA (Hong Kong), + 852 3929 1711, adela@casbaa.com, pr@casbaa.com
Hanizah Hamzah, ABU (Kuala Lumpur), + 603 2282 2480, hanizah@abu.org.my
Kritsada Jirathun, UNICEF (Bangkok), + 662 356 9249, kjirathun@unicef.org

NEWS / AWARDS: Japanese documentary wins 2011 Child Rights Award

Thursday 03 Nov 2011- A documentary about the lives of two disabled children in Japan has won the 2011 Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award for broadcasting.

Iori and Ibuki - Why We Were Born by Shizuoka Telecasting of Japan was named the winner of the award on 2 November in Hong Kong during the CASBAA Convention.

The Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award, created by CASBAA, ABU and UNICEF in 2001, is given annually to the best television programme produced in the Asia-Pacific region with a focus on children's rights.

Mariko Hashimoto, the producer of Iori and Ibuki - Why We Were Born, spent 11 years of filming and interviewing Iori and her family. Iori and her younger brother were each born with disabilities. Their story is a compelling tale of resilience and optimism.

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NEWS: Australian kids 'not watching age-suitable shows'

Friday 16 Sep 2011 - Since the arrival of new digital channels, Australian children as young as one are watching TV programmes that may not be appropriate for their age, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Screen Australia's research has found that while TV networks are bound to broadcast minimum amounts of children's programmes during the peak children's viewing slots, many children are either watching TV outside these times or watching programmes not aimed at them, largely because many more channels are now available.

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NEWS: Children's drama co-production into 7th series (ASIA)

Friday 26 Mar 2010 - Children's drama co-production among ABU members has moved into its seventh series with a meeting of producers and directors from six countries in Kuala Lumpur.

Staff of RTB-Brunei, CCTV-China, NHK-Japan, RTM-Malaysia, RTHK-Hong Kong and LNTV-Laos met from 24 to 26 March to discuss the story telling proposals for their co-production. There were also screenings of the previous production for further improvement.

Two workshops on improving storytelling were held alongside the meeting.

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NEWS: Al Jazeera launches Arabic children learning portal

Saturday 23 Jan 2010

Qatar-based Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC) on Thursday launched Taalam.TV, said to be the first Arabic video-on-demand, educational portal for schools and educators across Arab.

‘Taalam. TV’, which means Learn TV, is an integrated learning website that functions as an educational complementary tool for teachers and students in school and at home.

“It brings to the classroom a rich database of educational material and videos extracted from JCC programmes content to make teaching more stimulating and engaging, allowing students to store, process and recall information more rapidly,” JCC said.

The website was developed by JCC's website and multimedia team and a group of Arab teachers and experts, who verified the educational information of the videos and composed the supplementary tools, such as fact sheets and sample exercises.

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NEWS / PROJECTS: Third 'Voyage to the Future' launches in Manila

Third 'Voyage to the Future' launches in Manila

The latest in the ABU's 'Voyage to the Future' environmental documentary co-production projects was launched in Manila, Philippines, today.

The project involves 25 schoolchildren from seven ABU member countries who will make an 11-day journey around the Philippines to learn about the marine environment.

Their journey will be filmed by NBN-Philippines and NHK-Japan, and a documentary on their endeavours will be produced and distributed to ABU members.

Other ABU members participating this year are RTPRC-China, RTM-Malaysia, MNB-Mongolia, NBT-Thailand and Al Jazeera Children's Channel.

This year's 'Voyage to the Future' is the third in the series after journeys to the rainforest in Malaysian Borneo in 2005 and to the steppes of Mongolia in 2007.

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