Author Archives: Ashley

Long-time broadcast veteran Richard Friedel was awarded the NABA International Achievement Award at the NABA Virtual Annual General Meeting on July 20^th, 2022. Richard had retired from Fox Television Stations as EVP, Corporate Engineering and as NABA’s President this past January, but remains a close colleague and source of valuable advice for our industry.

The NABA International Achievement Award recognizes a person who has served the broadcasting industry beyond the scope of their professional roles. In particular, it recognizes those that give their time, leadership and talent to create an industry consensus on current critical issues and foster a collegial approach to problem solving, knowledge sharing and common understanding in their own country, region and in global forums. There is no one that has demonstrated these attributes better than Richard.

“Richard’s collaborative approach and his innate belief that broadcasters share many common challenges led to common solutions and practices in one of the most intensely competitive industries in the world,” says Michael McEwen, NABA Director-General. “This is why he is always greeted warmly, and his participation well received by colleagues in Europe, Asia and indeed around the world. A reflection on his success as a NABA leader. The core of NABA’s mission is to provide our community with opportunities to share and solve challenges to the benefit of all in our industry and that core mission is apparent in the way Richard conducts business and defines the person he is.”

Richard has been involved with NABA for more than twenty years and even longer than that with ATSC, has on-going participation at IBC as a member of the IBC Council, was a DPP leadership contributor in the UK, and was always omnipresent at the NAB, all on top of a distinguished career beginning with NBC, ABC/Capital Cities, and then more than twenty-five years with Fox.

“I am really honoured with this recognition. NABA is an important part of my life, but so many people involved in NABA are friends or long-term colleagues of mine and to have you bestow this is all the more meaningful,” Richard said upon receiving the award. “I’ve always believed in collaboration because we can get more done and do it better as a diverse group. I want to encourage everyone to continue doing that. Think about how great a career we have. We entertain, educate and inform literally hundreds of millions of people. What could be a better purpose? Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Congratulations, Richard!

Read Full Press Release.

The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) updated the cybersecurity recommendations which reflect the performance aspirations of both organizations in media vendors’ systems, software and services.

These recommendations can be used as an attachment to any equipment or service RFP, RFI, or RFQ to help potential buyers ascertain the cyber maturity of the product and supplier.

Our thanks to NABA members Grass Valley, Imagine Communications and Ross Video for leading part of NABA’s negotiating team and in working with Lucille Verbaere and her Cybersecurity team at the EBU on the changes.

Read the full Cybersecurity Recommendations here.

See the complete work of the Cybersecurity Committee here.

NABA Director-General Michael McEwen had the pleasure of delivering the Keynote Speech at the Broadcast Engineering & IT Conference during the NAB Show on April 23, 2022.

“Isn’t this grand. We are all together in Vegas for the first time since April of 2019. I want to thank and acknowledge the NAB’s hard work and tenacity in bringing us together, after many frustrating attempts, and also keeping us connected during a very long pandemic. You have done and continue to do terrific work in supporting our industry. On a personal note, one of the joys of my job is working with the wonderful professional staff of the NAB, they are true partners who have become friends over the years.

I was both surprised and delighted to be invited to address you today. Surprised because I am not an engineer nor a technologist. And delighted because I’m a content person who has always believed that technology allows us to provide better quality and more efficient collection, production, and distribution of our content.

I believe the choices we make about technology should be made with the understanding and in consultation with those in our industry who make our programs and distribute them. When technology decisions are made without truly understanding editorial requirements, the results often don’t support the goals.

This is an important consideration, along with the speed of technological change in our industry and the impact it has now and in the future. But first I’d like to walk you through a short tour of my world and what we do at NABA (the North American Broadcasters Association) to give you some context for my passion in finding common interests and identifying challenges for our industry. And how through examination, discussion, debate and on occasion good old-fashioned negotiation we often reach a consensus on contentious issues and find a way forward.”

Read the full speech here.

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As the situation between Russia and Ukraine escalates, access to trusted, factual, and impartial information is more critical than ever.

All media broadcasters and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) members are focused on doing our job for the public in difficult circumstances and we will not hesitate to condemn any infringements or violations of press freedom.

It is vital for journalists to be allowed to continue to operate both freely and safely, and report without hindrance. Supporting media freedom must be prioritized, not despite these challenging circumstances, but because of them.

View the full statement here.