Background
Created in 1996 under the impetus of the Barcelona Process, the Permanent Conference of Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators (COPEAM) is today the most important and most representative body in the Mediterranean audiovisual world, on the strength of the 130 audiovisual companies of which it is made up (cf. list of members enclosed) and the 25 countries that regularly participate in its work. Recognised at the highest point of the European Union, the League of Arab States, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), it carries out concrete projects that participate in the creation of this new area of multilateral cooperation that is the Union for the Mediterranean.
COPEAM and the Union for the Mediterranean
• On the eve of the Paris Summit of 13 July 2008, COPEAM launched a request to Heads of State for the media to be included in the Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean. This request was answered.
Extracts of the Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, Paris, 13 July 2008 “There is a need to increase co-operation in areas such as business development, trade, the environment, energy, water management, agriculture, food safety and security, transport, maritime issues, education, vocational training, science and technology, culture, media , justice and law, security, migration, health, strengthening of the role of women in society, civil protection, tourism, urban planning, ports, decentralised co-operation, the information society and competitive clusters.”
• In their final declaration of 4 November 2008 in Marseilles, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs gave their backing to two COPEAM projects: MedMem and Terramed.
Extracts of the final declaration of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Marseilles, 4 November 2008 “The Ministers welcome the initiatives launched by COPEAM. These are the Terramed project, aiming at creating a TV satellite channel for the Mediterranean and the setting-up of an Internet portal on the audiovisual heritage of the Mediterranean."
• During the last COPEAM annual conference held in Cairo from 16 to 19 April 2009, its members unanimously adopted a resolution concerning 10 major guidelines to structure the Mediterranean audiovisual landscape. This bears witness to the steadfast determination of professionals in the Mediterranean to see a common and shared audiovisual landscape in this part of the world.
Structuring the Mediterranean Audiovisual Landscape p 2
Developing and Promoting Euro-Mediterranean Production p 7
Fostering the Circulation of Content p 11
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Structuring the Mediterranean Audiovisual Landscape
2 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 1
Set up a Mediterranean Audiovisual University
Title Set up a Mediterranean Audiovisual University Network the audiovisual and cinematographic schools and universities in the Mediterranean Basin with the creation: - Of a label entitled “Mediterranean University” for the creation of training modules and diplomas on the following themes: new technologies, new supports, new medias, new images and the associated means of production and circulation; Purpose - Of a shared Internet platform. The goal of this project is to develop a common culture among professionals from both sides of the Mediterranean, by enhancing their mutual contribution and by fostering dialogue and continuous exchanges between students and professors from different socio-cultural contexts.
The implementation of this project will be carried out in several stages that can be run in parallel, in order to obtain a rich and varied network through exchanges and mobility programmes: - Create a network of universities and schools run by Ina SUP and COPEAM; - Implement training modules that could be integrated into training courses already existing by giving them international scope and perspectives on new media; - Create distance teaching modules; - Create a first diploma entitled Master’s Degree in New Media; Proposal - Set up an International Pedagogical Committee and organise colloquia, seminars, meetings with school principals, didactics instructors and students; - Trilingual English/French/Arabic Internet platform with the following headings: Directory of training courses and schools in the Mediterranean Basin Files on new media Distance teaching modules (registration only) Forum Current events 2.0. reporting and documentaries.
Over a 4-year period: Presentation of concrete action and modules within the Delivery date framework of Marseilles, European Capital of Culture 2013
3 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 2
Support the transfer of skills and powering up a training and dialogue policy for the region's professionals
Title Support the transfer of skills
- Analyse training needs of organisations working in the audiovisual sector in order to make the training offer correspond better to training demand; - Develop multilateral projects targeted to new skills required in the labour market; - Develop an area of intercultural dialogue and exchange between young audiovisual professionals in Purpose the north and south of the Mediterranean by stepping up mobility and the implementation of regional projects based on the transfer of skills and on training, such as the COPEAM University; - Promote projects calling on new media (e.g. News-lab.org and the Women’s blog in the Euromed area).
- COPEAM submitted to the IPDC of UNESCO (International Programme for the Development of Communication) a project aiming to analyse needs in the journalism training sector within public radio and television organisations in the South Mediterranean. A meeting between the editorial managers of these structures and the representatives of training institutes in the region has been planned within this framework.
- Since 2005, COPEAM has been organising: State of play - COPEAM University, a training week for young journalists, film editors, TV cameramen and radio and web journalists from the Mediterranean and the Gulf; - A training seminar on the writing of innovative “Mediterranean” television formats, organised with the Damascus Training Centre of the ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union).
- A project on the creation of a digital Master Class in global journalism should come to fruition in 2010. It is intended for students in journalism and communications and for young professionals in the sector coming from the Euro-Med area.
- Establish mapping of the training needs of Mediterranean audiovisual players in several fields (e.g. archives, production, journalism, etc.); Proposal - Sustain COPEAM University, training devoted to new television formats and extend partnerships by integrating new regional players; - Develop training projects involving the use of new technologies and web 2.0 tools (i.e. e-journalism, blogs, social networks, etc.).
Delivery date 2011
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Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 3
Encourage the establishment of a shared legal framework
Title Encourage the establishment of a shared legal framework Based on European models, the objective is to adopt a text governing the services of Purpose audiovisual media, encouraging the development of culture, free circulation of information and the enhancement of audiovisual heritage.
There exist contractual and regulatory supranational standards: - Whose normative superiority require the drafting of a convention respecting imperative provisions;
State of play - Containing the principles likely to govern the supply of audiovisual media services such as pluralism, freedom of information, respect for otherness, child protection, etc.; - Identifying the issues linked to a cross-border framework, i.e. a broadcaster’s place of business, the origin of the signal, the coordination of literary property rights applicable to satellite broadcasting and to the retransmission by cable.
-Guarantee the freedom of transmission of audiovisual services regardless of borders; - Extend the guarantees of regulation already given by European standards to Mediterranean countries situated outside of their field of application, while dealing carefully with cultural differences; - Define the public service mission; Goals - Draft media regulation guidelines relative to the new means of content control; - Promote Mediterranean audiovisual creation and its heritage through circulation and production quotas. In general, the convention will position itself in relation to the imperative supranational standards of the European Union and of the Council of Europe.
Delivery date April 2010
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Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 4
Create a Mediterranean Media Observatory
Title Create a Mediterranean Media Observatory Develop a mechanism to gather, process and circulate statistical data related to the Purpose Mediterranean audiovisual landscape.
The Mediterranean audiovisual sector suffers from a severe lack of statistics. Constructing a common area, defining and following-up common policies requires making available to partners a body of reliable, structured, monitored and shared data State of play on players, markets and the economy of Mediterranean media. Such a mechanism, by improving knowledge of reality and by facilitating monitoring procedures, constitutes a key element of coherency and efficiency of the action carried out.
The project proposes establishing a partnership with one or several bodies specialised in statistical production concerning the media, such as the European Audiovisual Observatory in Strasbourg, and relying on their expertise in order to: - Initially gather and organise existing databases useful for the understanding of Mediterranean audiovisual systems and to create an initial body of dedicated and accessible statistics; - Afterwards, to extend and develop the statistics field by identifying a network of complementary information sources (national statistics institutes, media players, professional organisations, etc.) and by structuring their contributions; Goals - Define the circulation and access methods to these enriched databases and possibly the economic model associated (free/charged). In parallel to the creation of a structured body of statistical data, other information sources could be explored to enrich the Observatory's databases: - Studies and works of international organisations;
- Studies and research carried out within universities around the Mediterranean in the audiovisual field. If need be, specific studies (monographs, compilations, etc.) could be generated and encouraged by granting targeted study grants from the Observatory.
Delivery date 2010
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Developing and Promoting Euro-Mediterranean Production
7 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 5
Define a framework agreement to increase the number of multilateral co-production projects
Framework agreement laying the foundations for multilateral co- Title production A common legal tool comprised of a set of intellectual property rules offering stability to the Purpose Mediterranean audiovisual field, which is a precondition for its development.
Bilateral agreements exist between Mediterranean professionals but mainly concern cinematographic creation and production. It is necessary to adopt a standard co-production State of Play contract between Euro-Mediterranean partners. This will take account of existing bilateral agreements and the community rules to which COPEAM members are bound.
The model chosen will take into consideration the provisions linked to all forms of production, co-production, pre-purchase, etc. The issue is therefore to: - Define in a uniform way the participants at work in the audiovisual field with the capacity of author and specify the means to adopt agreements between co-producers and the rules of jurisdiction; Goals - Guarantee the corporeal and incorporeal property rights of co-producers, their evaluation and the distribution of revenue; - Specify the roles, rights and obligations of partners according to their status (executive production, line production, etc.). The final agreement will be compatible with national mechanisms so that co-productions are entitled to be called audiovisual works and will benefit from aids and subsidies.
Delivery date 2010
8 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 6
Support production by developing multilateral co -productions Design a professional production support tool
Title Develop co-productions and design a production support tool
Propose a bespoke support mechanism for bilateral and multilateral Euro-Mediterranean Purpose radio and television co-production projects.
Partnerships in this area are rare.
The first obstacle remains funding; especially cross-financing between the north and State of play south of the Mediterranean and between southern countries.
Each geographic area has its own hitherto-unconnected public and private channels with varying capacities.
Supporting production and developing bilateral and multilateral co-productions calls for:
- Either the creation of a support fund for the financing of Euro-Mediterranean Goals production replenished by national and European private and public funds;
- Or the mobilisation of a sum from Mediterranean broadcasters’ production or purchase budgets earmarked for specifically Mediterranean projects.
Delivery Date April 2010
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Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 7
Adopt a pricing policy that fosters access to Mediterranean archives
Title Adopt a pricing policy that fosters access to Mediterranean archives Harmonise Mediterranean television audiovisual archive purchase and transfer prices by Purpose guaranteeing the remuneration of copyright holders.
The circulation of these archives that promote a real heritage common to the State of Play Mediterranean countries is being held up by the absence of a framework agreement stipulating the contractual conditions and by disparate commercial practices.
Propose a common grid applicable to all the Mediterranean countries.
Proposal This harmonisation will be developed by the COPEAM Archives group as part of the MedMem project, which provides for a good practices guide on managing archives in compliance with copyright.
Delivery Date 2011
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Fostering the Circulation of Content
11 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 8
Create a Mediterranean cultural television channel: Terramed
Title Terramed: the Mediterranean cultural television channel Create a multilingual, multicultural satellite channel to foster the broadcast and Purpose circulation of Mediterranean cultural content. In April 2009, COPEAM launched the pilot phase of Terramed to promote Mediterranean programmes. The first step is focused on producing a guide of programmes broadcast on the RaiNews24/RAIMED channel daily from 11h00 to 12h00 GMT + 2. State of Play This dedicated window broadcasts promotional videos on partner television channels’ programmes: trailers with additional information (programme title, synopsis, day and time of broadcast, satellite details and channel logo).
Four conditions are needed to carry through this project: - The commitment of the States. This is a prerequisite to be able to rally the major Mediterranean audiovisual stakeholders. In their final statement in Marseilles on 4 November 2008, the foreign affairs ministers supported the creation of a Mediterranean television channel; - The decision to opt for a multilingual, multicultural channel with no news, dedicated to entertainment programmes and broadcasting cultural, scientific and economic documentaries; - An inexpensive business model. The partner channels would contribute mainly in the form of broadcasting rights; Proposals - Analysis of the governance questions by a feasibility study once political agreement has been obtained. This study would be assigned to a group of experts. Three scenarios are envisaged at this point in time: - A channel ex nihilo . Like Arte, it would be a Mediterranean cultural channel; - A Mediterranean channel based on the TV5 model: it would be a channel supplied by the partner channels, both public and private; - A channel in partnership: this would mean pooling human and technical resources for a standalone broadcasting channel. Such an ambition calls for the launch of a call for tenders, requiring the current Mediterranean operations to form alliances. This approach would meet the cultural co- operation goals and prevent the creation of a new structure.
Delivery Date 2010
12 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 9
Step up information exchanges with the development of the EuroMed News and ERN-Med projects
Title EuroMed News and ERN-Med EuroMed News: inform the populations in the south of the Mediterranean of the actions supported by the European Union for the neighbourhood area. Purpose ERN Med (Regional Mediterranean News Exchange) : exchange of news items with a Mediterranean angle broadcast on the Eurovision network, co-ordinated by EPTV (Algerian television) and supplied by the Mediterranean television stations.
Euromed News was launched in January 2009. The project is financed by the European Union. Partnership: - Lead partner: FRANCE TELEVISIONS; - Co-ordination: COPEAM; - Editorial supervision: ASBU and EBU; - Co-ordination of the Euro-Mediterranean exchange (on ERN-Med): EPTV - Production: EPTV, JRTV, LJB, ORTAS, SNRT and TELELIBAN. State of Play The consortium has set up steering bodies to build a co-operative network, organise communication between its members and achieve the production goal of 300 news programmes, 40 magazines and 9 documentaries by April 2010. ERN-Med was launched in 2002. The co-ordination centre is based at EPTV/Algeria. The annual exchange flow has gradually risen, posting over 1,000 items exchanged in 2009. Under Euromed-News, ERN-Med operates as a news and magazine exchange for the different partner television stations.
Euromed News: - Inform the general public about the Euro-Mediterranean partnership; - Facilitate the broadcast of news respecting the broadcaster’s editorial freedom; - Stimulate dialogue between the peoples on both shores of the Mediterranean; - Communicate the goals and results of the neighbourhood policy; - Promote cultural diversity and gender equality; Proposal - Further the training of journalists; - Encourage Euro-Mediterranean co-production. ERN-Med: - Foster exchanges and flows of information; - Exchange magazine topics; - Promote Mediterranean information.
13 Cairo Resolution, 19 April 2009 – Project No. 10
Set up an Internet portal on “Mediterranean audiovisual memories”: MedMem
Title MedMem Develop a trilingual Internet portal (French – English – Arabic) to provide researchers and the Purpose general public with a body of audiovisual archives on the Mediterranean countries’ tangible and intangible heritage.
In 2004, the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA) steered a project to preserve the audiovisual heritage – Capmed – supported by the European Commission. State of Play Following the success of this project, INA launched the MedMem programme, subsidised by the Euromed Heritage IV programme, under Copeam’s umbrella.
MedMem will showcase a heritage common to all the Mediterranean rim countries and will bolster the effort to preserve Mediterranean audiovisual archives. The portal will contain videos placed in their historical and cultural context. Each piece of footage will be accompanied by trilingual informative notes. Navigation will be by subject and certain files will be rounded out by comparative points of view from specialist Mediterranean researchers. - Partners: Ina (France), Copeam, Rai (Italy), EPTV (Algeria), JRTV (Jordan) and SNRT Proposal (Morocco). - Associate partners: Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (MMSH), CMCA, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt), Uninettuno (Italy), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), ERTU (Egypt), HRT (Croatia), PBC (Palestine) and the Virtual Library for Palestine, LJBC (Lybia) and IBA (Israel). The subsequent aim will be to open this portal up to other partners and other forms of archives.
Delivery Date This free portal is scheduled to go online in early 2011.
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Final resolution addressed to the Euro-Mediterranean Heads of State and Government
Cairo (Egypt) - 19 April 2009
We, the members of the Permanent Conference of Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators (COPEAM), which comprises the vast majority of Mediterranean audiovisual professionals as well as experts and eminent persons from the cultural and media world, share the ambition to consolidate and deepen exchanges between the States and peoples of the Mediterranean basin.
We support the determination of the Heads of State and Government to convey the aspirations of the peoples who share the Mediterranean, as the cradle of our history and our time-honoured civilisations.
Since its inception, COPEAM has contributed to making the Mediterranean audiovisual sector a powerful vehicle to promote knowledge, encourage the airing of ideas, share creations and circulate intellectual works and an instrument to combat ostracism, sectarianism, xenophobia and all forms of fundamentalism.
In this regard, the members of COPEAM, meeting at our annual Conference in Cairo from 16 to 19 April 2009, have adopted ten guidelines – corresponding to ten projects - which will contribute to the building of a Union for the Mediterranean and which are in keeping with the conclusions of the Mediterranean Cultural Forum in Marseilles on 4 and 5 November 2008.
We hope that our resolution will pave the way for the launch and implementation of innovative and emblematic forms of co-operation in Television, Radio and Internet, as well as dedicated funds to promote technological exchanges and professional know-how.
Such political support would make the Mediterranean audiovisual industry more credible, active and influential in conveying the values and humanist beliefs that unite us to the broadest audiences.
Structuring the Mediterranean Audiovisual Landscape
In this age of the digital revolution, new communication and media consumption prospects are emerging and are extensively changing the Mediterranean audiovisual landscape. COPEAM aims to assist and support these changes by:
1. Setting up a Mediterranean Audiovisual University
The building of the Union for the Mediterranean provides a unique opportunity to position COPEAM as a major training player and make its action part of the Union’s "Education" priority by consolidating existing training arrangements and forging targeted partnerships with education structures giving audiovisual courses in the region. The objective here is to identify the research,
15 vocational training and academic teams and places working in the audiovisual field, to encourage meetings and exchanges of experiences, and to disseminate the subjects of research to form a real “Mediterranean Audiovisual University”. This university would stand as a multilateral label of training and research excellence.
2. Supporting the transfer of skills and powering up a training and dialogue policy for the region’s professionals.
Skills transfers and training for audiovisual professionals in the North and the South of the Mediterranean are key to the successful construction of an intercultural and interprofessional arena for dialogue. With its wealth of experience in this field (COPEAM University and Women’s blog), COPEAM will ramp up the development of such projects and will support new initiatives, especially those using the new media that represent a major tool for the modernisation of the television and radio organisations and a forum for building dialogue and exchanges.
3. Encouraging the establishment of a shared legal framework
COPEAM wishes to further the establishment of shared legislation governing the broadcasting, production and copyright of audiovisual and radio programmes; as well as the development of a harmonised regulatory framework by means of the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the MNRA (Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities) in November 2008.
4. Creating a Mediterranean Media Observatory
The Mediterranean area suffers from a substantial shortage of statistics. No common policy can be built if this shortfall is not made up. Such is the goal assigned to the Mediterranean Media Observatory: improve knowledge of the Mediterranean audiovisual landscape in order to improve coherence, drive and prosperity. The Observatory will liaise in particular with existing statistical collection structures to gather and widely disseminate databases useful and necessary to an understanding of the regional audiovisual systems. At the same time, it will set up an ongoing market and stakeholder monitoring system.
Developing and promoting Euro-Mediterranean production
The challenge is to build up production partnerships which are currently too thin on the ground if not non-existent. Like cinema, which has the same ambition, broadcasters, writers, directors and producers must be committed to and make every effort to conduct co-production projects for radio and television. In this regard, COPEAM proposes:
5. Defining a framework agreement to increase the number of multilateral co- production projects
A number of legal obstacles, especially in intellectual property rights, are still putting a brake on the production and broadcasting of works. The members of COPEAM mean to develop a common legal tool that will enable them to overcome those obstacles. Framework agreements will need to be drawn up to provide models, legal and economic benchmark frameworks serving to lay down the bases for audiovisual production in the Mediterranean basin. Those agreements will promote all genres: documentaries, fiction, cartoons, magazines, reports and new writing formats. This set of intellectual property rules is to give the Mediterranean audiovisual sector the stability it needs for its development.
6. Supporting production by developing multilateral co-productions and designing a professional production support tool
COPEAM supports audiovisual production by co-ordinating multilateral co-production operations. It seeks to identify projects of common interest: from documentaries through fiction, magazines and reports to the creation of a study group for new formats. A support fund for the financing of Mediterranean production needs to be created to support
16 production and develop bilateral and multilateral co-productions. This Mediterranean support fund would be initiated and launched by COPEAM. It would be funded by national and European private and public contributions, and supported by the major Mediterranean broadcasters in the form of pre-purchases, acquisitions, co-productions, etc.
7. Adopting a pricing policy that fosters access to Mediterranean archives
COPEAM will draw on a full, detailed analysis of existing pricing practices to propose a uniform, enforceable model guaranteeing all its members, audiovisual stakeholders and its partners easier access to archives and a fair return for archive copyright holders.
Fostering the circulation of content
COPEAM, attentive to broadcasters’ editorial and programming needs, will identify and support projects of common interest that display all the wealth and potential of the Mediterranean region.
8. Creating a Mediterranean television channel: TERRAMED
TERRAMED is laying the foundations for a real multicultural, multilingual television channel broadcast by satellite. This television channel promoted by COPEAM will produce, distribute and develop Mediterranean and cultural programmes and reports in the spirit of public service. This bona fide Mediterranean channel should eventually become a global medium underpinned and rounded out by the Internet. A similar ambition is to be developed in the field of radio.
9. Stepping up information exchanges with the development of the EuroMed News and ERN-Med projects
EUROMED NEWS aims to gradually and systematically produce and exchange regional news, magazines and documentaries. ERN-MED’s brief is to promote exchanges of Mediterranean news items. This unprecedented set-up is being developed with the help of COPEAM’s select partners: EBU and ASBU. All types of exchange and sharing mechanisms, especially in sound and pictures, will need to be improved if a real Mediterranean audiovisual product is to emerge.
10. Setting up an Internet portal on "Mediterranean audiovisual memories": MedMem.
MedMem is set to be the only Internet portal of its kind worldwide to offer all Internet users the audiovisual memories of the Euro-Mediterranean region. This free, trilingual portal already has 18 active and associated partners, including 10 broadcasters. The project plans to eventually expand to all Mediterranean players. The idea is to build a common and shared history and memory of sounds and pictures and to give the young generations, in particular, the tools they need to gain a historical understanding of our modern Mediterranean world.
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