INTERMAG General Assembly

Munich

May, 3/4, 2002

 

Draft: Proposed Minutes

  1. Welcome by BR

    2. Mr. Michael Ament, Head of Euroblick Desk welcomed the INTERMAG participants on behalf of Dr. Gruber, Director General of BR and Dr. Fuchs, Director General of BR TV.

  2. Opening of the General Assembly

Mariolina Bronzini (RAI), INTERMAG President, welcomed the participants and thanked BR for the invitation.

3. Approval of the "Proposed Minutes" of the General Assembly Helsinki, May 2001

4. Approval of the Amended Statutes Statutes attached
In order to allow everyone to thoroughly read the amended statutes, the approval was postponed until the next day. On Saturday they were approved unanimously.

5. Presidency
Last year Eva Vikstedt agreed to take up vice-presidency for one year. For the second term Gerhard Losher from BR was voted unanimously and accepted.
  1. Membership
  1. New Members
  1. ORF: As soon as the new editors are in place, Klaus Hipfl would like to return to INTERMAG with two programmes: Report International and a European Magazine. Gerhard Losher was in contact with them and was quite confident.
  2. SFDRS/10vor10: changed responsible editor several times, therefore actual editor, Bruno Bonometti, didn’t know how to deal with INTERMAG. Unfortunately he sees no possibility to upload their programme, since they broadcast every night. Mr. Bonometti suggested that members watch their reports on the Website (www.sfdrs.ch/10vor10) and order directly with the programme.
  3. RAI/Sereno Variabile: unfortunately not connected to the internet. Therefore programme receives offerings by fax.

Mrs. Bronzini regretted that also her own programme Frontiere doesn’t offer items, but at RAI the actual policy is rather trading than free exchange. Hopefully the new responsible editors will stop this trend.

(b) Leaft Intermag:
  1. WDR/Europamagazin: copying and sending of reports involved too much work.
  2. NDR/Weltbilder and Weltspiegel: took no reports from foreign programmes and didn’t need INTERMAG to exchange with ARD-programmes.
  3. SFB/Kontraste: Because of the nature of their programme, mostly dealing with local subjects, they had no exchange partners within INTERMAG.

(c) Reasons for withdrawals 2001.

Mariolina Bronzini encouraged some reflections about the reasons that make INTERMAG unattractive.
Udo Biss said he thinks the present situation is quite alarming, although these meetings are always very interesting as an exchange forum for items and ideas. Main problem seemed to be the relatively high fee. Members who used to share membership (e.g. NDR) saw their fee doubled now that they are the only member left. He was in favour of an abolish of the PES. SFDRS for instance doesn’t upload, they tell us to visit their Website. And members uploading films are so few, that it wouldn’t make much difference if we would return to the old system.

Gerhard Losher, but also other attendants, replied that they use the PES quite often and think it is a good tool, but it is actually a problem that only few members upload their material, consequently most of the offerings cannot be watched. And although the uploading is quite effortful, once you know the procedure, it is quite simple. He supposed it is basically fear of the unknown. That is a pity cause the main thing is to be visible in the internet, if not on your own Website then in the PES. According to Mariolina this may all be right, but on the other hand, without an extra computer for the upload, it is sometimes impossible to block your PC for the time needed for the uploading procedures.

Reinhard Behm: we thought the PES would give INTERMAG a boost, instead members are leaving. To him, the PES is not necessary, a good script says it all.
  1. Changes among members: New Titles, Formats, Contacts etc.

MTV: Politour and Tranzit leave INTERMAG. They won’t be replaced after they were temporarily suspended last year. Three programmes stay in the exchange.
HRT: officially they have two programmes in the exchange. As a matter of fact they have had none for quite a long while. Still, Vladimir Spicer, would like to stay in INTERMAG as an inactive member.
  1. Miscellaneous
  1. Promotion INTERMAG
  1. There were some problems with the INTERMAG Website: Provider was bankrupt, consequently there were problems with IP-addresses. But now the Website should again be accessible.
  2. Website address: www.intermag.tv will replace the old web-address. The question came up whether we need a Website. It could be a first contact with INTERMAG and for promotional purposes it seems a good tool.
  3. To some members personal contacts seemed more effective, but experience taught that it doesn’t bring results.
  1. Functioning of the INTERMAG exchange:
  1. No further remarks or suggestions
  2. State and future of INTERMAG: It is true that we are few at the moment but still contacts to magazines, to the stations are very important. Those who trust INTERMAG obviously have an interest in our organisation and would have a hard time, if it wouldn’t exist anymore.
  1. INTERMAG Programme Exchange System (PES)
  1. Remarks of members concerning the PES
    As said before: the PES is quite expensive.
    Second remark: the information via the PES comes in quite slow because the input is made too late.
    Possible reason : pictures can only be uploaded when the piece is ready and after the hectic production day. Then it takes another day before the offerings land in the members’ mailboxes. Consequently often only items without expiry date are interesting for the exchange. To tackle that problem, Deutsche Welle for instance sends its press release (unfortunately only in German) beforehand to the German speaking members with good response.
    It was also suggested to abolish the PES. Since the contract is renewable at the end of the year, we might consider this option. But then we would need another system. Possibilities:
    - return to the old system: but this seems a step back
    - everyone visits the others’ Website. Unfortunately some members (e.g. MTV/Hungary and RTV/Slovenia) only have info in their own language.
  2. Number of offerings going down: probably simply due to less members
  3. Costs of the PES: Since this seems to be the main complaint and obstacle, the presidency could work out different alternatives (e.g. less service, no film uploading) with Tecmath to lower costs, because now that the PES is developed and running, Tecmath only has to maintain the system. Gerhard Losher will contact them in June or latest July and negotiate a new contract within the next few months. Offerings will be mailed to the members for approval.
  1. Next Meetings

    2. (a) Next General Assembly (2003)

    After the meeting RTV/Slovenia offered to host the next General Assembly. A date still has to be set. Two possibilities: 9/10 May or 16/17 May 2003.

    (b) General Assembly (2004)

    No concrete invitation, possibly Moscow can organise the meeting

  2. Screening Session (List attached)

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Vice-President

Mariolina Bronzini Gerhard Losher