CNN has been awarded top honours at the 42nd Monte Carlo Television Festival, considered one of Europe?s most prestigious competitions.
CNN International bagged two of the Golden Nymph awards for the network?s coverage of the events of 11 September and to CNN Productions? for the documentary ‘Beneath the Veil‘. CNN International won within the newly created ‘24-hour news‘ category while ‘Beneath the Veil‘ a candid and hard-hitting documentary about life under Taliban rule, won for ?Best Current Affairs Film.? ‘Beneath the Veil‘ which was produced by CNN Productions, Hardcash Productions and Channel 4, has won 13 awards since it first aired last August in the United States and abroad, says an official release. The documentary also bagged the Freedom of the Press award by America‘s National Press Club this week.

CNN?s minute-by-minute coverage of the 11 September events which unfolded in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa. brought viewers the first images of the attacks. Coverage included constant news updates from each scene, eyewitness accounts, international reports and in-depth perspectives from CNN?s top anchors and correspondents around the world.

MUMBAI: The Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad and ratings agency TAM will hold a series of workshops on television broadcasting, over successive weekends beginning September 2002. The joint programme is divided into three workshops, each of which is designed to give an insight into different aspects of TV Broadcasting Strategies from the perspective of media specialist agencies, advertisers and broadcasters. Targeted at the middle and senior management from TV Channels, ad agencies and media houses, the workshops will be held at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai.

The first workshop on Channel Selling and Media Agency Buying, to be held on 27 and 28 September will probe the experiences of agency buyers and channel sellers. The programme also intends to add to the knowledge base of both, in terms of new tools and methods of deal evaluation/creation, deal optimization, network deals, and evaluating/costing innovations, says an official release from MICA. The agenda will be supported by real life case studies presented by noted industry professionals.

The second workshop on Channel Research and Media Planning on 4 and 5 October, focuses on understanding audience behaviour, broad trends in media and on TV, specifically understanding those trends and working towards a better future. Understanding of media tools, trends in television ratings and media planning and research fundamentals, will be the other areas covered. The programme entails on the one hand, the media planner‘s way of getting upclose with his/her brands in the process of developing a media plan and on the other hand, understanding how a channel researcher could study latest viewership trends to take business decisions for the broadcaster.

The third workshop on Channel Programming and Channel Marketing on 11 and 12 October, takes participants through the programming professional‘s challenge of spotting the "winning horse." The workshop will look at new ways of evaluating and quantifying successful programming and marketing of programmes. New concepts on promo planning, treating different audiences differently, and gauging shifting audience taste will also be discussed, says MICA. The six-day (three weekends) comprehensive program will focus on an interactive pedagogy, involving presentations, discussion on case studies, and interactive sessions between eminent speakers and participants, says the institute.