News > 2009

6 November 2009

BBC ALBA IN GLOBAL NEWS EXCHANGE

The Gaelic community of Scotland is one of a number of minority cultures from around the world being celebrated in a unique current affairs programme which launched on Maori Television in New Zealand.

'Indigenous Insight' is a half-hour show which pulls together the best news and current affairs stories of the week from minority cultures around the world.

As well as Gaelic stories provided by BBC ALBA, the New Zealand based programme uses reports from Canada's Aboriginal People's TV (APTN), Sami broadcasting in Norway (NRK Sami) and Taiwan's indigenous people's TV (TITV). Celtic cousins in Ireland's TG4 also take part in the project. Each week, member broadcasters share the most compelling stories that are impacting on their communities.

BBC ALBA’s Gaelic News Editor Norrie Maclennan said: “It’s a fascinating project as it highlights the fact that many minority cultures around the world share similar issues. The Sami, the Maori, the Innuit all have close parallels to the Gaelic and Irish cultural situation for example. There are many common themes around the efforts to sustain smaller cultures in a context of more dominant cultures and all the positives and negatives that go with that situation.

“There are issues around education, media, land ownership and public perceptions that echo across these minorities and it is interesting to see how these overlap and reflect each other.”

Maori Television Executive Producer, Te Anga Nathan added: “As well as the best stories of the week, Indigenous Insight compiles indigenous cultures’ perspectives of global issues, It looks at significant issues impacting on the world, from global pandemic to global warming, and the development of traditional cultures in the 21st Century.”

BBC ALBA's daily Gaelic news programme, An La, benefits from the project with the ability to access the pick of weekly stories from the world-wide broadcasters. Norrie Maclennan said: “We've run great material from Maori TV and Sami TV for example which adds variety and an international dimension to the news diet.”

New technology allows for easy transfer of filmed pieces between the different international groups. BBC ALBA Technical Operator, Seonaidh Mackenzie said: “We send our material on the internet and it works very well. Special drop sites are set up which allow us to send and receive over many thousands of miles. What used to take three days can now be sent in an hour.

“I think the project is great for BBC ALBA as it extends our audience reach by having news in Gaelic broadcast in other parts of the world. It also allows us access to news stories from other indigenous cultures showing their concerns, which we hope will be of interest to our viewers.

“This material is unique and has allowed us to offer an insight into global news stories. For example, after the typhoon in Taiwan, we were offered exclusive footage by our Taiwanese partner, TITV, not yet available to the major broadcasters. It is hoped that there will be a few more additions to the Indigenous WITBN family which will give us greater reach and access.”

Indigenous Insight can be viewed at: www.maoritelevision.com