Sir Bob Geldof Launches Peace Channel
By Telegraph.
Sir Bob Geldof, the charity campaigner and rock star, has opened the way for citizen journalists to report on conflicts around the world with the launch of his Peace Channel
His online TV channel is switched on today at midday at the Point of Peace Summit in Stavanger, Norway, where Nobel Peace Laureates and experts are gathered to discuss conflict resolution.
Sir Bob wants people to send in their video reports to “cover the world’s wars and potential flash points”.
The former Boomtown Rats frontman, who organised fundraising concerts Live Aid and Live 8, set up the channel through his production company Ten Alps and the Peace Channel Foundation.
It has online videos devoted to specific flashpoints, a picture gallery and debate forums.
A production team Ten Alps will also make factual videos for the website. Interviews include Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta talking about conflicts in their countries.
Mr Odinga tells the new channel: “If we had not accepted a compromise and created a grand coalition government, we could have ended up in a Balkanisation of Kenya.”
Sir Bob announced his intention to create the Peace Channel at a summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Norway last year.
“This is precisely the kind of project that Ten Alps is proud to work on,” said Ten Alps chief executive Alex Connock. “It has a global reach, strong journalistic purpose and online TV penetration, which is fast taking on the same kind of political power that CBS had in the Vietnam War.”
The London-listed production company founded by Sir Bob and Mr Connock has an annual turnover of £81.4m, making documentaries for Panorama, Dispatches and Channel 4, publishing print titles and producing online TV channels.
By Rowena Mason
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