TORONTO—The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) has issued a statement saying it is “profoundly shocked, saddened and extremely concerned about the assassination of Al Jazeera TV Correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh” on May 11 and the gun fire that wounded her colleague Ali Al-Samoudi who “is now in stable condition in hospital.”

“Abu Akleh and Al-Samoudi were clearly identified as PRESS and were standing with other journalists covering Israeli army raids in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, when shooting broke out,” the group said. “This aggression is an egregious breach of UN Declaration of Press Freedom, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists.”

“WBU condemns strongly this aggression and emphasizes the need to ensure accountability,” the statement continued. “Therefore, WBU calls for a thorough, transparent, fair and impartial investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and demands that Israel reverses its decision not to investigate the circumstances of her death.”

The death of Abu Akleh brought widespread statements of outrage from government officials around the world and comes at a time when violence against journalists has reached alarming levels. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists has identified 18 cases where journalists have been killed in 2022, including 7 in Ukraine. 

In a separate analysis Reporters Without Borders had identified 26 journalists and two media workers killed so far in 2022.  

The WBU also stressed that “the protection of journalists covering any conflict anywhere is of paramount importance to the WBU and to every global citizen who values a free press….The WBU calls for adherence to international law and guaranteeing the rights of journalists to do their work without fear, especially in conflict and war zones. No journalist should be targeted for doing their job.”

The group also expressed “our deepest condolences to Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, friends, and colleagues around the world to whom she never failed to take the time to share her warmth and passion for their lives and interests.”

TORONTO—As the FCC and other global organizations discuss the potential reallocation of C-band spectrum to assist with the deployment and performance of 5G technologies, the World Broadcasting Unions has released its official position on what any reallocation of the spectrum used for Fixed-Satellite Services would mean for TV and radio broadcasters around the world. In short, WBU believes it would be a significant issue.

“The recent regulatory inquiries by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on the potential reallocation of some of the existing C-band downlink allocation (5G services) is a concern for the members of the WBU,” the organization’s position paper reads. “Given the ubiquitous use of C-band spectrum around the world and its potential to provide new services, such U.S. regulatory activity will likely be pursued by other administrations. Any subsequent proposals to globally harmonize the use of these frequencies above 3600 MHz for IMT, argued for on the basis of national reallocations, do not reflect the realities of global satellite service usage.”

Among the primary concerns of the WBU in the event of spectrum reallocation is the potential compromise of existing distribution and collection systems both domestically and internationally. It believes this could be particularly impactful in countries with equatorial geography and high rainfall, which often don’t have viable FSS spectrum alternatives to provide the same level of performance. WBU also contends that some Direct-to-Home services using C-band in these regions could be affected.

The WBU also worries that in the event of reallocation for the downlink C-band spectrum, the “twinned” uplink C-band frequencies may also be tapped at some point for reallocation.

“In all likelihood, harm will be done to existing C-band users and the solutions will compromise service reliability and increase the costs to the broadcast community,” WBU states.

“While improvements in satellite technology have made the use of C-band spectrum by broadcasters more efficient and effective for both content collection and distribution, there has been real C-band traffic growth over the years, which makes this spectrum crucial to broadcasters today as it was 50 years ago.”