The Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development has signed a memorandum of understanding with Maldives Broadcasting Corp. to provide consultancy and capacity building for MBC in its transition to public service broadcasting.
MBC has transitioned from being state media to becoming an independent public service broadcaster accountable to the parliament, from where most of the funding comes.
Under the MoU, AIBD will assist MBC in organizational assessment, engineering audit, newsroom training and program production.
The initial agreement, reports said, was reached during the visit of the MBC delegation to the AIBD Secretariat in April 2012 and the MoU was signed during the Asia Media Summit 2012 in Bangkok. The consultants commissioned by AIBD commenced work in the Maldives in mid-July.
The MBC is now preparing a new broadcasting code to reflect the new responsibilities of the organization — such as unbiased news and information; resisting political, financial and economic influence and serving the whole nation. The staff of about 360 are being trained in these new expectations.
