EBU elects new board

Ibrahim Eren, Marcello Foa, Giacomo Ghisani, Sergei Pavlov and Gonçalo Reis

European public broadcasters organization the EBU has elected a new executive board, with nine executives from public media across the continent joining EBU president Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, and vice-president Delphine Ernotte, director-general of France Télévisions.

The other new members of the board are: Ibrahim Eren, director-general of Turkey’s TRT; Marcello Foa, the new president of Italy’s Rai; Giacomo Ghisani, acting director-general of Radio Vaticana; Sergei Pavlov, director of international relations and member of the board of directors of Channel One Russia; and Gonçalo Reis, president and CEO of Portugal’s RTP.

Cilla Benkö of Sweden’s SR, Petr Dvořák of the Czech Republic’s CT, Ulrich Wilhelm of Germany’s ARD/BR and Gilles Marchand of Switzerland’s SRG SSR were all re-elected to serve a new term.

Leaving the board are former president Jean-Paul Philippot of Belgium’s RTBF and former vice-president Monica Maggioni of Rai.

Incoming president Hall said: “I welcome this new EBU executive board. Public service media has never been more important or more needed.  As we begin our EBU presidency in January, Delphine Ernotte Cunci and I look forward to working closely with the new Board and the EBU director-general Noel Curran, as well as with all EBU members and staff. It’s a time of great excitement and opportunity in global media. And I firmly believe that the time for public service media has come ­­– with brilliant local content, impartial news and a universal mission that brings us all together. Through working together I believe that EBU members can deliver even more for our audiences, and I’m excited about working with the new executive board to deliver that ambition over the two years ahead.”