Sony backs the Rory Peck Trust As a leading supplier of equipment to the international news gathering community, we at Sony are all too aware of the risks freelance news crews face as part of their everyday lives. Hence our readiness to be the principal sponsor of this year's Rory Peck Award. The vast majority of front-line footage is shot by freelancers and we regard the feedback we receive from these cameramen and women as an invaluable aid in developing new and improved products for all forms of news gathering. The demand to deliver high quality news footage as events occur, or within a very short time of them happening, has created the impetus for really significant technological development within the ENG (electronic news gathering) field. News gathering equipment of all kinds is currently going through a period of rapid evolutionary change as the technology base migrates from analogue to digital. At every stage of the news gathering process, from front-line acquisition to programme editing, compilation and transmission, new and better devices are being developed by a range of manufacturers. New technology driven by the customer. From Sony, two development programmes have news firmly in mind: Betacam SX and the Sony News Network. Betacam SX is a new digital component production system comprising camcorders, VTRs and editing systems. The system has been developed for applications where portability, robustness, speed of throughput and low running costs are important. It possesses several revolutionary features which reduce the burden on news crews and increase the speed of news production. At the same time, complete backward compatibility with Betacam SP has been guaranteed, safeguarding broadcasters' existing investments. The Sony News Network represents the future of news broadcasting. Based on servers with networked editing clients, the system allows journalists to work simultaneously at workstations on live or archived material. Once an item is complete, it can then be played out to air directly from the server. The underlying strategy behind the Sony newsroom is to create a modular structure for the products, allowing broadcasters to implement the elements they want and build up a newsroom as they wish, while still making use of existing equipment. It means they can gradually move to the new mode of working. The elements of the complete solution include Betacam SX, non-linear editing, newsroom servers and archive systems. The equipment available to news crews, whether on the streets of a European capital or the war-torn suburbs of Sarajevo, is significantly more sophisticated then ever before. Nevertheless, there remains one constant. Without the courage, skills and intuitive news sense of the freelance community, viewers would not have the opportunity to watch truly moving footage from the safety of their homes. Today, we have come to expect front-line TV coverage from all events, anywhere in the world. The essential pre-requisite for this is not the high technical quality of the equipment, but the willingness of the camera operator to risk all in pursuit of the best story. Russian cameraman, Farkhad Kerimov was recognised by The Rory Peck Trust last year for his coverage of the Chechen war. His courage, skill and tenacity were well known amongst his peers and yet he paid the ultimate price for his attempts to uncover the truth in a brutal civil war. As television viewers, we all have an obligation to recognise the risks taken by these brave and gifted men and women. Through our association with The Rory Peck Trust we at Sony would like to help raise the profile of this group of people and offer our support to the news community. Willie Scullion Deputy Managing Director Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe

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