Hamburg Hosts ENEX General Assembly 2025

The historic port city of Hamburg was the venue for more than 60 ENEX partner representatives to attend the annual General Assembly. The meeting was opened by Minister Dr Carsten Brosda who is responsible for Media and Culture in the Hamburg Government.  In his bold speech, called ‘The Death of Truth’, he drew a striking parallel between the Disney franchise Star Wars and the slide toward authoritarianism experienced in global politics today.

The AI Assisted Future of Media


Some of the leading companies involved in the AI assisted broadcast and digital sector took part in a panel to discuss the opportunities of this new tech revolution.  The panel was hosted by Jo Schmaltz as part of ENEX’s Innovation Exchange which aims to inform ENEX’s partners with knowledge-share sessions to help shape future strategies and purchases.  The panel included Fred Petitpont, CTO of Moments Lab; Daniel Url, Chief Product Officer, Fonn Group; Olivier Barnich, Head of Innovation, EVS and Claire Humphries, Product Manager, Grass Valley.

New Threats

Sky News Europe Correspondent Siobhan Robbins, who is based in Berlin, chaired a session which focused on the threat to ENEX’s partner in Serbia –  N1. Student led protests have been growing for a year in the country and N1’s news teams have come under intense pressure from government security forces.  The panel also included Artem Oblovatnyi, Head of International Cooperation at 1+1 Ukraine, Mirja Kivimaki, Head of International News at MTV Finland and Rolandas Agintas, Head of News of LNK, Lithuania all of whom discussed the various threats posed by Russian action in Ukraine.

Miniature Wonderland, Germany’s Most Popular Attraction

The first day of the conference ended on a lighter note with the co-owner of Miniaturwunderland, Sebastian Drechsler explaining the background to the success of this most popular tourist attraction.  Sonja Schwetje, CEO of RTL Nord and former Chairwoman of the ENEX Board of Directors was the host.

What can News Publishers Teach Broadcasters?

On Friday October 17th the ENEX Assembly opened with a speech from Dr Gregor Peter Schmitz, Editor in Chief of Stern magazine, one of Germany’s most famous publications. Stern is based in Hamburg and was acquired by Bertlesmann media group which also owns RTL.  What can publishers teach broadcasters? was examined including contributions from Susan Daly, Managing Editor of The Journal, Ireland and Rasa Lukaityte-Vnarauskiene, Editor in Chief of Delfi, Lithuania.  As it turns out many of the problems facing publishers overlap with those facing broadcasters!

Creator Power, The New Competition for Media

Another threat to established media brands (or is it an opportunity?) is in the creator economy.  Why are individual news creators more successful than well known media brands in reaching large audiences on social applications?  This session was chaired by Colm McGlinchey, ENEX’s Digital Editor who quizzed the CEO of We Are Era, Tobias Schiwek. We Are Era is a new generation media company and home to Europe’s largest digital studio and a leading network of creators. 

New Business Models for Commercial Media

The theme of future-proofing media businesses was continued when ENEX Head of News, Mark Evans, interviewed Sky News UK’s Executive Director of Business Operations, Andrew Thomson.  Sky has their own 2030 strategy which aims to grow new revenues from diversified sources.

New Partner: AnewZ Azerbaijan

A new partner has joined ENEX – ANEWZ from Azerbaijan.  Rufat Hamzayev, Executive Director addressed the audience to brief them on the powerful news operations already established in this one-year old English language channel headquartered in Baku. 

Capturing The Moment

Red Bull is a much appreciated content partner of ENEX and apart from the ready supply of Red Bull drinks, always available at our conferences this year one of their top sports photographers spoke about the behind the scenes challenges of ‘Capturing The Moment’. Dean Treml has photographed a wide array of sports but particularly specializes in the hazardous sport of cliff diving.

Access Denied: Reporting Gaza

Also discussed on the final day was a panel focusing on the reporting of Gaza including contributions from Arad Nir, International Editor of Channel 12 News, Israel; Mahmoud Mushtaha a Gazan journalist and Tim Singleton, International Editor of Sky News. 

The panel was hosted by Gunhild Tinmannsvik, Foreign News Coordinator at TV2 Norway and was mostly conducted on zoom and is not available on YouTube. 

Who is the Future of Our Industry?

Lastly, the conference ended on the uplifting contributions from young journalists who are just entering the profession. How do they see the future of the industry and their own part in it?  Simon Hof  from RTL Germany’s Journalism School chaired the panel with contributions from: Maëlle Couillard, Hannah Kaiser, Marie Möllecken and Michelle Seidel.  Also featured was Sophie Merle, Professor of Journalism from ESJ Pro University in Montpellier. 

Youtube Playlist General Assembly Hamburg

/by

Azerbaijan News Channel ANEWZ joins ENEX

ENEX has signed a new partnership agreement with AnewZ, an English language news and analysis channel based in Baku, Azerbaijan.  The South Caucasus and Central Asia, is a region with growing political and economic importance and the arrangements with AnewZ represents a significant step in ENEX’s expansion into this important region.   

AnewZ is a unique news provider in Azerbaijan with their television news service distributed in more than 110 countries. The channel was established in 2024 taking only 6 months to build its operations before launch.  AnewZ has a growing network or correspondents worldwide.  The agreement was signed by AnewZ Executive Director, Rufat Hamzayev at ENEX’s 2025 General Assembly held in Hamburg on October 16 and 17.   A wide variety of international journalists with different nationalities make up the AnewZ editorial team including colleagues from Portugal, Ukraine, Spain, USA, United Kingdom, Russia, Turkiye and many others.  

ENEX Managing Director Adrian Wells said: ”Always the most exciting part of ENEX’s work is to welcome new news media organisations to our organisation and we are delighted with our new relationship with AnewZ.   AnewZ has great ambitions to grow their editorial offering even further and we are confident ENEX can help them in achieving their goals.”

Rufat Hamzayev, Executive Director of AnewZ said: ”AnewZ is bringing high quality news with a credible voice of the region to the world. We operate with the highest global journalistic standards. I believe we can build the strongest relationships through this partnership with ENEX.”

/by

ENEX Technical Coordinators Meeting at RTL Netherlands

On 11 September, ENEX technical coordinators gathered at RTL Netherlands premises in Hilversum to discuss the latest developments in innovation exchange, the new NxP distribution platform and the ongoing news transformation of RTL Netherlands. The meeting marked a collaborative focus on advancing the organization’s capabilities and future-facing initiatives.

Olivier Waty also announced NxP 2.0, turning NxP into an end-to-end, AI-powered editorial platform. Highlights include real-time collaboration, integrated editorial creation, enrichment, validation, and seamless sharing.

At an accompanying event dedicated to News Transformation, RTL News outlined its program to modernize the newsroom by 2026. The briefing emphasized streamlined workflows, the adoption of new technologies, cross-team collaboration, and enhanced audience engagement through multimedia storytelling. The session highlighted a phased approach with clear governance to ensure a smooth, sustainable transition for staff and audiences.

The day concluded with a visit to the new studio room and a convivial dinner gathering, fostering continued collaboration and exchange among attendees. Thank you RTL Netherland Rig and Roeland for the kind invitation.

/by

ENEX in Sharjah at the 14th IGCF and 18th Inclusion International’s World Congress

ENEX Media Services have been on the ground in Sharjah at the 14th edition of the International Government Communication Forum and the 18th Inclusion International´s World Congress. 

The conference attracts 15,000 delegates representing governments, academia and business.

ENEX Media Services assists Sharjah to bring teams of international journalists to the events to cover the debate and topics raised.  This year television and digital teams came from CGTN and SMG China, Bharati Pressar India, Devex USA, ENEX partners from Germany, Luxembourg and Croatia, SABC South Africa, Smart TV Uganda.

The World Congress was organised by Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services in cooperation with Inclusion International, and in strategic partnership with the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, the event placed issues of inclusion and the empowerment of people with intellectual disabilities on the global agenda.

This year’s edition featured 59 discussion panels with 152 speakers, 134 self-advocates, 125 organisations, and over 500 participants from 74 countries, reflecting the congress’s status as one of the largest and most diverse gatherings dedicated to advancing inclusion worldwide.

The forum featured over 30 local, regional, and international partners, ranging from government entities and global organisations to research centres, media, and technology institutions. 

/by

The Audio Marketplace (TAM) launches September 16

The Audio Marketplace (TAM), the first European B2B platform for multilingual professional audio content, will officially launch on September 16 as part of the European Audio Dataspace (EAD) project, coordinated by Agence France-Presse (AFP)with support from the European Commission.

TAM connects creators (podcasters, journalists, sound designers) with buyers (media, institutions, businesses), offering a secure, structured hub for licensing and distributing trusted audio across Europe.

“With TAM, we aim to create a genuine European audio ecosystem, giving professionals the tools to buy, sell and exchange content across borders—just as television already does via Eurovision or ENEX,” said Christine Buhagiar, AFP’s Director of Development and Diversification.

Key Features

  • European catalog in 5 languages (EN, FR, ES, DE, IT)
  • Licensing options: standard and customizable contracts
  • AI-powered recommendation tool
  • Secure payment via Stripe
  • Dedicated spaces for creators and buyers

Upcoming: automatic transcription & audio previews.

Online Event

A webinar will present TAM on September 23, 2025, gathering creators, buyers and partners. (invitation to visit our website and our social media accounts).

A European Collective Effort

Partners: AFP (France), Dawex (France), ENEX (Luxembourg), Wake Word (Germany), Europod (Belgium), Agora/Tok FM (Poland), EFE (Spain).

TAM – Connecting European Audio Creators to the World

More info: theaudiomarketplace.eu

Press Contacts:

/by

N1 Editors Appeal For Independence Assurances

N1 channels are an important part of ENEX’s network in South East Europe. N1 editors have asked us to share the following appeal to preserve the independence of all editorial teams:

Read more
/by

ENEX Unites in Hilversum: Navigating News, AI, and a New World Order

The ‘Trump effect’ was a key topic at a meeting of more than 50 newsroom partners at the headquarters of RTL Netherlands in Hilversum held on April 3/4th 2025. Many Enex partners have boosted their American operations to try to keep pace with the blizzard of news from the new US administration. Senior journalists from Lithuania, Norway, Mexico and the UK discussed how their newsrooms and their countries are responding to new realities. 

Enex Head of News, Mark Evans, hosted the meeting along with RTL Netherlands Chief International Editor, Eric Smink.  Mark Evans detailed how Enex is further orientating towards digital media both in terms of its news agency service and customer base. RTL Netherlands Deputy Editor in Chief, Dennis Van Luling presented the challenges and opportunities in correctly sourcing and clearing user generated content for breaking news. Enex is bolstering its efforts to coordinate a joint UGC clearing approach across the Enex partnership. 

Nikolai Radisic, European Correspondent for N1 Serbia gave an impassioned presentation about the severe pressure the channel is under from Government authorities. Huge demonstrations have taken place in Serbia in recent months against, what the protestors say, is government corruption and mismanagement.

Artem Oblovatny, Senior International Coordinator from 1+1 Media Ukraine, told the audience how Ukrainians are anxious about the latest phase of the war with Russia. In the last few months a 1+1 journalist who was serving in the army was killed in action.

Of course, Artificial Intelligence was also on the agenda! Mark Egan from PurpleBridge media demonstrated the latest powerful tools for generative AI text and images.  The audience were asked to re-create AI images in order to fine-tune their prompt skills and a quiz demonstrated that spotting AI text from human generated text is now near impossible. An explanation of the tools was also mitigated with some careful reminders of the importance of human oversight and ethical codes being applied to AI influenced journalism. 

The bread and butter of Enex daily cooperation was addressed by News Editors Andras Vizler and Oana Matei.  About 75% of Enex content comes from its partner newsrooms so speed of delivery and quality also relies heavily on timely contribution and meta data supplied by each newsroom across the world from Argentina to Japan. 

Head of Operations of Al Arabiya, Dina Nimer, outlined how the channel is re-basing from Dubai to Riyadh.  Two new buildings are in construction in the Saudi Arabian capital with many hours of live broadcasting already hosted from Riyadh. 

The most important part of any Enex meeting is always to welcome new partners. Elli Kotzamani, News Director of Antenna Cyprus gave an overview of her station and operations and encouraged other Enex partners to be in touch whenever Cyprus can assist with news cooperation.


Adrian Wells, Managing Director of Enex, spoke about the pursuit of new partners in so far unrepresented countries.  Also in development are further improvements to Enex’s video distribution platform NXP. Attendees also heard about Enex’s design update and new initiative called the Media Innovation Exchange:

https://innovationexchange.enex.news/c/broadcasters/

The Exchange is a forum for leading technical suppliers to interact with partner CTOs to discuss best products, services and technical implementations.  More seminars are planned in the coming weeks.  Ask for more information if interested in more details. 

Alex Kengen, Global Distribution Manger, outlined Enex’s Media Services offer where Enex helps governments, conferences, institutions and corporate entities increase their media profile by using Enex expertise to connect with broadcast and digital media. See this section of our website for more details! https://enex.news/media-services/

And finally, Terence Jarosz, Enex News Editor explained how the news agency is working with AFP and some other media companies to build a new audio resources platform called The Audio Market Place.  Audio is a massive growth area for news and information providers and this new platform, supported by funding from the European Union, aims to serve the podcast and radio production market. 

/by

ENEX Part Of AUDIO Market Place Project

ENEX is proud to be part of a new project that is set to create a new audio content exchange aimed at radio and podcast producers. Read all about it in the official press release:

Read more
/by

Arnaud De Brandt has been appointed as Enex’s new Director of Finance and Commerce

Arnaud De Brandt has been appointed as Enex’s new Director of Finance and Commerce. Arnaud joins with a mission to accelerate Enex’s growth and diversification as the media industry faces major changes in technology and customer demand.

Read more
/by

Innovation Exchange: ENEX is launching an exclusive CTO-led series of virtual events

ENEX is launching an exclusive CTO-led series of virtual events to help technology leaders find solutions to the rapid pace of development in the broadcast and digital industry.

The sessions will short-cut your research and show how to implement the latest products and services, opening up fresh opportunities and reducing costs.

The first session: Wednesday January 22nd 14:00 CET on AI Video Indexing. Later in January we focus on creating 5G private networks for newsgathering.

These sessions are free for ENEX members.

Mail us on innovationexchange@enex.news if you would like to join or fill out the registration form:

https://innovationexchange.enex.news/c/join-enex-ix

/by