US firm gets major contract to develop Iraqi media outlets

[rooboy]

Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority has awarded a one year, $US96 million contract to international communications equipment company Harris Corporation to develop an Iraqi media network, the firm said.

The goal of the project is to create "a first class, integrated media network that will include two national radio channels, two national television channels, and a national newspaper, Al Sabah," the Florida-based firm said in a statement.

"We are extremely pleased to be selected to play this role in the rebuilding of Iraq's critical broadcast and media infrastructure," said Howard Lance, chairman, president, and CEO of Harris Corporation.

"The free flow of information is crucial to any modern society, and we are committed to making this ambitious goal a reality."

Two Middle Eastern firms are partnering in the deal, the statement said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1023469.htm

[saigon68]

1. Can someone say Child of Pravda-- Child of Isvestia??

Disgusting

I wonder if they will have Ann Coulter on with commentary?

[kalian]

2. Arab Fox News...or Fox Arab News....

We distort...you comply....

[cosmicdot]

3. of course, Harris Corp. is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida

a crucial electoral state
`````````````````````````````````



Harris Corporation Board of Directors

Thomas A. Dattilo, 51, is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, a manufacturer of tires and automotive products. He joined Cooper in January 1999 as president and chief operating officer and became chairman and chief executive officer in April 2000. Prior to joining Cooper, he held senior positions with Dana Corporation. His most recent position was president of Dana’s sealing products group.

Mr. Dattilo was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in August 2001 and is a member of the Audit Committee, the Business Conduct Committee and the Investment Committee for the Harris Corporation Retirement Plans.

In addition to being on the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company board, he is also a director of the Rubber Manufacturers Association and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Manufacturers Alliance.


Ralph D. DeNunzio, 70, is former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the investment banking firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. Incorporated. Following his retirement from Kidder, Peabody in 1987, he became president of Harbor Point Associates, Inc., a private investment and consulting firm in New York City. Mr. DeNunzio served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the New York Stock Exchange from 1971 to 1972 and as vice chairman from 1969 to 1971. He also served as chairman of the Securities Industry Association for the year 1981.

Mr. DeNunzio was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in October 1973 and is the chairperson of the Audit Committee and a member of the Business Conduct Committee, the Executive and Finance Committee, and the Investment Committee for the Harris Corporation Retirement Plans.

Mr. DeNunzio is also a director of FedEx Corporation and NIKE, Inc.


Joseph L. Dionne, 69, is a retired chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., a publishing and information company. He joined McGraw-Hill as vice president of its book company in 1967, and after a series of management positions was elected president and chief operating officer in 1981, president and chief executive officer in 1983, and chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1988. He retired as chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill in April 1998 and as chairman in December 1999.

Mr. Dionne was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in October 1989 and is the chairperson of the Management Development and Compensation Committee and a member of the Business Conduct Committee, the Corporate Governance Committee and the Executive and Finance Committee.

Mr. Dionne is also a director of AXA Financial Inc., The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, and Ryder System, Inc.

Mr. Dionne is a member of the board of trustees of Hofstra University and Teachers College, Columbia University.


Lewis Hay III, 47, is chairman, president and chief executive officer of FPL Group, Inc. He joined FPL Group in 1999 as chief financial officer and was promoted to president of FPL Energy the following year. He was named president and chief executive officer of FPL Group in June 2000, and he was named chairman in January 2002. Prior to joining FPL, he served as the chief financial officer for U.S. Foodservice from 1991 to 1999. Previously, he was a partner with Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting) where, among other things, he led the firm’s U.S. telecommunications practice.

Mr. Hay was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in February 2002 and is a member of the Audit Committee, the Business Conduct Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee.


Karen Katen, 53, is corporate executive vice president, Pfizer Inc. and president of the global Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group. Ms. Katen joined Pfizer in 1974, following receipt of BA and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago.

Ms. Katen was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in December 1994 and is chairperson of the Business Conduct Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance Committee and the Management Development and Compensation Committee.

Ms. Katen is also a director of General Motors and the International Council of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. She is a member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America, the National Pharmaceutical Council, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China. Ms. Katen is also on the national board of trustees for the American Cancer Society Research Foundation and is trustee for the University of Chicago and is also a council member of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.


Stephen P. Kaufman, 61, is a retired president, chief executive officer and a director of Arrow Electronics, Inc., a distributor of semiconductors, peripherals, and components. He became president and chief operating officer of Arrow in 1985, chief executive officer in 1986, and chairman in 1994. He retired as chief executive officer in June 2000 and reassumed that position in June 2002. In January 2001 Mr. Kaufman was appointed a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School. Prior to joining Arrow, he served in executive capacities with Midland-Ross Corporation.

Mr. Kaufman was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in December 1999, and is a member of the Business Conduct Committee, the Corporate Governance Committee, the Executive and Finance Committee and the Management Development and Compensation Committee.


Howard L. Lance, 47, is president and chief executive officer of Harris Corporation. Before joining Harris in January 2003, Mr. Lance was president of NCR Corporation and chief operating officer of its Retail and Financial Group. Prior to this, he spent 17 years with Emerson Electric Company, where he held increasingly senior management positions with different divisions of the company. In 1999, Mr. Lance was named executive vice president for Emerson’s Electronics and Telecommunications businesses. Earlier, Mr. Lance held sales and marketing positions with the Scott-Fetzer Company and Caterpillar, Inc. where he began his career in an engineering co-op program.

Mr. Lance was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in January 2003. He is a member of the Executive and Finance Committee and the Investment Committee for the Harris Corporation Retirement Plans.

Mr. Lance has a master’s degree in management from the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Bradley University.



David B. Rickard, 56, is executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer of CVS Corporation and CVS Pharmacy, Inc. He has held this position since joining CVS in September 1999. Prior to joining CVS, he was senior vice president and chief financial officer of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corporation from March 1997 to August 1999. Previously, he was executive vice president of International Distillers and Vintners Americas.

Mr. Rickard was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in October 2001 and is a member of the Audit Committee, the Business Conduct Committee and the Executive and Finance Committee.

He is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard Business School.


Dr. James C. Stoffel, 57, is senior vice president, chief technical officer, and director of research and development of Eastman Kodak Company, a film and digital imaging company. He has held this position since 2000. He joined Kodak in 1997 as vice president, director Electronic Imaging Products research and development and became director of research and engineering in 1998. Prior to joining Kodak, he was with Xerox Corporation where he began his career in 1972. His most recent position was vice president, corporate research and technology.

Dr. Stoffel was elected to our Board of Directors in August 2003 and is a member of the Business Conduct Committee and the Management Development and Compensation Committee.

Dr. Stoffel is also a director of NexPress Solutions LLC and is trustee of the George Eastman House museum. He serves on the Advisory Board for Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Notre Dame and on the Executive Committee and Board of the Information Technologies Industries Association.


Gregory T. Swienton, 53, is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ryder System, Inc., a logistics and transportation services company. He joined Ryder in June 1999 as president and chief operating officer, was named chief executive officer in November 2000, and chairman in May 2002. Prior to joining Ryder, he was senior vice president-growth initiatives of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF). He held senior positions with BNSF and the former Burlington Northern Railroad from 1994 to 1999, and various executive and management positions with DHL Worldwide Express from 1982 to 1994.

Mr. Swienton was elected to the Harris Board of Directors in February 2000 and is chairperson of the Investment Committee for the Harris Corporation Retirement Plans and a member of the Audit Committee, the Business Conduct Committee, and the Management Development and Compensation Committee.

In addition to being on the Ryder board, he is also on the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida.


http://www.harris.com/board-of-directors.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Ralph D. DeNunzio name sounded familiar...

Under Reagan administration...

Ralph D. DeNunzio, of Connecticut, to be a Director of the
Securities Investor Protection Corporation for a term expiring
December 31, 1982.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/2000/chapter_txt-19.html

[Just Me]

8. TRACE THE MONEY TREE

Man o' man,...I wish someone or a group had the initiative to create "trace the money" trees for distribution to the media and the public. It would simplify information and explain ALOT to all those who do want to be "significant" as a member of this country.

[arcane1]

5. what does this have to do with Regime Change, Liberation, etc?

isn't media an Iraqi issue, NOT THE AMERICANS?????

[DBoon]

6. SAIC has been running Iraq TV up to this point

See :

http://www.msnbc.com/news/997582.asp?0cv=CB10

Quoting:

After Baghdad fell, the Pentagon sent equipment and media experts from Science Applications International Corp., a U.S. defense contractor whose staff is packed with ex-U.S. military and intelligence officials. SAIC hired 350 Iraqis for the network, which went live May 13.
IMN’s current chief executive, Shameem Rassam, is an SAIC subcontractor and an Iraqi exile who anchored Iraq’s state TV news in the 1960s until fleeing in 1990.


What the hell are these guys doing running the media in Iraq?

[DBoon]

7. more on SAIC and Iraq Media

Found this gem:

Another Pentagon contract calls for SAIC to, in effect, rebuild Iraq's mass media, including television stations, radio stations and newspapers. SAIC runs the "Voice of the New Iraq," the radio station established in April 2003 at Umm Qasr that is funded by the U.S. government.

Just how the company is going about the task of rebuilding Iraq's media and the overall cost remains a mystery, however. The Pentagon has steadfastly refused to release any specific information on SAIC's media reconstruction work, which has been dubbed the Iraqi Media Network. What little information that has leaked out about the SAIC effort has come mainly from disgruntled employees and press freedom advocates, who have charged the company has bungled the job badly. One report said SAIC had ordered equipment that was incompatible with existing systems in Iraq. SAIC, which appears to have little experience in mass media, was also reported to have been caught flat-footed on programming for the reconstructed network. Its initial solution was to enlist Voice of America, the foreign language broadcasting service of the U.S. government, to patch together a short nightly news show made up entirely of dubbed stories from U.S. television network news shows. There have also been widespread complaints from press freedom organizations about the SAIC effort, including charges of military censorship and cronyism


See more at:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&ddlC=51

[pinto]

9. Massive military contractor's media mess (Asia Times) SAIC, Chalabi,etc

WASHINGTON - It is no secret that US defense and construction companies - particularly those with close ties to the administration of President George W Bush - are making a lot of money in the post-war rush for contracts in Iraq.

Less well known is San Diego-based Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC), one of the Pentagon's largest, most lucrative and politically connected contractors. Of the six billion dollars it earned in revenue last year, about two thirds came from the US Treasury, mostly from the defense budget.

SAIC is among the most mysterious and feared of the big 10 defense giants - feared because of its ruthlessness in procuring contracts, says the Washington Post; mysterious, in part because, as an employee-owned company, it does not have to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and because its press officers are notorious for not providing information. Indeed, for this article, SAIC press officers referred all questions to the Pentagon's general press office.

<snip>

SAIC, which specializes in advanced technologies that can be applied to the battlefield, particularly in command and control systems, is now deeply involved in the Pentagon's most important operations in Iraq.

<snip>

"SAIC didn't have any suitable qualification to run a media network," according to Rohan Jayasekera, who has kept an eye on media developments in Iraq for London-based Index on Censorship. "The whole thing was so incredibly badly planned by them that no one could make sense of what they were doing," he said.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH16Ak02.html

[NashVegas]

10. Regardless of Politics

Harris is the go-to company when it comes to the technical side broadcasting logistics.