Around 150 delegates from EBU Member broadcasters gathered in Berlin to vote for their News Committee representatives at the 10th annual News Assembly.

Benoit Balon-Perin (RTBF, Belgium) won the election in a close vote to remain Committee Chair for the following 2-year term. The full list of elected members can be found on the News Committee page.

Elections for the Radio & Journalism Subcommittee were also held. Bernd Hagenkord (Radio Vaticana) was elected Chair and will also sit on the News Committee.

The assembly discussed the EBU's news activities over the last year, which included the completion of the Transition-to-File and FNRMN projects. Over the past 5 years, the cost of the News Exchange has been reduced for Members, while new additions continue to roll out such as the social media verification service and soon to be operational Member-to-Member platform.

EBU Head of News and Events Jeff Dubin said, "The current news strategy is the result of work that has been going on for over a year and half. Our News team has made every effort to ensure that the Eurovision News Exchange remains the cost-effective, efficient service that EBU members have always relied on, while taking advantage of the new technologies available to us."

Presentations and videos to come

An impressive roster of speakers attended this years news assembly. Presentations will be available to members later next week via the News Assembly event page.

Vivian Schiller, Former Head of News at Twitter, urging all of the EBU's members to embrace all of today's social platforms and innovations. "The rules are different for public service journalism. It's more important for you to do a better job engaging audiences. The public's comments matter so be part of the conversation. And use the audience as sources."

As part of the panel on journalism in the post-Snowden era, former MI5 agent Annie Mahon said, "Snowden has confirmed our worst fears - we live in a surveillance panopticon. The good thing is that journalists are catching up, learning how to keep their sources safe."

Professor Hans Rosling delivered his energy-driven, eye-opening take on the refugee crisis, using global data to show how Europe's conflicting approach is creating the problem: "It's like setting up a hospital for everyone, becoming afraid that too many people will come and then building a barbed wire fence around it."

Advocate of the Slow Movement, Carl Honore, made his point that working less means working better, and that slow investigation would lead to more engaging journalism.

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti left the audience in awe with her stunning photos and videos which millions of viewers have seen over social media.