Vpro

Vpro or vpro may refer to:

European Union

The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It covers an area of 4,324,782 km², with an estimated population of over 508 million. The EU operates through a system of supranational institutions and intergovernmental-negotiated decisions by the member states. The institutions are: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the Court of Auditors. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.

The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade,agriculture,fisheries, and regional development. The monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002. It is currently composed of 19 member states that use the euro as their legal tender.

VPRO

The VPRO (originally an acronym for Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep, or "Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Corporation") was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current. However, in the 1950s and 1960s it became more (social) liberal than protestant, and while the acronym VPRO was kept, its meaning was dropped. It was the first to show a nude woman on Dutch television, Phil Bloom in 1967, in the Wim T. Schippers show Hoepla. The VPRO is known for producing and broadcasting quality (and sometimes avant-garde) programmes, documentaries and films, the target audience of the VPRO could be considered as mostly highly educated and creative people (e.g. artists, designers, scientists).

VPRO often collaborates with other broadcasting organisations such as WDR, the BBC, and Arte.

Like all Dutch public broadcasters, the VPRO does not have its own dedicated channel.

VPRO was the first broadcaster in the Netherlands to implement, in late 1996, the web content management system MMBase, now in use by major Dutch broadcasters, publishers, educational institutes, and national and local government administrations.

Wall Street

Wall Street is a 0.7-mile-long (1.1 km) street running eight blocks, roughly northwest to southeast, from Broadway to South Street on the East River in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial sector (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or signifying New York-based financial interests.

Anchored by Wall Street, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, and the city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange.

History

Early years

There are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named "de Waal Straat" got its name. A generally accepted version is that the name of the street was derived from an earthen wall on the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement, perhaps to protect against English colonial encroachment or incursions by Native Americans. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons— the Dutch name for a Walloon is Waal. Among the first settlers that embarked on the ship "Nieu Nederlandt" in 1624 were 30 Walloon families. The Dutch word "wal" can be translated as "rampart". However, even some English maps show the name as Waal Straat, and not as Wal Straat.

Backlight (documentary program)

Backlight (Dutch: Tegenlicht) is a documentary television series by Dutch public broadcasting organisation VPRO. The first episode of Backlight was broadcast on 8 September 2002.

The series "aims to grasp the quintessence of prominent trends and developments" in the practice of critical journalism, and tries to improve understanding of the intricate inner workings of our modern society.

The series won the Zilveren Nipkowschijf in 2005. The episode "Lockerbie Revisited" won the Prix Europa in the category TV Current Affairs in 2009. The episode "Money & Speed", made for iPad, won the Golden Eye at the Dutch Design Awards in 2011.

VPRO released four documentaries in 2009 and 2010 under a Creative Commons license using the content distribution feature of the Mininova BitTorrent tracker.

Past editions

Past Backlight episodes are also available online: