Page 24 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

he mainstay of our
audience – 81m in
sub‐Saharan Africa
which is where our
focus lies – is
clearly still radio.
We have strong
services both in English and all the
main languages acrossAfrica ‐ French,
Hausa, Swahili, Somali and also the
languages of Central Africa,
Kinyarwanda and Kurundi. We are
very conscious of the extraordinary
economic development and growth
in media in Africa ‐ people using
TV, FM radio and new platforms,
particularly on mobile. So all our
language services have enhanced
online content and specific mobile
sites.
The element that we added in
2012 are new TV services. In
particular, ʹFocus on Africaʹ in
English which goes out on BBC
World News but is also distributed
to a number of partners in Africa,
and ʹDira Ya Duniaʹ (World compass)
in Swahili which is distributed to
partners in East Africa such as
Tanzaniaʹs Star TV and Kenyaʹs QTV.
We are also developing
bilingual journalism, so the team
producing reports in Swahili will
also produce those reports in
English which means reports with
video content are shared between
the Swahili and English
programmes. Our reporters in
Hausa and French and Somali
languages are also increasingly
appearing on our English output,
whether this is the radio output for
Africa or BBC World News.
Our surveys consistently show
that the BBC is highly trusted on
the continent. We build on that
traditional heritage largely
developed through radio by
investing in new services. Itʹs the
continental, the regional connection
across Africa that the BBC can
provide and Africaʹs relationship
with the world. And we know that
our audiences in Africa want us to
be telling a story about Africa thatʹs
a fully rounded one, that includes
the difficulties that the continent
still faces but also puts more
emphasis on the growth, the
Peter Horrocks joined the BBC as a news
trainee in 1981 – in early 2010 he was
appointed Director of its Global News
division, responsible for leading the BBC's
international news services across radio,
television and new media. 2011 brought the
challenge of covering extraordinary stories
in the Middle East and North Africa and
coping with a reduction in funding and
associated post closures. 2012 brought the
move to a new building, growing audiences
and the launch of a whole range of new
services for Africa. So what's on offer?
T
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