the
channel
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13
diaspora communities anywhere in
the world to use the web as a means
of listening to their home language
service.
On television, BBC World, our
commercially financed international
television channel, is of increasing
importance as worldwide audiences
migrate from radio to television. It is
currently available in more than 200m
homes in more than 200 countries and
provides news from a source which
audiences have trusted for the last 70
years. Though constrained by the need
to finance the channel solely from
commercial income, it is undoubtedly
carving out a distinctive role.
The three different services are
available on three different platforms.
But all share the same values of
independence, impartiality, quality,
accuracy, breadth and depth of agenda,
expertise and eye witness reportage.
They also share the purpose set for the
World Service 70 years ago: to make
the BBC the world’s best known and
most respected voice in international
broadcasting and thereby bringing
benefit to Britain.
One seasoned news correspondent hit
the nail on the head with a warning to
a conference of US television
executives. He was concerned by the
lack of serious foreign coverage on
American networks, and accused the
channels of “protecting the mind of the
American people from real contact
with the menacing world that squeezes
in on us”.
This message may sound familiar to
those interested in the debate
surroundingAmerican coverage of last
year’s attacks on the New York and
Washington. But this was no post
September 11 media hand-wringing.
Nor was it in the wake of the GulfWar
or even Vietnam. The warning came
from Edward Murrow of CBS. The
year was 1958.
Murrow’s warning feels more urgent
than ever, 45 years on. There is still
great menace in the world. That
menace is as much to do with
ignorance as evil. It is the BBC’s task
in the years ahead to challenge that
menace - the menace of ignorance.
Mark Byford, head of the BBC’s new
Global News Division, pictured
outside Bush House, home to the
BBC World Service since the 1940s.
Byford is keynote speaker at the AIB
Global Media Business conference -
details on page 24
world broadcasting
intelligence
contacts
The Global Broadcasting Guide from the AIB
the definitive directory of English-language international broadcasting
Available now - order online at
Offering three ways to communicate
your broadcasting needs
:
•
The Broadcaster Directory
- Detailed listing of
Broadcasters and Broadcasting Stations
throughout the Commonwealth
•
Broadcaster Magazine
- Quarterly magazine
keeping you updated on the latest broadcasting
happenings from around the Globe
•
International Conferences
•
African Regional Conference on
Broadcasting and Health , Abuja, Nigeria 22-
23 September 2003
•
General Conference, Nadi, Fiji 16-19 February
2004.
For further information on these topics and
more, contact the CBA at
tel: +44 (0)20 7583 5550
fax: (0)20 7583 5549
Commonwealth Broadcasting
Association
