APPENDIX 7
Memorandum submitted by BBC World Service
FOREIGN POLICY LESSONS OF THE KOSOVO CRISIS:
HOW THE FCO AND THE BBC WORLD SERVICE CAN BEST PROMOTE PEACE AND
STABILITY IN THE REGION
The Committee will be aware that the BBC World
Service has submitted evidence of its activity in the Balkans
during the Kosovo conflict. (See BBC World Service memorandum
of 22 February, in response to FAC Report on Foreign Policy and
Human Rights.)
The following additional evidence gives a summary
of BBC World Service activity in the Balkans in recent years and
outlines how BBC World Service continues to contribute to peace
and stability in the region, with particular reference to the
current situation in Kosovo.
BBC WORLD SERVICE
ACTIVITY DURING
AND POST-KOSOVO
CONFLICT
During the Kosovo crisis, the World Service
extended its broadcasts on radio in all Balkan languages, but
also for the first time made extensive use of the Internet. This
allowed people both inside and outside the crisis area to have
immediate access to the whole range of BBC material, and first
research results demonstrate that it was widely accessed in Serbia
and among diaspora communities—the interactive programme
"Talking Point" received 15,000 emails after its edition
on Kosovo, many from Serbia and Kosovo.
Additionally, the World Service sought to extend
its reach by identifying partnerships with other organisations
to get access to transmitters. This included the "Radio Feral"
project with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America
and Deutsche Welle, which involved sharing transmission time on
an FM transmitter in Bosnia.
The BBC also played a special role in setting
up programming aimed at informing and reuniting refugees. In mid-April
the World Service introduced RadioLink, a programme in Albanian
designed to help reunite refugee families, made in co-operation
with the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva (which provides
the raw information) and the British Red Cross (which funds it).
It consists of two 15-minute transmissions per working day and
is also available via the internet, both in text and in audio,
to increase its impact. Since the need for this programme will
abate with the refugees returning home, it is scheduled to end
in mid-October, after six months.
A number of refugees from Kosovo were given
shelter in Britain by HMG. Most had no or little English. To help
them keep in touch with events, in July the Albanian Section began
making a 10-minute weekly round-up of events, broadcast by a number
of BBC's local radio stations in Britain. This programme will
cease at the end of September, after 13 weeks, as by then the
bulk of the refugees is expected to have returned to Kosovo.
Some refugees have been given shelter in the
Republic of Ireland, and the Irish public service broadcaster,
RTE, rebroadcasts a BBC 30-minute BBC Albanian programme daily
for their benefit.
HOW BBC WORLD
SERVICE CONTINUES
TO CONTRIBUTE
TO PEACE
AND STABILITY
IN THE
REGION
In the long term, the BBC World Service is keen
to participate in the reconstruction effort in the Balkans, both
in the countries most immediately affected (Kosovo itself and
Serbia, when that becomes possible) and in the wider Stability
Pact projects. It is hoped to mount both information and education
programming and to attract funding for these from donors such
as DFID and the EU.
BBC World Service has had considerable experience
of operating in regions where the mission is to rebuild a civil
society, particularly in the Balkans, where it has a long and
influential tradition of involvement—in terms of traditional
broadcasting, of reporting and of training and media development.
Before the collapse of the former Yugoslav federation
during the 1990s, the BBC had for decades broadcast to the region
in Serbo-Croat. With increasing likelihood of conflict and breakdown,
the Serbian and Croatian services were separated into distinct
language services—a step which has to this day not been
taken by Voice of America or Radio Free Europe, and one which
the BBC believes reflects more accurately the realities experienced
by listeners on the ground. In the early 1990s, Albanian was re-introduced,
and Macedonian was started.
More than any other international broadcaster,
the BBC has involved itself—in a sensitive media market—with
the training and development of new generations of journalists.
Its ground-breaking School of Journalism in Sarajevo has been
highly successful, and has served as a model for other training
schools around the globe. The BBC World Service believes that
evidence demonstrates that this training, alongside traditional
broadcasting, is a highly effective way of nurturing in an important
but difficult region the values on which the BBC is itself based—of
objective news, analysis and information and a commitment to the
open airing of different views and perspectives.
INITIATIVES IN
KOSOVO
Special programming: Since August, the Albanian
Section has been broadcasting the Children's Radio School Club
aimed at children deprived of proper educational opportunities
because their schools have been destroyed, are ill-equipped or
who are still refugees, within or outside Kosovo. The broadcasts
combine a daily, structured, educational theme with a local element
directly from the target area including reports from the children
themselves, an element of entertainment and a follow-up activity,
creating motivation and interest in the children's lives. DFID
has provided the funding, initially for three months. The experience
gathered on this project will, we hope, serve as a useful template
in numerous other conflicts in the world where children invariably
suffer.
On-site skills training: The BBC World Service
will be providing intensive journalism skills-training for Kosovar-Albanian
and Serbian journalists to be held at the DFID-funded BBC School
of Broadcast Journalism in Sarajevo. The contract is expected
to be awarded formally before the end of this month and training
will begin as soon as practicable thereafter.
Radio 21: Radio 21 is a project led by a Kosovar-Albanian
journalist, who has sought donor agency support to set up a radio
station rooted in public service ethos and reflecting the independent
voice of Kosovo. The BBC World Service Trust has been contracted
by DFID to help put Radio 21 on air to Kosovo.
The station is run by a small, young team, keen
to learn and enthusiastic to experiment, and BBC World Service
trainers are helping the staff tackle issues with fairness, balance
and impartiality—and to make better sounding radio. The
DFID-funded project will deliver three one-month courses by the
end of the financial year.
The International Rescue Committee is currently
installing facilities to enable Radio 21 to have free 24-hours
a day internet access. Once operational Radio 21 will be able
to deliver all of its output in audio online.
TV21: The BBC World Service Trust has submitted
a proposal to Brussels to help establish independent television
in Pristina, broadcasting to Kosovo. TV21, the television arm
of Radio 21, will require a broad spectrum of journalism, programming
and management training to enable it to be effective and professional.
DFID has indicated that it would be keen to become involved in
TV21 and has said it would wish the Trust to identify and fulfil
the training requirements.
Public Radio & Television: DFID/CHAD (Conflict
and Humanitarian Affairs Dept.) has appointed an independent broadcast
consultant to investigate and identify needs and requirements
to start up a quality public service radio and television network
for Kosovo. The BBC World Service Trust has been named as favoured
training provider if the funding for the operation is approved.
Media in the UK: The FCO has also indicated
that it will be awarding another contract to the Trust to create
and deliver an intensive UK-based media training programme for
journalists from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia
and Romania. It is anticipated that the training delivery of this
project will begin in February 2000.
CONCLUSION:
The role of the media is critical in rebuilding
civic society. It is a reference point for impartial news and
information, carries the viewpoints of all communities and is
key to building peace and stability. The BBC World Service is
proud of its history in aiding communities around the world in
their reconstruction efforts, and is committed to continuing and
building on such activity as a vital part of its core remit.
| 
