1. BBC WORLD SERVICE: 2004-05 A YEAR
IN REVIEW
In 2004-05 BBC World Service consolidated its
position as the best known and most respected voice in international
broadcasting
Independent research indicated that its reputation
for trust and objectivity was higher than for any other international
broadcasters in virtually all markets surveyed—including
in Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and USA. Its reputation
also improved in markets in the Islamic world where it suffered
a reverse during and immediately after the Iraq war.
Throughout the year, the range, intensity and
geographical spread of major news stories was unprecedented. As
well as developments in Iraq and the Middle East, there was extensive
news coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Darfur crisis,
the Beslan school siege, the US and Ukrainian elections and the
enlargement of the European Union. BBC World Service produced
some of its strongest-ever news programmes, pioneered the use
of new interactive media and provided enhanced services where
most needed.
AUDIENCES
— BBC World Service's overall audience
figure rose to 149 million weekly listeners, a rise of three million
listeners compared to 2004's estimate of 146 million. This is
the sixth year in succession that BBC World Service has attracted
an audience over 145 million. This equates to over 50% more listeners
than any comparable international broadcaster.
— Listening in the USA increased to
5 million, the highest ever level, up from 4.7 million last year.
One in five opinion formers in New York and Washington listen
each week while the figure in Boston is even higher at over one
in four.
— In India, weekly audiences rose 4.8
million to a total of 16.4 million weekly listeners. The increase
has been due to improvements in Hindi language programming and
to a high-profile series of BBC Hindi road-shows in rural areas
of the country. This is the first increase in a number of years
following a dramatic drop in overall radio listening in India,
as well as a ban by Indian regulators on local FM stations carrying
news from foreign broadcasters. This had resulted in a drop of
over 12 million listeners between 1995 and 2002.
— The weekly audience for the BBC Bengali
Service has risen by 2.6 million to 13 million in the past year.
The growth of the audience to BBC World Service is mostly driven
by the increase in rural listening, and represents a strong recovery
from the audience drop in 2003, particularly in Bangladesh, following
the Iraq war. This latest survey reveals that the vast majority
of those who have ever listened to the BBC—more than 80%—consider
it to be trustworthy.
— Audiences in Indonesia rose by 1.2
million to 4.4 million.
— World Service audiences in the UK
were measured at 1.3 million regular listeners. Programmes are
now more easily available following the growth of digital and
cable services.
— In Nigeria, a Government ban on the
rebroadcasting of foreign broadcasters' news programmes by local
FM stations, imposed in April 2004, has resulted in an overall
drop of 1.5 million listeners in the country. However 20.2 million
Nigerian listeners still tune in every week—17.6 million
in the Hausa language, mostly on shortwave.
Growth of competition had a negative impact
on World Service audiences in some regions:
— Listeners to the BBC Urdu service
in Pakistan fell by 3.2 million to 9.4 million.
— Kenyan audiences to BBC programmes
fell by 2.1 million to an overall total of 4.5 million.
— Listeners to the BBC Swahili service
in Tanzania fell by 1.3 million to an overall total of 10.2 million.
FMS
BBC World Service programmes are now available
in high quality audibility on FM in 146 capital cities (77% of
the world's capitals), up from 139 last year.
IRAQ
Research showed that BBC World Service is the
biggest speech radio station in Iraq. Weekly audiences in the
country increased to 3.3 million (22%) from 1.8 million weekly
listeners (13% of the radio audience) last year—an increase
of 1.5 million. The independent surveys also showed that 43% of
opinion formers in Iraq listen every week.
The BBC's new FM transmitter network in the
country has made a crucial difference in ensuring the World Service
remains competitive—we now have FMs in Baghdad, Mosul and
Irbil, Kirkuk, Al-Nasirya, Basra, Al-Kut, Salahuddin and Al-Amara.
The news bureau in Baghdad gave the organisation
an important edge in reporting from a country that remains difficult
and dangerous to cover. For World Service news teams it complements
the new bureau in Cairo, where a significant amount of programmes
are now made for the Arabic Service.
AFGHANISTAN
Despite limited survey work due to safety considerations,
the BBC attracted 2.8 million listeners in five provinces of Afghanistan—an
increase of 2 million on last year's Kabul only survey. That survey
showed that BBC World Service programmes in Pashto and Persian
had a 60% reach in the Afghan capital.
NEW MEDIA
Monthly page impressions to the BBC's international
news site, including bbcnews.com, increased to 351 million in
August 2005 from 284 million a year previously, an increase of
67 million (for the period of this review, figures were 324 million
in March 2005 from 279 million exactly a year previously—a
rise of 45 million).
In Brazil, online services now attract larger
audiences than radio. BBC World Service is pioneering the introduction
of video content and working closely with key media partners in
that country. In January 2005 the BBC's Brazilian website, bbcbrasil.com,
registered 14.3 million page impressions, up more than 120% in
a year.
Since the period covered by this review, a BBC
Persian Service programme became the first BBC language programme
to be available to audiences via a podcast in August 2005. The
podcast provided listeners with the flexibility to listen to a
15-minute highlight how and when they want to at bbcpersian.com.
FINANCE
In the SR04 settlement, the Government announced
an increase in funding for the World Service of £27 million
over the period 2005-08. The separate bid for an Arabic television
service was supported by the Government, but it said that funding
would need to come from reprioritisation.
BBC World Service will channel all the additional
funds into expanding FM in major cities, strengthening its impact
in the Islamic world, improving interactivity and partnership
development.
In order to maximise the value of new investments,
World Service strives to cover all rising costs from efficiency
gains. In this financial year, BBC World Service achieved efficiency
savings of £4.4 million. The organisation also commenced
a far-reaching reprioritisation exercise, the results of which
are given in the second part of this paper.
GENERAL EDITORIAL
OVERVIEW
BBC World Service continued to report on and
from the Islamic world, including powerful coverage on Iraq—especially
the elections and handover of power—enabled by a strong
presence on the ground, complemented by insightful analysis and
interviews.
The network carried strong coverage of the Afghan
and Iraqi elections, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and other
key stories including developments in Saudi Arabia, the death
of Yasser Arafat—the World Service began broadcasting on
FM in Bethlehem on the day of his death, and the assassination
of the Lebanese prime minister.
Elsewhere, reporting was unparalleled, including
in-depth coverage of the Beslan crisis (for which the World Service
won the News Output Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards), leveraging
editorial coordination and newsgathering strength under difficult
circumstances. There was extra programming across several languages
for the Tsunami disaster and comprehensive coverage of: events
in Darfur; elections in Ukraine, and the USA; the death of Pope
John Paul II; EU enlargement; the Davos summit.
LANDMARK PROGRAMMING
Landmark programmes included The Jigsaw in
Pieces, on diplomacy after the Iraq war; The New Europe,
broadcast across all European languages; and Profit and Loss:
The Story of African Oil.
The World Service played an important role in
the BBC-wide China Week, a week of original and groundbreaking
programmes. The organisation was given unprecedented access inside
the country. There was a high degree of editorial collaboration
across the BBC's Global News Division. Talking Point from Tsinghua
University was carried across all three media—radio, television
and online. Both BBC World and BBC World Service carried the Shanghai
edition of Question Time.
GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS
The World Service continued to expand its interactive
debates on radio and online. Opportunities for users to question
key decision-makers and to exchange views across nations and continents
included a groundbreaking initiative to connect families separated
by the Line of Control dividing Kashmir. For the first time in
years Kashmiris were able to communicate through a video conference
organised and webcast by bbcurdu.com. In May 2004, the Foreign
Secretary took part in Talking Point, an interactive debate
covering Iraq, the wider Middle East and the future of Europe.
BBC World Service interactive websites in Spanish, Russian, Arabic,
Persian and Urdu won awards for excellence.
The Indian Ocean tsunami prompted one of the
largest news efforts ever undertaken by the BBC, with correspondents
deployed on an unprecedented scale. Within hours of the waves
striking, the World Service launched notice boards for missing
people. In five affected regions—India, Maldives, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Indonesia—more than two million people looked
at these pages. BBC World Service received over 25,000 emails,
and several families were reunited with the help of the BBC.
BBC MONITORING
BBC Monitoring continued to provide highly valued
material for stakeholders from areas such as the Middle East,
Darfur, Russia and Ukraine. Pan Arab TV coverage was enhanced,
including a supply of TV feeds to BBC World.
During the Beslan siege, Monitoring helped to
unravel a confused media picture of events. Our Russian teams
in the UK and overseas were able to reveal the widely differing
accounts being given in newspapers and on television, and the
differences between regional and Moscow-based media.
The benefit of following events over a long
period was demonstrated by the tremendous expertise and analysis
applied to explaining Ukraine's "Orange Revolution".
This year also saw the conclusion of the Cabinet
Office-led Review of BBC Monitoring. The BBC welcomed the outcome
of the review, and its endorsement of the role and value of BBC
Monitoring as a national and international resource of information
on the media.
The BBC believes that the new Funding and Governance
regime is a positive development, providing a framework within
which Stakeholders can join with BBC Monitoring to concentrate
on strategic developments, rather than on short-term funding issues.
The stability afforded by the Review outcome
will enable BBC Monitoring to focus on meeting the challenges
of operating in a rapidly evolving global media environment. In
addition, the Review provides a firm foundation for the future
of BBC Monitoring's long term partnership with the US-based FBIS.
BBC Monitoring is now working with the Cabinet
Office and others to establish the new Funding and Governance
Regime. It is also examining how to remove £2 million pa
from its annual costs by March 2007—a consequence of the
funding settlement agreed between the Stakeholders being lower
than that recommended by the Review.
BBC Monitoring believes that 50-80 net job cuts
(10-16%) will arise as a consequence of the funding profile in
the later years of the five year settlement. There will be some
changes, but BBC Monitoring estimates that coverage and services
will be broadly maintained.
BBC WORLD SERVICE
TRUST
The World Service Trust had a good year, with
income of over £13 million in 2004-05.
The Trust continues its work on various projects
around the globe: Southern Iraq's first regional broadcaster,
Al Mirbad, developed from scratch by the Trust, began broadcasting
in June; the Trust's FCO-funded Media Dialogues programme in the
Middle East and North Africa is addressing training needs of journalists.
A major new TV drama—Taste of Life—is spearheading
the Trust's mass media health campaign in Cambodia. The first
Burmese-language soap opera Thabyegone Ywa (Eugenia Tree Village),
addressing health issues, celebrated its 100th episode.
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