Submission from BBC Global News in Japan
and Korea
SUMMARY
— The media market in Japan and South
Korea is highly developed—these countries have led the way
in TV and new media technology.
— Development of the media market in
North Korea has been stifled as radio and TV sets are pre-tuned
to the state-controlled broadcasters and listening to/watching
foreign radio and TV is illegal.
— Television and new media platforms
are the prime means for the BBC to reach audiences in Japan and
South Korea. Very few people listen to short wave radio in these
countries.
— Japan: BBC World television
is available in 2.1 million households and 70,000 hotel rooms.
BBC World Service in English is available on cable throughout
Japan 24/7, and on FM in western Japan.
— Additionally, 128 hours each week
of BBC television news and documentaries are translated into Japanese
and are available in voiceover on BBC World television.
— South Korea: BBC World television
is available in 3.6 million households and 13,000 hotel rooms.
BBC World Service in English is available on FM in Seoul and via
mobile devices and digital TV 24/7 nationally.
— North Korea: There are currently
no opportunities for BBC World or BBC World Service in this country,
and consequently no plans for BBC World Service to start up a
Korean Service.
— BBC World Service and BBC World report
regularly from the region and produce a variety of special programmes
on Japan and Korea.
— North Korea is a high priority for
BBC Monitoring who translate items from the state-controlled radio
and TV channels and produce some 4,000 reports on the country
each year, with particular focus on the ongoing nuclear issue,
inter-Korean and foreign relations. Coverage of Japan and South
Korea focuses on foreign and defence policy, taken mainly from
English-language news agencies in the region.
MEDIA MARKET
OVERVIEW
Japan
Japan's broadcasting scene is advanced and vibrant,
with established public and commercial outlets competing for audiences.
There are five national terrestrial TV companies, including the
public broadcaster NHK which also runs national radio networks.
Most of NHK's funding comes from the licence fees paid by viewers.
Japanese broadcasting is diversifying rapidly.
Many millions of viewers now watch satellite and cable pay-TV
services, including those provided by NHK.
The country has spearheaded high-definition
TV (HDTV), and an NHK channel is dedicated to such transmissions.
Digital terrestrial TV broadcasting is being rolled out.
South Korea
Television is influential and the major terrestrial
networks command the lion's share of viewing and advertising.
Many South Koreans subscribe to digital cable and satellite TV
services.
Since 2000, and Kim Dae-jung's summit in North
Korea, the media have adopted a warmer tone towards the North.
But there have been cases of South Korean journalists being intimidated
for giving favourable coverage to North Korea's communist leadership.
South Korea is at the leading edge of the digital
revolution. It is a trailblazer for high-speed and wireless internet
services and has pioneered the distribution of TV via mobile devices.
North Korea
Radio and TV sets in North Korea are pre-tuned
to government stations that pump out a steady stream of propaganda.
The state has been dubbed the world's worst violator of press
freedom by the media rights body Reporters Without Frontiers.
Ordinary North Koreans caught listening to foreign
broadcasts risk harsh punishments, such as forced labour.
Press outlets and broadcasters—all of
them under direct state control—serve up a menu of flattering
reports about Kim Jong-il and his daily agenda. North Korea's
economic hardships or famines are not reported. However, after
the historic Korean summit in 2000, media outlets toned down their
fierce denunciations of the Seoul government.
North Korea has a minimal presence on the internet.
The web pages of North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, are
hosted by the agency's bureau in Japan.
BBC Output in Japan and Korea
BBC News has offices in Tokyo and Seoul, with
one correspondent based at each office—Chris Hogg in Tokyo
and John Sudworth in Seoul. The newsgathering operation for the
region is co-ordinated by the Asia Pacific hub bureau in Beijing,
a multimedia broadcast and newsgathering unit.
BBC output is available in English across a
number of media platforms, television being the primary method
of reaching audiences in the region. BBC World television also
offers a Japanese translation service.
As described earlier, the broadcasting scene
in Japan and South Korea is highly developed. Although its short
wave broadcasts cover the Far East, including Japan and Korea,
the World Service's short wave audience in these countries is
negligible. BBC World Service has responded to this by creating
local partnerships and making use of new technology opportunities—BBC
World Service in English is delivered via FM, cable, satellite,
digital TV and mobile phones.
As part of the BBC's Global News Division, BBC
World, the BBC's commercial international television news channel,
is able to complement the World Service's offer to Japan and South
Korea with extensive distribution of the TV channel via satellite
and cable.
Full details of BBC output are as follows:
BBC World Service—FM Cocolo, a multilingual
FM radio station based in the World Trade Center in Osaka, carries
BBC World Service programmes The World Today, World Briefing
and Top of the Pops. The station broadcasts to the Kansai
area which includes Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Nara, Shiga, and Wakayama
prefectures. As part of the Megalopolis Radio Network, it covers
more than 65% of Japan's population.
A national cable operator, Usen Corporation,
in Tokyo relays BBC World Service in English 24/7. It is the leading
company in the Japanese domestic cable broadcasting market, boasting
the largest market share.
BBC World Service has no measured audience in
Japan.
Internet—The BBC website in English,
www.bbc.com is available throughout Japan. Data from February
2008 reveals 183,074 unique users in Japan. BBC World Service
radio is available online throughout Japan.
BBC World is available in 2.1 million
households and 70,000 hotel rooms in Japan. Distribution is as
follows:
— 740,000 households via Sky PerfecTV
(direct-to-home satellite);
— 1.1 million households via 120 cable
platforms;
— 220,000 households via CS One-Ten
Company (DTH Satellite);
— 12 million households on a part-time
basis through an arrangement with Chiba TV; and
— 70,000 hotel rooms (265 hotels).
The BBC is keeping abreast of developments in
new modes of multi channel consumption such as mobile, live streaming
and IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) throughout Asia. In Japan
BBC World is streamed 24/7 to the DoCoMo mobile network in
Japan.
BBC World is also working closely with clients
in Japan such as Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Honda, Subaru, Sanyo
and Toyota to develop online advertising campaign activities to
meet the diversified needs of the regional/global audiences.
Japanese—Live Japanese translation
services (128 hours per week of the programming on the channel)
are provided in London and Tokyo, available in voiceover on BBC
World television to over two million households and 70,000 hotel
rooms throughout Japan. Japan is the only market where BBC World
is dubbed into the local language.
BBC World Service radio broadcast in Japanese
between 1943 and 1991. The service was closed down as short wave
audiences in Japan dwindled, and access to free and independent
news and information was readily available. BBC World television
picked up where BBC World Service left off, and has operated its
translation service in Japanese ever since.
South Korea
BBC World Service—Arirang FM in
Seoul takes World Service news programmes and documentaries. The
station is Korea's premier English-language radio station. Targeting
both domestic and international listeners, Arirang Radio provides
useful information on life and culture, weather, traffic and travel,
as well as up-to-the minute domestic and international news.
TU Media in Seoul relays WS in English 24/7
via mobile phones and other portable devices. The Tu Media Corporation
led the way in providing the world's first S-DMB (Satellite Digital
Multimedia Broadcasting) service in May 2005. TU Media provides
its contents through cell phones, car televisions, PDA's (Personal
Digital Assistants), and more recently, launched a car navigation
service, which offers both the latest traffic information and
TV broadcasts along with audio channels. Total subscribers to
TU Media stood at over 1,130,000 throughout South Korea by the
end of March 2007.
In September last year BBC WS in English secured
another 24/7 relay with one of the world's leading digital pay-TV
operators, Skylife, in Seoul. Skylife is the only digital satellite
broadcasting company in Korea. Its nationwide coverage includes
the entire Korean peninsula (including North Korea) with more
than two millions subscribers. Subscribers can also access SkyLife
channels through their mobile phones. Skylife leads the way in
media convergence with its interactive broadcasting services.
BBC World Service has no measured audience in
South Korea.
Internet—The BBC website in English
is available throughout South Korea. Data from February 2008 reveals
56,204 unique users in South Korea. BBC World Service radio is
available online.
BBC World is available in 3.6 million
households and 13,000 hotel rooms in South Korea. It is carried
by more than 40 Pay-TV operators across the country.
In February 2006, BBC World began broadcasting
through Skylife (as described above) in Korea. KT (Korea Telecom)
are major owners (25.4%) of SkyLife and BBC World is also
carried 24/7 on their 3G Mobile service (KTF), which has 1.5 million
subscribers.
Skylife and BBC World have also established
the BBC World English Scholarship which allows students to come
to the UK to study English for one month.
The BBC considers KBS (Korea Broadcasting System—the
main public broadcaster in South Korea) a firm friend in the news
market place and has two long-term relationships on a news level
with the broadcaster. The first is via BBC Worldwide (the commercial
arm of the BBC) which sells domestic BBC news bulletins (6 and
10 o'clock) to KBS. The second is a direct broadcaster-to-broadcaster
relationship with the KBS London bureau for sound material in
BBC domestic network news programmes.
North Korea
BBC World Service is not available in
North Korea as all radios and TVs are only able to receive the
state broadcaster, and it is illegal to listen to or watch any
other channel.
For the same reason, there are currently no
opportunities for BBC World in this country. Recent research
suggests there are 55 TV sets per 1,000 people, all of which are
fixed tuned to the state broadcaster. According to N Korean refugees,
the penalty for watching foreign TV or listening to foreign radio
is "very high".
No data is available for use of the internet
in North Korea. Internet usage is restricted to a limited number
of individuals who are judged to have strong ideological credentials
and on a need to know basis.
Korean—The BBC does not, and never
has, broadcast in Korean. The main reason for this is that the
options for reaching audiences through radio or TV are extremely
limited. It is also very rare for journalists to get visas for
North Korea.
Although most households own a radio, this is
not a straightforward business; a set must be registered with
the local police and the tuning is sealed and regularly checked.
Rumours suggest that cheap unregistered radios are smuggled in
from China and used to receive foreign broadcasts, but this is
extremely risky and a serious "crime against the state".
Mobile phones have also been banned in recent
years—with reports of severe punishments for just owning
a mobile phone, although recent reports have suggested that the
ban is to be lifted shortly.
BBC World Service and BBC World programming on
Japan and Korea
BBC World Service and BBC World provide coverage
of the region across their news programmes. Most recently there
has been extensive coverage of the South Korean elections, the
ongoing nuclear issue in North Korea, the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra's visit to North Korea and the Japanese whaling issue.
BBC World Service's main news and current affairs
programmes include Newshour, The World Today, World Briefing,
Have Your Say and Global Business. BBC World's news and information
programmes include: HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur, Asia Business
Report, World Business Report, Have Your Say (where listeners,
viewers and internet users join up to share views on key international
topics), Click and fast:track.
As well as coverage in these regular programmes,
some examples of recent special packages and programmes on the
region include:
Japan
BBC World Service: In August Tokyo correspondent,
Chris Hogg, investigated energy efficiency in Japanese industries
in Japan Environment. Japan has an impressive record in this area,
and yet a recent report said the country will struggle to meet
its obligations under the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. The report asked what kind of initiatives the Japanese
were putting in place, and what the rest of the world could learn
from them.
In Japan Earthquakes, another package from Chris
Hogg in October, he described how the Japanese have introduced
a warning system to help predict when or where an earthquake will
strike—the first time a whole country has been protected
in this way.
As part of the Culture Shock strand in November,
Virtual Worlds & Collaborative Gaming reported from Tokyo
where the latest collaborative game for the Playstation was revealed.
Sony claim that this is the future of gaming. Players create the
video game from scratch and then hook up with other players online
to create levels, characters and challenges together.
Coming up, a season entitled Made in Japan for
the Culture Shock strand has been commissioned and will be broadcast
shortly on BBC World Service.
BBC World: The Real ... travelogue series
visited Tokyo as one of five keynote destinations: New York, Tokyo,
Paris, Sydney and London, where prominent locals took viewers
to their haunts—and revealed the secrets of each city behind
the bright lights and tourism.
Around The World In 80 Treasures also visited
Japan. It featured the sword of the Samurai warriors and a Japanese
temple and meditation garden.
Korea
BBC World Service: In an Assignment programme
in January entitled South Korea Computer Addiction, Julian
Pettifer investigated the extent of this addiction in Korea, and
asked how the Korean government was persuading young people to
turn off their computer screens. South Korea is the world's most
"wired" country with around 70% of the population hooked
up to a high speed internet connection. Ten people have actually
died after exceptionally long stints in front of the computer
screen.
A news package from John Sudworth on South Korea
Corruption is due to go out in March. Police believe thousands
of people accepted cash to vote for a candidate in the local elections.
The candidate won but is now in jail and those who accepted the
bribe have been asked to turn themselves in. The case shows how
wide scale corruption can flourish in even modern, economically
vibrant Korea. It is also making Korean people ask about democracy.
BBC World: Coming up in May Cooking
In The Danger Zone visits South Korea. The presenter visits
a farm where over 2,000 dogs are raised for their meat. He also
meets "Dr Dogmeat" and hears allegations that dogs are
tortured to death.
FUTURE PLANS
— BBC World Service in English will
continue to explore new media opportunities in Japan and South
Korea.
— BBC World aims to increase distribution
in this growing television news market place.
— There is little potential for BBC
World Service or BBC World distribution in North Korea at present.
— The World Service has discussed the
possibilities of a Korean Service with the FCO a number of times,
but feels that there is currently no prospect of being able to
make any impact. The lack of an adequate delivery platform is
the main reason.
— Short wave is currently the only
feasible option—such a service might reach a few hundred
senior officials (who are likely to understand English and have
access both to satellite TV and the internet anyway) and a small
number of North Korean civilians who are prepared to risk extremely
severe punishment in order to listen to the service. BBC World
Service believes that this represents a poor investment as it
would not be able to make a significant impact.
— There have been some rumours that
a limited mobile network is about to be re-established in North
Korea, but nothing definite has been announced yet. Even if there
were a mobile network, BBC World Service would not have access
to it under the current restraints imposed by the Government.
— BBC World Service will continue to
monitor the situation in North Korea.
BBC MONITORING'S
COVERAGE OF
JAPAN AND
THE KOREAS
BBC Monitoring's Asia-Pacific team, in conjunction
with Monitoring's US partner, the Open Source Centre (OSC), provides
daily coverage of news and current affairs on North and South
Korea and Japan. Drawing on translated material supplied by OSC
bureaux in the region, BBCM selects, edits and publishes reports
online from a wide range of vernacular and English-language media,
including radio and TV, news agencies and print and internet sources.
North Korea
Coverage of North Korea is given high priority
with particular focus on the ongoing nuclear issue, inter-Korean
and foreign relations, and domestic political and economic affairs.
The main sources for news and information are the country's state-run
media in both Korean and English: Korean Central News Agency (KCNA),
Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) radio and Korean Central
Television via Satellite, while reports from South Korean, Japanese
and Chinese sources provide valuable insight and analysis of North
Korean affairs.
In addition, the OSC bureau in the region produces
daily radio and TV programme summaries from North Korean state-run
TV and radio and BBC Monitoring produces a weekly digest of regional
reports and reaction to the latest developments in North Korea
(North Korea Briefing). In 2007, BBCM published a total of 4,409
reports on North Korea.
Japan and South Korea
Coverage of Japan and South Korea consists mainly
of daily reports from English-language news agencies Kyodo and
Yonhap as well as a mixture of vernacular and English-language
print and internet media. Monitoring of the countries' main TV
broadcasters, Japan's NHK TV and South Korea's KBS TV1, is also
carried out by OSC regional bureaux on an ad hoc basis. In addition,
both bureaux produce regular press highlights from Japanese and
South Korean periodicals.
BBC Monitoring's coverage of South Korea and
Japan focuses mainly on foreign and defence policy with particular
emphasis given to relations with China, the US, North Korea and
Europe. Economic policy and political reform are also covered.
In 2007, BBC Monitoring published a total of 2,734 reports on
Japan and 1,693 reports on South Korea.
In addition to the daily online selection of
news highlights for all three countries (Monitoring Select), BBCM
also produces election guides, media behaviour notes and backgrounders
on major news events on an ad hoc basis.
March 2008
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