APPENDIX II
SOUTH ASIA REPRIORITISATION AND EDITORIAL
INDEPENDENCE
During 2008 proposals to restructure the Hindi,
Urdu and Nepali services and move part of their production effort
to Delhi, Islamabad and Kathmandu were put forward.
The South Asia restructuring is fundamentally
an editorial plan, and is critically important for the future
of the three services. The BBC is facing tough competition in
the region and it has to keep improving the depth and relevance
of its output in order to "stand-out" in ever more competitive
markets. Moving more production to where the audiences are will
help get a better understanding of what listeners want. The services
will be able to give them more authoritative content and respond
to events more quickly, whilst at the same time building stronger
links with local partners.
This is not a new policy in BBC World Service.
Indeed, overall some 25% of language staff work abroad already,
delivering programmes for their local audiences. Services in Arabic,
Spanish for Latin America, Portuguese for Brazil, Swahili in Kenya,
Hausa in Nigeria, Pashto and Persian in Afghanistan are among
those with a substantial proportion of personnel working in major
bureaux, complementing language staff in London. All of the services
which have used this model have reaped great successes in terms
of creating relevant programming that chimes with local audience
needs.
In addition, in order to meet BBC World Service's
3% savings target, as set by the Treasury, the Hindi, Urdu and
Nepali services need to save about £0.5m over the next three
years, and the alternative to the proposed relocations would be
to reduce output and close posts in London. With the proposed
relocation, there is no reduction in the output and it will be
produced more efficiently by making use of enhanced bureaux in
India, Pakistan and Nepal. Additionally, although posts will close
in London, more will open in the region.
On the issue of BBC World Service's editorial
independence, production teams outside the UK work to exactly
the same editorial guidelines and standards, and the same level
of professionalism, as staff in Bush House. Suggestions that staff
based outside the UK produce substandard output or censor themselves
are misguided.
The BBC has total editorial control over its
programming whether broadcast directly on short wave, on medium
wave, or via third party distribution arrangements. It is at the
core of any agreement with any partner station, and for the relationship
to continue, local partners must accept this, including those
in South Asia. If any attempt was made to interfere with output,
the partnership would cease forthwith.
1 October 2008
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