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WS02: Letter from
Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC World Service
I am
writing now to let you know about changes to two of our language services BBC Afrique (the
BBC's French for Africa service) and the
Turkish Service. These are changes
arising from service reviews carried out earlier in 2009 in order to meet the
savings targets set for the BBC World Service by the government in the last
public spending review.
BBC Afrique
We
have decided to relocate a significant part of BBC Afrique's
production effort from London to Dakar in Senegal,
where we will establish a new office equipped with modern studios and
transmission facilities. The aim of the
proposal is to increase our presence in the heart of this fast-emerging media
market and greatly improve our service to our audiences in the region, which
will also create new opportunities for staff.
This
will enable the service to expand its output by 25%-from less than four hours
daily to five hours, allowing us to hit peak audience times throughout francophone
Africa and to modernise and restructure our
programme schedule. We expect these
schedule changes will come into effect from early December 2009.
This
development follows similar changes in BBC Hausa and BBC Swahili, which have
delivered significant increases in audience impact for both services.
Production
effort in London will be reduced, which will
involve the closure of around 15 posts in London
and the creation of 18 posts in Dakar. The team in London will continue to produce live output
and ensure a crucial editorial link to the rest of the BBC. We intend to take all reasonable steps to
ensure that this process is achieved in a voluntary manner.
The
move will enable the service to achieve efficiency savings which are required
across World Service, within the context of the difficult financial backdrop
which affects many companies worldwide, including the BBC.
BBC Turkish Service
As you
may be aware, the Turkish Service has been developing into a multi-media
operation over the last few years, and as a result, we have announced some
staffing and operational changes.
The
introduction of a TV programme, Dunya Gundemi broadcast in Turkey by partner NTV was an
important initiative, which has made a major contribution to the recent increase
(almost 4%) in the overall Turkish audience.
At the same time, BBC Turkish has developed its online service and usage
has almost tripled in the past three years.
The online service has gained a distinct audience not reached via
broadcast media.
The changes,
designed to support and develop the multi-media operation further, include the
creation of two posts. We will also
strengthen our newsgathering presence in Turkey and coverage of Turkish
affairs. To achieve these new
investments and the savings required, the Turkish Service will be closing four
posts, resulting in a net loss of two posts.
The BBC will, as always, look at ways of implementing any redundancies
on a voluntary basis, and will do its best to redeploy people within the
organisation where possible.
We
will also discontinue BBC Turkish broadcasts on short wave. Recent audience research produced no
measurable figure for SW listening-our online offer has effectively replaced SW
as the most effective direct way to reach audiences.
I believe
the above changes will strengthen our services to audiences in Africa and Turkey, raise
the quality of our output and increase the overall impact of both of these
important language services.
If you
would like more details, or have any questions on our plans for BBC Afrique and the BBC's Turkish Service, please do get in
touch.
21 May 2009
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