House of Commons - The Work of the BBC World Service 2008-09

The Work of the BBC World Service 2008-09 - Foreign Affairs Committee Contents

4 BBC Persian television

23. In 2006, the Government committed £15 million annual funding to the World Service to support a daily eight-hour Farsi (Persian) television service. This was confirmed in the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 settlement. We have previously welcomed this funding.[28] In preparation for the launch of Persian TV, the BBC World Service predicted a "strong impact" on Iran, and said that based on market and competitor assessment and surveys carried out in Iran it estimated that a national weekly audience of around 8 million was achievable, half a million of which would be based in Tehran.

24. BBC Persian television went on air on 14 January 2009, and is available within a geographical region which includes more than 100 million Persian speakers, in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. In principle, anyone with access to a satellite dish or a cable connection can receive live broadcasts, eight hours a day (though since June 2009 the service has been subjected to attempts by the Iranian Government to block transmissions - see paragraphs 28 and 33 below). Programmes are also available globally 24 hours a day via bbcpersian.com. In oral evidence to the Committee in October 2008, Nigel Chapman indicated the BBC's desire to be the market leader for Persian TV.[29]Results from a limited survey carried out in Tehran shortly after the launch indicated that BBC Persian TV had a weekly audience of 4.5% of adults and that there was a higher level of awareness for BBC Persian television than for Voice of America (VOA) television.[30]

Audiences

25. BBC World Service's target for the channel is to reach at least 8 million weekly viewers in Iran by three years after launch, as part of an overall BBC reach across television, radio and online of 10 million weekly users within three years of launch.[31] There is a potential audience of over 100 million people who speak Farsi.[32] The Service expect the channel to draw significant additional audience outside Iran, and aim to reach 3 to 4 million viewers in Afghanistan as well as amongst the Persian-speaking diaspora in the Gulf and Europe. The total radio audience in Afghanistan (which is a combination of Pashto as well as Farsi/Dari) is about 10 million.[33]

26. While an accurate estimate of the current audience is "difficult", Peter Horrocks told us that he was confident that the Service was meeting the 3 million target.[34] In follow-up evidence he said that "we believe that the audience figure for the channel exceeds the 3 million previously discussed, though he stressed that there is currently no research-based evidence available to support this statement at present.[35] The total figure for viewing and listening was estimated to be in the region of 5 million.[36] The World Service currently only has "incomplete information" in terms of viewer numbers as "audience research in Iran … is a rather difficult activity to carry out".[37] Audience research is currently underway, with figures expected to be available by the next global audience estimate in May 2010.[38]

27. Although BBC Persian's online services have been partially blocked in Iran since 2006, the website has experienced a huge growth in usage since the current protests began. Compared to traffic in May 2009, the number of daily page impressions increased seven-fold to more than 3.6 million in June 2009. The number of visitors to the website has seen a four-fold increase. Online users streaming BBC Persian television through bbcpersian.com have also increased. On 15 June 2009 alone the stream was accessed nearly half a million times online—this is more video requests than in the whole of May. The BBC Persian YouTube channel also showed an increase in usage until the Iranian authorities blocked the site to those within Iran. As a result of the growth in Iran's usage of the BBC's online services, Iran is now second only to the US as the country which accesses live streams of BBC World Service television and radio content the most.

Challenges

28. Despite this success, the launch and maintenance of BBC Persian TV has faced many challenges, not least from the Iranian Government, which, at the time of launch, declared that the channel was "not suitable for the security of the country" and that it would "take the necessary measures with regards to it". Behrouz Afagh told us that while all western media in Iran faces criticism, the BBC is singled out "largely because it is new and it seems to have attracted a very large audience … they are mostly suspicious of the BBC's or UK's intentions".[39] While there were no significant attempts to disrupt output or intimidate people connected with the channel during the first few months of its operation, the situation changed following the presidential election in Iran on 12 June 2009 and the popular protests which followed. Peter Horrocks identified two ways in which BBC Persia faced interference from the authorities: first, the disruption to BBC's journalism on the ground and second, "concerted satellite jamming" which took BBC broadcasters off the air.[40]

29. The BBC World Service and the Persian team itself were never allowed to have journalists in Iran,[41] and on 21 June, Jon Leyne, the BBC's correspondent in Iran, was expelled from the country amid threats of "more stern action". Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East Editor, replaced him temporarily, but was prevented from reporting freely from the streets of Tehran by the tight new controls imposed on foreign journalists. As a result, the BBC no longer has direct journalistic resources on the ground.[42] Peter Horrocks described this situation as being "not ideal" as "first hand reporting is at the heart of what the BBC tries to offer".[43] He confirmed that the BBC hopes to re-establish a permanent correspondent in the near future, and that meanwhile, the Service has a "real commitment" to making sure that it covers a range of views in Iran. The World Service consider this as being as "important for our own principles, as it is for the credibility of the service within the country".[44] During this time, however, the World Service noted that BBC Persian received large amounts of user-generated content during the crisis—up to eight videos per minute at one point—as well as eye-witness accounts via email and over the phone:

With foreign journalists restricted, these reports from BBC Persian's audiences in Iran became a key source of news material for all BBC channels and those of many other broadcasters.[45]

30. From the first day of Iran's Presidential election, held on 12 June 2009, the satellite signal was subjected to "deliberate interference" from within Iran. The Iranian Government blamed the BBC and the Voice of America for stirring up trouble in Iran, and accused the broadcasters of "blatantly commanding riots". It decreed that "any contact with these channels, under any pretext or in any form, means contacting the enemy of the Iranian nation". There have also been threats of "more stern action" against British radio and television networks if they "continued to interfere" in the country's domestic affairs.[46]

31. The World Service has taken several steps to attempt to counter the interference it has experienced since the elections. First, the number of satellites that carry the BBC Persian television service for Farsi-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have been increased. BBC Persian television is now additionally available on the Eutelsat W2M satellite and continues uninterrupted on the Telstar 12 satellite. BBC Persian has also been made available on Nilesat, though this has also been subject to intermittent interference. The satellite operator has traced the interference and has confirmed it is coming from within Iran. This interference is contrary to all international agreements for satellite usage to which Iran is a signatory. On 15 January 2010, the Guardian newspaper reported that the BBC is actively supporting a formal complaint to the International Telecommunication Union about deliberate interference in Iran. The BBC is telling viewers how to adjust their satellite dishes in order to receive programmes via two other satellites that are out of the range of Iranian jamming. Peter Horrocks said the BBC is also exploring options with Eutelsat in order to "give our large audiences in Iran the television news service that they want".[47]

32. Second, the broadcast hours and news programmes were expanded soon after the election. The new schedule included extended news programmes at peak listening times throughout the day. Radio broadcasts were also extended. The World Service said that "it is hoped that by adding more ways to access BBC Persian television, Farsi-speaking audiences can get the high-quality news, analysis and debate they clearly desire". The channel has since reverted to its original schedule, but the BBC has ambitions to extend the hours of the service permanently, if funding permits. Peter Horrocks explained:

The approach that we have taken is that we extended it during the immediate crisis following the disputed election, and provided more hours in that period. We have reverted back to the original eight hours, and we are considering extending those hours as part of the wider reprioritisation that we are currently considering across our whole strategy—looking against other priorities and other services that we may wish to launch. We will look at the effectiveness of extending those hours. There may be ways in which we can do it in quite a cost-effective way, by repeating some of the programmes from the main part of the schedule and having short news updates—we are looking to do that in a cost-effective way—but we have not yet decided whether to commit to that, partly because of the uncertainty about resources more broadly.[48]

33. In January 2010 the Iranian Government prohibited Iranian citizens from having any contact with specified international organisations. The proscribed bodies include the BBC World Service as well as Voice of America and other Farsi-language broadcasters based outside Iran.[49] The Iranian intelligence ministry was reported as commenting that:

Having any relation ... with those groups involved in the soft war [against Iran] is illegal and prohibited. Citizens should be alert to the traps of our enemies and co-operate ... in neutralising the plots of foreigners and conspirators.[50]

It is worth noting that the Iranian Government financed propaganda television channel Press TV faces no comparable restrictions and is able to operate freely in London and the UK.

34. We conclude that the new BBC Persian television service provides an invaluable service to the people of Iran and to other Farsi speakers in the region by supplying an objective news service at this period of great tension. We further conclude that congratulations are due to all the BBC World Service staff involved in launching and delivering this service, despite difficult circumstances and active opposition.

35. We welcome the temporary extension of the service to 24 hours of broadcasting, and regret that this was not able to continue due to financial restraints. We recommend that the provision of a 24-hour BBC Persian service should be a top priority for the World Service in 2009-10. We further recommend that all possible technical expedients should be used to ensure that the Iranian Government's attempts to block their citizens' access to objective news from the BBC does not succeed.

28 Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2007-08, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2006-07, HC 50, para 322 Back

29 Foreign Affairs Committee, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007-08, Q 124 Back

30 Ev 13 Back

31 Q 12 Back

32 Q 11 Back

33 Q 26 Back

34 Qq 7-8 Back

35 Ev 21 Back

36 Q 10 Back

37 Q 6 Back

38 Ev 21 Back

39 Q 18 Back