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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service "maintains high standards in its news programmes" ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Governors say


Category: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½; World Service

Date: 13.07.2004
Printable version


ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service had "a year of considerable achievement" and "maintained high standards in its news programmes" during 2003/4 according to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Governors.

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Writing in the introduction to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Annual Review for 2003-2004, issued today, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Governor Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, who has special responsibility for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s international services, said: "2003/4 was a year of considerable achievement for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service.

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"Its successes occurred in the demanding environment of the aftermath of the war in Iraq, and continuing tensions in the Middle East.

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"Covering international conflicts, and their repercussions, with accuracy and depth, against the backdrop of polarised world opinion, is, arguably, the biggest test a broadcaster can face.

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"Over Iraq ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service fully met it. At the same time it continues to improve other aspects of its programmes and distribution – all evidence of an organisation which can respond strongly to short-term tests tests without neglecting the long-term challenges of more competitive broadcasting landscapes."

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The World Service's editorial processes, its programmes and websites were subject to rigorous outside examination by the Governors' World Service and Global News Consultative Group, which includes distinguished journalists, under the chairmanship of Dame Pauline Neville-Jones.

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Speaking about the Governors' World Service and Global News Consultative Group's report, she says: "In times of global conflict, listeners worldwide turn to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service for news, analysis and debate.

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"It expects to face intense scrutiny, and for audiences to measure its news output against the yardsticks of accuracy, timeliness and objectivity. The results were positive. We were satisfied that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service has systems in place to ensure daily editorial rigour.

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"It has maintained high standards in its news programmes, and the studies concluded that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's English and Arabic output, which was examined in detail, was impartial."

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Nigel Chapman, Acting Director, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service, said in his overview of the year: "In an increasingly divided world, our editorial values of impartiality, objectivity and accuracy proved more important than ever.

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"For audiences from the Middle East to the United States, we helped to make sense of events that were often violent and unforeseen.

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"On radio, the increased availability of World Service programmes on FM has been essential to meet fierce competition from local and national stations.

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"By the end of the year, World Service output was being broadcast on FM in 139 capital cities.

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"There was a slight fall in the estimated global radio audience, however, from 150 million to 146 million weekly listeners, largely because it has proved difficult for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to obtain an FM presence in some areas."

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He concluded that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service produced "programmes and services of consistently high quality, which reinforce the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's reputation as the world's leading international broadcaster".

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Highlights of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Annual Review

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Editorial Standards


• The special studies commissioned by the Governors' World Service and Global News Consultative group into journalistic standards concluded that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's editorial processes were robust and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service was impartial.

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• An independent assessment by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) assessed ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service output to the Middle East as balanced. It noted that the output was regarded highly in the Middle East, with high ratings for trust, reliability, objectivity and impartiality.

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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Global reputation – trust and objectivity


• A separate group of surveys of 16 selected markets around the world, including Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and USA, reveals that, according to audiences in each country, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service is the most trusted and objective international broadcaster compared to its main competitors in each market.

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Audiences


• The new global audience estimate indicates a drop of four million radio listeners compared to 2003's global audience estimate of 150 million. This figure takes account of a significant drop in short wave radio listening year-on-year that has been partially offset by a big rise in listening via the higher quality audibility of FM.

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• In Iraq, the launch of FM broadcasts in Baghdad, Basra and other major cities helped to secure a weekly audience of 1.8 million. A more recent survey earlier this year provisionally indicates an increased audience of 3.3 million in the country. It also shows that one in four listen to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service in Baghdad.

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• In the Afghan capital Kabul, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service enjoys a 60 per cent weekly reach.

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• Audiences in the USA increased from 3.9 million to a record 4.7 million in the world's most developed media market. One in five opinion formers in New York and Washington listen each week while the figure in Boston is even higher at nearly one in three.

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• In the UK, 1.3 million are regular listeners to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service programmes, which are now available in a range of digital and cable services.

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New Media


• Monthly page impressions rose from 228 million in March 2003 to 279.3 million a year later, which equates to more than 16 million monthly individual users or five million weekly users.

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HIV/Aids season


• The HIV/Aids season in the two weeks leading up to World Aids Day in December 2003 was the most ambitious project ever attempted by World Service and the first to involve all 43 language services simultaneously. The season was described by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as "an enormous contribution to raising awareness".

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Finance


• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service spent 89.1% of its income on content production and delivery and 10.9% on support functions and overheads.

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• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service achieved efficiency savings of £3.6m.

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World Service Trust


• The Trust, which aims to reduce poverty in developing countries through innovative use of the media, launched new projects in Nigeria, Burma and Cambodia while funding reached a record £10.2m from sources including the UK's Department for International Development.

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Monitoring


• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Monitoring achieved record scores in its annual customer satisfaction survey of stakeholders (FCO, Cabinet Office, MoD and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service), particularly for usefulness, range, selection and responsiveness.

Notes to Editors

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• The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's global audience figures over the last decade were 120 million in 1992, 124m (1993), 130m (1994), 133m (1995), 140m (1996), 143m (1997), 138m (1998), 143m (1999), 151m (2000), 153m (2001), 150m (2002), and 150m (2003).


• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service is funded through Grant-in-Aid from the Foreign Office. The grant for 2003/4 is £220m.


• The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service broadcasts in 43 languages including English. The other languages are: Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Caribbean-English, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, French, Greek, Hausa, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.


• In the UK, World Service in English is available on 648 MW in south eastern England. In addition, overnight on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Wales and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Ulster and via digital radio, digital satellite and the internet.

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The English Network can be heard on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s digital multiplex in the UK, Freeview digital channel 80 or in Europe on the Astra satellite, channel 865.

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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Extra - a new radio service broadcasting in the key languages of Afghanistan and the surrounding region - is available on digital satellite channel 902.


• Outside the UK, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service is available on short wave; on FM in 139 capital cities; and selected programmes are carried on almost 2,000 FM and MW radio stations around the world.


• High quality reception of World Service programmes is available via satellite in Europe and North America.


• The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service website - bbc.co.uk/worldservice - contains extensive, interactive news services available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese for Brazil, Russian, Spanish and Urdu with audiostreaming available in 43 languages.

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It also contains detailed information about World Service broadcasts, schedules and frequencies in all languages.


• The Governors' World Service and Global News Consultative Group is comprised of Dame Pauline Neville-Jones DCMG – ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ International Governor (Chair); Professor Monojit Chatterji – Professor of Applied Economics, University of Dundee; Bill Emmott – Editor, The Economist; Sir Michael Perry – former Chairman, Centrica plc; and William Shawcross – journalist and author.

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Category: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½; World Service

Date: 13.07.2004
Printable version

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