Engaging the Future: The BBC – Global Voice to the World

Michael Hedges April 4, 2007

The world finds its bearings each day from broadcast news. Through radio and television sounds and images, facts and reality are sorted and chosen by billions. Though times are changing broadcast news will continue to inform and educate like no other medium for generations to come. News brands have expanded to meet increasing demand; CNN has global television reach, Al Jazeera is a new force and the BBC lofts above them all.

The BBC exists on a variety of platforms. It is Britain’s primary national public broadcaster, called a national resource by even its strongest critics. It exists on radio, television, the internet and the breadth allowed by technology.

The BBC – through BBC World and BBC World Service – is Britain’s international voice. Its reach is extraordinary, not for the numbers of listeners, viewers or internet surfers. The BBC is a standard-setter, for broadcasting, for journalism.

In a moment of rare fortune several years ago I attended a dinner meeting with businessmen, bankers, entrepreneurs and the young Serbian Minister of Communications. The conversation followed the course prescribed when private sector titans sit around the table with a government minister from a challenged and developing country. We need new laws. We need franchises. We need a clear road.

The young Minister was stoic. No ice was broken. And it was my turn to speak. The meetings’ tone needed change.

I launched into what I call the “now you have an opportunity” speech. Nurtured by the extraordinary legislative marvel of the American Communications Act of 1935, the spirit of Fred Friendly and Ed Murrow and a dash of Marshall McLuhan and Jean Baudrillard it’s a speech that needed the right moment and this was it. I closed – to the great relief of the assembled – with a question: “Sir, what is it you want for your country?”

After a brief pause allowing the translator to catch her breath and a sip of wine he answered simply and succinctly: “Give me the BBC.”

Boris Tadic is now the President of Serbia.

No doubts exist to the global presence of the BBC. Brand surveys regularly show it as one of the top global media brands. Despite cyclical political criticism at home with its funding debate the BBC has the rare and unique qualities beyond mere iconic brands. It is one of the few truly global brands – the Global Voice.

Global Voice – Britain’s Future in International Broadcasting is a small volume of essays recently published about the ever strengthening and changing relationship between public diplomacy and international broadcasting. It also speaks to the new realities – and impact – of global media. The BBC’s Director of Global News Richard Sambrook wrote the introduction. He answered questions from ftm.

Sambrook’s first words of introduction were “Since 9/11…,” opening the conversation about events shaping the world and it’s media.

ftm - In your introduction to the volume Global Voice – and among several of the essays – 9/11 and the war on terror figures prominently in the thinking about international broadcasting and public diplomacy. The BBC and other international broadcasters are investing substantially to engage the Middle East. How would you evaluate that engagement to date?

Richard Sambrook – “The BBC has been broadcasting to the Middle East in Arabic on radio for more than 50 years and, of course, we recognized the need to move into TV in the 1990s. Unfortunately that venture failed when our commercial partners withdrew their support, allowing Al Jazeera and others to launch and dramatically alter the face of broadcasting across the region.

“Now there are many regional Arabic channels. However, the BBC brand is still strong and we believe we can still build a strong position by offering, uniquely, a multimedia offer across radio TV and the internet. Our research show there is a good potential audience for a BBC service that reports the world to the Middle East (rather than just news about the Middle East). So we will be launching Arabic TV in the autumn.

“9/11 was a defining moment for this new decade and century, emphasizing the importance of broadcasting across boundaries and cultures and the value of credible, independent news for audiences everywhere. Without that, there is little hope of building common values.”

Al Jazeera Director General Wadah Khanfar contributed to Global Voice insight into cross-cultural communication. “I would advise newcomers to the field (of international news) to make sure they do not seem to be outsiders peering in at the world in which their intended viewers live,” he wrote. “They should also make sure that their editorial policy is utterly distinct from that of any government. If audiences suspect that a new TV station is just another source of propaganda they willn ot be interested in watching its output.”

ftm - Regarding public diplomacy and international broadcasting what major lesson learned would you hope the diplomatic corps would take more seriously?

Richard Sambrook – “The difficult lesson for governments is that a really strong, credible, trusted broadcasting voice depends upon being editorially independent. The fact that Al Hurra is widely seen as simply a voice of the US administration illustrates the importance of clear independence. That can be frustrating for governments who want to harness the power of broadcasting to support their policies and interests. Fortunately in the UK, we have had successive governments who have clearly recognized and supported that approach, and the success of the BBC World Service on which to build.”

That frustration can clearly be seen in a report published by the American Council on Foreign Relations (March 23, 2007) highlighting the debate over international broadcasting and public diplomacy among US political forces clearly confused by a media world separate from catholic interests.

Bush administration councellor Mark Helmke, quoted in the report, said “(The US) Congress never intended the broadcasting services to be America’s BBC. If the debate in Congress got focused on that, they would lose ‘big time.’ It’s hard enough to fund foreign assistance. Can you see Congress trying to fund an NPR for the world?”

NPR is National Public Radio, a US radio network funded independently, known for that independence and highly criticized by the American right-wing. “Big time” is an expression famously retorted by US Vice President Richard Cheney when President George W. Bush referred publicly to a New York Times reporter as an “ass-hole.”

“While Radio Sawa and Alhurra have challenged the ideologically charged language of local reporting of the Middle East,” writes University of Southern California Professor Nicholas Cull in Global Voice, “by referring to terrorists and suicide bombers rather than freedom fighters and martyrs, critics have questioned whether this is worth the cost of the service.” 

ftm - A bit more than a year ago I was visiting broadcasters in Prague during the week the BBC announced the decision to reallocate its resources – away from the Czech Republic and other new EU Members States. Broadcasters, public and private, were saddened at the very least, telling me that they had lost a journalistic standard-bearer. Is this a heavy-load for you and the rest of Global News to carry?

Richard Sambrook –“ We all have to make hard choices from time to time. Clearly it would be wonderful if we had limitless resources and could do everything we would wish. However, that is never the situation and in assessing priorities it was clear that the Czech Republic, like other parts of Europe, now had wide access to high quality independent news and information, and was politically stable. Therefore it was no longer as high a priority for the kind of services the BBC World Service offers and on which it depended during the cold war. So yes, it was a difficult decision to close 10 European language services, and sad to do so, but we also celebrated their achievements over many decades. And of course BBC news is still available in English on TV, radio and the internet across all of Europe.”

ftm - Another subject mentioned often in Global Voice is user-generated content. Just last week I heard the BBC’s Vicky Taylor speaking to the Eurovision News Group in Yalta on this subject. Disintermediation is a concept explored by post-modernists for much of the last generation – doing away with the middle-man. If user-generated content accomplishes this disintermediation how does a news organization prevent the kind of chaos the Los Angeles Times discovered when it turned its editorial page (on-line) into a Wikipedia? Or…is that just the cost?

Richard Sambrook – “I don’t believe news will be fully disintermediated – I think there will continue to be a strong role for professional journalists and news organizations, but it is changing. We are no longer gatekeepers to information who can say to the audience “sit down at 6 o clock and we’ll tell you what we think you need to know”. Information is now commoditised and widely available. So our role is to add value through analysis, explanation, verification and by reporting from places that aren’t easily covered. We also have to host a conversation about the world, incorporating public views and material alongside what we generate.

“We can maintain that role by having clear editorial values and staying true to them – which is where I think the LA Times went wrong. By allowing the public to play around with their editorial they were undermining the core of what they can offer. It is important to provide a framework and to protect your brand – in the new information world, if you lose your brand, you lose everything.

“I think there is a strong and important future for news and journalism – but it will be different from role we played in the last century. The internet is producing social and technology changes that will profoundly affect what we do. We are only at the start of a long journey!”

ftm - I would like to inquire about Alan Johnston, the BBC / Gaza reporter. At the time I left Geneva this morning (Wednesday) there were no updates on his whereabouts. What do you know?

Richard Sambrook – “It is now over three weeks since Alan disappeared. We have not heard anything since then – no word from his abductors and no demands. We are working closely with the Palestinian authorities and remain hopeful he will eventually be released, but obviously we are increasingly concerned for him.”

ftm - I know that you are involved in the news safety initiative. When one of your own reporters is kidnapped or injured – or worse – what comes to your mind as steps untaken that need greater awareness and action among news gathering organizations?

Richard Sambrook – “The awareness and preparedness for kidnapping or safety in general varies widely between different organizations. Most of the bigger, well resourced, news organizations like the BBC, CNN or Reuters take training and support very seriously and operate on a basis of continual review and learning – best practice if you like. This includes regular training, risk assessment and advice from professional (often ex military) safety teams. Other smaller organizations still sometimes send people into dangerous situations untrained and unprotected. I believe all employers, and all journalists, need to recognize the risks that currently exist and take steps to protect themselves. INSI as an organization exists to offer support and advice to newsgatherers all over the world. Over the last ten years an average of two journalists or support workers have been killed each week. The majority of them were working on crime or corruption stories in their own countries (rather than wars). And two thirds of those killed have been deliberately murdered.”

Global Voice – Britain’s Future in International Broadcasting (2007) is published by Premium Publishing.

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