NATIONAL 4 - (Spotlight Weekly)

‘We Are Trying To Bring The South Asian Perspective In Many Ways’— LARRY JAGAN

LARRY JAGAN, Regional News and Current Affairs Editor for Asia and the Pacific Region, was recently in Kathmandu. He spoke to SPOTLIGHT about the BBC world service is priorities in South Asia. Excerpts:

What is the focus of BBC broadcasting in South Asia?

Our main concern is audibility. At the moment 80 percent of our transmission is on short-wave. We are trying to increase the audibility in two ways. One is by putting most of the language broadcasting on the internet. So you can get Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and Nepali on internet. The second way is, by transmitting on local FM stations. In Sri Lanka, Tamil and Sinhala broadcasts are now on local frequency. There is a local frequency here in Nepal. Now we are able to broadcast some of our Urdu feature programs in Pakistan. As yet we are not able to get very much in India. But we are very keen. There is liberalization in FM frequency in India. We are hoping that we will be able to do it in India also. So our main concern really is audibility. In terms of our editorial I would say that we are still the most authoritative source of information — not only in South Asia but also in the world. We are also trying to bring the South Asian perspective in many ways, by developing a net-work of stringers for which I am responsible. We have some 50 local reporters throughout South Asia. So we are hoping that South Asias itself focus on issues rather than the South Asian team in London.

How do you find the response to the BBC Nepali program? Do you have any plans to expand it?

The response to Nepalese program is extremely good. I have been told by ministers, intellectuals and journalists that they listen to the program. One minister said that the BBC programmes are so good that he makes it a point not to listen to, for fear of being influenced by its accuracy. Our reporter here in Kathmandu never editorializes the news. That is very much a part of the BBC approach. So, I think the response has been good. About increasing the length of the program, at the moment we are not looking at it. That may be something we may reconsider in the future. All I can say at the moment is that the Nepali service is here today, and it is not being taken off. Its future is assured.

What are the basic tenets of BBC while covering the news and events?

The first is accuracy. I have often told young producers who join BBC that I would much rather that they are second and right than first and wrong. People remember the BBC for truth rather than scoop. That is something we have to protect. One of the reasons we are respected in the region and the world is our accuracy. For instance, during riots in Mumbai, India, a few years ago, the-then Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao was quoted as saying that "if you want to know what is happening in Mumbai, please tune to the BBC." I think, that was true during the democratic movement here in Nepal. The accuracy of the reporting gives us such position. Other thing is speed which we need to increase. We have news bulletin now every hour. It is no longer the case for reporter to sit back. Other thing is what we call authority. The people do tune to the BBC because they not only get the news but they get it put into the context. They are told what the background to the story is, why is it important and why they should care? The fourth is being objective, fair and sensitive to all points of view. We would never broadcast the story of one point of view only. We leave up to the listeners to make up their mind. If there are four or five parties involved, then we would also report all the points of views.

How do you see the future of radio broadcasting at a time when new media like Internet are fast growing?

I think that the radio is here to stay. When television came on the scene, people predicted the end of radio. Certainly, initially the audiences went down. But, they came back. In fact, more people are listening to radio now than before. It is much accessible these days. The same will be true of the new media development. We see convergence of moving pictures, video clips and texts all available and what is going to be predominant in the end will be audio. It is much quicker and cheaper than the Internet. The audio news is going to be the central to internet. Now listeners can decide which of the reports they want to listen and they can just drag through and listen to the bit that is interesting to them not just the whole half hour that is produced in London. That is going to increase our listenership. It may not mean that every one will be listening the half hour program. But it does mean that we will have far greater reach.