Internet provides more options for BBC, NATION

The Nation (Thailand)
04-02-1999
Pana Janviroj talks to visiting BBC World Service CEO Mark Byford.

Do you listen to the BBC World Service?

The answer is usually ''like to'', but when and where.

Some people say the Internet has arrived just in time to give the
world's largest news gatherer a boost amid the fast changing information
scene.

''We'll have more distribution options, be more interactive and our
audio service will soon carry text as well,'' said BBC World Service CEO
Mark Byford.

The BBC World Service today serves an estimated 143 million listeners
a week in 40 languages worldwide.

Byford was in Bangkok on Wednesday to open the new BBC Bangkok Bureau
in the Maneeya Building. He also met Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai -- a
loyal listener -- and held talks with top officials of the Public Relations
Department and the Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand.

The BBC is consolidating its regional operations with Bangkok chosen
as its hub. It has moved its Southeast Asian correspondent's post here
from Singapore along with a producer. The BBC's Burmese and Vietnamese
sections plan to join their Thai colleagues and base their producers in
the same office.

Aside from the geographical suitability, the BBC said technological
development has made basing staff ''in the field'' increasingly effective.
It is a desirable way to report the region in all relevant languages including
English.

The BBC has an estimated audience of 61 million in the Asia-Pacific
region where it broadcasts in Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Hindi, Indonesian,
Mandarin, Nepali, Sinhala, Tamil, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese.

The BBC's Thai Service, which celebrates its 58th anniversary this
month, has an estimated 200,000 listeners a week, while another 100,000
tune into its 24-hour English service in Thailand.

''We're expanding,'' said Byford, playing down recent press reports in
the United Kingdom of a budget squeeze affecting the Arabic and Thai services.
He preferred to term the squeeze as an ongoing ''efficiency'' drive.

The number of staff producing the Thai programme in London has
recently been cut from 13 to 11. But the Thai service is now available
not just twice daily, but on demand 24-hours-a-day over the Internet.

Byford was uncompromising when it came to commercialism, saying the
BBC World Service, unlike BBC World Television, would remain commercial
free as a guarantee of independent and impartial reporting.

The BBC's impartiality is guaranteed by a direct grant from the
British government, he said.

Byford refuted claims that more democracy meant less listeners, saying
that not only did the BBC's worldwide audience expand by 5 million last
year, but its also increased the number of its listeners in the United
States, India Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique.

''It appears that our audiences has increased because of rising
interest in global issues. Our listeners have also become segmented, and
groups are better served with advanced technology,'' he said.

Byford said television and personal computers had provided a wider
range of opportunities for the media, but stressed that they would never
replace radio as the major medium for news broadcasts.

The BBC is targeting an audience of 300 million, while 12 of its
language services will be presented in a multimedia format, both text and
audio, by 2002.

The BBC will also introduce two continuous streams of English
programming -- 24-hour news and general programmes. In addition, more FM
frequencies for the BBC's World Service will be sought, with the institution
hoping to broadcast in all of the world's capital cities within five years.

The BBC World Service in Thai is broadcast at 6.30-7.00 am and 7.30-
8.00 pm through the following frequencies: Greater Bangkok and surrounding
provinces; FM97, FM92, AM837, AM981, AM1161, and AM1143. In Chiang Mai
FM100; Khon Kaen, Kalasin and Chaiyapoom FM103; Mahasarakham, Roi-et and
Buriram FM102.25; Phitsanulok, Pichit and Kampangpetch FM107.25; Had Yai,
Satun and Pattalung FM88; Trang, Krabi and Nakorn Si-Thammarat FM91.25;
Pattani and Yala FM107.25; and Nong Khai 90.50.



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