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bringing radio and audio to
listeners through digital platforms
as well as more traditional radio.
So when the Ebola outbreak hit
West Africa, we launched special
shortwave radio broadcasts
rounding up news and information
about the disease. My predecessor
described why this was so
important when he said that “lack
of knowledge and myths about the
disease are killing people as surely
as Ebola is”.
We went on to set up a dual-
language emergency service on
messenger platform WhatsApp,
which gained tens of thousands of
subscribers, using text, pictures
and, crucially, short audio clips, to
provide people with public service
information.
POP-UP SUCCESS
This followed our efforts during a
very different kind of crisis in
Thailand, where the military coup
resulted in international
broadcasters, including the BBC,
being taken off air. This prompted
the World Service first to increase
our shortwave English language
broadcasts into the country, and
subsequently to set up a Thai
language ‘pop up’ service on
Facebook, with audio as well as text
and pictures – bringing impartial
and accurate news to a country
which was lacking it.
TRUSTINGUS
None of this, of course, would be
possible without our listeners’ trust.
And this is why we still have such
an important job in a crisis. In an
age of almost limitless information,
audiences need to know whom to
trust – for information that could,
in some cases, literally save their
lives.
So, more than 80 years after our
founding, we are as relevant as
ever – and we are soon set to
reach even more people
worldwide, after a funding boost
from the UK Government which
will enable us to enhance services
in countries including Eritrea and
North Korea.
n
t
Main Image
Devastation in
Kathmandu
Top right
fighting
Ebola inWest
Africa
Bottomright
Aung San Suu Kyi
broadcasting
from the BBC
World Service in
London
Left
soldier on
the streets of
Bangkok
CRISIS & EMERGENCY
|
THE BUSINESS OF RADIO
CELEBRATING RADIO
|
WORLD RADIO DAY 2016
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