Despite wars, most journalists are killed in their own countries and one of the biggest issues emerging is that of impunity."Where journalists are killed no one cares and nothing happens," says Sambrook.A number of practical proposals are emerging: the provision of safe houses for threatened journalists, the provision of hotlines to publicise the disappearance of journalists and creation of a "risk list" highlighting the countries where most journalists are murdered. They range from issues such as the safety of journalists and defending editorial standards, to the role of professional news organisations in an age of bloggers and citizen journalists and how to import more international expertise into the domestic news channels of the BBC.Sambrook is chairing an international committee of inquiry into the safety of journalists: last year was the worst for a decade with at least 63 journalists killed while doing their jobs.Patterns are beginning to emerge. Now the World Service is available there on satellite radio and via the internet and listening figures have risen. "The idea that Americans would be listening to the World Service in short wave is pretty anachronistic," Sambrook points out.This year he is optimistic that BBC World, the English-language television news service, will make its first breakthrough into the crowded American television market - and break even by the end of the decade.In his first 18 months at Bush House there have been many other preoccupations that go beyond the structural changes. In India, for example, listening is increasing in rural areas after a promotional campaign, although for the cities either FM radio or satellite television is a necessity.
"We have to follow the market to an extent, so where short wave is successful, fantastic. We have to recognise it is in decline in a lot of key markets and it gets to a point where you might as well switch it off and find other forms of distribution," he admits.His predecessor Mark Byford caused a fuss when he switched off the North American service. You have to build relationships there," says Sambrook.Perhaps with the Olympics coming up there is room for co-operation in sports production, or maybe the Chinese might be interested in children's television from the BBC, he suggests.Although the new thrust is clearly in television, short-wave radio, the traditional mainstay of the World Service, is far from dead. "China is changing and will liberalise over a period of time and we are not ruling it out.
On a commercial basis if we could find the right partner we would love to have some Hindi TV operations," he adds.Obviously a television channel in China can only be a long-term goal because the World Service cannot even get its internet service accepted in China at the moment. Some could also be streamed over the internet to reduce costs."India is a very tough market but it's also a very big market. Add all its audiences together and the BBC claims a global weekly reach of 190 million people, more than all its rivals."If you put together huge respect and trust in the brand, strength in all three platforms and multilingual expertise, that's an enormous advantage to start with," says Sambrook. "The issue for us is how do we take that forward and clearly part of that is moving into language television."Apart from Arabic, the World Service is already looking at the possibility of a Pashto or Persian television service and Sambrook would like to launch four, five or even six television language channels, a number with private-sector partners. The Russians have just launched a news channel in English and the French have said they are going to launch their channel this year.
Every other week you read of another global news channel in prospect somewhere," says Sambrook. How can the BBC cope?The World Service director believes the BBC has important advantages when facing rivals: trust, expertise in language broadcasting (32 languages survive) and a presence in radio, television and the internet. But Sambrook does not see the new BBC channel competing directly with them.The public service channel will seek to differentiate itself by emphasising BBC values with the hope that the BBC channel will become part of most people's viewing habits in the Middle East."So whereas al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya are regional services reporting the Middle East to the Middle East, we are going to be reporting the world to the Middle East in Arabic and calling on all the BBC's international resources," Sambrook promises.For Sambrook the global news industry is now facing "a huge period of turbulence" having to deal with not just huge stories such as terrorism and the economic rise of Asia but also intense competition from new channels and everything from the activities of bloggers to the rise of citizen journalism."Al-Jazeera is about to launch a 24-hour channel in English. The service will be based mainly in London but new Middle East bureaux will be set up in centres such as Cairo and Dubai.The planned new service is clearly a response to the rise of Arabic 24-hour television news channels such as al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya.
In the first quarter of next year it will become the BBC's first foreign language television service and will be available free-to-air via satellite. It's about a choice," explains Sambrook in the office occupied in the past by broadcasting heavyweights such as John Tusa.When all the radio services were ranked in terms of geo-political importance, the availability of independent information and their reach and impact, the 10 now being closed emerged as a cluster. The BBC and the paymasters of the World Service, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, had to decide whether it was more important to retain the radio services or "really address the issue in the Middle East" and launch Arabic television.Arabic was the first radio language launched by the World Service and the first internet language. Most governments involved said after meeting BBC executives that they were sad to see their services go but understood the reasons.
