Above: William Reeve (right) and 

Rageh Omaar in the BBC’s Kabul 

office. 

Right:Taleban officials listening to the 

BBC World Service. 

Review of services: BBC World Service 

40 Annual Report and Accounts 2001/2002 

At times of world conflict the BBC World Service, with its core values of 

accuracy, trust and impartiality, has often found itself playing a crucial role 

for local people caught up in events. Nowhere in recent times has this been 

more true than in Afghanistan in the past year.



Annual Report and Accounts 2001/2002 41 

capt 

Right: BBC World Service provided 

extensive coverage of the Africa Cup 

of Nations. 

Far right:The Nepali section doubled 

its output in response to the murder 

of members of the Nepalese royal 

family. 

Under Taleban rule, with no television and no credible national 

newspapers, radio was the main source of news and 

information. Listening to the BBC’s Pashto and Persian services 

has been a way of life in Afghanistan, and the war-torn 

population tuned in their millions to what is a unique lifeline of 

accurate and independent information in their ravaged country. 

Broadcasts on these key language services and in Arabic, Urdu 

and English were expanded rapidly after 11 September. Shortwave 

transmission power was boosted and an additional 

medium-wave transmitter hired in the region to improve 

distribution.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided 

an additional £2.8million to support the immediate response. 

Within minutes of the first attack on the World Trade Centre, 

the World Service English language service began the longest 

continuous broadcast in its history, lasting more than 40 hours. 

A special edition of its interactive phone-in programme, Talking 

Point, generated 30,000 emails from across the world. 

But the story does not end there.Through the work of the 

World Service Trust, the BBC has played a central role in the 

reconstruction of the media in Afghanistan, including training 

journalists, providing technology support and helping equip new 

radio studios. More than 150 journalists have already received 

training from a team led by William Reeve, previously the BBC 

correspondent in Kabul. 

In recognition of its response to 11 September, the BBC World 

Service won the top Sony Radio Academy 2001 Award, with 

special praise for its outstanding coverage in Afghanistan. Baqer 

Moin, Head of the Persian and Pashto services, also received 

the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s most prestigious 

honour, the Elizabeth R Award, in recognition of the extraordinary 

contribution made by his teams throughout the conflict. 

One of the BBC World Service’s smallest language teams, the 

Nepali section, responded to the dramatic murder of almost 

the entire Nepalese royal family in Kathmandu by doubling its 

output and working round the clock as official government and 

palace sources provided scant information on the shootings. Major 

coverage of the Zimbabwe presidential election was achieved 

despite the fierce reporting restrictions imposed on the BBC. 

The overall global radio audience for the BBC World Service 

fell by three million in the past year, from the record high of 

2001, to 150 million weekly listeners.These figures reflect a 

steep decline in radio consumption in India, where fewer than 

one in four people now listen to any radio. However, the global 

audience figure does not take account of high listening in areas 

like Afghanistan and Somalia, where it is not possible at present 

to carry out comprehensive, reliable audience surveys. 

Nearly 30% of listeners, seven million more than a year ago, 

now access the BBC World Service through the growing 

network of nearly 2,000 local broadcasting station partners 

around the world. Listeners to FM re-broadcasts in the USA 

rose by 25% to their highest level ever, 2.9 million, and in 

Australia they doubled to two million. Both areas saw direct 

short-wave transmissions discontinued or reduced last year 

in response to audiences’ changing listening habits. 

The BBC World Service’s multilingual website achieved dramatic 

year-on-year growth, with usage rising by 92% over the year, and 

was judged the world’s best radio website in the 2001 Webby 

Awards. 

BBC Monitoring, based at Caversham, responded to the 

particularly high demand for fast and accurate global media 

monitoring in the past year. It provided key source material 

in the wake of 11 September for stakeholders including the 

Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence 

and the BBC. Customer satisfaction ratings are at their highest 

level ever. 

Global standing 

BBC World Service won the top 

Sony 2001 Award for its coverage 

of 11 September and Afghanistan 

BBC World Service/World News growth 

in internet traffic 

March 2002 75.3 

March 2001 39.3 

Source: BBC Server logs. 

Million page impressions