The BBC has appointed Razvan Scortea as the Head of its BBC French and BBC Great Lakes language services. His responsibilities include overseeing the managerial and editorial direction of both services including staff located in London, in over 20 African countries, and the websites bbcafrique.com and bbcgreatlakes.com.
BBC in French for Africa – BBC Afrique – broadcasts daily programmes to millions of people in 23 countries across four time zones. BBC Great Lakes broadcasts programmes in Kinyarwanda and Kirundi to audiences in Rwanda, Burundi and neighbouring countries.
Razvan Scortea was previously the Head of BBC Romanian, a position he held for five years. In this role he managed the transfer of most of the live radio output from London to Bucharest, the setting up of a new office in the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, and the launch of several FM relays.
Razvan first joined BBC Romanian in 1991 reporting on stories that reflected a time of great change and upheaval. In the mid-Nineties, Razvan worked on the first BBC television current affairs programme in a vernacular language for Eastern Europe. In 2000 he became an Editor with BBC Romanian and was instrumental in the launching of its website. He later worked with the BBC’s international charity, BBC World Service Trust, on projects that took him to Azerbaijan, Serbia and Turkmenistan. Before joining the BBC, Razvan worked as a translator and reporter in Romania.
(Source: BBC World Service Publicity/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)