15 August 2019
The BBC World Service
has extended output on shortwave radio in Indian-administered Kashmir to
provide reliable news and information.
The
Director of the BBC World Service, Jamie Angus, says: “The provision of
independent and trusted news in places of conflict and tension is one of the
core purposes of the World Service.
"Given
the shutdown of digital services and phone lines in the region, it’s right for
us to try and increase the provision of news on our short wave radio services.
Audiences in both India and Pakistan trust the BBC to speak with an independent
voice, and we know that our reporting through several moments of crisis this
year has been popular and valued by audiences who turn to us when tensions are
highest.”
BBC
News Hindi radio output (9515 and 11995kHz) will be extended by 30 minutes from
Friday 16 August. The full one-hour news programme will be on air from 7.30pm
to 8.30pm local time.
On
Monday 19 August, BBC News Urdu will launch a 15-minute daily programme,
Neemroz. Broadcast at 12.30pm local time on 15310kHz and 13650kHz, the
programme will focus on news coming from Kashmir and the developments around
the issue, and include global news roundup tailored for audiences in Kashmir.
BBC
World Service English broadcasts (11795kHz, 9670kHz, 9580kHz, 7345kHz, 6040kHz)
will be expanded, with the morning programming extended by an hour, ending at
8.30am local time; and the afternoon and evening programming starting an hour
earlier, at 4.30pm local time.
The
shutdown has left people with very few options for accessing news at this time.
However, news services from the BBC continue to be available in the region -
through shortwave radio transmissions in English, Urdu, Hindi, Dari and Pashto.
As well as providing an important source of news to the region, the South Asian
language services have brought added depth to the BBC’s coverage of the Kashmir
story.
The recent
introduction of four new languages services for India - Gujarati, Marathi,
Punjabi and Telugu, following additional investment from the UK Government -
has enabled the BBC to offer a wider portfolio of languages and distribution
methods to a region that is geographically diverse as well as politically
tense. This year’s Global Audience Measure for the BBC showed that India is now
the World Service’s largest market, with a weekly audience of 50m.