MUMBAI: GroupM Worldwide Chief Digital Officer Rob Norman and Fuel Media Capital co-founder Jon Miller have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of BBC Global News, which owns and operates the BBC?s commercially funded global 24 hour news channel BBC World News and bbc.com/news.
 
Norman and Miller will join the Board of Directors for BBC Global News, which includes the Director of Global News Peter Horrocks and Chief Executive Officer Jim Egan.
 
BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said, "We want BBC Global News to offer international news to audiences in a seamless, integrated way across platforms, which is why Rob and Jon?s expertise in the digital marketplace is so important. We?ve just completed a re-launch of BBC World News from new studios in ?the world?s newsroom? in London and bringing Rob?s and Jon?s experience to the table is another big step forward for our business."

NEW DELHI: After charges last year that its television signals had been blocked, the British Broadcasting Corporation has now said that radio broadcasts of BBC World Service in English are being jammed in China.

"The BBC has received reports that World Service English shortwave frequencies are being jammed in China," the public service broadcaster said, adding that it ?strongly condemns this action which is designed to disrupt audiences? free access to news and information."

"Though it is not possible at this stage to attribute the source of the jamming definitively, the extensive and coordinated efforts are indicative of a well-resourced country such as China," a statement issued in London said.

The BBC said it had experienced jamming of satellite broadcasts over the past two years, and that while shortwave jamming was generally less frequent, it did also affect Persian-language transmissions in Iran.

"The jamming of shortwave transmissions is being timed to cause maximum disruption to BBC World Service English broadcasts in China," said BBC Global News Director Peter Horrocks.

"The deliberate and coordinated efforts by authorities in countries such as China and Iran illustrate the significance and importance of the role the BBC undertakes to provide impartial and accurate information to audiences around the world."

China, which enforces strict restrictions on its domestic media, has been accused by several prominent foreign media of seeking to stop their news reports reaching Chinese audiences.

It is not the first time the BBC had complained of disruption to its services in China, where its website has been consistently blocked. It accused the Chinese authorities of jamming its BBC World News TV channel last year when it broadcast stories regarded as sensitive, such as reports on dissident Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest and sought refuge in the U.S. embassy.

Other foreign broadcasters including U.S. state-funded radio stations Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have also complained of Beijing blocking access to their programs.

The New York Times reported on 30 January that Chinese hackers had been attacking its computer systems while it was working on an investigative report in October last year on the fortune accumulated by relatives of outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.

China is listed at number 173 out of 179 countries on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by campaign group Reporters Without Border.

MUMBAI: Broadcasters and satellite operators condemned the sharp increase in jamming of broadcasts and considered what steps can be taken to address the growing threat of intentional blocking of international broadcasts and internet services.

Industry experts at a conference hosted by the BBC pointed out that Article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights states that individuals should have ?the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers?, but this right is not universally respected.

Satellite owner Eutelsat reports that jamming incidents doubled between 2010 and 2011. The number of incidents has increased threefold from 2011 to 2102. From January 2012 to November 2012, 340 incidents have been recorded. The Middle East-based operator Arabsat has recorded an increase in incidents of deliberate jamming of between 2011 and 2012 of nearly three times. Eutelsat estimates that between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of jamming in 2010 originated in Iran. In 2011, the source was mainly Iran with some interference traced to Syria and Bahrain. This year, most of the interference has been traced to Syria, but jamming also continues in Bahrain and Iran. The current regulatory process offers no direct sanction against countries that allow jamming to originate from within their borders.

Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen said, "The meeting adds more weight to the growing voice of condemnation of pollution of the airwaves and the need for decisive action to combat jamming."

Keynote speaker Jamie Saunders, who is International Cyber Policy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office director, said, ?The FCO is a strong supporter of freedom of expression, and we believe that the existing framework of international human rights law is as equally applicable in the digital environment as it is on the off-line world. Specifically, we believe that efforts to block and suppress broadcasting are wrong and are bound to fail over time: we need to understand what more can be done to address deliberate interference, and what part the Government should play.?

BBC director of global news Peter Horrocks said, ?Satellite jamming is a growing scourge and a threat to the vital flow of free information. Throughout its history the BBC World Service has countered the efforts of jammers, whether on old shortwave or new satellites. We always called on the guile of the best editorial and technical minds to overcome jamming. Today we do that again to help tackle the menace of jamming."

On the internet, BBC Chinese has been blocked in China since its launch in 1999. BBC Persian has been blocked intermittently from 2006 onwards, and routinely since 2009. The BBC has run pilot services with Psiphon (a Canadian corporation that develops advanced censorship circumvention systems and technologies specifically designed to support users in countries where access to the internet is restricted) to deliver content into China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan so that people who want to read BBC news are still able to do so. Over one million pages are viewed weekly through the BBC?s Psiphon web proxies. In a study commissioned by BBC in Iran, 97 per cent of respondents believed that unmonitored and uncensored access to the Internet is a universal right.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Richard Ottaway MP said, ?Gunboat diplomacy is history. Soft power is the future. We live in a globally networked world where human rights abuses cannot hide.?

The International Broadcasting without Barriers Conference brought over 100 delegates from a variety of satellite operators, broadcasters and stakeholders together to consider what political and technical steps can be taken to make the distribution of media less vulnerable to interference. They face the challenge that jamming is becoming more frequent and there is currently no viable technical solution that can protect direct to home broadcast satellites.

MUMBAI: New figures published reveal that the reach of BBC Persian TV has nearly doubled in Iran - rising by 94 per cent from 3.1 million in 2009 to 6.0 million - despite an intensifying campaign of censorship and intimidation by the Iranian authorities.

Overall, global weekly audience estimates for the BBC?s international news services in Iran (including TV and radio) have risen by 85 per cent from 3.9 million in 2009 to 7.2 million, according to an independent research.

The figures reveal that more than one in 10 Iranians now watch BBC Persian TV each week. This rises to more than one in four amongst those with satellite at home (28 per cent).

These figures could be significantly higher if it wasn?t for the persistent and repeated blocking of BBC Persian TV, which returned to the Hotbird satellite of Eutelsat Communications last week, following persistent jamming.

The research also excludes those who come to the BBC Persian website from inside Iran - the Internet is heavily censored and figures are difficult to measure.

In addition, the first ever significant audience survey in Somaliland and Puntland has found that the BBC has its highest reach in any international market ? reaching more than 60 per cent of adults for its radio services.

The BBC also announced a new target to reach 250 million people each week across all its international news services - current reach is at 225 million ? and the ambition to remain the world?s most trusted broadcaster.

The BBC?s director of global news Peter Horrocks said, "These figures are a tremendous tribute to the courage and dedication of BBC Persian journalists in the face of appalling bullying and intimidation by the Iranian authorities. Working for the BBC World Service can be a very hard calling. But our journalists do so in the knowledge that their reporting is trusted, respected and valued by audiences in Iran and by millions around the world. The figures underline how services like BBC Somali are a lifeline for those hungry for impartial news and information. As the BBC World Service turns 80, it reminds us of the strength of our journalism and the importance of our mission to provide balanced frontline reporting."

The new data follows recent research that showed that BBC Arabic TV?s audience has also risen to 24.5 million from 13.5 million - up by more than 80 per cent - as audiences across the Middle East turned to the BBC for accurate and unvarnished news during the Arab Uprising.

Commenting on the BBC World Service turning 80 years old, Horrocks added, ?The BBC will continue to represent the voice of free media where there is no other access to fair and authoritative news - be it because of suppression and persecution of journalists, a growth in state-sponsored media or new technologies disrupting investment in international journalism. Despite the dramatic growth in media, access to independent and high-quality news remains scarce. In many parts of the world, impartial and trusted news is almost becoming an endangered species. A tight financial climate does not mean we need to shrink our ambition - we want to reach more people, deliver greater impact and remain the most trusted broadcaster in world."