Changing Practices in International Broadcasting The BBC World Service Example

Abstract

Looking at the history of international broadcasting, one can observe that governments utilised international media as an element of public diplomacy as early as 1930s. Some of the first examples are seen at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) World Service, which runs a Turkish Service since 1939. This research examines the factors that impact on international broadcasting and takes the BBC World Service as an example. It focuses on its Turkish Section in order to consider the changing practices at its language services and explore the influence of the issues such as public diplomacy, technological advances and economic policies on these language services. The BBC World Service and the Turkish section are chosen because they constitute one of the first examples of international broadcasting efforts. The findings are based on data that were collected via in-depth interviews conducted with editors and producers in 2011 at the World Service Central Newsroom and the Turkish Service. This research was funded by TUBITAK (the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey) post-doctoral study abroad bursary, at the Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster in London, where the researcher was based as a visiting scholar.