Tag Archives: BBC Monitoring

BBC Radio 4: BBC Monitoring’s move from Caversham Park

2 Replies

Caversham Park (Photo source: BBC)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Kris Partridge (G8AUU) who writes:

BBC Monitoring is leaving it’s home of over 70 years and moving to Central London. On BBC Radio 4 yesterday I was listening as I drove home from a ‘Breakfast’ shift, 04h30 – 16h30 local ..!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wqp00

It looks like it will be repeated tomorrow, Saturday, 08.July at 06h07. So via BBC iPlayer radio it should be possible to receive this programme.

Here is a link that will help your readers get the app for both iPhone or Android devices: https://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/radio/download_availability

Programmes are usually available for 30 days after transmission, so if tomorrow’s broadcast is missed …

Enjoy a programme that tells the ‘history’ of BBC Monitoring from WW2, thru the ‘Cold War’ to the present day.

Here also is an additional link of interest https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/login and if you don’t want to register straight away try the ‘preview’ facility https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/?preview=true With the G20 taking place in Hamburg at this time, there will be some interesting commentary there.

Thank you so much for the tip, Kris!

I wish I could have had an opportunity to tour BBC Monitoring prior to the move from Caversham Park. Have any SWLing Post been there?

Spread the radio love

Caversham Park featured on The Fifth Floor

Leave a reply

Many thanks to several SWLing Post readers who shared this excellent radio documentary on the BBC World Service website:

The Fifth Floor: Watching the World

Caversham Park is the home of BBC Monitoring which for over 70 years has been the eyes and ears of the BBC, watching, translating and analysing the world’s media and social media. David Amanor visits the former stately home to meet some of the journalists who’ve witnessed history unfold in their own countries, from the Cold War to the Syrian conflict.

Senior Editors Simona Kralova and Chris Greenway take us back in time to tell the story of how this grand house become a hub for information gathering, from the era of morse code and typewriters to satellites and social media.

Sifting information from misinformation has always been part of the service’s DNA. Ukrainian Vitaliy Shevchenko, Iraqi Mina al-Alami, and Source Manager and morse code man Al Bolton discuss the challenges of sourcing reliable information in the past, and today.

Watching distressing news from home is part of daily life for many journalists. Vesna Stancic from Bosnia, Syrian Lina Shaikhouni and Pinar Sevinclidir from Turkey discuss the personal impact of living the story.

There are also lighter moments to be enjoyed at Caversham, particularly for the musical, including Co-ordinating Editor Tom Mulligan, and Iranians Arash Ahmadi and Mahtab Nikpour, who do a good turn on the guitar, jaws harp and drums when not analysing Iranian politics and tales of chubby Chinese squirrels.

Click here to listen to the radio documentary on the BBC website.

Spread the radio love

“The Threat to the BBC Monitoring Service”

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, who shares his latest post from Medium.com:

Open Source Stupidity: The Threat to the BBC Monitoring Service

Media Network, the weekly communications magazine formerly on Radio Netherlands, is set to return as an independent podcast in 2017, resuming its analysis of international broadcasting.

The first time we visited BBC Monitoring was in August 1989. That broadcast is sitting in the Media Network Vintage Vault. During the previous lifetime of the programme (1980–2000), we worked closely with colleagues from World Broadcasting Information at BBC Monitoring. Search for contributions from Richard Measham and Chris Greenway in the vintage vault of around 450 half-hour programmes.

By way of a prequel to the new series, we asked John Fertaud, who has worked at BBC Monitoring in the past, to analyse and comment on a new UK government report about the future of the service. Here is his analysis.

Click here to read Jonathan’s full post and to listen to his Vintage Vault audio.

Spread the radio love

Foreign Affairs Committee believe “government should fund BBC Monitoring”

1 Reply

(Source: Parliment.UK via Andy Sennitt on PCJ Media’s Facebook Page)

Government should fund BBC Monitoring, not the licence fee payer

bbc-monitoring29 October 2016

It was a mistake to end Government funding for BBC Monitoring in 2013 and that change should be reversed, say MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Report findings

The Foreign Affairs Committee says BBC Monitoring is vital to the FCO’s scrutiny of developing events across the world. Highly valued by the Government, the service translates and analyses news and information from freely available media sources in 100 different languages and covering 150 countries.

Triggered by a shortfall of £4m in funding, the BBC now proposes an extensive restructure of the service, which would mean the closure of 40% of BBC Monitoring posts in the UK and 20% of posts abroad, and relocation of the service from Caversham to London.

The Government is the prime customer for the service. The Foreign Affairs Committee believes Government should restore funding for open source monitoring of media sources overseas, whether they pay BBC Monitoring or carry out the work themselves.

Chair’s comments

Chair of the Committee, Crispin Blunt MP, commented:

“BBC Monitoring is a highly regarded organisation whose work is more important than ever.

These cuts to BBC Monitoring, proposed by the BBC, are simply not in the interest of the UK Government. They will not help the FCO improve its performance in detecting trends and undercurrents overseas that have implications for UK policy – something it notably failed to do in Libya, for instance. Given the vast increase in social media output, this kind of monitoring is more important than ever.

Other countries with similar operations fund them from central Government. The principal benefit of the output of BBC Monitoring is better-informed Government policy, which is why the Government should fund it, not the licence fee payer. It’s notable that in the face of these cuts, government departments are in the process of recreating this capability internally. This should not be necessary and we should be bolstering the work of BBC Monitoring, not cutting it.”

Further information

Spread the radio love

BBC Monitoring: A tour of Caversham Park

1 Reply

HalliDial
(Source: Southgate ARC)

A tour of Caversham Park before it closes – the home of BBC Monitoring – a historical BBC World Service department which has been monitoring some of the world’s most seismic events for 75 years

Caversham Park became the BBC Monitoring Headquarters in 1941 and in light of recent news that, due to a £4million pound funding cut, it’ll be closing its doors for good, Rajan Datar visits the iconic building.

Coordinating Editor, Chris Greenway gives a tour of the building and a sense of its history, while Lina Shaikouni gives a taste of what the service provides today.

Over to You – The Home of BBC Monitoring
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p044jj9h

First broadcast on Saturday, August 20 the podcast should now be available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsn8/episodes/downloads

Spread the radio love

BBC to cut monitoring jobs

Leave a reply

(Image source: BBC)

(Source: The Guardian)

The BBC is cutting almost 100 jobs from its monitoring service as part of a drive to save £4m from the unit’s £13.2m budget by April next year.

The restructure will include the closure of its base in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afganistan, though it will retain an operation in Kabul, and two new bureaux will be opened in Jerusalem and Istanbul.

The unit, which currently employs about 320 staff, will also move its headquarters from Caversham Park, Reading, where it has been based since 1943, to London.

A total of 156 roles will be eliminated and 58 new ones created, leaving a net reduction of 98 positions. About 40% of UK-based staff and around 20% of those based overseas are facing the axe, leaving 99 roles left in the UK.

The unit provides translations and analysis of media from across the world including TV, radio, newspapers, online, and social media, for use by the BBC, government departments and other clients including companies and NGOs.[…]

Click here to read the full article at The Guardian.

Spread the radio love