For the BBC, there's certainly
something about India.
More and more senior executives
are flying in and out of
the country. They are doing
more and more events, increasing
the number of touch points
with consumers.
So it comes as no surprise
that Richard Sambrook,
Director of BBC's Global News
Division was in the country.
It can't be easy being
Sambrook. To Impact, and to
the readers of Impact, what
concerns us is his strategy for
India, and how the BBC will
react to the changes in a bewildering
dynamic market-place.
New channels being launched,
new delivery options, new
technology. Sambrook and his
team have to figure out a strategy
for India - and simultaneously,
for the 270 million
households in over 100 countries
across the world.
We weren't too concerned
about what the Beeb is doing
around the rest of the world,
except, fleetingly, in China.
Sambrook spent some time
talking to Impact's Anant
Rangaswami about his assessment
of the Indian market,
about why the BBC will continue
to be relevant and about
the BBC's (not just BBC
World's) plans for the country.
He's like the brand he represents:
accurate, trustworthy
and impartial.
The first thing to ask is whether you've
seen any Indian English-language news
channels…
I have been watching a lot of the news
channels. One of the reasons for my coming
here is to try understanding exactly, or better,
what's happening in Indian television. It's
extremely rich, very vibrant at the moment,
and clearly, it's very important for me to
watch the competition and understand what's
going on.
What do you think of them? If you
could get a little bit more specific…
I've watched all of them; including Times
Now, CNN, TV18 and so on. I think I need to
understand more about the viewing and the
market for those channels. There's something
about them which is quite similar; a lot of
them have to same format, tickers and financial
information. It seems to me that they are
in very much of the same business market,
young professional market, the way they
deliver information. And I wonder whether
actually the market for news and information
is broader than that. And I think one of the
things BBC World tries to do, is rather than
aim at this young financial professional sector,
is to aim at viewers and audiences with a
sort of broader international interest and
international outlook. So we're aiming at a
rather different market from the one the local
channels are aiming at.
But what is that market? Jeremy's
presentation - a few days ago - on
Globizen: if you look at that hard, and
look at Indian-English channels, they
probably deliver more. They have international
appeal, which is important - for
example, one of them has a Reuters feed,
another's got a CNN feed - they're getting
a window on the world, and yet I'm getting
I'm getting whatever is relevant for
me to talk about in a pub in the
evening…
I think you're getting a small window on the
world; not a very big window on the world. I
think the BBC can bring a number of things.
First of all, the BBC has the biggest global
news gathering network; we obviously have
very strong ethical values which are very well
established, and of course, we have a long tradition
of broadcasting, in India in particular. I
think we bring a great range of coverage there
- which the Indian channels don't match.
I was in Davos two weeks ago, where there
was a very strong delegation from India - it
was one of the country partners for the World
Economic Forum - it was a very impressive
exercise in branding India to the multinational
community. It seems to me that we are at a
very important moment for India; India's
about to expand, or perhaps even explode in
economical and business terms. Part of the
reason for the Globizen survey is to try and
tap into the mindset of the young professional
Indian. I think BBC World, with its outlook
and global reach and expertise can be a bridge
between Indian professionals who are seeking
to make their marks, building their economy,
in a global economy, and the rest of the world;
between India and investors, between India
and the market. BBC World is an international
channel and, with the reputation and the
values that it's got, can be a bridge in a way
that the local channels can't.
Sure, but if you look at it, mine is a generation
where the BBC was the last word
in news and credibility. But now, you
have a generation which has seen homegrown
channels for ten years, and the
BBC does not have the primacy in these
minds.
Complicate that with another truth:
how relevant is English news in India?
It's still such a small piece of the pie,
compared to the rest of it, and within
that, it's going to be segmented into the
BBC viewer and the CNN viewer; and
then you've got the Indian news channels
who've got their reputations for
credibility, and all of them have their
journalistic backgrounds and individual
reputations. Isn't it going to be tougher
and tougher for BBC if one doesn't see
more of India coverage; the truth is,
there's not very much of India.
Firstly, I agree that we need to improve our
coverage of India; that's one of the reasons
why we've invested in a business correspondent
in Mumbai - which is the commercial
capital of the country - or why we've invested
in some special programming and coverage
about India. This week we're having 'Energy
Week', with special coverage about energy
issues in India featuring very prominently in
that. We have 'Call Centre', a documentary
series coming out; we're investing in Indian
programming and newsgathering in a very big
way, so I absolutely acknowledge that it's
important.
But also, the BBC's role isn't to report India
to India; we could never do that as well as a
local channel can. Our role is to report the rest
of the world to India, and India to the rest of
the world; and that's something our global
reach - some 270 million homes around the
world and our global audience of over 60 million
people every week - allows us to do,
which a local channel can't.
