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Eastward ho!

The debate over the death of newspapers is in vain, says BBC World News head

PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

TAKING STOCK Jon Williams, Editor, World News, BBC, in New Delhi

It was not quite the perfect day to meet this member of Lancashire Cricket Club for the last 25 years. The visiting England cricket team was being drubbed by the Indian players at home. Obviously, our elation was on show.

Sitting under a sunshade overlooking the manicured lawns of The Imperial hotel in New Delhi, the Londoner, Jon Williams, better known as the newly-appointed World News Editor of the British Broadcasting Corporation, though takes us by surprise by asking about the scores. He has got no time to check it yet, he says. "It has been quite a while that I haven't stepped into the Lancashire Club," the pressure of a responsible job sometimes has its downsides, we gather. Starting off his journalistic career as a sports reporter before joining the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1989, Williams' allure for sports though started with football, right at home. "My father was a Liverpool fan and so I was naturally roped in. I later moved on to other sports," he shares.

On his maiden visit to India as the BBC World New Editor, Williams says he is on a familiarisation trip, of not just the issues that concern South Asia but to meet the people who work for him. "Next on my itinerary is Kabul where I will have an audience with President Hamid Karzai. We have just appointed a correspondent there. We are the first news organisation to have a permanent correspondent in Afghanistan," states the former Home News Editor of BBC radio and TV networks. Thereafter, he will set foot in Islamabad. In the changing world order, though China has become an important international power for the western media, Williams will have to take another eastward trip for it.

Not about more but better

Not quite keen on giving exclusive time for news reports from India, besides what is featured in the daily show, "Asia Today" on BBC World, Williams says, "The question is not about giving more time but giving better time. We feel `Asia Today ' covers all-important issues concerning the region. The idea finally is to encourage a global conversation." And so, though there are now so many domestic English news channels here, he thinks there is no reason to feel threatened yet. "We welcome competition. Most Indian channels now show international news too. I am not saying they are doing a bad job of it but a viewer will watch BBC World to get different global perspectives." The credit for accuracy still holds for BBC and its capability to garner "excellent content" from all corners of the world is not to be forgotten, he emphasises. In South Asia reportage, he wants to "draw on the common themes" between the West and the East. Having touched upon all the three popular media of public communication - print, radio and television - Williams but doesn't want to take up the flag for just one medium. "The debate over the death of newspapers is in vain. One reads newspapers for opinions, radio is heard because it can pull apart a story leaf by leaf, and television is finally about showing pictures. No medium can take over the other," he explain. You have to agree.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

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