In an emotive narrative of Reporting Iran: Inside BBC Persian, the reporting of the dramatic and tragic events unfolding in Iran is intertwined with the personal drama and sacrifice by the BBC journalists whose persecution and harassment by Iranian authorities has been the subject of multiple protests by the BBC and the UN. One team member compares the work to puzzles they have to put together to build up an accurate picture of events. The verification process – from confirming the exact locations of the video clips, analysing the officially released video, to talking to eyewitnesses and Nika’s family, to checking the authenticity of the document stating the cause of death – takes the team a few days. Similar forensic work goes into the reporting of the disappearance and death of 16-year-old Nika Shakarami who was among the protesters. BBC journalists can’t be sent to Iran, and in order to report and counter the disinformation, the team checks information to verify events, people, locations and meta-data. Showing the challenges of reporting despite all the attempts by the Iranian government to hide the truth, the documentary zeroes in on the work of the BBC Persian social-media team. As she asks the grieving father about the official report just released, stating the cause of his daughter’s death, the line keeps breaking just as he tries to say what he thinks the truth is. Opening on the day of special reporting marking four weeks following the death of Mahsa Amini – the 22-year-old whose death in police custody has triggered national protest – the documentary shows the work of a presenter who is told while on air that Mahsa’s father is on the line. BBC Persian presenters, reporters and producers talk about the complexities and challenges of carrying out their journalism despite being banned in Iran, and the personal sacrifices they make to do it. The documentary takes viewers into the heart of BBC Persian’s newsroom in London as the team covers the unrest in Iran. It will be broadcast by BBC News and BBC World News TV channels from Saturday, January 14. Produced, directed and filmed by the BBC’s Namak Khoshnaw, Reporting Iran: Inside BBC Persian is available via BBC iPlayer and the BBC News YouTube channel from January 12. The announcement of axing BBC Radio Arabia and Farsi has been met with anger by many political commentators who see it as a vital public service and providing reliable and accountable information to people living in countries where information is often strictly controlled.The documentary takes viewers into the heart of BBC Persian’s newsroom in London as the team covers the unrest in Iran.įor the first time, the BBC has lifted the lid and gone behind the scenes with the BBC News Persian team, showing the work that goes into reporting Iran while the BBC is banned from the country, and the struggle and turmoil faced by staff. ![]() ![]() The government announced a freeze on the licence fee in January, which was seen by critics as an attempt to save the then-prime minister Boris Johnson's job. "While we recognise the BBC must adapt to meet the challenges of a changing media landscape, once again it is workers who are hit by the government's poorly judged political decisions," she said.Ĭhilds also stated that the government's freezing of the licence fee - which pays for BBC World Service - had created the funding squeeze and the need for cuts and that Bectu will mitigate "the needs for any compulsory redundancies", AFP reported. ![]() The head of the broadcasting union Bectu, Philippa Childs, said they were disappointed at the proposed changes, according to AFP. Language services the broadcaster is proposing to move to digital only – joining 11 other language services - are Chinese, Gujarati, Igbo, Indonesian, Pidgin, Urdu, and Yoruba. The move will see radio services in Arabic, Persian, Kyrgyz, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Indonesian, Tamil and Urdu come to an end if the plan is approved by staff and unions. "The World Service will continue to serve audiences during moments of jeopardy and will ensure audiences in countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan have access to vital news services," the BBC stated. They also promised to stand by audiences in moments of need, while emphasising a "compelling case" to expand its digital services, highlighting "the way audiences are accessing news and content is changing".
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