9th July 1987
BBC
BRITISH BROADCASting corpORATION
PO BOX 76 BUSH HOUSE STRAND LONDON WC2B 4PH
TELEPHONE 01-240 3456 TELEX: 265781 TELEGRAMS AND CABLES: BROADBRIT LONDON TELEX
Mr T R Butchard
Cultural Counsul
British Consulate-General 244 Yong Ful Lu
Shanghai
CHINA
Dear Mr Butchard
You may know that the BBC expects a major improvement in audibility for all its short wave broadcasts to China when the new transmitter in Hong Kong comes on stream at the end of September. To inaugurate what for many will be a 'new' service we are planning an information exercise. Our Managing Director John Tusa will be in Shanghai with Basil Clarke the Head of our Far Eastern Service and Graham Mytton Head of Audience Research from 2 October to 5 October, after giving a press conference and meeting broadcasting colleagues in Peking.
We are still considering what kind of press briefing might be appropriate in Shanghai. We are producing special bi-lingual print covering the output in Mandarin, English, English by Radio and a new element being planned, news in English delivered at a slower speed.
Apart from wishing to make sure that you were aware of these plans I also wondered whether I might have some help and advice from you! I am keen to distribute information about the broadcasts as widely as possible. We shall be emphasising the opportunity to learn English and this suggests that schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions might be natural outlets. We do not wish to get this wrong in any way. Presumably we would need to ask first before sending out literature.
Naturally we are gettinng a good deal of help and advice from Mark Brayne but on this more specialised question I would be grateful for any advice you can give me about how I might compile a mailing list and how approaches ought to be made.
I have wriiten along similiar lines to Mr Marler in Peking.
Yours sincerely
Rreen ver
Eileen Mullen
(Senior International Publicity Officer)