the world news of the day to programmes about how to develop a good government.
Some areas, such as Somalia and Yugoslavia, call for lifeline broadcasting, as the most important means of contact with the outside world.
Also, many areas of the world promise to be increasingly unstable in the short and medium term future, and we can expect that there will be a need for increased or new broadcasting in response to sudden and unforseen crises. Given that World Service cannot expect a contingency fund as an element in the Grant in Aid, in the present economic conditions, we will have to construct our annual plans and budgets with a degree of flexibility in mind.
The English Network for the Whole World
Apart from the strategic plans for each region which include regionalised services in English, we have also considered how we can best develop our core worldwide English broadcasts ('mainstream' or 'international network' to distinguish it from the 'alternatives') so as to make them more effective in the years to come.
A key proposal is the creation of a parallel split of the English Service so that the schedule can be heard at the same local time all the year round. We already re-time our vernacular services twice a year to take account of local summer times. In the case of our mainstream English listeners, the apparent time shift of programmes twice a year makes the service uncompetitive, and makes many potential rebroadcasters decide against taking the service.
We also have a plan for a satellite-delivered Global News Service, of 5′ news bulletins for rebroadcasters.
News, News Gathering, Central Supply
The provision of reliable, accurate, up-to-date and unbiased information together with analysis, debate, and expert views, is the core of what World Service does, and on which its reputation depends. Additional monies in the last Triennium settlement plus the internal redeployment of resources have ensured the steady improvement of our news and current affairs output, whether in English or any of our other languages. For instance, we now have more correspondents, stringers and language producers working abroad than ever before. BBC Monitoring, too, has continued to improve and enhance its coverage and consequently its supply of valuable material to editors and producers of all services in Bush House.
We cannot afford to rest on our laurels. The world is more fragmented, more
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