#VOJ10: BBC helps creates 'respect' for UK, says its director of global news

The BBC helps creates the "strongest level of respect for the UK," its director of global news told a BBC College of Journalism/Polis conference today. 

Eighty per cent of audience members think the BBC makes them think of the UK more positively, Peter Horrocks said.
 
The BBC would be using that fact to make its case to the new coalition government, Horrocks said, when asked by an audience member, media lecturer John Mair, about potential cuts in funding at the corporation.

"Of course we are going to be, as with every other part of the public sector, having to make sure that we argue the case for our cost effectiveness."

The government has emphasised the importance of Britain "projecting itself", Horrocks said. The corporation will be "making the case for the cost effectiveness of what the BBC does," he said.

..."[T]he figures that I quoted in terms of respect for Britain, that same research shows that the BBC is way out ahead of other aspects of the UK," Horrocks said.

His presentation had ended with the corporation's motto on its coat of arms: "Nation shall speak peace unto nation".

As for Horrocks' broader message, it's not the first time the BBC director of Global News has talked about leaving "fortress" journalism behind, but he used today's speech at the Polis/BBC College of Journalism Value of Journalism event, to reinforce his vision for "networked" news.

As he recently explained in an interview with Journalism.co.uk, the aim behind the management restructure is to bring about a more global operation, both editorially and organisationally.

This, he told #VOJ10 participants today, was part of a three-fold network approach: BBC journalists working together more effectively and in "real-time"; by increasingly engaging with the audience; and then with external media partners.

While he believes that fortress institutions of old provide "enormous strength and comfort" and the  "principles and values of those organisations need to continue," he also said that the BBC needed to become  more "porous and open as an organisation".

Describing the logic and scope of the recent SuperPower project, which brought together different language services, he said: "What we're now trying to do is weave that approach into our everyday journalism".

So, for example, Google Translate can be used, as it is in the BBC's World Cup project. This he said, was designed to to encourage people to have conversations with each other about what might happen in the tournament - but in different languages.

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