BBC "Calling Iraq" programme well received

Iraqis have responded positively to the "Calling Iraq" radio project, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service Trust (WST), as an honest programme which raised social issues, one year after its programmes started to report on Iraqi needs. "I think overall we have achieved what we planed to do originally. It was to provide educational information and to reflect the points of view of the people living in Iraq," Tim Williams, project director with the BBC, told IRIN from London. The WST launched a series of programmes in April 2003 through the BBC's Arabic Service and focused on the lack of security and health issues that Iraqi people were facing during the recent US war to oust Saddam Hussein. "They were specifically their issues, their own voices, and what the Iraqi community itself is doing for the country, not only the work of the international community," Williams asserted. He explained that a local group of six people were rapidly trained in Baghdad to report for "Calling Iraq", which was transmitted from BBC studios in London. "It was an Iraqi programme for Iraqis. That seems to be what the audience appreciated the most," Williams said. "We were trying to come up with solutions to everyday practical problems and providing them with sources of information where they could go and find people who could help them," he added. However, according to a BBC evaluation report, listeners said the length of the five-minute programmes, broadcast five times a week twice a day, was too short. Many interviewees said the country was lacking an effective police force as most policemen were removed from their post because they were part of the Ba'ath party. "The Americans were not felt to be able to hold the peace, and were often perceived as part of the threat to personal safety," the report said. In addition, respondents also expressed their concerns about the economy and national stability. "There was dismay that many utilities were still under threat, such as electricity, and a related sense that there had not been sufficient planning and forethought given to what a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq would be like," the survey said. Williams expressed his satisfaction and said that the findings were helping them to come up with new ideas on fresh new projects for the Iraqi people. He added that the reporters also deserved more credit. "The audience research doesn't reflect the dedication of the local team, who worked under very difficult circumstances. They were all threatened in their work but they still managed to get the reports and do a very good job," he stressed.