Byford: will head new department
Closer links are being forged between the BBC’s international news channel and the World Service with the creation of an international news division.
BBC World is being brought under the control of Mark Byford, the current director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded BBC World Service radio, in a new "global news" division that will include the BBC’s international online services.
The corporation’s news department will continue to provide newsgathering, English-language news and current affairs programmes.
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Byford said all services would keep their separate identities but the move would allow "increased editorial co-ordination, collaboration and long-term planning".
The television channel was brought under the BBC’s commercial arm in the Nineties after the Government refused public funding.
Commercial broadcasters will be watching closely as the BBC draws up plans for the new division, which should be up and running by April.
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But Byford said the World Service already had "very sophisticated" procedures to ensure there was no cross subsidy.
By Julie Tomlin
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