JEDDAH – Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC Global News Division that is responsible for leading the BBC International's news services across radio, television and new media, was at the Saudi Broadcasting Forum in Riyadh on Saturday to give a speech on how the BBC has increased market reach in the Middle East region and the impact of social media. In an interview with Saudi Gazette, Horrocks, who was visiting the Kingdom for the first time, said Saudi Arabia is fascinating because it is unknown to the majority of people in Britain and Europe. He added: “We don't have reporters here so that's one of the issues that we will be discussing here. “We would like Saudi Arabia to be better known for our audience around the world. “Personally, it's fascinating to be here but I want to help open up the country to understand it and appreciate it as well.” So far, BBC has not been able to bring reporters to be based in the Kingdom. Occasionally, reporters come to Saudi Arabia to cover specific stories. He said: “It's very important for us to be able to report accurately and clearly from every country. “Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest and most important countries from which the BBC is unable to report and we would like to change that.” At the Broadcasting Forum, Horrocks' message had very much to do with the need for information and countries to be more open as well as focusing on new media. He said: “The public in the Middle East have more access through social media but the problem with social media is that it could be distorted or one-sided and the BBC believes that it's very important for social media to have high quality news. “So is it better for people in a country like Saudi Arabia to have access to inaccurate and one-sided information through social media or is it better to have access to information from an organization like the BBC?” Giving the speech, Horrocks mentioned 19 year-old Sarah Attar who lined up on the blocks for an 800-meters race at the Olympics and by doing so stepped into history. Saudi women participating in the Games created a positive global reaction. According to Horrocks, Attar is currently on the shortlist for a social media driven vote for Image of the Year at the Peace and Sport Awards to be held in November in Monaco. Horrocks added: “This inclusion of a female athlete from Saudi Arabia is a sign of the way that all societies are increasingly influenced by global public opinion, often fueled through campaigns and pressure via social media. “We treat new media as partners. We apply the same editorial standards with social media and traditional media. “It is a new and a different platform with challenges because of the need for speed, accuracy and the fact that audiences have much more rapid availability of information.” Social media is full of opinions but it can also be inaccurate or just sensationalist and inflammatory. Discussing the recent problems that have been created following the anti-Islam film produced in America and the reactions to it from the US and the Muslim world, Horrocks said the strength of feelings could be seen on social media, inflaming opinion and in some cases encouraging violence. He said: “The BBC believes in using social media and discussion programs with its audiences both in Arabic and English as a way of encouraging tolerance and exchange of different views rather than people going on to the street. “People should be having dialogue and one of the good things about being in Saudi Arabia, which is not well known from the outside, is to have this dialogue.” Horrocks gave a recent example on the Twitter hashtag set by Newsweek magazine to go with their cover article in the aftermath of the anti-Muslim film protests. The hashtag “#muslimrage” was instead taken over by people around the world who then challenged the sentiments implied by the cover story. It means that global or Western news organizations can be challenged as never before. He added: “We called it the anti-Islam film and we made a point that Islam is a religion of peace. We reported that and we talked about how it's inappropriate to use a language to generalize all Muslims. Reflect opinions in a calm way.” Covering the crisis in Syria has been more challenging and difficult than covering the conflict in Libya, for instance. Horrocks explained how the situation of journalists on the ground is very dangerous. He said: “We have been fortunate to have our reporters being brave and going with the Free Syrian Army and rebels and managing to produce vivid accounts from the rebel side. “We have been able to cover both sides to the story but not all the time and in those cases we had to rely on social media. “We also used material being broadcast on state television but then we used our judgment and teams from the Middle East to check whether they were authentic and there have been cases where material posted online, we believe, wasn't accurate.” There are laws in Britain ensuring people do not say denigrating or defamatory things or incite violence. Otherwise, Horrocks said, a broad range of opinions is encouraged in Britain. “Now, that's not the situation in every country in the Middle East but with social media, which is very open and has all sorts of users on there, broadcasting that is tightly controlled is increasingly out of date.” He believes that if broadcasting doesn't make itself more relevant, especially for younger audiences, people will not watch or listen to what is not relevant to them. “In Britain, we do realize for broadcasting to be effective it needs to be independent and able to relate to audiences.”
