Friday, January 22, 2010

New Creole programme from BBC World Service for Haiti

BBC World Service will launch a special lifeline programme in the Haitian Creole language from Saturday 23 January 2010. This will be the first time the BBC has broadcast in the Haitian national language. This follows other special BBC programming for listeners affected by the Haitian disaster in the French, Spanish and English languages. The new 20-minute daily programme in Creole will contain the latest information about aid and rescue operations, plus messages from people trying to locate family members and other useful, practical information for the survivors of the earthquake.

The new programme will be broadcast between 9.10 and 9.30 Haiti time (14.10 to 14.30 GMT). It will also be available on the Canal Satellite Antilles Caribbean-wide radio and TV satellite network and on bbccaribbean.com. The daily programme will be rebroadcast on six FM relays on the island: Port-au-Prince 89.3 FM; Cap-Haïtien 105.5 FM; Gonaïves 90.5 FM; Las Cayes 106.9 FM; Jacmel 96.9 FM; and Jérémie 92.7 FM. It will also be available on shortwave.

BBC World Service Director, Peter Horrocks, says: "We believe our new service in the Creole language will be a vital source of trusted information to Haitians at this time of crisis, as well as to the rescue and aid teams who are working so hard on the ground. "We have had lots of positive feedback that our broadcasts in English, French and Spanish have been appreciated on the ground." BBC World Service continues to offer special programmes about the crisis in Spanish and English, between 12.00 and 13.00 GMT on shortwave on 11860 kHz (25 MB) and 9410 kHz (31 MB).

The BBC is expecting all the programmes will also be available on the local FM network via the BBC's partner station, Radio Lumiere, when it returns to air. BBC Caribbean - the English-language service for the region - is also supporting audiences in Haiti and the wider region with crucial information. The service's Twitter updates (@bbccaribbean), dedicated to Haiti, as well as coverage of the wider Caribbean and Haitian diaspora reaction to the tragedy, run on the website, bbccaribbean.com. Updates also continue in the regular programme, Caribbean Report.

(BBC World Service International Publicity)

Additional info ....

From this Saturday, 23 January 2010, a BBC Global News multimedia and multilingual team will be based in Miami providing a daily helpline broadcast to the whole of Haiti in Creole. The plan is to broadcast the 20 minute long programme until at least Sunday 7 February. The team will be able to produce output related to Haiti to all other BBC outlets, in radio, TV and online, as needed. We can produce the content in English, French, Creole and Spanish. The daily programme will be rebroadcast on FM by the six relays that Radio France International has in the island. TX time is 09:10 to 09:30 Miami and Haiti time (14:10 to 14:30 GMT). We will be sending the pre-recorded programme to RFI by FTP.

The show will be presented by Carline Faustin and Simone Degraff, who host a Creole language programme in Miami's public radio, WLRN. BBC editorial team comprises producers and reporters from WS radio news, international facing online and BBC Caribbean. Marie-Claire Williams , from BBC Caribbean is a Creole speaker and will provide editorial oversight of the transmission. Henri Astier , from BBC News website will be Editor in Charge. Nick Miles , and Emilio San Pedro from WSNCA will edit the programme. Lisa Robinson , from BBC World Service Trust, will also be working in this project, bringing the WS Trust's experience in broadcasting lifeline programmes to audiences around the world.

The aim is to provide a programme that makes the best information available to the people of Haiti and draws on the material being provided by the UN, the US and others, but also makes a point of drawing on the experience and expertise of the Haitian population.

Americo Martins, Regional Executive Editor, WS Americas, has been instrumental in pulling together all the aspects of the new Creole language programming for Haiti, including building the team.

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