Digital Broadcasters | BBC Arabic | Focus On Workers Rights

Competition between international broadcasters in the Arab world is hotting up with the launch of al-Jazeera English TV Worldwide on November 15.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notes how the BBC Arabic radio service series of debates on major regional issues goes from strength to strength.

The the second series is focusing on Kuwait (broadcasts November 15), Jordan (November 29) and Sudan (December 4,6 and 9). In Kuwait and Jordan the issue is workers' rights. In Sudan, firmly center stage are: the education of women, migration from the countryside to the city, and development and unemployment

The series is a joint initiative of the BBC Trust and BBC Arabic,and supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). BBC Arabic is utilising its radio and TV resources and output, an online presence and the proceedings will also be relayed by state broadcasters in Kuwait and Jordan.

The BBC Arabic service will use phone ins and a studio audience in each of the locales visited.

Interestingly, Sudan which is generally a protagonist voice against the West shows solid respect for BBC broadcasts. It is in Sudan where BBC Arabic takes to the road featuring fthree main topics; the education of women, migration from the countryside to the city and development and unemployment.

The debates take place in Khartoum on December 4, Wad Medani (Dec 6) and Port Sudan (Dec 9).

The debates follow BBC Arabic’s successful five-week "Your future… who decides it?" interactive road show which met 270,000 young people in Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, West Bank and Syria earlier this year.