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With the launch of Persian television and major multimedia developments, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service extended its reach while maintaining the highest standards of journalism in some of the world's toughest news environments.

It is a great privilege for me to present the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service Annual Review for 2008/09. It's a year that ended with the departure of Director Nigel Chapman at the end of February, and the arrival of his successor, Peter Horrocks, who joined us at the start of the business year for 2009/10.

Nigel Chapman championed the move into television and Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service's expansion as a multimedia broadcaster, with the biggest audience it has ever had.

During the past year he was at the helm for the historic launch of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Persian's television channel, the growth of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Arabic television into a full 24-hour operation, and online and mobile developments that have laid the foundations for future success.

Our traditional editorial values of strong journalism, independence, authority and impartiality served us well in a very competitive environment. Services in all languages met the needs of audiences for accurate, impartial information and debate.

There was outstanding coverage of international events, from the violence in Gaza, Georgia and Mumbai to the meltdown in the global economy and the start of a new era in American politics. It demonstrated once again that the commitment of our reporters and correspondents underpins everything we do.

That commitment, which so often takes reporters into danger zones, reinforces the need to protect free and independent journalism.

Sadly, the deaths of two Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú reporters in the past year are a reminder that we can never eliminate the risks of reporting from some of the toughest and most unstable places on earth, no matter how hard we try.

Nasteh Dahir Faraah, who also worked for Associated Press, was shot dead in Somalia. Abdul Samad Rohani was murdered in Helmand province in Afghanistan. In Bangladesh, a road accident claimed the life of Mohammad Saiful Islam, who was on work experience with Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Bengali. We pay tribute to them.

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Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service reaches a record global weekly radio, television and online audience of 188 million.

This is the highest audience ever for Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service and, including as it does new television and expanded online audiences, is a strong validation of our multiplatform strategy.

The figures demonstrate amply that we must continue to seek bold solutions for future growth.

In the same year as we launched Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Persian television into the lives of new audiences in Iran, numbers show that BC listening there fell away by over one million.

In Nigeria, where we've also seen losses, and elsewhere we are developing innovative partnerships to provide services to mobile phones and as downloads or syndicated content. We are offering people the right options for them.

The number of radio listeners stands at 177 million. The recently relaunched and language sites attracted 5.3 million unique users a week.

Combined with the international news and information television channel in English, , the global weeklyaudience is another record, 238 million.

Ratings for objectivity and relevance are just as crucial to us, and the latest results show that we score higher than our nearest international competitor in four-fifths of the countries surveyed.

From our audiences, the results of one test stand out.

In Gaza, two in five of the people we spoke to in a telephone poll, who had watched Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Arabic during the three-week offensive launched at the end of December, said that Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Arabic provided the best coverage of the crisis.

Though the poll surveyed a small group (all with operational landlines), it is worth noting that it took place at a time when we anticipated some negative response, following the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's decision not to screen the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal on Gaza.

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Winning and retaining audiences

People come to Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service for journalism that is challenging and asks difficult questions, yet respects different points of view and actively encourages debate.

Increasingly, they want access at a time and place that suits them. Major progress was made towards achieving that goal in 2008/09.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Arabic now offers a fully multimedia service with a relaunched website and mobile services complementing the new television channel.

The first figures indicated a peak of 12 million television viewers - settling to eight million. There are around half a million online users and 12 million radio listeners.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Persian is now also trimedia. The new television channel was launched in January on budget, with a young, newly trained team. Complementing the relaunched and long established radio service, the channel fills a huge gap for audiences in a crucial region where television is the prime medium for news.

It delivers informed coverage and debate to Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and is also available to the wider world via live streaming on the website.

Less than a week after going on air its presenters were reporting live from the streets of Washington DC for President Obama's inauguration. Iran's national and local media were conspicuously absent.

Television is also having a significant impact in Turkey, where the new current affairs programme launched in partnership with NTV (Turkish News TV) has added significantly to our audience.

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Into the future

The year's future media developments include the roll-out of new, wider page designs for our websites with broadband quality video. Video channels in six languages were launched on YouTube. A growing number of mobile networks started showcasing Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service content.

From Brazil to Vietnam, new audiences are being won through the expansion of new media and new partnerships.

Multimedia development is helping to compensate for the inevitable decline of shortwave radio. Shortwave still accounts for 104 million listeners but numbers are down significantly in key regions.

We are constantly redirecting limited resources to where they are needed most.

One further language service closure took place in 2008, when Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Romanian ceased broadcasting. Over 69 years, the staff made an immense contribution in serving Romania, now an EU member, as well as neighbouring Moldova.

The future of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service radio is increasingly focused on FM, which is available in 154 capital cities. During the year we made excellent progress in securing new FM relays and partners in Kenya, the Middle East and Bangladesh.

In the United States, we have six million listeners in English. Over 500 US public radio stations now broadcast our programmes. Many joined up with the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Talking America bus on its epic coast-to-coast journey, talking and debating with a diverse mix of Americans.

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Meeting local needs

Services to every part of the world are adapting to local conditions and the needs of audiences. In Russia, for example, we face a number of challenges around our availability as a radio service.

is available online, on shortwave and medium wave frequencies in Moscow, St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg but audiences are under pressure.

Despite extensive efforts, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Russian is not currently available on FM and is unlikely to be so in the foreseeable future. This has meant a greater investment in - as a key method of delivery for all our content - and development of new radio output.

Demand for audio, video and mobile content grew rapidly. In China online restrictions were relaxed in the weeks before the Olympic Games but were regrettably reimposed in the following months.

Though (our site which contains news content) is blocked in China, a second Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú website (), focusing on learning English and life in the UK, is maintaining awareness of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú brand and meeting growing demand for non-news content.

We are constantly vigilant of the distribution of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú content by partner organisations. In February, we suspended FM programming to the Sri Lankan national broadcaster SLBC after a number of instances of interference with programmes and news reports in English, Tamil and Sinhala.

We announced plans to change the way we serve other audiences in South Asia and Francophone Africa, bringing us closer to key markets. Also in Africa, stronger partnerships with local broadcasters are helping to drive audience growth.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service programmes perform a vital public service role, even in the toughest reporting environments such as DR Congo and Somalia.

One example of outstanding journalism was Vicky Ntetema's investigation into the murder of albinos for body parts in East Africa. Working with Karen Allen from Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú News, her courageous reports for Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Swahili and English for Africa were also carried on domestic channel Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Two's Newsnight and led to national and international action.

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Ambitious programmes

A highlight of the year's major programme seasons was , in which 11 language services, the English network and other parts of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Global News focused on a region of major importance to the rest of the world.

It was one of the most ambitious multimedia projects ever carried out in the Americas.

Building on its award-winning success in 2008, the English network won critical acclaim for new programmes on culture, economics and ideas. It also collected three Sony Radio Academy Awards at the 2009 ceremony.

We are delighted that through DAB, online and podcasts English programming is winning growing audiences in the UK as well as around the world.

I would like to conclude by thanking Nigel Chapman. During his eight years with Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service, five as Director, and Chair of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service Trust, he oversaw probably the biggest and most profound period of change in our history.

I have no doubt that Peter Horrocks will steadfastly uphold the values of this great broadcasting organisation and direct it to more outstanding success in the years ahead.

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