ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
26January2011 3:32pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: BBC World Service radio listeners throughout the Balkans this morning tuned in to some disappointing news:
Citing budget cuts, the World Service announced that it was closing down radio programming in five of its broadcast languages -- Albanian, Macedonian, Portuguese for Africa, English for the Caribbean, and Serbian.
The move effectively shuts down the last World Service broadcasts in the Balkans, after earlier closures of the Croatian, Bulgarian, and Slovenian language services.
The departure of the World Service leaves RFE/RL, VOA, and a third international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, to provide in-language news coverage to Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Boro Kontic, the director of the Bosnia-based Media Center, which provides training for local journalists, says the departure of the BBC marks a sad close to a "big and historic chapter" in the region's history. (read full report)
