BBC Somali Service

The BBC Somali Service is a BBC World Service radio station transmitted in the Somali language and based in Broadcasting House in West London and in Nairobi, where most of the radio and digital operations are based. Most of the listeners live in the Horn of Africa and nearby regions.[1] According to the station, it provides a key link between those in Somalia and those elsewhere.[2]

BBC Somali
TypeRadio network and website
Country
United Kingdom
AvailabilityInternational
EndowmentForeign and Commonwealth Office, UK
OwnerBBC
Launch date
18 July 1957
Official website
www.bbc.com/somali/
LanguageSomali

History

Established on 18 July 1957 with two weekly programmes of 15 minutes each, the station made the broadcasts daily by September 1958, and on 1 July 1961 the two parts were joined and the programme time increased to 30 minutes. Increases in broadcast frequency have been made since.[3] They currently broadcast 3 half-hour programmes and one 1-hour programme daily. The station has been developing local networks in all over Somali speaking areas in Somalia, Djibouti, the Somali region of Ethiopia and North Eastern Kenya plus the Somali diaspora all over the world.[4] In August 2010 AllAfrica.com reported that Shabelle Media Network had started broadcasting some of the station's programmes.[5]

Since Yusuf Garad left the BBC, the Somali service never returned to the management of a Somali professional. First, Andres Ilves had been appointed as acting head of the service for nearly two years then Josephine Hazeley, deputy head of BBC Africa, had been appointed as a caretaker. Following the recruitment process for a new BBC Somali Editor, Abdirahman Koronto [6] was offered the position of BBC Somali Output Editor,[7] a position that was line managed by the then Editor of BBC Africa, Ibrahima Daine who was appointed as the acting editor of BBC Somali. A new role was created and advertised for a joint Swahili and Somali service based in Nairobi, Kenya. Caroline Karobia was named editor of the new service. In June 2017, the BBC decided to split the Swahili and Somali services. In August 2017, Abdullahi Abdi Sheikh was appointed as Editor, BBC Somali Service. On 28 October 2019, Abdullahi Abdi Sheikh resigned as editor. On 16 March 2020, Muhyadin Roble who worked at Radio Ergo (formerly IRIN SOMALI SERVICE) was appointed as editor of the service.

Praise

Charles Allen wrote in 1997 that in Somalia, a country having "three or four separate ruling factions, each with their own radio services", the station is the "one single voice which serves all Somali speakers, and keeps the idea of being Somali alive".[8] The station is successful, Allan reports, partly because of their aim to have reporting originating in the Somali language, rather than having translations from English. Pierce Gerety, a UNICEF representative in Somalia, said it is the most important news source in the country, and that many of the citizens were listeners.[8] Anthony Oldin contrasts its perceived unbiased reporting with the media in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, in which news organisations spread misinformation and encouraged ethnic groups to kill one another.[9] In partnership with the Africa Education Trust the station launched in March 2002 an educational programme in Somalia.[10]

The station is important for Somalis in the United Kingdom, because they rely on it to connect to Somalia. A poll by the station found that 99 percent of Somalis in the UK listen to it. Somalis view radio listening as a social activity, and therefore listen in khat houses, mosques, and Somali shops.[11][12]

Criticism

The station has, however, received criticism. Siad Barre, the president of Somalia, said in 1985 the station and the West had misrepresented his country, and criticised it for speaking to Somali dissidents who had hijacked a Somali Airlines plane.[13]

In 2006, a former service member for over 30 years said the station's aim is to spread British propaganda and that they are keen to see Somalia split up.[14]

In 2007, Jimma Times reported that people in Somalia were accusing the station of being biased, one person saying the station was engaging in a "media propaganda war".[15]

In March 2010, Liban Ahmad, a former trainee at the BBC, accused the station of misleading listeners, citing examples of headlines from the station such as "Somaliland Guantanamo" and "Soomaali al Qaacida ah" (Al Qaida Somalis).[16]

In April 2010, Ibrahim Sheikh-Nor, writing in Hiiraan Online, accused Omar of having excessive control over the station and of running it like a "proprietor outfit".[17]

See also

References
  1. Rotberg, Robert I. (2005). Battling Terrorism in the Horn of Africa. Brookings Institution Press p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8157-7571-3
  2. "Missing Persons". BBC Somali Service. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  3. "History". BBC Somali Service. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  4. "News Bulletins", BBC Somali Service, accessed 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  5. Khalif, Abdulkadir. "Somalia: Radio Station Won't Take Orders". AllAfrica.com. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  6. "BBC - - Media Centre".
  7. "BBC - BBC Somali social-media audiences to interview EU Ambassador to Somalia - Media Centre".
  8. Allen, Charles (1997). Africa Bibliography 1996: Works Published on Africa in 1996. Edinburgh University Press. p. xviii. ISBN 0-7486-1211-4
  9. Oldin, Anthony. ""Somali Refugees in London: Oral Culture in a Western Information Environment"" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2011. (94.7 KB). Libri 49: 212–224. Retrieved 9 November 2010. by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  10. Krätli, Saverio; Dyer, Caroline. Mobile Pastoralists and Education: Strategic Options. International Institute for Environment and Development. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-84369-759-6. See also ""Project Matrix Collection Form – 2008" (PDF). (96.6 KB). Somalia NGO Consortium. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  11. (June 2006). "Somali regions: Mapping exercise" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2010. (873 KB). International Organization for Migration. p. 16. Retrieved 9 November 2010. by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  12. (April 2009). "The Somali Muslim Community in England: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 October 2010. (1.64 MB). Department for Communities and Local Government. p. 48. Retrieved 9 November 2010. by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  13. Bridges, Peter (2000). Safirka: An American Envoy. Kent State University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-87338-658-2
  14. Mohamoud, Hassan. "The British motives behind the BBC Somali Service". wardheernews.com. 4 January 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  15. "Somalia: Somalis complain about BBC Radio Somali service" Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine. Jimma Times. 14 September 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010.
  16. Ahmad, Liban. "How BBC Somali Service Misinforms Listeners". wardheernews.com. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 9 November 2010. See the BBC Somalia Service reports: "Somaliland Guantanamo" (in Somali). BBC Somali Service. 19 December 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010. "Soomaali al Qaacida ah" (in Somali). BBC Somali Service. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  17. "Is Yusuf-Garaad the Only Photogenic Broadcaster at the BBC?". hiiraan.com. 3 April 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. by WebCite on 9 November 2010.

Further reading
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