ITV

Tag: John Simpson

  • BBC World launches new global advertising campaign

    MUMBAI: BBC World has launched a new global advertising campaign, which features correspondents and cameramen, who will tell the stories behind some of their most extraordinary assignments. The campaign – ‘Putting News First’ – was launched on 27 January.    
    This is the biggest brand campaign for BBC World since the channel’s launch 10 years ago and reaffirms both BBC World’s news gathering strengths and the extraordinary commitment of the teams who contribute to the channel’s output.

    The campaign features the real-life experiences of journalists such as veteran world affairs editor John Simpson, South Africa correspondent Hilary Andersson and cameraman Fred Scott, using objects which illustrate the lengths to which the news gathering team behind BBC World will go to deliver the news. For example, one ad features a mobile phone belonging to cameraman Vaughan Smith, which saved him when a sniper’s bullet in Serbia passed through the contents of his pocket and lodged in the handset’s casing.

    The creatives of the campaign was developed by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, based on the results of a research study commissioned by the channel to learn more about international news viewers and their perceptions of the BBC World brand. The results highlighted core strengths that viewers valued – quality of journalism, depth of coverage, wide geographical coverage and a variety of topical programming.

    BBC World head of marketing Seema Kotecha says, “The research we conducted around the world showed an extraordinary consistency when viewers said what they valued most about the channel. One quote in particular from the focus groups reflects our USP: ‘CNN is reporting, BBC World is journalism.’ We feel we have found a way of capturing this commitment to real journalism in the campaign.”

    The brand promotion spearheads a new look and feel for the channel, with a new studio set, on-screen graphics and technical improvements rolling out over the next three months. The TV work is complemented by a series of print executions, which was launched on 10 January.

  • BBC appoints Dumeetha Luthra as Colombo correspondent

    BBC appoints Dumeetha Luthra as Colombo correspondent

    MUMBAI: BBC has appointed Dumeetha Luthra as its new Sri Lanka correspondent.

    Luthra has already joined her new post in the Sri Lankan capital. Prior to that she was the news correspondent in Baghdad.

    Luthra began her career in BBC in 1995 as a producer. She was based in London till 2000. Following that she was set up in Croatia and as a producer covered the fall of Milosevic, the conflict in Macedonia and other Balkan events.

    After 11 September 2001, she went to Afghanistan and was working there until December 2002. In 2003 at the time of the Iraq war, Luthra was in Northern Iraq to cover the story for BBC News. After a brief stay in London she returned to Basra to report on the present turmoil in the country and then went on to Baghdad for a stint there, informs an official communiqué.

    The highpoints of Luthra’s journalistic career include the coverage of the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan in November 2001 along with the celebrated journalist John Simpson (BBC World Affairs Unit editor). The fall of Kirkuk in April 2003 and days later the fall of Tikrit. She spent five months in Basra covering the Iraq story from a different perspective, providing a real day to day picture outside of the daily bombings from Baghdad, informs the release.

    According to BBC South Asia bureau editor Paul Danahar, “Dumeetha comes to one of the most important assignments in South Asia. She brings to the post the right mix of experience and enthusiasm essential to report on the wide-ranging stories from Sri Lanka. BBC’s reporting from Sri Lanka has been highly respected in the past, I am sure Dumeetha will reinforce that credibility.”

    Speaking about her latest appointment, Luthra, an economics graduate said, “I’m really looking forward to working in Sri Lanka. I’ve travelled so much in the past few years so Sri Lanka will provide a great opportunity to really discover stories in a fascinating and beautiful country.”

  • BBC World’s ‘Panorama’ recalls ‘friendly fire’ Iraq tragedy

    BBC World’s ‘Panorama’ recalls ‘friendly fire’ Iraq tragedy

    MUMBAI: In April two and a half weeks into this year’s military campaign against Saddam Hussein, the BBC’s World Affairs editor, John Simpson, was accompanying a convoy of US special forces and Kurdish fighters in the north of Iraq.

    The convoy was mistakenly targeted by an American warplane. The subsequent missile strike killed 17 people, including a Kurdish translator working for the BBC and injured 45 others.
     
     
    In a two-part Panorama, showing on BBC World on 27 and 28 December, Simpson relives the so-called ‘friendly fire’ tragedy, the events preceding it and the consequences of the attack. The veteran war correspondent suffered injuries to his ear and leg, and later discovered a piece of shrapnel embedded in his flak jacket that would almost certainly have killed him if it had not been for his layer of protection.

    The documentary includes footage of the moments immediately before and after the missile strike, filmed by the cameraman Fred Scott. Last month, Scott received the prestigious Rory Peck Award for Hard News for what the judges described as ‘an exquisite example of professionalism’ in covering the story.

    Reporting from the frontline Simpson says, “This is just a scene from hell here. All the vehicles on fire. There are bodies burning around me; there are bodies lying around; there are bits of bodies on the ground. This is a really bad own goal by the Americans. I saw this American convoy, and they bombed it. They hit their own people. They have killed a lot of ordinary characters, and I am looking at the bodies now and it is not a very pretty sight.”

  • Convoy carrying BBC personnel attacked in Northern Iraq

    Convoy carrying BBC personnel attacked in Northern Iraq

    LONDON: The health and well being of the personnel of International broadcasters continues to be under threat as they bring viewers up to speed on the latest developments on the Iraq conflict.
     
     
    Yesterday in Northern Iraq a convoy of American special forces and Kurdish fighters came under attack courtesy Uncle Sam. A red and white bomb was dropped from an American F15 plane. The incident killed up to 18 people. As bad luck would have it a BBC News team led by World Affairs Editor John Simpson was travelling with the convoy. The casualty list included a Kurdish translator working with the BBC team who was badly injured in the attack, and died shortly afterwards.

    Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed had been with the BBC since mid-March. He was 25-years-old and unmarried. The rest of the team sustained shrapnel wounds which were treated at the American military hospital in Arbil. None were detained. The other BBC personnel injured were cameraman Fred Scot, fixer Dragan Petrovic, producer Tom Giles and safety adviser Craig Summers.