³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

It's no' lost. We jist cannae' find it.












And it's always the last place ye look.......

Can't find a place to post about the Witness programme - Charles & Diana. Apparently she was described as the future queen of England! Not the rest of the UK? This happens time after time on the beeb. No distinction is made about the different parts of the UK. Today I read that teachers will be striking because of pension changes. This only affects England & Wales.
Maybe you should change your name to the EBC.

Rant over.

Having now heard this weeks programme, plus really exploring the new site, take this comment in conjunction what I said to the 7 April blog.

"The new look for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service website has caught the attention of a number of you"
Something of an understatement that. I've nothing against change, don't go along with "if it ain't broke why fix it" believing things can be improved but there's change and there's change.

The new front page with the programme index is unappealing. It is clunky and visually unattractive. Those of us used to the site may grit out teeth and bear with it but I feel a lot of first time visitors will see it and go elsewhere.

Kelly - "the site is working with the family of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ sites, including ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳News.com so that content can be placed in areas that audiences which may not know the titles will find them"
So by placing in areas new audiences may find them means it costs us more effort?
I have now found Today's schedule via 'Radio and TV Programmes'. Not that obvious and requires at least two clicks rather than one previously.
Surely a site should be accessible and easier to use? Now it is like finding your way through a maze: dead ends and back tracking before eventually getting to the centre ...
As for 'working with the family of ... ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ sites' what has been done to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ home page, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.com? You used to be able to customise it but no more. Now it's got things I don't want and others I do want I can longer add.

Kelly - "The content hasn't been lost, simply placed elsewhere"
Some hasn't, true. Just we have go through that maze to find it.
But some has been lost - the contact form on the homepage of every programme has gone has gone. Where there are broadcast times on a programme page it's only for the internet, and often incomplete. An index please of all broadcast times for all regional streams.

Finally many of the links on the programme index and elsewhere (see my comment to 7 April) are still not working, or at least incorrect. Fix them please.

I'm sure the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has the best of intentions with the revamp but please look at things again, and from the the point of view of us, the users, not just what seems best from your side.

The chap who commented in the over to you interview had a very good point about drawing content to the page using rss feeds. While I would prefer a page thoughtfully crafted by experienced and knowledgeable editors, if that's not in the budget, much can be accomplished through automation. See news.google.com for a really good example.

So to summarise:
1. We've changed the site, it'll take getting used to
2. We're not changing it back, regardless of what you say
3. Although we've asked for opinions, we still think we're right
4. We're going to ignore all opinions contrary to our own.

Congratulations, you now have one listener less. World Service's loss is Radio 4 Extra's gain. You clearly don't care what the listeners think, and you clearly intend to stick with this dreadful new website despite everything the listeners have said.

Farewell, world service, and thanks for all the fish.

For all of my fellow listeners fed up with this farce about the new and exciting ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website and the various cuts in programming, I simply invite you to go to to see what a real website looks like. Of course, I feel like a traitor after 40 years of listening to quality programming at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, but I was made redundant.

My complaint is that I (too) often cannot find the right place, if there is a place, to deposit my comment. I find this very frustrating and a waste of my time.
I have to pull up the blog commentators' list;
I have to look at all the actual news story in order to see if there is a comment area at the bottom, and worst of all, when all is said and done, I usually end up without any identifiable place to deposit my comment at all.
My proposed solution:
In addition, to listing blog commentators and briefly what they cover. Why not also list in reverse i.e. topic and who blogs thereon e.g. Inflation rises 35% (Stephanopoulos) or Africa becomes the Unite States of Africa (Harding). Do you see what I mean?
This reference area could go directly below the "All Blogs" area on the "BLOG" page.
In other words, it would show whether there even exists a commentary portion to some news event that you have written about. Alternatively, or even in conjunction, you could insert beside each story (Blog Harding, or Blog Peston) so that readers would know immediately that there is a blog and where to go.

In my comment (92) to the 'A New look for the World Service on the web' blog, 7 April, I mentioned the pop up survey about the new site I got. If anyone had not got that pop up and wants to give their comments and let them know what you think about the new site then the link for it is:


Complete it and make your thoughts known !

I guess there was no Over To You blog last week because of the long weekend and public holidays but there's still no podcast for last weeks programme, and that despite me mailing you about it at the beginning of the week. Is the podcast going to be available?
Also there's still a glitch with this programmes entry on the new WS front page. Click on Over To You in Find A Radio Programme and it goes straight to here, the blog, and not to the Over To you programmes

Thanks, Guy for the survey link. I went ahead and filled it out. Hopefully many of the others, who are unhappy about the website, will do so too.

@Guy: I finally found the Over To You program of last week on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer... took me a while to find it. So, still no podcast, but you can listen to the program streaming it from the iPlayer.

Interesting to see how you have brushed the new website fiasco carefully under the carpet. If you don't talk about it on OVER TO YOU, the problem doesn't exist. And I guess the corollary to this is that we listeners don't really exist either. As one of your best commentators once said years ago: "Why don't I just shut up."

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service. May 10th. Topic: Hillary Clinton’s remarks (May 10) about the lack of democracy and human rights in China.
One participant compared Hillary’s remarks to the pot calling the kettle black, a come-back which I fully supported.
The British ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ program host almost tripped while rushing to US' defense. Had the host not heard about Abu Ghraib, the Guantanamo detainees, CIA renditions and torture.
Hillary demonized China but could not seem to wedge the plank out of her own eye to see Israel, Bahrain, the Saudis and the United States itself. China’s record is not perfect; China admits its not perfect, but it is trying. The Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs hasn't criticised America’s human rights abuses, its rigged elections, its use of depleted uranium & white phosphorus?
I'm sick of the west imposing standards, but ignoring these standards while other countries are expected to live by American standards. The west can only see the world through its own dark lenses. As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ program was being broadcast, the news intruded that Greeks had again taken to the streets, another imposed situation caused by American derivatives and CDS gambling.
While the program’s host and guests were indulging in the West’s democratic and human rights superiority, the American Civil Liberties Union was issuing a memorandum opposing legislation that would give Presidents of the United States EXPANDED WAR AUTHORITY, TO BE USED ON THEIR OWN INITIAITIVE - anywhere in the world irrespective of the Constitution and international law.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ needs to challenge its guests, its call-ins; it needs to have sufficient intelligence and guts to take on the likes of Hilary Clinton.

Dear ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳,
I adore the World Service. Living in the wastes of County Mayo I rely on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to keep in touch with the UK and the world.
I find it a pity that the 'basic' transmission is so repetitive and often well behind events. Perhaps a broader and more general program base might be better with more frequent updates - we don't all have the skill or wish to battle with the intricacies of your website.

13 June 2011...I posted last week regarding problems with listening via my computer through the WS Home page "Listen Live" button. I also posted on several of the Facebook sites regarding same. I was happy to receive a response from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Team asking for some info such as URL being used to listen, my location, times of day, and who my ISP is. I responded with the info as requested. I also saw some comments on the Newshour Facebook page.

Unfortunately as of today, Monday 13 June 2011, nothing has been done to remedy this problem of constant interruption of the alleged "live stream." I wish there was some way I could send you a recording of what I have to put up with; 3 to five seconds audio, then from 3 up to 10 seconds dead air, then several seconds audio, etc., etc. I simply cannot make sense of what is happening.

After trying to listen for more than two hours earlier today I finally gave up and accessed the Al Jazera English site and spent most of the day listening to them. So, until ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ can figure out and resolve the problem with your new website and so-called "iplayer," I will simply have to turn to Al Jazera. While they are certainly no ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ they cover many of the same topics and subjects, and they offer me a broad world view which is what I require. I hope to return to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ in future to find the quality and consistency I admire and respect. Good Luck.
James Tinsley-Arkansas, USA

Read comment 141 on this ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ blog /blogs/overtoyou/2011/04/a_new_look_for_bbc_world_servi.html?postId=109399700 where I posted a reaction from the Controller in charge of the changes to the World Service website.