BBC World Service
International radio division of the BBC
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2025 | A new controversy emerged in America over the US government's funding of BBC Media Action, with accusations of funding the BBC itself. |
October 1 2023 | BBC Africa Eye published 'Predators on the Pitch', an investigation exposing sexual abuse of young footballers in Gabon and FIFA's alleged failure to take effective action. |
July 2023 | BBC Far Eastern Relay Station closes after 75 years of broadcasting, with the site reportedly needed for development by the Singapore Government. |
February 20 2023 | BBC Africa Eye, in collaboration with Panorama, released 'Sex for Work', an investigation revealing widespread sexual abuse on Kenyan tea farms supplying major UK brands. |
January 27 2023 | BBC Arabic radio service concludes its 85-year broadcasting run, marking the end of a long-standing radio service. |
2022 | Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the BBC begins broadcasting World Service English programming on shortwave frequencies 15735 kHz and 5875 kHz to reach audiences in Ukraine and parts of Russia. |
December 12 2022 | BBC Africa Eye produced 'Black Axe: Nigeria's Mafia Cult', an investigative documentary about one of the world's most powerful and secretive organized crime groups. |
September 2022 | BBC World Service announced a proposed closure of its Persian and Arabic radio services as part of a cost-cutting plan, with an online service to remain operational. |
April 2021 | BBC Africa Eye collaborated with Bellingcat and Newsy to confirm the authenticity of footage documenting the Mahbere Dego massacres in Tigray, providing evidence of war crimes in the Tigray War. |
February 7 2021 | BBC Africa Eye released 'Lady P and the Sex Work Sisterhood', a documentary exploring the challenges and rights of sex workers in Sierra Leone. |
November 15 2020 | BBC Africa Eye premiered 'The Baby Stealers', revealing baby trafficking in Kenyan hospitals. The documentary prompted a police investigation, leading to arrests and convictions of people involved in a child-trafficking syndicate. |
October 7 2020 | Following BBC Africa Eye's earlier investigation, The Guardian confirmed UAE and Turkey's violation of the UN arms embargo in Libya. |
July 9 2020 | Nigerian Senate passed the anti-sexual harassment bill, proposing up to 14 years jail term for offenders, following the 'Sex for Grades' documentary. |
June 29 2020 | BBC Africa Eye produced 'Corona Quacks', an investigative report by Anas Aremeyaw Anas exposing fake coronavirus cure scams in Ghana during the pandemic. |
January 4 2020 | BBC Africa Eye and BBC Arabic Documentaries revealed a UAE-operated drone killed 26 unarmed young military cadets, mostly teenagers, at a military academy in Tripoli using a Chinese-made Wing Loong II drone with a Blue Arrow 7 missile. |
2019 | The 'Sweet Sweet Codeine' documentary was nominated for an International Emmy Award. |
October 8 2019 | BBC Africa Eye premiered 'Sex for Grades', an investigative documentary by Kiki Mordi exposing sexual harassment by lecturers at University of Lagos and University of Ghana. The documentary led to suspensions of implicated lecturers and the re-introduction of an anti-sexual harassment bill in the Nigerian Senate. |
October 7 2019 | BBC Africa Eye released 'Sex For Grades', an undercover investigation exposing sexual harassment in Nigerian and Ghanaian universities, revealing systemic abuse by lecturers and professors. |
June 3 2019 | BBC Africa Eye produced 'Sudan's Livestream Massacre' documentary using over 300 videos from protestors, exposing Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo's role in ordering a massacre that killed over 100 people in Khartoum. |
May 1 2019 | Technology programme Click reverts to its original name of Digital Planet. |
February 6 2019 | BBC Africa Eye published 'Betraying The Game', an undercover investigation by Anas Aremeyaw Anas that exposed nearly 100 football officials across West Africa and Kenya accepting bribes. |
2018 | BBC made an appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to help stop Iran from harassing its Persian Service staff in the UK and their families in Iran. |
September 23 2018 | BBC Africa Eye premiered 'Anatomy of a Killing', an open-source investigation that exposed Cameroonian soldiers responsible for executing four civilians. The production resulted in seven soldiers being tried, with five convicted and four jailed for ten years. |
July 29 2018 | BBC Africa Eye premiered 'Rehab Nightmare', documenting abuse in Islamic rehab centres in Nairobi, Kenya. The documentary led to the immediate closure of the Darushifa Rehabilitation Centre and two other illegal centres. |
July 15 2018 | BBC Africa Eye released 'My Neighbour The Rapist', a documentary examining the dangerous living conditions for women in Diepsloot, South Africa. |
June 2018 | Ghana's Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu banned all production and importation of codeine syrup as part of the country's National Medicines Policy review. |
June 2018 | BBC Africa Eye exposed footage revealing Cameroon's Rapid Intervention Battalion soldiers burning civilian houses in the Southwest Region during the Anglophone Crisis, highlighting systematic denial of journalistic access. |
June 2018 | BBC Africa Eye collaborated with investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to support the premiere of 'Number 12' (also known as 'Betraying The Game'), which resulted in the resignation of Ghanaian Football Association President Kwesi Nyantakyi. |
June 19 2018 | BBC Africa Eye produced 'My Stolen Childhood', a documentary investigating the 'trokosi' system in West Africa, highlighting the enslavement of women in religious shrines, despite the practice being officially banned in Ghana. |
April 2018 | BBC Africa Eye was established as part of the BBC World Service's largest expansion since the 1940s, with a mission to promote investigative journalism across Africa and strengthen journalistic skills. |
April 30 2018 | BBC Africa Eye premiered its first documentary 'Sweet Sweet Codeine', which exposed widespread codeine syrup abuse in Nigeria. The documentary led to an immediate government ban on codeine-based syrup import and manufacture within 24 hours. |
February 19 2018 | Programming in Igbo and Yoruba begins. |
October 2 2017 | Gujarati programming resumes after 73 years off air, and Marathi programming resumes after 59 years off air. Programming in Punjabi and Telugu also begins. |
September 26 2017 | Korean programming begins. |
September 18 2017 | Programming in Afaan Oromoo and Tigrinya begins. |
August 21 2017 | New language service in Nigerian Pidgin begins broadcasting. |
March 31 2017 | The DFID grant to BBC Media Action came to an end. |
November 2016 | BBC announces the largest expansion of foreign language programming since the 1940s. |
2015 | During the 2015/2016 financial year, BBC Media Action received a DFID grant of £14.7 million, with a total income of £45.3 million and expenditure of £44 million, employing an average of 832 full-time equivalent staff. |
January 17 2015 | First edition of new cricket show Stumped is broadcast, timed to coincide with the 2015 Cricket World Cup. |
July 10 2014 | Thai programming recommences, but only on social media. |
April 1 2014 | World Service stops being funded by UK Government grant and transitions to being funded by television licence fee and BBC Worldwide Ltd. profits. |
October 28 2013 | BBC OS launches, aiming to open up the news process and enable people to discover stories that matter to them. |
April 1 2013 | World Briefing is cancelled and replaced by The Newsroom. Outlook is extended to run for just under an hour. |
March 29 2013 | Daily arts magazine programme The Strand ends, with arts coverage integrated into Outlook. |
July 23 2012 | Newsday is broadcast for the first time, replacing The World Today and Network Africa. |
July 12 2012 | BBC World Service relocates to Broadcasting House after 70 years at Bush House. |
2011 | Controversy arose in America regarding potential US government funding for BBC World Service Trust to combat censorship in China and Iran using anti-jamming technology. |
December 2011 | The organization officially changed its name to BBC Media Action. |
November 2011 | The UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) announced a five-year grant of £90 million to BBC Media Action. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles BBC Media Action, BBC Africa Eye, BBC Persian, Timeline of the BBC World Service & BBC Far Eastern Relay Station, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.