Mumbai: BBC News kicks off several months of special Indian coverage, asking whether India can become the next global superpower, and putting forward its own solutions to the country’s building fake news crisis.
A special week of coverage opens a season which will culminate in November with a series of events on fake news and global media literacy, linking young Indians with audiences around the world to share ideas and explore solutions for the future.
BBC News will host a global event on 12th November where teenagers from Delhi, London and Nairobi will be brought together in a live broadcast. It will include a showcase of BBC outreach projects in Indian schools, building on the BBC School Report in the UK and helping young people identify the challenges of sharing news on chat apps. Then on 14th and 15th November, a Hackathon event in Delhi will link India’s top computer science students with tech companies to explore how technology can help stop people inadvertently sharing fake stories.
In addition, BBC News has pledged to carry out daily fact checks during India’s general election next year and BBC Reality Check, a service dedicated to verifying news, will look at the big claims and stories at the heart of the campaign.
It is the latest step in an unprecedented expansion of BBC News in India as part of the World 2020 project. This significant investment has included launching news services in four Indian languages – Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Telugu – and an expanded news bureau in Delhi with two new TV studios. The bureau is now the BBC’s largest outside the UK, becoming a video, TV and digital content production hub for the whole of South Asia.
Drawing on the BBC’s extensive news and programme-making teams in India and the UK, the Fast Forward India season in September will provide thought-provoking insight and analysis on India’s economic growth to audiences around the world. From car manufacturing to fashion, BBC journalists will tell the story of the country’s extraordinary development, the technological innovations taking place and how they are helping to modernise the country. The month-long season includes the live filming of two BBC World News programmes in New Delhi, the highly respected current affairs programme Global Questions, presented by Zeinab Badawi, and the BBC’s flagship technology programme Click, presented by Spencer Kelly.
BBC World Service English will also record a special live edition of its new podcast Kalki Presents: My Indian Life, in Mumbai on September 11th. Presented by Bollywood actor KalkiKoechlin and aimed specifically at young adults in India, the podcast is about being young and Indian in the 21st century. And the following week, BBC News Marathi plans to launch BBC Vishwa as part of an innovative BBC partnership with the Jio TV app.
Jamie Angus, Director of BBC World Service Group, says: “The BBC’s historic investment in journalism in India means we are better placed than ever to tell India’s story to the world, and for Indian audiences to hear how the world sees India’s continuing growth and development.
“The provision of trusted and high-quality news in English and multiple Indian languages is at the heart of BBC World Service’s mission; we want to work in partnership with local organisations and India’s young people to find the best solutions to the challenges of fake news. Our editorial season this autumn will raise up some of India’s great success stories, while helping to find solutions to the problems of global media literacy which are as relevant here as they are around the world.”
BBC World News
Global Questions – India: The Next Superpower? – After nearly 70 years of independence Global Questions travels to New Delhi to assess India today, where it stands on the international stage and its growing economic strength, which some say could help it rival China as a global powerhouse. India is the world’s largest democracy but what are the challenges that might hold it back from continued growth and modernisation? Recording in the heart of New Delhi and presented by Zeinab Badawi, the debate will feature representatives from government, industry and think tanks. Global Questions – India: The Next Superpower? will air on BBC World News on 22nd and 23rd September.
BBC Click LIVE – BBC Click LIVE is the BBC’s flagship technology programme brought to life, live on stage. It’s a chance to experience the cutting edge of technology, with mind-blowing live demos and tales of artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality. Presenter Spencer Kelly will showcase the best of India’s hi-tech industry interviewing the entrepreneurs shaping the future of people’s lives all around the world. This is an immersive and interactive experience – from hearing “3D sound” to piloting NASA’s next generation Mars lander – everybody will have the chance to glimpse the world of tomorrow. BBC Click LIVE will record in front of a live audience in New Delhi and will air on BBC World News on 22nd and 23rd September.
Reinventing India – India has one of the largest start-up ecosystems in the world. This series will look at how innovation is helping to transform established industries and revitalising cities. The show will be fronted by Yogita Limaya and will see her and Devina Gupta visiting six locations, discovering the new technologies that are helping to modernise India across a range of sectors.The episodes will air on Asia Business Report on BBC World News from 24th to 28th September, as well as on BBC.com/Business. The series will culminate in a documentary on BBC World News on 29th September.
India’s Game Changers – This series profiles Indian corporate leaders who have changed the way business is done in India. Their companies and management styles have either disrupted traditional industries or pioneered new ways of making money in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. India’s Game Changers will air on Asia Business Report on BBC World News on 22nd and 29th September and 6th October.
BBC World Service
Global Questions – Where is India’s youth? – This debate, recorded in Hindi and presented by Rupa Jha, will examine the state of young Indians. With two-thirds of the country below the age of 30, the programme will focus on issues including political representation and participation, and the big social questions over identity. The programme will record live in New Delhi and will air on BBC World Service.
Kalki Presents: My Indian Life – As BBC World Service English’s new podcast Kalki Presents: My Indian Life continues, presenter and Bollywood actor KalkiKoechlin will be in Mumbai on September 11th to record a special live edition of the podcast and talk to college students. Aimed specifically at young adults in India, the podcast is all about being young and Indian in the 21st century, and explores extraordinary real-life stories from around the country. Following on from a similar event held at a college in Delhi in August, ‘My Indian Life: Live’ now heads to a university in Mumbai where Kalki will be joined on stage by one of the podcast’s senior producers and contributors whose personal stories are featured in the podcast.
BBC.com
Video series – This series showcases the ideas being incubated at tech hubs across the country, from Bangalore to Pune, Gurgaon to Hyderabad. A special bbc.com/fastforwardindia hub page will contain text and video versions of all the content throughout September.
