Modern defence planning and operations require accurate and fast information, often from areas inaccessible to other information providers or where the communications infrastructure is poor.

Hour by hour of every day, BBC Monitoring provides international news and comment gathered from the mass media around the world.

We monitor 3,000 radio, TV, press, Internet and news agency sources the world over, translating news reports into English from up to 100 languages.

Services
BBC Monitoring's flexible range of products and services are delivered electronically, and can be tailored to your individual needs. They include:

Sources
A distinctive, authoritative and reliable picture of events as they unfold is provided by our extensive and growing range of sources, from official mouthpieces to rebel radio stations. We aim to ensure that the actions and views of major local and regional players are represented in our coverage.

All sources monitored are carefully researched and verified by BBC Monitoring before being used for coverage.

Expertise
Expert selection of news and information relevant to your needs, fast and accurate translation of news reports and timely delivery to your desktop are the tasks of our highly-trained linguists and journalists.
BBC Monitoring aims to use the best of information technology to exploit the spectacular increase in media outlets around the world to bring you the right information at the right time.
From our stations in UK and throughout the world, we gain access to media which are not otherwise generally available.

Customers
Our customers and subscribers include:

BBC Monitoring is part of the BBC World Service, a directorate of the BBC.

For more information on how to gain access to our services, please contact
BBC Monitoring Marketing Unit, Caversham Park, READING RG4 8TZ, UK
Tel + 44 (0) 118 948 6289 Email: marketing@mon.bbc.co.uk
Fax + 44 (0) 118 946 3823 http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk

War in Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan was, like all modern wars, also a media war.

Kabul radio fell silent on day one of the bombing. BBC Monitoring turned to other sources to report what was happening in the country now at war. Mazar-i-Sharif radio and Afghanistan's only TV station continued to broadcast from the north, and the Afghan news agencies inside the country, across the border and on the Internet continued reporting. On 14th October a new broadcaster was heard on the airwaves and we reported the start of the US 'psy ops' broadcasts.

Interest in BBC Monitoring's reporting rose significantly. The military campaign and events among Afghanistan's immediate neighbours were the focus of our increased coverage, as new digests of reporting were produced overnight . The implications for the Islamic world and the concept of terror were also covered throughout the region and the wider Islamic world.

 

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