Tell us what you think
Hello, and first of all can I add my welcome to the Over To You blog. As the producer of the programme, I'm delighted that we've established this new means of communication between us - the programme team - and you, the listeners. The whole purpose of Over To You is to reflect what you think about World Service programmes and the media at large - and this blog should be an exciting way for all of us to exchange views.
Interacting with the audience is what Over To You is all about, and unless you tell us we can only guess what you're thinking. So this is where you can give us your thoughts and opinions - on programmes you like or don't like, items that have made you think or made you angry, media topics that affect your part of the world - whatever interests you.
Since we decided we were going to start blogging, I've been paying more attention than usual to other people's blogs to see what works best and what generates the most reaction. On this week's programme you'll be able to hear the thoughts of Mark Mardell, who until last week was the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Europe editor, and a prolific blogger.Ìý He's just moving to Washington, from where he'll be starting a new blog which should make for interesting reading.Ìý
One of the blogs I do always try to read is The Editors on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News website at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/. There's a recent entry from Jon Williams, who's the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s World News Editor, about the agreement reached with the Zimbabwean authorities that will allow ´óÏó´«Ã½ reporters back into Zimbabwe. Apart from a few undercover visits, they have been banned from the country since 2001. We shall be looking at the problems of reporting from Zimbabwe on this week's Over To You,Ìý so if you've got any thoughts, add them in the comments section below and we'll try to include some of them.
Of course we haven't abandoned the other ways you can get hold of us. My first task every morning is to catch up with the emails you've sent to overtoyou@bbc.co.uk, listen to the messages you've left on +44 144 960 9000, and check the SMS messages that have come via +44 77 86 20 20 06. These are still great ways to reach us, especially if you might like to contribute on air: if you add your phone number I'll give you a call if I think we might be able to include your comments.Ìý
I know that quite a lot of you might have signed up to be part of Global Minds, so you are probably wondering - as adjoaofoe did in response to an earlier post - what the difference is between this blog and what you will find on that site. Well I suppose the main difference is that here, the first thing we're looking for are your comments and questions on what you've heard on the World Service in the past week. Then we can sift through them, and if there's something that we think is of particular interest to a wider audience we can follow it up with someone from the programme in question. This is what we did a couple of weeks ago when Lucy Walker, the Editor of Newshour, came on to Over To You to talk about broadcasting extracts of a video released by the Taliban. And in our last programme we talked to Sally-Anne Thomas, who's the Editor of the World Service newsroom, about the way in which militant groups are described in reports from northern Nigeria.
But last week I went to meet Jennie Sallows, who's in charge of Global Minds, and we both think that there are ways in which Over To You can complement what she's doing. For example she was telling me about some of the surveys they've got coming up on specific areas, like science programmes. We think that at the same time it could be interesting for Over To You to give you the chance to put your points on air to Rajan, and then discuss them directly with the editor responsible. Watch this space for more details very soon - and if you're not part of the Global Minds community, don't worry. If you let us have your contact details you can be part of the discussion, too.
So that's it from me for now. Over to you...
Cathy Packe is the Producer, Over To You
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