Mumbai – BBC will be taking its international news channel BBC World News to India as part of plans to provide extensive coverage of the upcoming elections.
Throughout April and May, BBC World News and BBC.com will provide its audiences around the world with analysis and the latest developments as the campaign progresses. And as the results are announced, the BBC team of journalists will be covering what this means for India as a growing economic and global player.
Starting on the first day of Polling, (April 7) the channel launches its coverage with news programmes Global with Jon Sopel and Impact both broadcasting live from India across the week (April 7-9). Mishal Husain is back to front Impact, sharing her knowledge of the region. In addition Babita Sharma will also be in country to present special editions of Newsday (dates to be confirmed) while India Business Report and Talking Business with Linda Yueh will be focusing on the economic stories. Jon Sopel and Global will then return to lead the results coverage.
As the campaign moves around the country BBC World News will be drawing on the expertise of their bureau team based in Delhi, the business team based in Mumbai as well as the BBC Hindi service. And with social media increasing in popularity the BBC Trending team will also be reporting from India on what’s popular and why (@BBCtrending).
All this will be supported by online coverage, made easier for Indian audiences to access with the launch of the India edition of BBC.com on mobile. This will complement the desktop edition and India section of the BBC.com news site. The new India mobile edition will also give people access to news headlines from the BBC World Service Hindi and Tamil sites.
Announcing BBC World News’ plans in Mumbai, Jim Egan CEO BBC Global News Ltd said: “As the world’s largest democracy with more than 800 million people eligible to vote, a staggering 100 million of them for the first time, the Indian general election is a phenomenal political event and one of international importance. India will be at the heart of BBC World News as we broadcast from locations around the country throughout the week. Top presenters including Mishal Husain and Jon Sopel will cover the drama as it unfolds, bringing an unprecedented level of news and analysis from a global perspective to audiences across the world.”
