News Broadcasting
BBC World Service announces four senior appointments
LONDON: BBC World Service has announced the appointment of new regional heads for Africa, Eurasia, the Americas and Asia and Pacific region.
The current head of Africa and Middle East region, Barry Langridge, will become head of the Asia and Pacific region. He was previously a diplomat in Africa. He has lived in India, working in a village health project, and as Christian Aid’s project officer for Pakistan, Northern India and Bangladesh. During his BBC career Barry has also worked as a television current affairs producer. He was appointed Head of Africa and Middle East region in 1997.
Behrouz Afagh-Tabrizi has been appointed Head of Eurasia region. The region encompasses Russia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Behrouz was born and brought up in Iran and has lived in Britain since 1978. He joined the BBC Persian Service in 1983 and later became editor. In 1994 he set up the BBC Central Asian Service and was its head until 1999, when he was appointed news and current affairs editor for the Eurasia region.
Lucio Mesquita has been appointed Head of the Americas region. He has been acting head of the region since October. Born in Brazil, Lucio joined the Brazilian Service as a producer in 1991. He worked on Newshour and The World Today and became editor of the Brazilian Service in 2000. As Head of the Americas, he is responsible for BBC World Service broadcasts in North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.
Jerry Timmins, the former Head of the Americas, who for the past three months has led the Make It Happen project at BBC World Service, will shortly take up his new post as Head of Africa and Middle East region. Jerry joined the BBC in 1979 as a journalist. In 1988 he was appointed head of a newly re-established Caribbean Service and later joined BBC Television’s current affairs programme Newsnight before he returned to BBC World Service in 1992.
All five Heads of Region at BBC World Service are members of the World Service Management Board.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
