BBC world news

BBC world news is perhaps the most respected news organization worldwide. Its long and storied history dates back a century, and they've covered everything from the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s to the beginning of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. BBC world news has been the eyes and ears of the world in terms of international stories, having a large presence in nearly every country of note - including places like the old Soviet Union and current Red China, countries that otherwise have been off the map, so-to-speak, for western news agencies.

BBC stands for "British Broadcasting Corporation," and it's the longest established broadcaster in world history. Unlike the large American news systems - NewsCorp's Fox News, Microsoft and GE's MSNBC, and Turner's CNN, the British Broadcasting Corporation is actually publicly owned. They operate under a royal charter, meaning they have no shareholders or bottom line to answer to. As a result, BBC world news tends to offer more comprehensive and less "narrative based" coverage of world events.

The BBC itself started as strictly a radio venture, and still today its primary responsibility is to provide public radio broadcasting to the countries of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man. When television came of age in the 1940s and 1950s, the BBC was right there with it, becoming the preemenent broadcaster in the United Kingdom.

The BBC world news, as it is currently known, is actually a recent development. It was born of the BBC World Service, a collection of foreign correspondents and news agencies that the BBC mothership would then collect and disseminate information from.

When it was first launch, the BBC world news was originally known as BBC World Service Television. Later it was changed to BBC world, and finally in 2008 it was rebranded as BBC world news. It is currently the largest news service in the world, with its main competitor being CNN International.

Unlike the BBC mothership, BBC world news is funded by advetising rather than a television licensing fee, so it's not a stand-alone channel. That said, most people feel that the BBC world news is the most neutral and content oriented of any news service, and the least likely to sensationalize stories in the search for ratings. As a regular viewer myself, I have to agree with that analysis. The BBC world news is surely at the top of the class in breaking international news in a timely, professional manner.