BBC World Service Broadcasts Live from SOAS
5 November 2009
A BBC World Service radio programme came to SOAS’s Russell Square campus to air a special live broadcast on Thursday morning.
The programme, World Update, took the idea of an “outside broadcast” literally, setting up a tent, satellite transmitter and a table piled with radio gear on the lawn of Torrington Square, the long mall between SOAS and Birkbeck College.
The topic was the tough job market for young people around the world, and the BBC chose SOAS as the venue since it is “one of the most international schools in the world,” in the words of the show’s host, Dan Damon.
The chilly, overcast London morning set the tone for a rather gloomy report on youth unemployment around the world in the midst of the global recession.
One of the interviewees at SOAS, New York Times business reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, said that the youth unemployment rate is “rather miserable” in the United States, for instance.
“The sad news is we’re closing in on 20 percent, and it is only going to go higher in the short term,” he said.
Some of those interviewed sounded a more positive note, however.
Sebilio Uribe, co-president of the SOAS Student Union, emphasised that students and recent graduates can’t expect jobs to come to them in this economic climate, so they have to remain passionate about what they do, stay engaged with what’s happening in the world around them and find ways to create their own opportunities.
World Update is broadcast in East Africa, the Middle East and more than 200 FM radio stations across the United States. It is also streamed live on the BBC website at 10:00 GMT.
A recording of the SOAS-based programme can be streamed there as well.
Those who want to participate in an ongoing discussion of the issues raised in the broadcast can do so on the World Update blog, World Have Your Say.
For further information, contact:
Bill FriarSOAS Communications & Events
+44 (0)20 7898 4135
email:bf14@soas.ac.uk
