Created by BBC World News Original language(s) English | Country of origin United Kingdom | |
Presented by Chloe Tilley
Ros Atkins (until 2013)
Nuala McGovern (relief)
Lucy Hockings (relief) Producer(s) Simon Peeks
Richard Pollins
Charlie Humphreys Location(s) Studio B, Broadcasting House, London | ||
World Have Your Say (WHYS) is an international BBC global discussion show, which broadcasts on BBC World Service every weekday at 1600 hours UTC and on BBC World News every Friday at 1500 hours UTC.
Contents
World Have Your Say won Gold in the 2008 Sony Radio Awards, in the category Listener Participation.
The show describes itself as "the BBC News programme where you set the agenda." Typically each edition addresses a question, or number of questions, raised by the users of its blog and Facebook site, as well as emailers to the BBC.
It encourages callers to talk to each other and directs questions asked by listeners to the guests on the programme, intervening as little as possible to keep the show more of a conversation than a talk show.
The show also occasionally works as a forum for the BBC World Service's global audience to put questions to a particular guest. Previous guests have included Aung San Suu Kyi, Philip Pullman and Thilo Sarrazin.
History
The BBC World Service launched the programme in October 2005, featuring Anu Anand and Steve Richards as presenters and Mark Sandell as editor. Ros Atkins replaced Richards in early 2006 and is now the main presenter.
Since February 2011 the programme has a weekly television edition on BBC World News on Fridays produced by the same production team.
Topics for discussions are set by listeners, who can email the show prior to its going on air every day, or even call into the studio office. Some of the comments left on the WHYS blog and Facebook site, together with emails, Tweets and SMS text messages, are read on the air. Callers from all over the world are the key part of the programme by calling in and debating the daily topic.
On occasion, the show leaves the studio and goes on the road, to discuss subjects from a particular country but often with a global impact. For example, in 2011, they went to Berlin to discuss the legacy of Nazism in Germany, Jakarta to talk about revolution in a Muslim country, and Bangkok to talk about sex tourism.
Most of the time, the topics for the days show are offered by e-mail. Some stories are suggested by a single person, others by the number of people wanting to talk about it. Increasingly, use is made of the programme's Facebook site as a source of comment on news stories. Sometimes, these are stories from the listeners' point of view. In fact, some of the reporting of current events for the show is done by real world people, most with no journalism experience.
Television
BBC World News began presenting a version of the programme in 2011 with Ros Atkins as the presenter. The programme, presented on Fridays at 1500 GMT, encouraged viewer discussion on some of the top stories from the week that was. Occasionally, correspondents and high profile individuals close to the issue at hand join in the conversation. Similarly to the version on radio, the programme heavily utilises social media; especially Twitter and Facebook.
As of late 2013, Chloe Tilley has played a more active role as presenter.