International radio services

International coverage describes a service made for listeners in more than one country. Its stories and explanations need to make sense to people who do not share the same local assumptions. A station may report from one place and discuss events on several continents without being a local station in any of those places. The intended audience is the important distinction. News is one reason to seek an international service, but coverage is not a programme genre. A radio choice can examine politics, culture, science or sport with a cross-border perspective. A particular edition may be presented in one language, while the broadcaster operates other services in different languages. Language and coverage should therefore be recorded separately. This category helps distinguish an international editorial remit from a UK-wide programme. The fact that a broadcaster is based in the United Kingdom does not make every one of its services exclusively British in audience. Likewise, reporting on one overseas story does not turn a domestic station into an international service. The label belongs where a wider audience is built into the programme’s purpose.