Tobacco on Trial - A BBC Project - Global

The BBC project used customized multi-lingual radio programmes (5 x 30 mins) combined with the Tobacco on Trial website which is interactive, has photographs & real audio, bringing tobacco issues to life. The message was strengthened with related coverage on other parts of the BBC such as, "news stories, From Our Own Correspondence-type programmes, features in the Health Matters strand, and a tobacco-related plot line in Westway - the World Service soap opera, Pick of the World". The series was featured in several BBC publications including World Agenda which is circulated among "opinion formers" including 300 members of the UK Parliament. There was a whole page spread in Ariel, the BBC internal newspaper which reaches 20,000 staff. The series was also listed and reviewed in several British newspapers.

The Tobacco on Trial website provides health facts, strategies for quitting, stimulates debate at political and personal levels and offers support information links. The BBC looked globally at the claims and counter-claims around smoking and established a broad global picture of how smoking affects our lives. The project follows the model of other successful educational projects with a global perspective, combining a variety of media, diversity of languages and done in collaboration with a key international partner. The Tobacco on Trial radio series brought together existing reputable information and real-life stories "reflecting cultural diversity and attitudes". Each programme was based from a country where a core theme could be clearly analyzed e.g. An alternative crop for tobacco in Malawi was the focus of one radio programme. Another issue addressed was Hungary's economic development through British American Tobacco's (BAT) media & marketing presence. "In Hungary companies like BAT are investing millions of dollars not only in advertising but supporting essential services." The question is posed whether countries such as this, even with a 200% increase of lung cancer in women alone, can afford to lose large tobacco manufacturers such as BAT? Phase One of the BBC radio production (Phase Two to follow), and Tobacco on Trial website serves to keep the global tobacco initiative in the forefront of people's minds.