BFBS Reports now 5 times a week with reporters permanently in Afghanistan
BFBS Reports will be on every week night from Monday 2nd November as the Forces’ news programme makes the leap from three shows a week to five. And there’ll be a lot more content from Operation Herrick as BFBS Reports now has two reporters permanently in theatre.
BFBS Reports will stay in the same time slot of 1830 CET on BFBS1, and will be repeated on BFBS2 at 2015 CET each evening. For those in the UK, the top stories will be available to view at www.bfbs.com from 1900 GMT each day.
The Forces’ broadcaster has pulled off something of a coup by persuading the MoD to let it have two video journalists permanently in theatre. Each duo will do three months on and then be replaced by another two reporters. All have been trained to edit in the field and send back to base so they can turn material around extremely quickly, and also have the ability to do ‘lives’ into the show.
Richard Jones, Editor of BFBS Reports, said: “Having reporters out in Afghanistan who can file pretty much every day for the programme is a massive boost. As ever, we’ll be covering the stories that matter to our audience, as well as bringing a slice of Herrick life to our Forces’ viewers worldwide.”
The first two reporters in theatre are Charlotte Cross and Rob Olver. They deployed in early October and will be there until Christmas.
Charlotte Cross
Charlotte has reported from Afghanistan before for BFBS Reports, but she is also a TA Officer in the Intelligence Corps and spent six months on Op Herrick 5. Charlotte is normally based in the UK for BFBS Reports, but can be sent to cover a story anywhere in the world. She began her TV career at the BBC, where she worked behind the scenes making wildlife documentaries. After retraining as a Broadcast Journalist, she worked as a Producer at BFBS Radio, before moving on to become a rolling news Reporter for the Press Association covering events including the 7/7 London bombings. She also spent some time on the red carpet, interviewing stars such as Pierce Brosnan and Tom Cruise. Charlotte's also did a stint at Sky News, before taking up her post at ‘BFBS Reports’.
Rob Olver
Rob is BFBS's most experienced TV reporter having clocked up 22 years man and boy. He is based at JHQ in Germany but has travelled the world for ‘BFBS Reports’ from Alaska to Afghanistan. He cut his operational teeth during the first Gulf War when he reported on the build up to and then the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm. Since then he has deployed to many other operational theatres including Bosnia and Iraq, where he filed stories from both Basra and Baghdad. He has been on several reporting trips to Afghanistan since 2001, to Kabul as well as Helmand.
By a quirk of fate, another Germany-based BFBS Reporter, Martha Fairlie, who is also a member of the TA, is currently doing a 6-month tour of Op Herrick as a Royal Engineer Captain. She is working out there as part of the Military Stabilisation Support Group. They are essentially teams of six people who work with the Provincial Reconstruction Team to identify and put in place projects to improve the lives of the local nationals. This can be anything from improving irrigation and setting up mini hydro-electric generators, to building schools and medical clinics. It is hoped Charlotte and Rob will be able to hook up with Martha and film some of her projects while they are there.