BBC Thai Service boosts audience in dark times

LONDON/BANGKOK -- "We don't want to be the primary source of news, we want to be different," said Nopporn Wong-Anan, a Bangkok Post veteran who heads the BBC Thai Service in London that liaises with a small team in Bangkok. "We try to add to the mainstream media and basically bring an international perspective."

The Thai service is located in an open area labeled "Asia Region" -- one of the BBC's six global partitions. The floor overlooks the largest newsroom in Europe, a high-tech media cauldron that simmers 24-7. Lodged beneath the secure entrance to New Broadcasting House in the heart of London are the subterranean TV studios familiar to all BBC World Service viewers.