How do BBC reporters get instructed on pronunciation?

The BBC has a pronunciation department who defines the “correct” way for all their employees to pronounce any word which could have any variation/difficulty.

They hire people who have good “Home County” accents. Usually those who have attended a good school. (There is no such thing as a “Pronunciation Department”, but they do have a predetermined style and various people designated to query with regard to pronouncing unusual or foreign words and names. )

@DarkScribe do they have to instruct people in Oz how to speak proper “Australian English”?

@CyanoticWasp do they have to instruct people in Oz how to speak proper “Australian English”?

Yeah mate – they hire unemployed cockneys.

They were not (good) instructed on how to pronounce the name of the Icelandic vulcano, Eyjafjallajökull, i believe.
Saw a clip today in which you hear several anchors who had a little difficulty with pronouncing it.
It’s quite easy though, it’s Eyejafeljallawjeuskul.

Clip is here: http://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/Video-list.627.0.html?&tx_ttnews[cat]=238&kalender=1271801549&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=16592&cHash=74aaf03bbe
It’s Dutch, so i don’t know if people from outside Holland can view it.

Actually, the BBC has changed over the years and now accepts a much wider range of regional accents than formerly. About 30 years ago, BBC announcers all spoke with the same accent which was the typical upper class Home Counties accent. Now, you will hear a greater variety of regional accents from Scottish to various Northern accents to the occasional Welsh. All have been toned enough to be just a suggestion of the regional accent but they are much less uniform than before.

ARD and ZDF in Germany take a similar approach. Supposedly the people who live in Hannover are closest to the ideal of ‘Hochdeutsch’ or high German. Television rules seem to based on this.

I guess the BBC also picks a certain region or city. It might be Oxford.

@mattbrowne Actually, The Home Counties as referred to above are those right around London and as I said, regional accents have been more accepted on the BBC in recent years and there is less standardization.

@janbb – Interesting. Well, besides ARD and ZDF there are also regional public television stations like BR or NDR. News presenter do feature slight regional accents.