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Here in the Over To You office we're always looking out for interesting media issues to bring to your attention, but they are not often quite as chilling as the topic we cover in this week's programme.

The safety of journalists is something that's taken very seriously here at the BBC, and a great deal of care is taken to ensure that no one is deliberately put at unnecessary risk. But some parts of the world are extremely hazardous for reporters, and for the cameramen, fixers and other colleagues who accompany them.

Relatives, colleagues and supporters march at a cemetery in the Manila suburban area of Paranaque on December 6, 2009 to bury the remains of Daniel Tiamzon, a UNTV journalist. Picture: Getty Images

Nowhere is more dangerous than the Philippines, where, at the end of November, 57 people were massacred in an ambush - and 31 of them were from the media, trying to go about their daily job.

The matter was highlighted this week by the International Federation of Journalists, which sent a delegation to Manila to talk to the authorities there. You can hear the IFJ's spokesman explaining to Rajan, on this week's programme, that drastic action is needed to guarantee the safety of journalists. 

"Killing journalists has been risk-free," he told Rajan.

"We have no knowledge of any case which has been prosecuted, and the people found guilty punished, for killing journalists - and this needs to change."

On a different subject completely, we also turn our attention to sport. I'm not much of a football expert myself (one football-mad member of the Over To You team - Rajan - is enough!) - but I do know that football is going to be important next year, particularly in Africa, with the Cup of Nations taking place in Angola in January - and then of course the World Cup in South Africa starting in June.

But currently World Service listeners are being asked to vote for the African Footballer of the Year - which prompted one listener, Arthur Kintu, to ask how the BBC ensures that no one can vote twice.

Arthur lives in Uganda but when I spoke to him he told me he supports the Nigerian national team - although he didn't disclose who he'll be voting for as player of the year. You can hear how David Stead, Editor of African Productions, ensures that there is no voting fraud in this week's Over To You.

And also on the subject of polls, one of our regular listeners, Ishmael Larkai, who lives Accra in Ghana, suggested the World Service should hold a poll to vote for the Best Presenter, Best Overall Programme and so on - he suggested various categories, and I'm sure others could come up with more.

I don't think we can get into a serious poll - as David Stead explained to us, it's  fiendishly complicated and long drawn-out business - but we're certainly interested in hearing who you think deserves an accolade for their work in the last year.

Cathy Packe is the Producer, Over To You  

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the BBC World Service and its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and at 02:40 on Sunday (GMT).

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This week Afghanistan again hogged much of the news coverage - this time because of the injection of 30,00 extra US troops to the region by President Obama. This was followed by raised hopes for a new counter-insurgency strategy and speculation as to how much other NATO allies would contribute to the renewed military effort.

British soliders from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh prepare to deploy to Afghanistan. Credit: Getty Images

In Bush House however, home of the BBC World Service, a different kind of strategy was being discussed. How do you retain the interest of listeners in the Afghanistan story, eight years down the line? While the military top brass worry about "losing the initiative" in Afghanistan, the media worries about losing the attention of its audience.

A new research project, conducted in Istanbul, Los Angeles and Barcelona, gauging the reactions of the public to news reporting of the conflict threw up some interesting results. For example, the drip-drip effect of relaying daily news of violence and casualties is a turn-off for some of the audience - either because they can't stomach the gory detail of the death toll or because they become numbed by it, to the extent it starts feeling like "old news".

One respondent in Barcelona said she no longer knows what the war is about, which may suggest that the extent and nature of the coverage may actually be working against our better understanding of the situation. Or, as one senior journalist in the newsroom commented, during a meeting to discuss the research, some people just aren't interested.

"People do care!" World Today newsroom editor Simon Peeks insisted to me when I interviewed him for Over To You. And he maintained that his team is always thinking of different ways to treat daily developments from Afghanistan - to escape, for instance, from the usual inner circle of experts, military figures and politicians trawling over the ramifications of each episode in the conflict.

A recent BBC World Service news item about Afghanistan

But this of course cannot mean resorting to gimmickry or pandering to the lowest common denominator. It makes for painful and wearing listening at times, but then, that's the nature of a long drawn-out conflict like this, with which many of us, whether we like it or not, are associated.

Mike Fox, who co-ordinated this largely anecdotal but timely project, is very keen to hear your views on this. World Service listeners are without doubt better informed and more intelligent than the average, but you are also rightly more demanding.

What is the BBC not providing you with when you hear reports about fighting and casualties in Afghanistan, or about election fraud or dithering amongst the political classes as to what to do next?

Let us know - your input could make a difference.

Oh, and listen to this week's programme for an interesting discussion as to whether divisions in Rwanda and Burundi between the Hutus and Tutsis is correctly described as "ethnic". Martin Plaut, Africa Editor, gives a stout defence of his approach to the issue.  And staying with Africa, your comments about the validity of the "Only in Africa" interactive segment on the "Focus on Africa" programme rumble on...

In fact interactivity, now I come to think of it, is one very good reason why media coverage of long-running conflicts will always progress. Programmes like World Have Your Say and, yes, Over To You, increasingly inform the debate and influence the decisions made at the top. So keep your views and contributions flowing!

Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You.

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the BBC World Service and its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and at 02:40 on Sunday (GMT).

• Listen to previous episodes of Over To You
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• Send the team your feedback by email (overtoyou@bbc.co.uk), telephone (44 144 960 9000), SMS (447786 202006) or by leaving comments on this blog.

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If you're not a regular reader of our African news pages, you may have missed this clip of the Focus on Africa team showing how they gather stories and content to broadcast on Africa's foremost news and current affairs programme.

You can listen to Focus on Africa here (opens in a new window).

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