Context

The BBC's announcement of a new pilot service for Polish listeners is ultra light on context. Nowhere does it mention the previous incarnation of the Polish Section, running from September 1939 to December 2005. 

It was closed by Director Nigel Chapman, to switch funds into the creation of tv services in Arabic and Persian. It had navigated, not without blemish, the tensions of the Second World War (for a time, stories unfavourable to Britain's ally, the USSR, were not reported; it was late on the Katyn massacre; but strong on coverage of Jewish persecution, and brilliant at re-connecting Polish families)  It kept going despite persistent jamming in the post-war period, and then again in the 1980s; and felt brave enough to carry early interviews with Lech Walesa. It facilitated debate as Poland acceded to the EU in 2004, and had spread its wings into the arts, culture and science coverage.