The Foreign Office returns to iTunes

The (UK) Foreign Office used to be on iTunes – doing , frankly, rather random podcasts in two different places across the iTunes store. Even with my best editorially-post-rationalising hat on, I couldn’t quite work out what we were trying to do. So they came down, both sets – clean slate and all that – and now we’re starting again.

We’re kicking off with three streams:

The first (free) episodes in the History strand are mostly to be used as a downloadable audio guide for the upcoming Foreign Office Open House event on 17th and 18th September. You can choose between a straight audio version and an enhanced version featuring photographs from inside some of the building’s most famous rooms.

The second and third sets will enable you to subscribe to regular audio updates through iTunes given by the UK’s Arabic and Farsi spokesman, Barry Marston.

The (free) audio podcasts will build on the following of Marston’s Arabic and Farsi video blogs on YouTube and will be a significant part of the UK’s efforts to engage with audiences across the Middle East and Iran. The podcasts released today address issues from the UK’s response to the Gaza flotilla incident to the security situation in Afghanistan, discussions on how Ramadan and Eid are observed in the UK and cultural stories like the recent loan of the Cyrus cylinder to the Museum of Tehran.

As on previous posts where I’ve talked about the delivery of our content as far from our digital landscape as we can, I’m hoping it’ll reach people otherwise unaware of what we’re saying and doing, in this case in the Middle East.

You can subscribe to any of the podcasts by following the links on this page.

PS: If you’re inclined, you can follow this sort of blather on twitter.