The following is a transcript of Part 1 of our podcast with Matt Frei, anchor of BBC World News America. Click here for Part 2.

Matt Frei: My name is Matt Frei. I've been the main BBC television correspondent in Washington for the last five years. And I'm now going to be the chief anchor for the new program that will air on BBC AMERICA from the first of October, the new news program.

BBCA: So how excited are you to begin a brand-new newscast here in America?

Matt Frei: Very excited. I've been reporting from here for the past five years, not just from Washington talking to politicians and think-tank types, but from all over the United States. And it's an extremely accessible country for any journalist, especially if you're dealing with the English language. And to now kind of collate all the information, all the impressions, all the contacts that I've been able to make and use them as an anchor in the studio and on the road, to try and bring it all together, is extremely exciting, especially since this is the first time the BBC has really tried to target an American audience, which is arguably the most important television audience in the world and the one that the BBC hasn't yet fully managed to reach for various reasons. And to do all that, with this new program, in the middle of an election cycle, in the most exciting election in perhaps over half a century, is an opportunity that no one should pass up.

BBCA: What made you take on an anchor role in the broadcast?

Matt Frei: Well, I think, for a lot of journalists, it's the sort of natural progression when you've been reporting on the road for as long as I've been. I first went abroad in 1988 and have stayed on the road ever since really. I started off in Israel to cover the first Intifada, I covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, I covered most of the Yugoslav civil war and the ethnic cleansing and all that. From Rome, I covered North Africa. I covered the Middle East. Then I went to Asia for five years and then finally arrived here in the United States. So I've done a lot of foreign postings, and I covered lots of stuff. In a way, to become an anchor is the next step, but it had to be a role where I wasn't just tied to the studio. I could go out and still report but report in a presenting role rather than a correspondence role.

BBCA: So what can viewers expect?

Matt Frei: I think viewers can expect something that's different from what they've already been seeing, either on the networks or on cable television, which is - we want to bring America to the world, and to some extent, because we're going to be seen around the world, bring America to the world. So, if you're interested in foreign affairs, interested in understanding America's role in the globe as it were, and how it's perceived, then you want to turn to BBC AMERICA. If you have a natural curiosity about why things in Iran have developed in one way and not in the other, what the future of democracy in the Middle East might be, we're going to give you a take that might be slightly different from the take you'd be getting from most American networks.

BBCA: What do you find most interesting about covering American news?

Matt Frei: Well, first of all, I think this is an extremely easy country to work in for any journalist, not just because of the language for British journalists, but also because people are very open to be interviewed and to discussion. And I'm not just talking about people in Washington who are used to journalists knocking on their door. But, actually, wherever you go in the States, people are media-savvy and media-friendly, which isn't always the case. When I was based in Asia - Hong Kong, for instance, which is quite a free sort of place - to get a heartfelt interview out of somebody on the street was virtually impossible because they're always afraid of something. That's not the case here in America. More than that, I would say that Americans are exceptionally articulate. They'll give you an opinion, they'll look straight in your eye, and with the right to express themselves underpinned by their education, by their Constitution, and also by habit, they will tell it the way it is, and that's extremely refreshing for any journalist, especially in the broadcast field. And then of course it's very enjoyable because while you have the raw material to work with, you also have the importance of the story. What happens in America matters. What Americans think of their politicians in Washington matters, not just to Washington, but it matters to the rest of the world. So you're really winning on all fronts, you dealing with people who are happy to talk to you about a subject which everyone should care about.

BBCA: The show's launching right as Decision '08 kicks into gear. Are you looking forward to covering the campaigns?

Matt Frei: Absolutely, and I expect that the program will be out-and-about on the road quite a bit for all the key events during the primaries. Not always in the way you'd expect. I mean, we don't have to be where everyone else is. We might be in the place that will matter the following week, certainly. We have to think slightly out-of-the-box in the way we position ourselves. We'll obviously try to get as many interviews with as many of the candidates as possible, and I think the take that we'll have on the election - not so much the take that the networks or cable television will have, which is let's look at specific domestic issues. I mean, we'll do that as well, if they're very important or if they become decisive. But also what is that candidate's view of global affairs? How have developments in a particular part of the world impacted on a candidate's strategy? So it's the relationship between the candidates and the rest of the world, all watching and waiting to see who's going to end up in the White House.

BBCA: Right now, America's a very divided country. How do you think that will change, and what can the BBC add to the conversation?

Matt Frei: Well, the divisions of America, I think, are perhaps not as great as we always assume that they are. I mean, you know, Britain in the past has been a bitterly divided country. I think more so than America is at the moment. You can argue that Germany has been not just physically and politically divided by the Berlin Wall, but also politically divided in many ways. Lots of countries are divided over different issues. I think America, yes, is divided over this particular presidency, and it's very divided about the Iraq War, but I think there are some things that Americans do come together on. There is a sort of - despite all the sound and fury at the moment - a basic understanding of what it means to be American, what American values are. And I think actually our role as the BBC might be to remind Americans of that fact because that's the way it's often perceived abroad. I think Americans are far more obsessed about their divisions than the rest of the world is. The rest of the world looks at America and probably sees more unity in this country than Americans do themselves. And that might be inevitable because of the way you look at your own stable as opposed to looking at it from the outside. But that's where the BBC can be apart of the conversation and say, Look, it's not as bad as you think. This is what people outside are saying.

BBCA: Do you think American politicians will be reluctant to come on the show given the BBC's reputation for the hard questions?

Matt Frei: I hope not. Increasingly, American politicians are facing hard questions from their own domestic reporters, whether they sit in the White House, which has gotten used to some very hard questions recently, or whether they are candidates on the campaign trail, who are going to have to get used to some hard questions. I mean, that's what it's all about. You've got a year or more of some tough questions - from voters, from journalists, from bloggers. So that's the way the cookie crumbles. It's a tough, questioning environment, and the BBC is part of that. And I think we will be courteous, but yes, I guess we will be tough. People should talk to us because we will be watched by many Americans. We're already watched by many Americans on the TV show that's simulcast on PBS, and we offer a slightly different take on things. So whatever they say to us might actually get more notice than what they might say to some other programs.

 Listen to Part 2...