The BBC is vital to Britain's international standing.
That's the message the Director General, Lord Hall, is expected to convey on Monday, when he delivers what is billed as a "fightback" speech at the Science Museum in South Kensington.
Lord Hall will praise the BBC's role as an impartial provider of international news, as he announces plans to extend the World Service's reach into the far east of Russia and North Korea.
The BBC has been responsible for self-funding of the World Service since 2010. Prior to that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office picked up the annual £245m cost of providing speech-based radio programming to a global listenership of around 200 million.
A BBC source told the Telegraph: "This is about Britain's place in the world. It is above the politics of the debates about the BBC's future. It has to be a national priority. Other news outlets are growing globally, and many do not share our traditions and values.
"The BBC has never been impartial on the importance of democracy and a free press. We have a strong commitment to uphold global democracy though accurate, impartial and independent news. That's why the BBC World Service is such a trusted and in some cases revered news source.
"There should no longer be any no-go countries for the World Service – it is Britain’s impartial voice to the world."
The proposed new services would include either a new Russian-language television channel, or an increased digital presence of platforms like YouTube or Rutube. There would also be improvements in the BBC's mobile offerings to the Indian and Nigerian markets.
2 comments:
It’s ironic that the BBC wants to expand its broadcasts to North Korea when at the same time the BBC caught 344,099 UK citizens in 2014 for not having a TV licence 179, 993 of whom were where found guilty after being prosecuted (70% of them being female), and around 50 were sent to jail for not being able to pay the subsequent fine.
Why the TV licence fee payer should have to pay for the World Service, rural broadband rollout, the BBC Monitoring Service and licences for the over 75s is beyond reasonable argument.
The overall concept of a TV licence backed by criminal sanctions is beyond the pale in the digital age and should be abandoned, with alternative funding arrangements made for the BBC.
Amazing how the BBC expects the british public to fund free services abroad, and translate their services into 27 different languages. Why are they not asking those who receive thier broadcasts for a subscription fee. Seems that the licence fee payers are funding free advertising accross the world with only the BBC gaining fron this deal!
Frankly does not make sence and very unfair.
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