BBC World Service a “vital antidote” to foreign malign actors
4 March 2025
The Foreign Affairs Committee is today publishing correspondence between the Committee and the BBC.
- Read the letter to the BBC and the BBC's response to the committee
- Read the joint letter to the FCDO and DCMS and the governments response
- Inquiry: The future of the BBC World Service
This includes a letter from the Committee to Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC, and Jonathan Munro, BBC News Global Director and Director of the BBC World Service, and the BBC’s response.
It also includes the BBC’s response to a joint letter from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and International Development Committee following the unprecedented decision of three committees to hold a joint oral evidence session on the BBC World Service in December 2024.
Funding
The BBC’s letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee states the need to break the cycle of short term funding settlements, pointing to the Spring Spending Review as an opportunity for the current Government to put the World Service on a path to bold ambitious growth with a stable new funding mechanism.
Recent cuts
The Foreign Affairs Committee’s letter to the BBC expresses disappointment at the additional cuts made to the BBC World Service in February, including the loss of 130 jobs.
In its response, the BBC states that they were clear that whilst the uplift in funding was welcome, it was not sufficient to put off difficult decisions in order for it to remain globally competitive whilst meeting its savings requirements.
The Committee’s letter asks in which countries – and to which divisions –these cuts were made.
In response, the BBC states they are “committed to keeping all 42 language services”.
Disinformation
The Committee asked if an assessment has been made on whether the recent cuts are expected to enable our adversaries to spread dis- and mis-information.
The BBC’s response states that they are “mindful of the fact that around the world, media polarisation and state interventions are systematically eroding key democratic principles such as freedom of expression and press freedom by distributing agenda-driven state media and disinformation”.
The BBC acknowledges that “with state-backed international news providers investing billions we are facing increased competition for staff, platforms and frequencies, and audiences. They provide the example that three quarters of the BBC’s digital Hausa team in Abuja left in just a few weeks in early 2023 – for Turkey’s TRT World.”
Responding to conflict
The BBC’s letter states that it has set up emergency services for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine at short notice, including a 24 hour radio feed of existing Arabic and English content going out in Damascus and the coastal regions of Syria.
Chair comment
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry MP, said:
“I am so very disappointed that the BBC World Service has been forced to make cuts, including the loss of 130 jobs.
“Today's response shows that the uplift is just a sticking plaster. It is not the investment that is needed. What is more, I am worried that the announced cuts to overseas development aid may make matters worse.
“The World Service is a critical service and a lifeline for many across the world; a rare, reliable source of impartial news at a time in which state and non-state actors seek to fabricate and bend narratives for their own self-interest.”
Committee Member comment
Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Uma Kumaran MP, said:
“Impartial, trusted journalism is a vital antidote to the disinformation campaigns propagated by hostile states.
“The absence of the BBC World Service allows our adversaries to step in and fill a vacuum left by the UK’s withdrawal – making us less safe and attempting to destabilise democracy worldwide.
“The starkest example of the dangers of this retreat is the closure of BBC Radio Arabic, which resulted in the World Service’s former frequency being taken over by Russian state media – allowing the spread of disinformation and hostile propaganda, unchallenged and on an unparalleled scale.
“Hostile states are pumping billions of pounds into this because they know what is at stake”
Further information
Image: AdobeStock/William