Written evidence submitted by The BBC World Service Defence Committee (BBC0002)

The World Service:

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons

Table of Contents

Executive Summary:

1. As a group of World Service journalists, past and present, we welcome the three Parliamentary Select Committees’ recent call for more sustainable funding for BBC World Service.  As the Committees rightly suggest, with proper investment, the World Service could lead the fight against disinformation and misinformation globally.

2. This February, Brand Finance’s 2025 Global Soft Power Index on global perceptions of individual nations showed that the UK had, for the first time, dropped from second place to third, behind China.  At a time of global turmoil — when disinformation is rife and the UK is cutting back its international aid budget — World Service’s form of “soft power”, as the provider of trustworthy, impartial information, is more vital than ever. 

3. But with Russia and China pouring billions into state-sponsored global media, the World Service currently cannot compete. Without more stable funding, it seems to be doomed to limp from financial crisis to financial crisis with its prized “rich mix” of global content constantly being diluted. 

4. Indeed in the same week the Select Committees published their findings, the BBC announced it would axe a further £6 million from the World Service budget and close 130 posts. After decades of cuts, there is no “fat” left to trim. The proposed loss of Newsroom regional editor specialists, along with changes to science and business programming, will massively damage output, and further erode a global audience already diminished by the axing of key radio language services in 2022. 

5. Other issues also need addressing if World Service is to survive and thrive. Over the decades, and particularly after 2014, when domestic BBC took over most of its funding, the World Service has lost much of its autonomy. Some of its departments have been farmed out to domestic BBC directorates, some in other UK cities. Many decades of staff experience were lost in the process.  In the case of language services, many have been shipped off to the regions they cover.  In some cases, these “regional offices” can face direct or indirect pressure from host governments; for instance: the Azerbaijani Government’s decision last month to “suspend” the BBC’s operations in Baku.

6. In late February, the BBC proposed replacing managers in London with six new regional directors to be sent to offices abroad to oversee output there, including that of language services.  Little detail has emerged. But steps should be taken to ensure that any new appointees have global radio experience and take into account the nuanced needs of the World Service. Clarification is also needed as to whether this self-styled “new international model” will mean shipping still more language services out of London, further eroding the unity and ethos of the World Service. 

7. With many of its managers now drawn from commercial television, World Service is being run by fewer people with a truly global perspective, and sometimes by people with seemingly very little understanding of how radio works.  Newsroom staff have been told that it is now official policy for the World Service to cover major news events by fading up the sound of the Tv News Channel. Meanwhile, specialist World Service Radio programmes will in effect be replaced by their domestic counterparts.

8. Urgent remedial action is needed if the World Service is not to face a future of terminal decline. As a first step, the proposed new cuts should be frozen, pending an investigation into the detrimental effects they are likely to have. We would like the Select Committees to recall Tim Davie to investigate this further. This should also allow time for a further, urgent, investigation into providing stable long-term, ring-fenced funding for World Service output, and look into the implications of the new regionalisation strategy. 

9. We deplore the announcement by the new managers of the World Service that they want to introduce their changes rapidly.  It could easily give rise to the perception that they are trying to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.

Page 4

Limping from Crisis to Crisis: Cuts, Dilution and Dispersal

1. Before 1997 the BBC World Service was largely an autonomous, individual entity, with its own culture, management structure, and accountability process based at its headquarters in Bush House.  While it had less spending power than the domestic BBC, it had a large degree of independence, with its own dedicated reporters and newsroom, its own news gathering /news intake operation and a wide network of World Service reporters, correspondents and stringers (trusted local reporters) abroad.  It worked closely with the rest of the BBC,  both at UK level and in the national regions.

2. After 1997 this independence was gradually eroded during the process of merging it with the wider BBC. For example, World Service News and Current Affairs became part of the larger domestic news department, BBC News. This process also led to the break up of the World Service English Programmes department that had previously made a rich mix of programmes specifically for an international audience.

3. Since the move from Bush House (2012) and particularly since the change to being funded predominantly by the licence fee (2014), the World Service has effectively become the poor relation of the domestic BBC.  Although the World Service has a larger audience, with a global reach of more than 320 million a week in more than 40 languages, a common complaint is that its views are often disregarded, or maybe not understood, by senior management — some of whom are drawn from domestic commercial TV.

4. Some senior BBC editors seem to fail to grasp that one size, or style, does not fit all. Writing techniques for a global radio station and domestic TV are very different. TV relies on pictures, rather than simply words, to tell a story. Yet recently a senior manager ordered World Service radio to substitute normal programmes for a “special” on the California fires - which turned out to be just the sound of the TV rolling news channel.  This was completely baffling to global listeners, as they could not see either the pictures, or the TV subtitles identifying each interviewee.  Nevertheless, newsroom staff say they have been told that this is now official policy for major news events - they have been told that when the Pope dies, BBC World Service radio will cover it by fading up the sound of the TV news channel.

5. The amputation of sections of the World Service to join other domestic directorates (BBC News, BBC Studios, BBC Sport, etc), plus the fact that some staff now work in different cities or even countries, means that the unity and ethos of the World Service have been eroded.  A succession of cuts to radio means that almost half its language services are now online only.

6. The latest proposals to cut the specialised World Service regional editor posts and scrap the Foreign Desk in the BBC newsroom will do irreparable damage to the depth of news coverage. The intention to broadcast domestic radio programmes in place of programmes that have been tailored specifically for a global radio audience is likely to alienate listeners and damage the World Service’s influence with opinion-makers abroad.

Page 5

The 2020s: Closer to the Audience and Censorship

7. Some language services have been moved to their target countries in order to save money and be “closer to the audience.”

8. In some cases that may work well. In others, it puts staff at risk of increased pressure from repressive governments.  And their expertise is no longer as easily accessible to World Service staff working in London.

9. On February 20, 2025,  the Government of Azerbaijan ordered the suspension of the BBC’s operation in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.  A BBC spokesman decried the action as “a restrictive move against press freedom.” It is estimated that the BBC reaches around 1 million people a week in Azerbaijan, a country with a population of only 10 million.  Azerbaijan has traditionally had close links with Russia.

10. In 2023, the Indian tax authority conducted raids on the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai only weeks after the BBC had aired a TV documentary in the UK which was highly critical of PM Narendra Modi.  At the time, Amnesty International’s India Board accused the authorities of “trying to harass and intimidate the BBC over its critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.” This put pressure on what is now a several hundred-strong BBC bureau, some of whom are now said to be anxious about reporting anything critical of the Prime Minister.

11. Meanwhile, insiders note a reduction in the number of stories coming from the Vietnamese section since staff members were transferred to Bangkok in Thailand. There were warnings in the early 2020s that Vietnamese journalists would feel less safe there, as Vietnamese reporters critical of Hanoi have been abducted from Bangkok in the past.

12. Getting coverage from China is similarly problematic. In 2019, the BBC officially launched a new bureau in Hong Kong, covering news content in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Again, state censorship is a major issue. The Chinese Service reporters based in Hong Kong for the World Service and their editors in London have to be mindful of the risk involved if those reporters are asked to report on topics that may fall foul of the new National Security Law, including issues like pro-democracy protests or court cases against protesters. Meanwhile two Chinese Service posts based in London, from where the incumbents could report authoritatively and freely, have been lost.

13. Stringers, trusted local freelancers abroad, are part of the lifeblood of World Service. The loss of two stringer-ships in Kampala have left gaps in coverage of neighbouring, currently volatile, Democratic Republic of Congo. Several more have been lost from BBC Hausa in Nigeria and one from Manila, previously useful for covering simmering tensions in the territorial dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. In Latin America, cuts in the number of stringers makes news gathering increasing difficult in this massive geographical area. In effect only two remaining stringers are said to be available for English language reporting, along with two staff correspondents.  

Page 6

The Latest Cuts in News: The Loss of Regional Editors and Correspondents

14. Given this context it is vitally important to maintain rather than cut knowledgeable backup coverage in London, particularly the regional editors who lie at the very heart of World Service news production. Following a period of successive cuts these specialists, who work closely with the language services, have been vital in shoring up gaps in global coverage. In the past they have included former foreign correspondents. In all cases they are experts in their field.  Sebastian Usher, for example, the Middle East regional editor, has not only reported from the region but has followed it for his whole career.

15. These editors can be put on air for live analysis in any part of the BBC if a news story unexpectedly breaks and the relevant correspondent is not available. Their role is absolutely crucial to maintaining quality and depth of coverage in both the World Service and the wider BBC.

16. The plan is to replace them with a smaller number of global affairs reporters, one of whom will be based in Nairobi.  The name of the proposed new posts suggests they should be World Service-friendly. However, there is no indication that those new positions will be specifically ring-fenced for specialised World Service staff.

17. Given the prevailing ethos in the merged World Service / domestic newsroom, the fear is that successful candidates could well be chosen from those who have worked well with domestic TV.

18. Meanwhile the proposals to merge the domestic and foreign desks of the newsroom at New Broadcasting House seems to indicate a further downgrading of foreign news.

19. In this age of disinformation what is needed is more, rather than fewer, international specialists. The World Service also needs a dedicated news gathering operation which understands its special requirements and the pressures faced by reporters working abroad.

20. The World Service once had its own team of London based correspondents: Diplomatic, Science, Business, Sport, Arts, Defence have all disappeared in previous rounds of cuts.  Only the World Service political correspondent Rob Watson is left. The World Service lost its dedicated Environment correspondent in 2011, although the same person is still a frequent broadcaster on the English network as part of the BBC News Climate and Science story team. We understand there is a dedicated Environment post for the language services.

Page 7

World Service Science Coverage

21. Until the late 1990s the World Service had its own dedicated science unit within Bush House where its experts were a vital part of news and programme output. It was then amalgamated with the domestic BBC Science Unit, but retained its own programming before moving to New Broadcasting House with the rest of World Service in 2012. In the 2020s, the merged Science Unit — including World Service producers — was officially moved to Cardiff, 120 miles away from Broadcasting House in London. (In reality, most staff refused to move, leading to a massive loss of institutional knowledge.)

22. The Select Committees made much of World Service’s role in combatting disinformation. One of the programmes now due to be axed is Science in Action; it dates back to the 1960s and has played a key role in this fight. It is proposed that this award-winning programme be replaced by a Radio 4 programme, Inside Science.

23. Science in Action is truly global in nature, taking into account the different perspectives of its global audience, prioritising stories from across the globe, finding international context and seeking out diverse voices. Whenever possible it gets scientists themselves to describe their research rather than filtering their stories through “science popularisers” or journalists.

24. It came into its own countering disinformation during the Covid pandemic. Its programmes included an interview with a Chinese virologist on Coronaviruses, and a programme spelling out just how rare adverse reactions to vaccines are. Another programme debunking false rumours that a public health lab in Sudan was carrying out dangerous viral experiments also helped to counter disinformation.

25. In December, Science in Action staff were told by management they were doing a sterling job. A matter of weeks later, they were told that the programme would be cut. Given the earlier positive feedback, there are suspicions that the decision may have been guided by the need to fill a specific hole in the “cuts” budget, rather than any editorial deficiency.

26. World Service Science coverage has already been diluted over the years. World Service used to have its own, globally focused, science front page online. Today, more of the content is UK-centric.  Inside Science, the Radio 4 programme being proposed as a replacement for Science in Action, is more angled towards a UK audience. It is difficult to imagine people in Africa, for instance, being interested in some of the recent Inside Science programmes listed on the BBC’s website: eg “UK, AI and Science-optimised Pasta.” This food is not widely consumed in many parts of the world. Programmes focusing on recent UK floods or the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station would also seem unsuitable for a global audience.

27. There have been suggestions that some funds might be available to adapt the Radio 4 science programme to make it more attractive to a global audience. But there is no guarantee that the re-versioning would be done by World Service specialists.  And ultimately, nothing can adequately replace programmes that have been tailored for a world audience. If Science in Action is lost, the risk is that science content, both audio and online, will become more parochial.

28. The saving achieved by axing this programme would be tiny, as only a handful of people are involved. The loss to World Service’s reputation and influence with scientific opinion makers across the world would be immeasurable.

Page 8

Business programmes

29. BBC World Service invested heavily in business programming in the early 1990s. That investment is now at risk of being undermined by the latest cuts

30. Like the Science Unit the WS Business Unit used to be independent with its own budget. Like the Science Unit, over the years it was merged with its domestic BBC counterpart and swallowed up by a pan-BBC department known as “Money and Work”.  In 2021, the BBC announced that the now-joint business team would be moved from the global financial centre of London to Salford, Greater Manchester, 200 miles away, “with cuts to global business and economics coverage.”

31. Once again, this cut the team off from the rest of the World Service. Virtually all the 40 strong staff refused to move, arguing that they needed to be London-based to gain access to major companies, global conferences and visiting international leaders. When the “move” to Salford took place, it again led to the haemorrhaging of many years of institutional experience.

32. The latest proposed cuts to World Service Business include decommissioning one business programme and repeating an edition of another. It is also planned to axe a programme at 0100GMT – a slot which is crucial to reach the economically important and massive Indian and Chinese markets. Insiders say the overall effect will be to reduce live World Service business reporting from two hours a day to around half an hour.

33. Staffing is already stretched thin, with the unit under-staffed. Because of this under-investment the live programmes and Business Daily are now relying on inexperienced freelancers to bolster the output.

34. Again, the savings to be made are not huge:  only around 6 staff posts are thought to be involved. However the overall effect will be a reduction in global coverage and global influence at a time when the economic world is becoming more complicated. For example, the World Service’s current detailed and specialised international coverage of the regional effects of new US trade tariffs is likely to suffer.

35. Meanwhile BBC Online Business coverage has also been damaged by successive rounds of cuts. The pre-2014 grant-in-aid funding system provided for a dedicated world news content writer. That changed when the World Service became largely funded by the licence fee. Today online business pages are said to be more UK and consumer orientated. While there are still business reporters producing content from Singapore and New York, insiders say that business news for Europe, Africa and Latin America has suffered. They say they fear that the UK-centric trend will only be accelerated following the latest round of cuts, with world audiences being offered increasingly irrelevant material.

Page 9

The Independent Sector

36. A significant proportion of World Service Programmes in English are commissioned from independent producers.  These are mainly documentaries and some programmes in dedicated strands.   According to one producer who makes programmes for the World Service the amount of money they receive for a documentary is no longer enough to cover their costs.  They produce programmes for the BBC World Service as a loss leader and rely on charitable donations to meet their production costs.

37. Budget cuts have also led to some questionable decisions about the funding of programmes. We know of one instance where a senior manager thought it was reasonable to accept funding from a charity that wanted coverage for its work.   In this instance, the manager offered to give a junior member of staff  the opportunity to go abroad with the charity.   All the producer’s expenses would have been met by the charity.  The trip would have been to a dangerous part of the world.   In our opinion, the offer was made without due consideration being given to the producer’s safety, the ethical issues involved and the BBC’s own editorial guidelines.  Management reversed their decision after objections by the unions and other editorial staff. 

Sending Managers Abroad: the BBC’s New Regionalisation Proposal

38. On 26 February 2025, BBC News announced plans to appoint six regional directors to oversee output in its devolved regional offices abroad. Each appointee will be tasked with “growing audiences in their region and providing clear reporting lines for each of the BBC World Service’s 42 language services”. These posts will replace a number of management positions in London.

39. While the stated aim of improving “accountability and clarity”, plus increasing audiences, is laudable, much will depend on the how this plan is implemented. Many questions remain.

40. At the time of writing (27 February) there is no indication of what type of talent pool these appointees will come from. Will they be drawn from BBC staff, or local hires? If the former,  will there be any guarantee that the appointees will be journalists with global radio experience, given the recent propensity to appoint TV specialists to World Service management posts?  Will any have worked with WS language services before? Or will their agenda be primarily focused on increasing international audiences for BBC TV?  Meanwhile, it must be noted that simply replacing managers with managers, wherever they are based, cannot replace cuts to editorial content.

41. Whatever the answers to these questions, this further move to consolidate regionalisation abroad could contribute to the further fracturing of the core identity of the World Service, which used to pride itself as speaking with a single voice to the world. Language services used to be an integral part of the wider World Service culture. Locating more and more of them in regions they cover runs the risk of them becoming more parochial in outlook, entirely cut off from the World Service and its wider mission.  And potentially easier to close down.

42. While we understand the severe budgetary pressures facing the BBC, the rush to rapidly implement these changes could easily give rise to a series of unfortunate perceptions: the first is that the current leadership wishes to avoid detailed scrutiny of its proposals by Parliament.  The second unfortunate perception is that public money intended for the World Service may be directed to projects that are of more use to other parts of the BBC.  Strict safeguards must be put in place to prevent this from ever happening.

The BBC World Service Defence Committee

March 2025