Is It Still Important In Today’s World For The Likes Of The BBC To Still Be Broadcasting In Russian, Mandarin, Turkish, Serbian, Ukrainian …

Philip M. Stone January 27, 2011 Follow on Twitter

When the UK government announced last September it would end its £272 million annual grant for BBC World Service radio we ran the headline, “What Becomes of BBC World Radio” and four months later we now have the answer – the closing of five language services and savage cuts at the remaining 26. But in today’s media world, does it matter?

BBC management isn’t happy about having to make the cuts and the affected unions are mad as hell, but not only did the Foreign Office say its funding would end in three years, but it was also imposing a 16% annual reduction until then. With the BBC’s license fee frozen for the next six years and yet forced to take on this responsibility plus funding a Welsh language TV station it was obvious that much had to give, and now it has. So goodbye to the Serbian, Macedonian, Albanian, Caribbean and Portuguese services to Africa, and also it will be the end of such stellar news programs as Outlook and Newshour on its premier English language service, plus there are big cuts in Arabic and Russian services and even shortwave broadcasts in Hindi didn’t escape the knife. But again, apart from the pain suffered by those losing jobs, is it really any big deal given today’s world’s media order?

There’s no argument about the marvelous job BBC World Radio Services do globally to get the truth out to countries in their own language, but if the UK government of the day says that’s no longer important enough to be financed as a matter of foreign policy, then why shouldn’t the British license payer, who now has to foot the bill, say the same?

The government forced the BBC to undertake World Service funding directly as part of an agreement last September to guarantee the BBC’s own funding for the next six years at current levels. And to show how nasty it got, the government told the BBC if it didn’t accept to fund the World Service then it would stick it having to pay the domestic license fees for those over age 75 – a cost of more than £550 million and likely to grow as the population ages. So the broadcaster accepted the least painful financial option but we never saw the small type on what kind of World Service the BBC must maintain, but now we’re getting an idea.

The BBC is famous for having so many journalists in so many places who actively report for domestic and international radio and TV let alone other journalists who report for the World Service foreign language broadcasts. Only the accountants really know how much of the Foreign Office grant funded all of that foreign reporting operation that the domestic networks also took advantage of, but it was obvious there would soon be a cull. Now the BBC has announced 650 jobs are to go, five services are to close and a total of 30 million listeners globally will be lost, leaving, shock of all shocks, Voice of America as probably the most listened to international radio service.

It all brings up the fundamental question of whether BBC World Service Radio is necessary anymore?

The Albanian service, for instance, is to be closed. Albania until 1991 was a staunchly communist state, the only one behind the Iron Curtain more closely aligned to China than to the Soviet Union. But that was then and Albania today is a member of NATO and has applied to be a member of the EU so is that Albanian service not past its sell date? Well just last week three people were shot dead and more than 150 protesters and security officers were injured in Tirana at a rally staged by the Socialist opposition in which tens of thousands of people were protesting alleged electoral fraud in the 2009 elections.  Can the country rely on local media to tell the true facts of what happened in the streets and about that alleged fraud, or is that BBC service still vital to support Albanian democracy? And if it is, should the British tax payer pay for it as part of the domestic license fee which means a cut in domestic services?

Then there’s Russia. Much of the world is complaining about how the Kremlin is slowly but surely bringing much of the formerly independent media under its wing, meaning that many times now it is the Kremlin’s view that gets out there and there are few independent sources. And yet the BBC Russian service is getting nailed very hard. Is that good for Russian democracy? Should the UK license payer care, especially when it means financing that Russian service means something doesn’t get done at home?

The BBC does, of course, move with the times. What do the numbers 6195, 7325, 9410,12095 and 15070 have in common? They were all shortwave transmission frequencies for the BBC World Service English language broadcasts in Europe. But no more, for those European shortwave transmissions ended long ago. Not that one can’t listen in Europe to the BBC World Service -- it’s on the Internet and on many local AM or FM transmitters throughout the continent delivered with satellite quality. Here in Geneva, FTM’s hometown, BBC hourly news bulletins are part of the English language Swiss Broadcasting Company’s domestic World Radio Switzerland on FM and on DAB throughout the rest of the country (not that we know anyone in Switzerland who owns a DAB radio). Shortwave to parts of Africa and Asia continues so one there can still enjoy listening to what sun spots can do to shortwave transmissions.

For older generation English speakers (that means pre-Internet) the World Service and Voice of America on shortwave used to be the main way to listen to English speaking voices and keep up with world affairs no matter where you were. When this writer moved from Europe to Indianapolis in 1979 (real culture shock!) he found that neither the local newspaper nor broadcasters catered to his acquired thirst for international news so out came the trusty Panasonic shortwave radio bought in a hard currency shop in Moscow in 1974 at a real bargain and he was up to date beginning with the live chimes of Big Ben. Couldn’t do that now, of course, since BBC shortwave transmissions to North America ended in 2001, but now in the US if you want to listen to not only English but such BBC services as Farsi, Somali, Urdu and Arabic there are toll-free telephone numbers for each let alone Internet access.

Back in 1973 UPI sent this writer to Helsinki as its Bureau Manager even though he spoke not one word of Finnish. Not too many Finns in those days spoke English and the country’s domestic broadcasting and print media was all in Finnish or Swedish. But every night on went the trusty Panasonic shortwave, finding just the right angle for the antenna, and lo and behold in came the BBC and on Voice of America there was the news in special English (slowly read.) It all made “home” feel that much closer and expatriates accessing those broadcasts today still feel the same.

But in today’s world is letting expatriates keep up with things at home or around the world a good use for tax pounds and dollars, especially when the Internet carries so much news from so many sources and there are literally thousands of radio stations available there too. And today’s technology allows more. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, an American colleague visiting Beijing hooked up on the Internet to his Slingbox in his Washington, D.C. apartment and watched all of the US domestic telecast of an NFL playoff game live. As an old American cigarette ad used to boast, “You’ve come a long way, Baby!”

Switzerland has hit upon the modern way of getting the word out at the least cost. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation produces its terrific Swissinfo Internet service having eliminated shortwave services in 2004 after 70 years of transmissions. The Swiss understood that the Internet was by far a better (and less expensive) way of getting Switzerland’s message out to the world.

The service, written in nine languages, is about as good as one will find on the web today as an example of how a public broadcaster can develop multimedia, multilingual skills to provide news about its country to the rest of the world which admittedly is a different mission to what the BBC is doing in telling the world about the world. Should the domestic British broadcaster be doing that from domestic license fees?

Shortwave is passé today and in the Stone basement there are still three such radios that for many a year have gone unused. She who must be obeyed recently suggested they be tossed since they were just gathering dust but that is one argument she lost! Some things are still sacred.

See also in ftm Knowledge

The BBC

Few pure media brands transcend borders and boundries to acheive the iconic status of the BBC. The institution has come to define public service broadcasting. Yet missteps, errors and judgment questions fuel critics. The BBC battles those critics and competitors and, sometimes, itself. 72 pages PDF (February 2009)

Order here

Media in Spain - Diverse and Challenged – new

Media in Spain is steeped in tradition. yet challenged by diversity. Publishers hold great influence, broadcasters competing. New media has been slow to rise and business models for all are under stress. Rich in language and culture, Spain's media is reaching into the future and finding more than expected. 123 pages, PDF. January 2018

Order here

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 84 pages. PDF (September 2017)

Order here

Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda

The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)

Order here

More ftm Knowledge files here

Become an ftm Individual or Corporate Member to order Knowledge Files at no charge. JOIN HERE!