APPENDIX 2
Letter from the Chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Committee to Mr Mark Byford, Director, BBC World Service
You may recall that in Paragraph 24 of its July
Report on Zimbabwe, the Foreign Affairs Committee made the following
recommendation:
We recommend that the Government ensure that
BBC World Service continues to have sufficient funds to maintain
the quality and extent of its coverage in Zimbabwe, and better
still, given the repressive nature of the Mugabe regime, to extend
it further[1].
In its Response, the Government replied as follows:
The Government has recently announced an increase
in funding for BBCWS of £48 million over the three years
2003-06, on top of an annual baseline of £211 million. The
annual grant-in-aid to BBCWS currently stands at £200 million.
Operational decisions on resource allocation, given BBCWS's independence
of government on editorial and programming matters, are for BBCWS
on the basis of its spending bid and working within the framework
of overall objectives agreed with the FCO. The FCO and BBCWS maintain
constant contact over each other's respective objectives and priorities.[2]
As the Government rightly points out, operational
decisions on resource allocation are not a matter for Ministers.
The Committee would therefore welcome an up-to-date response to
this recommendation from the BBC World Service. If there is anything
you wish to tell the Committee which you would prefer not to be
published, please include it with your reply in a confidential
annex.
The Chairman of the Committee
2 December 2002
Letter to the Chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Committee from the Deputy Director, BBC World Service
Thank you for your letter of 2 December, asking
for an up-to-date response to the recommendation in your July
2002 report on Zimbabwe. I enclose a note outlining how we are
approaching our coverage of this important area.
As you will be very aware, covering Zimbabwe
from within the country is difficult for any media organisation
at the moment, and especially for the BBC, whose efforts often
raise the ire of the Mugabe government. Despite this, we have
not lost focus on this very important story, and as the note makes
clear, we are pushing as hard as is practically possible. The
note also places our coverage of Zimbabwe in a wider pan-African
context.
As you know, we very much appreciate the strong
interest and support the World Service has from the FAC and from
you, personally. If I can help you further on this or any other
matter, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Deputy Director
BBC World Service
19 December 2002
Memorandum from the BBC World Service
BBC WORLD SERVICE—REPORTING
ZIMBABWE
1. The key challenge for the World Service
in reporting from, and on, Zimbabwe is not so much a question
of resources as of overcoming restrictions. In early 2001, new
media laws concerning foreign journalists were introduced in Zimbabwe
and the BBC's correspondent, Joseph Winter, was expelled with
his family amid a great deal of publicity. Since then, neither
the BBC nor any other foreign broadcaster has been permitted to
have a permanent reporting presence in the country; even temporary
visits are very difficult and have to be undertaken with great
care.
2. However, as Zimbabwe continues to be
a major story, the World Service is, of course, seeking all means
possible to ensure that it is covered in the depth and breadth
that it warrants.
3. The World Service has correspondents
in neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, as well as
some locally engaged staff within the country in Bulawayo and
Harare, and analysts and specialists in London (including a Zimbabwean
presenter for the flagship programme "Focus on Africa").
One BBC correspondent is a Zimbabwean national, and has been able
to enter the country to file some reports, and two other correspondents
have been able to go in to the country to collect material, reporting
on events on their return.
4. As the World Service is unable at present
to secure FM licences in Zimbabwe, it is seeking ways to enhance
its short-wave offering there.
5. In the wider context, the 2002 Spending
Review settlement will allow the World Service to improve coverage
of the continent, both specifically for African audiences and
for listeners around the world. The latest newsgathering equipment
will be installed in major bureaux in Africa, and we will be appointing
an extra producer, based in Johannesburg, to cover affairs throughout
Southern Africa. An additional, interactive weekly programme,
Africa Live, will be launched dealing specifically with issues
of development, environment, governance, trade and aid—many
of which have strong relevance for Zimbabwe.
BBC World Service
December 2002
1 Foreign Affairs Committee, Tenth Report of Session
2001-02, Zimbabwe, HC 813, para 24. Back
2
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Government Response to the Committee's
Tenth Report of Session 2001-02, Zimbabwe, Cm 5608. Back
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