Letter to Mr David Laws MP from Lord Triesman,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
Thank you for your letter of 23 November to
Jack Straw on behalf of your constituent, Michael Fox . . . expressing
concern about the BBC World Service. I am replying as Minister
responsible for Public Diplomacy.
The BBC World Service has recently carried out
a significant re-structuring exercise. This involved re-examination
of the reach and impact of all 43 of its language services. This
resulted in a decision, announced on 25 October, to close 11 low
impact radio services. The resources freed will be reinvested
on new priorities, including online services and Arabic TV. I
attach a World Service press release that provides further information.[1]
1
Mr Fox expresses concern about the internal
impact of these changes. Although BBC World Service is funded
by grant-in-aid, I should stress that it does have complete editorial
and managerial independence from the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office. However, I can confirm that the World Service is confident
that the changes, including some job losses, will not affect the
quality of its output.
Mr Fox also refers to Arabic TV. As the Director
of the World Service has made clear, Arabic TV is the result of
recommendations made by the World Service itself. Arabic is the
World Service's "senior" service. Arabic was the first
non-English offering on radio and, many years later, the first
non-English online service. The Middle East market has always
been a high priority for the World Service. The World Service
is confident that it can launch a high quality 12-hour TV service,
as part of a tri-media offering in Arabic by utilising the resources
at its disposal. Polling evidence has suggested that a 12-hour
service would attract a significant audience. I believe that reprioritisation
announced by the World Service is the right move at the right
time.
David Triesman
The Lord Triesman of Tottenham
1 Not Printed. Back
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