Written evidence from John Rowlett
BBC WORLD SERVICE CUTS
I am writing to you to register my opposition to
the planned cuts to one of our greatest institutions, namely the
BBC World Service.
The World Service is an organisation that brings
much prestige to the United Kingdom, and once lost will be difficult
to recover. Its expertise and unbiased journalism are held in
high esteem both abroad and at home.
In many parts of the world, the Wold Service on short
wave transmission is the main, if not only method of populations
gaining a true picture of both national and international events.
The stated aim of only continuing with the internet is flawed
in as much that many of the poorest people do not have access
to the intranet, and even if they did, many of these poor are
also illiterate. This in its self would also be a moot point as
many governments are attempting to establish methods of internet
restriction.
The cuts will also affect the BBC Monitoring desk,
a vital tool for gathering information and its analysis from around
the world. This is a vital instrument in uncovering, amongst other
things human rights abuse, disasters and corruption. This would
not be possible without the specialised journalists in place.
Impartial observers around the world are baffled
by this decision, and do not understand why we should wish to
destroy the World Service.
I call on you to reconsider the proposed cuts by
diverting a small fraction of the aid budget to the World Service.
7 February 2011
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