BBC response
BBC TRUST RESPONSE TO WORLD SERVICE CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The BBC Trust has provided the response to the Committee's
conclusions 17, 18 and 19, which are regarding the future direction
and governance of the BBC World Service.
In our view, the Committee's concerns about overall
direction are overstated. The World Service, like all divisions
within the BBC, has full knowledge of its budget and strategic
priorities, which are set by the Trust and the BBC Executive Board.
The BBC Trust will shortly be undertaking a public consultation
on the draft Operating Licence, which will govern the Trust's
oversight of the World Service. The draft Licence has been developed
in consultation with the BBC Executive, including the World Service.
The Operating Licence will publicly confirm the budget for the
World Service and will operate in a similar way to the Service
Licences that the Trust has established for each of the BBC's
UK public services.
As required by the Agreement with the UK Government,
the Trust is currently agreeing "objectives, priorities and
targets" for the World Service with the Foreign Secretary.
Once agreed, these will be incorporated into the Operating Licence.
BBC EXECUTIVE RESPONSE TO WORLD SERVICE CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
OVERALL DIRECTION AND GOVERNANCE
The move into Licence Fee funding and the integration
with domestic BBC News provide certainty and stability for the
World Service, which will be part of a longer Licence Fee settlement
period, as opposed to three-yearly Comprehensive Spending Reviews.
The collaboration with BBC News will continue to be strengthened
and widened to the benefit of both global and UK audiences. The
Director General, Tony Hall, and the Director of News, James Harding,
have stated their support for and recognition of the importance
of the World Service to audiences, and its special role within
the BBC.
The way in which the BBC will ensure that the World
Service has the appropriate strategic and financial support is
through the BBC Trust, which sets the budget for the World Service
and clarifies what it expects the World Service to do in the Operating
Licence. The whole of the Executive Board, which includes the
Director of News, is accountable to the Trust for delivering the
strategy of the World Service.
DELIVERY OF SERVICES
BBC World Service (BBC WS) will continue to ensure
that its distribution strategy centres on the needs of audiences
around the world - it will endeavour to sustain a short wave service
where it is most needed by audiences. Increasing numbers of people
are accessing World Service on FM, online, television and mobile
platforms, and short wave audiences tend to decline rapidly when
those options are available. However, for those who can't access
alternative platforms, BBC WS has strived to ensure, within the
current tight financial restraints, that they will continue to
hear the best the World Service has to offer on short wave at
certain times of the day. Services in these regions will be maintained
for as long as they remain a cost-effective way of reaching an
audience.
BBC WS has many stable and long standing partnerships
with broadcasters around the world which help to reach audiences
with independent and balanced news in a way that could not be
achieved alone. However, World Service has robust safeguards
and processes in place to ensure that partners are not able to
compromise the BBC's trust and reputation. For example, the recent
targeted interference to BBC Tamil programmes by SLBC presented
a serious breach of trust with audiences in Sri Lanka, which the
BBC could not allow. BBC WS had no alternative but to suspend
the service with immediate effect.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
The safety of reporters in the field is of paramount
importance to the BBC and all staff operating in the field are
given full health, safety and high-risk training. The BBC High
Risk Team is highly respected and has a deserved reputation for
professionalism.
The BBC is grateful for the Committee's backing on
the issue of media freedom, and for the support given by the FCO.
BBC WS concurs with the FCO's Human Rights report findings that
there has been a noticeable worldwide decline in this regard.
Recently, on World Press Freedom Day, the BBC together with seven
other international broadcasters issued a joint statement expressing
concern at growing satellite jamming and internet blocking of
services, calling on all nations to recognise the legitimate role
played by international broadcasts in offering free access to
global media and coverage of events. The BBC has most recently
experienced blocking and interference in Iran, China and Sri Lanka
(as described above), and continues to work closely with the FCO,
and other government departments and international bodies, to
counter these problems. More detailed information on recent media
freedom issues encountered by the BBC is contained in written
evidence submitted to the Committee's Human Rights inquiry.
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