BBC World Service cuts will cost it 30m listeners worldwide

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

The BBC today confirmed that 650 jobs would be lost at the BBC World Service in cutbacks that it said would lead to the loss of 30 million listeners around the world.

Peter Horrocks, the BBC's global news director, confirming the scale of the cuts in an internal staff briefing today, said it was a "difficult and sad day both personally and professionally" for the 2,000 staff who work at the global broadcaster. Horrocks described it as an "enormous shift" for the World Service, where 650 jobs will go, including 480 posts over the next 12 months, as management implements cuts following a 16% cut in Foreign Office funding.

An estimated 68 jobs will go at the World Service's English-language service. Five foreign-language services will be axed and shortwave broadcasts cut back.

=snip=

Radio broadcasts in China, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will be axed, and shortwave broadcasts will cease in Hindi. The Persian and Arabic services will work much more closely together with all evening radio programmes axed from the BBC Arabic service. Overseas, the brunt of the cuts will be borne by the Arabic and Russian services, with the latter set to lose 45 posts, about half of its staff.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/26/bbc-world-service-cuts

---

And so the tentacles of the austerity frenzy spread.

ETA The comments below the article are well worth a read.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Broadly speaking

BBC World Edition is a load of old crap - I watched it in Cuba last year.

[Turborama]

2. As you must know, BBC World Service is radio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

My Indonesian wife's late father listened to it to help him with his English. It helped her with her English too, while she listened to it with him.

Maybe what they broadcast on TV in Cuba is crap, but BBC World News is actually really good in this region (SE Asia). As is http://singapore.bbcknowledge.com/">BBC Knowledge, which has regular re-runs of Dragon's Den, Top Gear and Horizon. I'd be seriously pissed off if BBC Knowledge goes.

[dipsydoodle]

6. I was refering to TV News

.

[Turborama]

8. I thought so.

To be honest, I didn't know they even had BBC TV news there until you mentioned it. Was it in Spanish?

I was just adding the personal BBC World Service anecdote to give what I think is an interesting perspective on how far reaching the positive impact BBC's World Service has been over the years.

[dipsydoodle]

9. Nope - in English

Not sure where it came from. CNN's was the Pacific edition.

[closeupready]

3. No big loss. The BBC has really gone downhill, IMO.

Even the source of this item, The Guardian, has excelled where the BBC flounders.

[Blue_Tires]

4. sad...it's been my reliable place for news for awhile now...

[bikebloke]

5. They're cutting English to the Caribbean.

That was my fall back in case the Internet is ever blocked, though the shortwave reception is pretty rough.

I've listened to the World Service for 30 years.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. The linked site ...

details huge cuts to be taken in several foreign language broadcasts. Russian language broadcasts are really taking a hit.

The BBC stopped its shortwave transmissions to north America several years ago. You can still hear them, as the signals "bend" a little on their way from the transmitter. Well, I guess, as I haven't tried in a while.

International shortwave broadcasting is a mere shadow of its former self. Radio Swiss International shut down years ago as well.

Blame the Interwebs. Now that Web access is everywhere, huge fixed transmitter facilities are seen as avoidable expenses. A server farm is much cheaper. Even the VOA in Creole is available in a podcast.

Things ain't what they used to be.

[robcon]

10. BBC World Service is not a 21st century service.

Its decline is predictable.

[LeftishBrit]

17. Huh? How? You mean just because it's radio and not the Internet?

There are many people in the 21st century worldwide who listen to radio, and many more people still have access to radio than the Internet. (You can of course in any case access the BBC on the Internet too.)

Would you say that ALL radio outlets are 'not 21st century' and their decline is thus predictable?

Or is it something else about the BBC?

The reason for the current cuts is that we have a Tory-controlled government that is ideologically in favour of cutting *everything* that moves and isn't already privatized; and in particular they don't like the BBC because of its independence. Plus the fact that Murdoch has too much influence on the government, and he doesn't like the BBC both on ideological grounds, and no doubt because he sees them as rivals to his empire.

[Recursion]

11. BBC World Service to cut 650 jobs, broadcasts

Source: USA Today

The BBC said Wednesday that it plans to cut 650 jobs, more than a quarter of its total, at its international World Service as part of efforts to slash spending by 46 million pounds ($73 million) a year.

The figures announced by the state-funded broadcaster come after the government announced large public spending cuts to cope with Britain's budget deficit.

The BBC said the job losses come as part of preparation for the end of direct government funding in April 2014. At that point, the corporation will be funded through the television license fee, which is paid by all households in Britain that have a TV.

A group of about 50 World Service staff protested outside the service's headquarters in central London, holding up banners reading "World Service RIP."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2011-01-26-bbc-world-service-cuts_N.htm

---

This is unfortunate; they're my main news source.

[MineralMan]

12. Long ago, back in the 1960s,

I spent a lot of time listening to news from around the world on my shortwave radio. For nostalgia's sake, I tried to do that last year. The internet has destroyed shortwave broadcasts to distant countries, almost completely. The old bands, which were full of broadcasts from every country on the planet, are strangely quiet now. A few religious stations and some stragglers are about all that's left. Almost nobody aims broadcasts at the USA, as they once did.

But, then, I realized that I had stopped listening a long time ago, accessing international news in other ways. I guess shortwave broadcasting is just a victim of changes in technology. I'm nostalgic for it, but I probably wouldn't be listening, even if it was still going on.

I used to recognize the voice of the man who read the news in English for Radio Moscow. I knew his name at one time. I could listen to Radio Brazzaville and learn about stuff happening in Africa. Radio Cuba is still on the air, beaming its signal to Florida and you can still hear it, even in Minnesota. But mostly, the shortwave broadcast bands have gone silent. An era has passed.

[Crowman1979]

13. I wonder how much money the Murdoch Empire/Sky News bribed MPs?

[Crowman1979]

14. Although I am quite pissed off when the BBC World Service thought of the Teabaggers as a legit...

...political group. I almost screamed at my radio when they claimed that Teabaggers were the voice of the american people.

[Turborama]

15. Government blamed over BBC job cuts

Press Association, Wednesday 26 January 2011

The Government has been warned that it risks hitting Britain's reputation across the world after funding cuts were blamed for the loss of 650 jobs and the closure of five language services at the BBC World Service.

The news sparked anger from opposition politicians and unions and led to warnings of possible industrial action to fight the cuts.

=snip=

BBC global news director Peter Horrocks gave the grim news to staff and said they were "clearly very sad", stressing the importance of the World Service to Britain's reputation across the world. People who listened to the World Service were likely to trade with Britain, he said, adding: "We made that case to ministers. We explained in great detail the impact of the decision."

Former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane said the changes would see "irreparable damage" done to Britain, telling ministers in the Commons: "You are doing in part what no dictator has ever achieved - silencing the voice of the BBC, the voice of Britain, the voice of democracy, the voice of balanced journalism at a time when it is more than ever needed."

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9470617

[T_i_B]

16. If the BBC needs to cut....

...then they would be much better off axing the rubbish on BBC3 IMHO.