In October last year, after discussions that took place over just nine days, the BBC agreed to take the funding of the World Service off the hands of the government from 2014. At the same time, as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Foreign Office announced a 16 per cent cut – £46 million – in the World Service budget. By the time it leaves its imperious headquarters at Bush House on Aldwych next year and moves into the renovated Broadcasting House on Portland Place, the World Service will have shrunk significantly, shedding language services, listeners, programmes, staff and frequencies. It lost ten of its language services in 2005 in order to fund the launch of Arabic and Persian television channels, and five more this year; in addition, seven services have stopped broadcasting on radio, surviving as internet-only operations. Although the foreign affairs select committee, which has emerged as the World Service’s greatest champion, helped to secure a concession of £2.2 million a year, it has failed to convince the government that the cuts should be reversed completely.

LRB 25 August 2011 | PDF Download