BBC World Service under threat?

BECTU and the NUJ are campaigning against plans to move significant parts of the BBC World Service overseas.

If accepted, the current proposals, would see at least 50 per cent of programming from the World Service’s South Asia section being produced abroad.

Both unions are concerned about the threat to UK jobs. However there are also real fears that the BBC’s plans will undermine the ability of the World Service to provide an independent voice.

BECTU is urging its members to write to their MPs - a model letter is available [15k pdf].

BECTU and the NUJ have registered a formal dispute with the Service management and a further meeting with senior management is due this month.

The BBC wants work from the Urdu, Hindi and Nepali services to be relocated to Pakistan, India and Nepal. These services account for a third of the World Service audience.

These proposals are part of a broader World Service objective to see 50 per cent of the entire Service’s programming produced abroad.

The World Service is required to make savings of 3% year on year and a move from Bush House to smaller premises at Broadcasting House is planned for 2012.

The BBC's rationale for these changes is that it will help bring World Service programming "closer to its audiences".

“In other recent changes across the BBC, this phrase has been meant metaphorically, in a broadcasting ethos sense - not, as in this case, geographically and literally.” commented a local BECTU official.

“Staff across the World Service are concerned about the creeping loss of services, about the lack of transparency surrounding current policy and about the World Service’s long term prospects.” the local official continued.

The Romanian service was served with notice of closure two weeks ago and will stop broadcasting in August this year; in 2005 eight out of 12 European languages services faced closure in the most recent large-scale cutback.

In meetings with the unions, management has said that the World Service is facing increasing competition from local news providers and that establishing a presence in local FM markets is a key priority.

The unions believe that these proposals will subject the World Service to political and commercial pressures beyond its control, since production abroad is subject to local laws.

The following examples point to the kind of difficulities which have arisen:

• In 2007 the BBC agreed to obtain prior clearance from Pakistan’s media regulatory authority for all contents and programmes that were intended for broadcast on a local FM radio station.
• In India the BBC's FM partners stopped broadcasting BBC sports news due to government pressure.
• In Nepal the government has in the past closed down radio stations re-broadcasting BBC news.

Some staff in the affected departments have been offered two options: relocation to work for BBC subsidiaries at a reduced salary or unemployment.

Employment laws in South East Asia are far less favourable to staff than they are in the UK, so current BBC employees would also lose key employment rights.

For more than a month now, union members have been conducting a flower protest outside the World Service headquarters at Bush House in London. Bouquets have been laid to commemorate 70 years of independent broadcasting.

The protest is set to continue every Thursday in the weeks ahead.