RUSSIA and China will win the global war for hearts and minds unless Sir Keir Starmer invests more money in the BBC World Service, diplomats said last night.
It follows a warning by the head of BBC Word Service that a freeze in license fees will mean “cuts on a scale never seen before” in the broadcaster’s global output.
“We need to get serious about how we are to explain to the rest of the world why they should align with us rather than countries like Russia,“ said former UK ambassador to Russia Sir Laurie Bristow, last night.
“And we also need to make sure we are reaching decision-makers and influencers with a narrative about why a relationship with us is positive for them.”
Last year the BBC ended its Arabic and Persian radio services as part of a plan to save £28.5m a year.
It is Russia which now occupies vacated BBC bandwidths in Middle Eastern and African hotspots to pump out its anti-Western propaganda.
The BBC is considered the world’s most trusted international news brand reaching 365 million people in 40 languages – a 42 per cent increase since 2016. Almost a half – 159 million – are radio listeners.
But it has been relying on license fee payments to find the service since the Foreign Office pulled out in 2014.
Today, three-quarters of the BBCWS’ £366m annual budget is provided through the license fee , with central government covering the remaining quarter.
“The freezing of license fees has resulted in real term cuts, and what we are telling Government is that this will have a massive impact on the World Service” , said BBC World Service director Jonathan Munro last night.
“Cuts over the last few years have been nothing like what we are now facing now – unless it can be made up by central government funding.”
While some programmes have been placed online, they are often easily blocked by authoritarian governments or natural disasters.
“We know how important radio is as a form of delivery,” he added.
“In Gaza now no-one has a data package to go online. What they have is radios. And the loss of those services is really serious.
“Russian state media Sputnik has taken over our radio transmission frequencies in Lebanon after we were forced to vacate our Arabic language radio. They are pumping Russian propaganda into a very unstable state.
“That is happening in other parts of the world where we cut out radio and television broadcasts, such as Africa where Russia now occupies that space. “
Though he would not confirm figures, insiders revealed that the BBC was looking for an additional £60m on an annual basis.
“That amount would mean no further cuts and possibly reopening some platforms. Even providing one or two bulletins a day would ensure continuity, and that’s important,” said a source.
Sir Laurie added: “Public service broadcasting is one of the UK’s major national assets. Russia’s idea is to undermine the whole concept of trusted news services. They are not trying to persuade you to believe one set of values – they want you to disbelieve everything. They want to polarise society.”
James Hoare, Former British Chargé d’affaires in Pyongyang, North Korea, agreed.
“Access to the internet is limited in North Korea, but high level officials told me that they did listen to radio broadcasts including BBC World Service,” he said.
“It is important that they can get an inkling into British thinking.
“Even if it was completely funded by the license fee, it would still still be considered as the voice of the British Government, so we may as well increase central funding.”
