BBC World service
Discussion
Did a search but couldn't find anything.
I have been amazed at how the BBC has been endlessly using radio and TV air time to talk about the £16m cut to the World Service. I frankly don't give a s
t and am pleased that they too are taking a share of the cuts.
So what that the US is now the largest world broadcaster, they should be. They are bigger, more powerful, more paranoid about controlling the world and generally need the PR. We are a small nation of diminishing importance on the world stage who should rightly keep our noses out and focus on getting things right here. I am tired of the endless stream of journos appearing in tweed jackets hand wringing about the loss of the broadcasts in Portugese in Africa. The only people who care are the BBC. It certainly hasn't been mentioned anywhere I have been in the past week, but people have been talking about fuel prices, how crap our council are, Egypt, Lord Taylor, job losses, double dips; things that do matter.
FFS BBC stop belly button gazing and spending my licence fee on lattes and have a decent debate about stuff that matters to the lives of people.
I have been amazed at how the BBC has been endlessly using radio and TV air time to talk about the £16m cut to the World Service. I frankly don't give a s
t and am pleased that they too are taking a share of the cuts.So what that the US is now the largest world broadcaster, they should be. They are bigger, more powerful, more paranoid about controlling the world and generally need the PR. We are a small nation of diminishing importance on the world stage who should rightly keep our noses out and focus on getting things right here. I am tired of the endless stream of journos appearing in tweed jackets hand wringing about the loss of the broadcasts in Portugese in Africa. The only people who care are the BBC. It certainly hasn't been mentioned anywhere I have been in the past week, but people have been talking about fuel prices, how crap our council are, Egypt, Lord Taylor, job losses, double dips; things that do matter.
FFS BBC stop belly button gazing and spending my licence fee on lattes and have a decent debate about stuff that matters to the lives of people.
You don't understand the concept of "soft power" then. The World Service is one of the main reasons we're still considered world players. It provides a more or less unbiased (compared to the state communications in the countries in which it operates) news service across the world, and importantly makes a significant number of people fond of the BBC, and by extension the UK.
Put it this way, I'd rather we were spending the money on this than bribes to Saudi princes.
Put it this way, I'd rather we were spending the money on this than bribes to Saudi princes.
davepoth said:
You don't understand the concept of "soft power" then. The World Service is one of the main reasons we're still considered world players. It provides a more or less unbiased (compared to the state communications in the countries in which it operates) news service across the world, and importantly makes a significant number of people fond of the BBC, and by extension the UK.
Put it this way, I'd rather we were spending the money on this than bribes to Saudi princes.
Some of the BBC World Service offerings do seem to be taking the proverbial though.Put it this way, I'd rather we were spending the money on this than bribes to Saudi princes.
Someone drew my attention to the BBC "English for the Caribbean" Service - surely, I thought, it can't just be wall-to-wall documentaries about Bob Marley and the Wailers...could it?
I was right - the first item I found by randomly selecting from the listen-on-line list was a documentary about a radio producer.......who was making a documentary about Bob Marley and the Wailers.
eharding said:
Some of the BBC World Service offerings do seem to be taking the proverbial though.
Someone drew my attention to the BBC "English for the Caribbean" Service - surely, I thought, it can't just be wall-to-wall documentaries about Bob Marley and the Wailers...could it?
I was right - the first item I found by randomly selecting from the listen-on-line list was a documentary about a radio producer.......who was making a documentary about Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Not entirely surprising perhaps, as the 30th anniv of his death is in May Someone drew my attention to the BBC "English for the Caribbean" Service - surely, I thought, it can't just be wall-to-wall documentaries about Bob Marley and the Wailers...could it?
I was right - the first item I found by randomly selecting from the listen-on-line list was a documentary about a radio producer.......who was making a documentary about Bob Marley and the Wailers.
. First time luck. 
Granted for somewhere like the Caribbean there's much less call for it, but even there it provides a valuable service. It's one of the few things that will pull the region together as part of the Commonwealth. For the (I guess) £20m we spend on it, the goodwill to the British, in terms of business dealings and the amount of corporation tax paid to the government, would probably pay for itself.
Granted for somewhere like the Caribbean there's much less call for it, but even there it provides a valuable service. It's one of the few things that will pull the region together as part of the Commonwealth. For the (I guess) £20m we spend on it, the goodwill to the British, in terms of business dealings and the amount of corporation tax paid to the government, would probably pay for itself.
davepoth said:
First time luck.
Granted for somewhere like the Caribbean there's much less call for it, but even there it provides a valuable service. It's one of the few things that will pull the region together as part of the Commonwealth. For the (I guess) £20m we spend on it, the goodwill to the British, in terms of business dealings and the amount of corporation tax paid to the government, would probably pay for itself.
Oh, I'm fully in support of the world service. Granted for somewhere like the Caribbean there's much less call for it, but even there it provides a valuable service. It's one of the few things that will pull the region together as part of the Commonwealth. For the (I guess) £20m we spend on it, the goodwill to the British, in terms of business dealings and the amount of corporation tax paid to the government, would probably pay for itself.
In many places the BBC is still highly regarded and seen as neutral and its broadcasts as the independent truth. Unlike the other only real alternative - "The Voice of America" which really is pure US govt propaganda, and only really covers countries where the US is actively trying to gain something.
If the Chinese and other less liberal govts still try to block the BBC frequencies it must be doing something right.
Perhaps it is starting to become a little outmoded by the advance of technology, but radio is still the main means many oppressed peoples have of getting news and information and we should be proud that they recognise the BBC World Service as the only source for the genuine story.
Broadcasting to the commonwealth is only a convenient cloak to hide behind to get access to transmitters and repeaters where it can then broadcast into countries under despotic regimes, particularly in Africa and the Far East.
As a very rich first world country (even in our current bankrupt state), the cost is pretty immaterial compared to the reassurance it offers to the oppressed.
It is Britain's gift to the less fortunate of the world and should be celebrated as that.
I`m sure the withdrawal of it`s coverage from the areas will not damage the institution too badly in the main. Noticed the slightly hand-wringing tone from the news items concerning the cuts though..
I remain of the view that it sports an excellent schedule with a mostly robust reporting of current affairs & other topics. With the increasingly banal BBC TV schedule, it provides the much needed more solid coverage of the global cultural story avoiding much of the tatty glitz.
I remain of the view that it sports an excellent schedule with a mostly robust reporting of current affairs & other topics. With the increasingly banal BBC TV schedule, it provides the much needed more solid coverage of the global cultural story avoiding much of the tatty glitz.
Edited by FM on Saturday 29th January 13:56
Dr Doofenshmirtz said:
Cogcog said:
We are a small nation of diminishing importance on the world stage
It's a shame you feel that way about your country. Whilst I have been an avid listener to the World Service when out of the country in years gone by (on short wave, by the way) we have to accept that the world is moving on.
Newspaper sales have been falling for years because of the increased use of television and the internet for obtaining news
Less people use Post Offices because of the increase in online banking and payment facilities and email which has reduced the numbers of letters
Hardly anybody uses cheques any more
Etc etc
The World Service was important in its day, but those days may be coming to an end.
rs1952 said:
Its a shame you can't see the truth and relevance of the statement you quoted. The days of having an Empire on which the sun never sets are over.
Whilst I have been an avid listener to the World Service when out of the country in years gone by (on short wave, by the way) we have to accept that the world is moving on.
Newspaper sales have been falling for years because of the increased use of television and the internet for obtaining news
Less people use Post Offices because of the increase in online banking and payment facilities and email which has reduced the numbers of letters
Hardly anybody uses cheques any more
Etc etc
The World Service was important in its day, but those days may be coming to an end.
A quick Google shows that BBC World Service had an audience of 143 million in 1999 and 188 million in 2009.Whilst I have been an avid listener to the World Service when out of the country in years gone by (on short wave, by the way) we have to accept that the world is moving on.
Newspaper sales have been falling for years because of the increased use of television and the internet for obtaining news
Less people use Post Offices because of the increase in online banking and payment facilities and email which has reduced the numbers of letters
Hardly anybody uses cheques any more
Etc etc
The World Service was important in its day, but those days may be coming to an end.
So unlike cheques and newspapers, more people listen to World Service today than ever before, not fewer.
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