The BBC World Service is arguably the most widely recognised international broadcaster, currently broadcasting in 32 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays. It is politically independent (by mandate of the Agreement providing details of the topics outlined in the BBC Charter) non-profit and commercial-free.
The English language service broadcasts 24 hours a day. In June 2009 the BBC reported that the World Service's average weekly audience had reached 188 million people. The World Service is funded by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the British Government — unlike the BBC's domestic radio and television services, which are primarily funded by a compulsory licence fee levied on every household in the United Kingdom using a television to watch programmes as they are being broadcast. Despite this form of funding, the World Service remains editorially independent, although the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is closely consulted in decisions about which languages are broadcast.
BBC World Service is a patron of The Radio Academy .
The Director of the World Service is Peter Horrocks.
History
The BBC World Service began as the BBC Empire Service in 1932 as a shortwave service. Its broadcasts were aimed principally at English speakers in the outposts of the British Empire, or as George V put it in the first-ever Royal Christmas Message, the "men and women, so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them."
First hopes for the Empire Service were low. The Director General, Sir John Reith (later Lord Reith) said in the opening programme: "Don't expect too much in the early days; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes, to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone. The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good." This address was read out five times as it was broadcast live to different parts of the world.
On 3 January 1938 the first foreign language service, Arabic, was launched. German programmes commenced shortly before the start of the Second World War and by the end of 1942 broadcasts were being made in all major European languages. The Empire Service was renamed the BBC Overseas Service in November 1939, and a dedicated BBC European Service was added in 1941. These broadcasting services, financed not from the domestic licence fee but from government grant-in-aid (from the Foreign Office budget), were known administratively as the External Services of the BBC .
The External Services gained a special position in international broadcasting during the Second World War, as an alternative source of news for a wide range of audiences, especially those in enemy and occupied territories who often had to listen secretly. George Orwell broadcast many news bulletins on the Eastern Service during World War II.
The German Service, created on 29 March 1938 and discontinued in 1999, played an important part in the propaganda war against Nazi Germany.
The service has been located at Bush House since a landmine damaged the studios' original home at Broadcasting House on 8 December 1940. The European Service was the first to relocate, followed by the rest of the External Services in 1958. As part of a larger changes in terms of the use of BBC properties, the World Service will return to Broadcasting House in 2011, when BBC News, BBC World, the World Service, and BBC London will all be located in the same newsroom for the first time.
The name "BBC World Service" was first used on 1 May 1965.
In August 1985, the service went off the air for the first time ever. Workers were striking in protest at the British government's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin.
The External Services were renamed under the BBC World Service brand in 1988. As part of a restructuring process, ten foreign language services were closed down in March 2006 in order to finance a new BBC Arabic Television service for the Middle East. The Polish service was one of those that closed.
Aim
According to the World Service, its aim is to "be the world's best-known and most-respected voice in international broadcasting, thereby bringing benefit to Britain".
The UK Government spent £225 million on the World Service in 2005. This spending of the British taxpayers' money by the Government was justified by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1985. According to Hansard, the journal of the British Parliament, in an answer to a question in the House of Commons, Mrs Thatcher said: "The World Service earns every penny we put into it, by promoting our world-view and policy. It has done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future".
The BBC is a Crown Corporation of the British Government, but operates independently of it. There is no direct control of the BBC by the British Government. The World Service may, however, promote the British point of view and foreign policy. Some would argue that examples of this were the coverage of the Suez Crisis in July 1956, its coverage of the Falklands War from April to June 1982, and its coverage of the handover of Britain's former colony of Hong Kong in 1997.
The BBC World Service is widely respected in parts of the world where the media is not free. With the BBC’s powerful transmitters broadcasting in the local language, the BBC World Service can be the only source of reliable news not manipulated by the local government. This is the strategy that the BBC adopted successfully during the Cold War, becoming a widely respected broadcaster behind the Iron Curtain throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In its 2007 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Annual Report, the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee concluded that the BBC Russian Service's joint project with Bolshoe Radio: was "the development of a partnership with the international arm of a Russian state broadcasting network puts the BBC World Service’s reputation for editorial independence at risk.".
BBC Learning English, a constituent part of the larger World Service, devotes significant resources to helping people learn English.
Programmes
The English programme of the BBC World Service initially strived to be everything to everyone, offering news, background, entertainment, culture and spiritual matters. After the 1990s only news, background, and culture remained.
After 1945
After 1945, the World Service was recognisably British in its programming. This was most clearly symbolised by the hourly broadcast of the song Lillibullero (still broadcast, but not as often as before), followed by the chimes of Big Ben (no longer used in English-language broadcasts). Apart from news, there were music programmes, such as those presented by John Peel, classical music programmes presented by Edward Greenfield, religious programmes with mostly Anglican celebrations, often from the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, weekly drama, educational programmes such as English-language lessons, and humour, with Just A Minute . The hourly news always contained a section called News from Britain .
The towering figure among the informative programmes was Letter from America by Alistair Cooke, which was broadcast for over 50 years. For many years, a daily reading from a novel, biography or history book was broadcast in Off the Shelf . One of the longest running programmes is Outlook , which features human interest stories. It was first broadcast in July 1966 and was presented for more than thirty years by John Tidmarsh, who was awarded an OBE for his services to broadcasting.
The shortwave broadcasts and links between London and overseas relays were very unreliable before satellite communication, and the BBC relied heavily on enthusiastic shortwave listeners ("DXers") for reception reports. In 1967 they started a regular programme "BBC WORLD RADIO CLUB" to register this network of dedicated technical reporters. Presented by Doug Crawford, a former pirate-radio DJ, the programme regularly received 16 sacks of mail a week.
After 1990s
At the end of the 1990s the BBC decided to focus more heavily on news. During the Second Gulf War the BBC World Service in English started broadcasting short news summaries at 29 minutes past the hour, and continues to do so. Drama and music are still broadcast, but not as frequently as had been the case previously. The BBC World Service has argued that people tune to them mainly for news and that most people can access plenty of music from other sources.
Current programming
Mainstays of the current BBC World Service schedule include the news programmes The World Today , Newshour and World Briefing and the daily arts and entertainment news programme The Strand , which started in late 2008. At the weekends, much of the schedule is taken up by Sportsworld , which often includes live commentary of Premier League football matches. On Sundays the international, interdisciplinary discussion programme The Forum is broadcast. On weekdays, an hour of the schedule is given over to World: Have Your Say which encourages lis
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