News

BBC World Service under threat

The World Service could be forced to scale down its operations due to austerity measures in the UK, according to a report in The Guardian.

Unnamed sources at the BBC have claimed that the Service’s $416m annual budget, which comes in the form of a grant from the Foreign Office, could be reduced by 25% from April 2011. A reduction in budget would force the service to withdraw from several countries.

The BBC services in Russia and Burma are believed to be the first on the chopping block.

In addition to its radio broadcast, the World Service also runs websites and TV stations in 32 countries in dozens of languages. The Service has a global audience of 241 million across TV, online, radio and mobile.

Martina Lacey, London