BBC boss warns of Russian and Chinese propaganda due to World Service cuts

The UK is struggling to antagonistic a emergence successful "pure propaganda" from countries similar Russia and China due to the fact that of cuts to the World Service, the BBC's manager wide has warned.

Tim Davie called for much backing for its planetary services, a decennary aft the authorities stopped paying for astir of the World Service.

Last year, the BBC ended its Arabic, Persian and Hindi vigor services, among others, arsenic portion of a program to prevention £28.5m a year.

Mr Davie told BBC Radio 4's Today programme connected Monday that, successful contrast, "malign powers, frankly - Russia, China, others - spot the payment of investing heavy successful media, bordering into axenic propaganda".

Russia and China are filling the gaps by spending betwixt £6bn and £8bn connected expanding their planetary media activities, including successful countries similar Lebanon, helium volition archer the Future Resilience Forum connected Monday.

In Lebanon, Russian-backed media is present transmitting connected the vigor frequence antecedently occupied by BBC Arabic, helium said.

BBC Monitoring listened to that Russian output connected the time thousands of pagers and vigor devices exploded past month.

"What they heard was unchallenged propaganda and narratives being delivered to section communities," Mr Davie said.

"Had the BBC been capable to clasp our impartial vigor output, these messages would person been overmuch harder for section audiences to find.

"In this context, the further retreat of the BBC World Service should beryllium a origin for superior planetary concern."

The UK authorities paid for the World Service successful afloat until 2014, erstwhile it handed implicit astir of the outgo to the BBC.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office presently pays £104m a twelvemonth towards the World Service's full fund of £366m.

The work reaches 320 cardinal radical a week crossed radio, TV and integer output.

In 2022, the corp decided to halt broadcasting connected vigor successful 10 languages, and to adjacent much than 380 World Service jobs.

"We haven't closed a batch of connection services," Mr Davie told Radio 4, saying the cuts that person been made person been a effect of "tight backing settlements, and there's lone truthful overmuch you tin inquire of the UK licence interest payer to wage for connection services".

"For decades this was funded by government," Mr Davie continued.

"There are precise wide examples, wherever we've taken distant BBC Arabic connected radio, for instance... [and] others person travel successful [such as] Russian-backed media coming into Lebanon.

"I've got different examples wherever you spot China and Russia deliberately spending billions of dollars connected that strategical objective."

He added: "This has to beryllium a substance agelong word for the cardinal authorities decision-making to say, 'OK, we person to, arsenic a country, invest', and I don't deliberation it's due to complaint each of this to the UK licence interest payer.

"It is simply a strategical determination and 1 I deliberation we should value."

A UK authorities spokesperson said: "We are afloat committed to a palmy BBC World Service that continues to supply essential, impartial and close quality sum and programming reaching millions of radical crossed the globe."

Culture caput Lisa Nandy told BBC Radio 5 Live, successful effect to Davie's comments: "We are precise alert of the pressures that helium describes and the mode successful which different authorities actors are investing successful their ain state-backed forms of media. And the captious relation that the BBC World Service plays is the airy connected the elevation for radical each astir the world.

"But helium is besides precise alert of the acute pressures connected the nationalist finances that we've inherited aft a decennary and a fractional of economical mismanagement. And truthful it's a speech that we are going to have... not conscionable astir the licence fee, but besides aboriginal adjacent twelvemonth (which) volition footwear disconnected the process to renew the BBC's charter."