III.

The Changing Face of the World Service

The collapse of Soviet power also brought reassessments by international broadcasters and the governments that fund them. For the World Service this was less fundamental than for others. It had never seen itself as a propaganda or a “surrogate” station and had always addressed friends as well as potential adversaries. It aimed to provide accurate information and background, reflect different viewpoints, and let listeners make up their own minds. As John Tusa, managing director from 1986 to 1992, put it: “What the BBC taught its listeners was to judge critically, to apply critical questioning to problems. In the end that example had its own impact on people reared on ideological certainties.”

The self-scrutiny did not lead to any major changes in the program or editorial policy of the World Service. There was, however, a major managerial reorganization in 1994 with a new structure based on six geographic regions, each with its own broadcasting strategy. This coincided with, and was reinforced by, two other major changes: a new broadcasting agreement with the Foreign Office, replacing some of the arrangements that had been in place since 1946; and the creation, under the chairmanship of Robert Phillis, of BBC Worldwide, whose purpose was to bring together all the international activities of BBC radio, television, and publishing. World Service Television had been started on a commercial basis in 1991, initially in Europe and then as a 24-hour service to Asia. In its White Paper in 1994, the British government gave the green light to further development of the BBC’s international television services: It also gave its support to the continuation of the radio services, the range and quality of which, it said, are widely appreciated by their audiences.

This was a reassuring message for the World Service. However, as the White Paper also pointed out, if it is to survive and be successful in an increasingly competitive environment, the World Service must continue to adapt to changes in technology, to changes in the listening habits of its audiences, and to other factors. The regional restructuring is part of that adaptation to change; so is the growing move to get more programs on to local stations so they can be heard in better quality than on short wave. In the long term, direct broadcasting of digital radio services by satellite offers the prospect of a new era in international broadcasting. In the mid-1990s, however, the World Service faced government funding cuts and the prospect of broadcasting in fewer languages.