For years, the BBC World Service has lived with the constant fear that cuts in its government funding would reduce its effectiveness as the world’s most trusted broadcaster.
Its English and other language services have been invaluable to those who live without the freedoms that we take for granted, even if its output has not always been widely appreciated here at home. What will the latest changes mean for its future – a new lease of life, a loss of identity in the wider BBC, or death by a thousand cuts?
Public discussion on Monday 29 November 2010
Committee Room 9, House of Commons,
Palace of Westminster, SW1
6.30-8.30pm
This event was kindly hosted by John Whittingdale MP
Chair
William Horsley – International Director of the Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield
Panellists
Peter Horrocks – Director, BBC Global News and World Service
Danny Sriskandarajah – Director, Royal Commonwealth Society
Sir John Tusa – Journalist and former Managing Director, BBC World Service
Alban Webb – Historian of the World Service
John Whittingdale – Chair, All-Party Culture, Media and Sport Committee
We campaign for free, bold and honest journalism across the Commonwealth. Our members should feel engaged, supported and safe in pursuit of these aims, as they work to uphold the finest principles of the profession and their role in a free society.
Our aims and values are enshrined in The 12 Principles, a new code proposed for freedom of expression and the role of media in good governance across the Commonwealth.