{"id":472757,"date":"2026-03-13T04:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/472757\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T04:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:36:17","slug":"bbc-world-service-funding-freeze-risks-opening-door-to-hostile-states-mps-say-bbc-world-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/472757\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC World Service funding freeze risks \u2018opening door to hostile states\u2019, MPs say | BBC World Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ministers risk \u201copening the door to propaganda from hostile states\u201d and diminishing international trust in the BBC World Service<\/a> by allowing its funding to be frozen at a crucial time, parliament\u2019s spending watchdog has said.<\/p>\n

The cross-party public accounts committee (PAC) said it was deeply troubled by the fact the service was still unclear about its funding just weeks before its current deal runs out.It also reiterated the BBC\u2019s warnings about the rising influence of Russian and Chinese state-backed media.<\/p>\n

It is understood the World Service is to receive a real-terms freeze in funding from the government, with an agreement expected next week.<\/p>\n

The settlement is likely to disappoint BBC insiders, who had been pushing to expand the service at a time of international instability.<\/p>\n

MPs said its budget has fallen 21% in real terms<\/a> over the last four years, largely as a result of reduced contributions from the shrinking licence fee. This comes as China and Russia are investing between \u00a36bn and \u00a38bn a year in global media, and Donald Trump remains determined to slash public funding for US-backed international media.<\/p>\n

Trust scores for the Chinese state broadcaster rose from 62% to 70% from 2021 to 2025, with a similar increase for the Russian state broadcaster from 59% to 71%. The BBC\u2019s trust levels have remained stable at 78%.<\/p>\n

The corporation said the World Service currently reached 313 million people across 43 languages, and the MPs concluded it was a \u201ccrucial soft power instrument for the UK government\u201d.<\/p>\n

The committee said, however, that trust was being put at risk by \u201cpoorly evidenced decisions and unclear lines of responsibility\u201d. It said these weaknesses could \u201cincrease the risk of losing further ground to these competitors\u201d.<\/p>\n

MPs pointed to a fall in digital audiences of 11% between 2022 and last year. They also raised concerns that the BBC had failed to clearly explain its reasoning for decisions made as part of savings programmes, and could not easily prove its value for money.<\/p>\n

Most of the World Service\u2019s \u00a3400m budget comes from the licence fee, though the Foreign Office contributed \u00a3137m in the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BBC is at risk of losing the trust of its World Service audiences, undermining its crucial role in countering misinformation globally,\u201d the MPs said. \u201cAs the World Service is paid for by UK taxpayers, through the licence fee and [Foreign Office] grant\u2011in\u2011aid, it must show more clearly the value this investment buys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative chair of the committee, said the World Service was \u201ca jewel in the crown of the UK\u2019s soft power effort around the world\u201d, but that its prominence \u201cis being diminished by poor governance and shortsighted funding decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government must be clear-eyed about the realities of a diminishing audience for the BBC World Service,\u201d he said. \u201cAs it cuts back, it risks opening the door to propaganda from hostile states such as Russia filling the void it leaves behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth government and the BBC should seriously think about how the World Service\u2019s influence can be bolstered around the world, rather than risk its reach withering by degrees year on year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A BBC spokesperson said: \u201cWe welcome the PAC\u2019s report, which recognises the importance of the BBC World Service as the most trusted international news provider globally, and the need for secure, long-term funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we are calling for the government to take back full funding of the World Service as part of the BBC charter review.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making changes to strengthen how we demonstrate value for money and to improve governance and documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ministers risk \u201copening the door to propaganda from hostile states\u201d and diminishing international trust in the BBC World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-472757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}