MUMBAI: BBC World Service broadcasts will receive a grant of ?90m from UK Government, less than a year after the body revealed cuts to jobs and services.
Last year, foreign office moved the responsibility of funding the service to BBC, following which the corporation unveiled plans to close five of its 32 world language services and axe up to 650 jobs over three years.
The Department of International Development, one of two Whitehall departments unveiled a five-year deal with the BBC World Service Trust, the corporation’s charitable arm to have its budget protected amid huge cuts across Governments. The grant will be aimed at social networking websites, mobile phone technology and traditional radio output.
Related Post
Ministers want the trust to target 14 countries suffering from conflict, poverty, poor education and restrictive freedom of information, including Pakistan, Burma and the Palestinian territories.
International Development secretary Andrew Mitchell said, “The media could be one of our most powerful tools in reaching out to communities in the world’s toughest places. Whether it is radio, internet or direct to someone’s mobile phone, we want to give people knowledge and a voice.”
Earlier this year, the World Service had also announced that it would end radio programming in seven languages, including Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Ukrainian.
