Submission from the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) to the CMS Committee’s inquiry into the BBC World Service

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has heard a lot of evidence about the value of the World Service in terms of its soft power. Our evidence focuses on a different aspect: the value of the World Service to audiences and civil society in the UK.

We believe that the breadth and depth of World Service journalism makes a major contribution to BBC News output across all platforms and, therefore, to the overall international coverage available to UK audiences. We would like to see the range of services offered by the World Service maintained and strengthened, and this content made more easily available to audiences in the UK.

International journalism is expensive, particularly in-depth and investigative journalism. Any further cuts to World Service budgets would inevitably impact on the quality and range of World Service service journalism. And this will have far-reaching negative consequences for UK audiences and civil society.