When Tim Davie, the director-general of the BBC, addresses the Future Resilience Forum in London this afternoon, he has a clear mission: to fight for the BBC World Service’s future. Davie will warn that ‘when the World Service retreats, state-funded media operators move in to take advantage.’ Whether you love or loathe the BBC, Davie is right: the World Service is needed more than ever.
The Beeb has had a torrid few years. Davie recently marked the fourth anniversary of his appointment as the corporation’s 17th director general, in which time former Panorama interviewer Martin Bashir was exposed as a manipulative liar, BBC News falsely accused a group of Jewish youths celebrating Hanukkah of using anti-Muslim slurs, Gary Lineker was suspended for comparing the previous government to the Nazis, and stalwart presenter Huw Edwards was convicted for child pornography.
Where the World Service broadcasts, people listen, and prefer it to Autocracy FM
These have been more than isolated stumbles.
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