An influential cross-party committee of MPs has called for the cuts to the BBC World Service to be reversed to protect its global reputation. The Commons foreign affairs select committee said the 16% budget cut imposed on the service as part of the government’s comprehensive spending review had “long-term ramifications” for the broadcaster and called for its future funding to be ringfenced.MPs on the committee called for the World Service budget to be protected to “prevent any risk of long-term erosion of the World Service’s funding and of parliament’s right to oversee its work”. They also questioned whether the government’s decision to shift responsibility for funding the World Service from the Foreign Office to the BBC licence fee by 2014 would make its budget more secure.
Additional story from the Guardian at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/13/bbc-world-service-cuts-mps
