Division of the British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring
(BBCM) is a division of the
British Broadcasting Corporation
which monitors, and reports on, mass media worldwide using
open-source intelligence
. Based at
New Broadcasting House
, the BBC's headquarters in central
London
, it has overseas bureaux in
Cairo
,
Delhi
,
Istanbul
,
Jerusalem
,
Kyiv
,
Miami
,
Nairobi
,
Ramallah
,
Tashkent
and
Tbilisi
.
[2]
[3]
A signals-receiving station for BBC Monitoring is at
Crowsley Park
in
South Oxfordshire
, close to BBCM's former (1943–2018) headquarters at
Caversham Park
.
[4]
The service's first home (1939–1943) was at
Wood Norton Hall
in
Worcestershire
.
[1]
BBC Monitoring selects and translates information from radio, television, the
press
,
news agencies
and online outlets from 150
countries
in up to 100
languages
. Reporting produced by the service is used by the
government of the United Kingdom
and commercial customers such as
Oxford Analytica
, the
Bureau of Investigative Journalism
and
Liverpool John Moores University
.
[5]
The BBC announced in July 2017 that it planned to sell the site at Caversham Park and move employees to London, which took place in May 2018.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
The organisation was formed in 1939 to provide the British Government with access to foreign media and
propaganda
.
[1]
It provided the government with valuable information during
World War II
, particularly in places where foreign journalists were banned. The organisation played an important role in helping observers keep track of developments during the
Cold War
, the disintegration of the
Iron Curtain
and collapse of the
Soviet Union
. Also monitored were the
Yugoslav Wars
and the Middle East. They also had 7 decades of collaboration with the
CIA
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
.
[6]
[
better source needed
]
Funding
[
edit
]
Although administratively and editorially part of the BBC, until 2013 BBC Monitoring did not receive any funding from the
licence fee
;
[7]
instead it was funded directly by its
stakeholders
as well as by subscriptions from official and commercial bodies throughout the world. The principal stakeholder is the
Cabinet Office
and subscriptions were also received from the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
, the
Ministry of Defence
and the
BBC World Service
.
[7]
Other customers include other government departments, private sector and
voluntary sector
organisations.
[5]
In the 2010 BBC licence fee settlement, the BBC agreed to take on the government's funding of BBC Monitoring from 2013/2014,
[8]
finding the £25 million required from the licence fee.
[9]
Reported on BBC News (17 January 2011),
[
citation needed
]
BBC Monitoring cut 72 posts following a £3 million cut in funding over the next two years. Director of BBC Monitoring, Chris Westcott, said: "Regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding."
The proposal was to cut £3m from the service's costs by closing the 72 posts — about 16% of its staff — but expected to create 18 new posts. The BBC agreed to finance Monitoring from 2013/14 as part of the 2010 licence fee settlement which froze the annual colour licence fee at £145.50 for six years. The agreement also saw the corporation agree to take over the Foreign Office-funded World Service from 2014.
The
House of Commons
Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees strongly condemned the gradual scaling down of BBC Monitoring's capabilities in two separate reports published in late 2016.
[
citation needed
]
The reports claimed that BBC Monitoring's operations have been adversely affected by cuts. Both Committees demanded proper funding to ensure BBC Monitoring's future.
[10]
Leadership
[
edit
]
BBC Monitoring has been led by the following directors:
- Liz Howell has served as director since March 2019
[11]
[5]
- Sara Beck served as the director from February 2016
[12]
- Lucio Mesquita served as director until 2016
[13]
- Chris Westcott served as director from April 2003 to March 2015.
[14]
[15]
- Andrew Hills served as director from 1996 to 2003
[16]
[14]
References
[
edit
]
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