‘Stop the light going out and fund the World Service now’, BBC journalists urge government
Journalists at the BBC World Service have urged the UK government to deliver a proper funding agreement amid reports of a real-terms budget freeze.
In a statement published today (13 March), NUJ members at the World Service described the continued uncertainty over its future was “distressing” and “baffling”.
In November, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's described the BBC as a “light on the hill” at a time of polarisation, disinformation, censorship and war.
The World Service operates across 43 languages and reaches 320 million people worldwide every week, making it the largest broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience.
Yet its future funding remains uncertain. On 10 February the BBC’s outgoing director general Tim Davie said the World Service would run out of funding in just seven weeks in the absence of a deal with the government.
Most of the World Service’s £400m annual budget comes from the licence fee, with around a third coming from direct government funding. Latest reports suggest that the government’s proposed deal would result in funding remaining flat in real-terms after inflation.
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes across the Middle East have demonstrated the vital role of the World Service, with journalists at BBC Persian working under huge strain to provide trusted coverage to millions in Iran - despite internet blackouts, an escalating campaign of intimidation by Iranian authorities, and bare staffing levels due to years of cuts.
The NUJ World Service branch said that the “last thing journalists working tirelessly to serve their audiences across the world need is to worry about whether the organisation has the financial resources to keep going.”
The branch has called for the government to reach an urgent funding agreement as well as a sustainable, inflation-linked settlement in the next BBC Charter to guarantee the World Service's independence or risk its “light going out” and “the world turning dark”.
The NUJ World Service branch said:
“Another deadly war in the Middle East has put the lives of tens of millions of people in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and the rest of the region at risk and has already had profound ramifications for the livelihoods of billions more across the world.
“At such uncertain times, people all around the globe are desperate for accurate, reliable information, especially as authoritarian regimes seek to censor the media and bad actors ramp up their factories of misinformation and disinformation.
“This is the time that BBC World Service, that "light on the hill" as the Culture Secretary has put it, shines the brightest.
“Our colleagues right across the World Service, especially but not only in services like BBC Persian, are working non-stop, day and night, to provide people with news they can trust.
“However, as BBC Director General Tim Davie has warned, the World Service is facing a funding cliff-edge at the end of this month as the UK government has yet to commit to a funding settlement for the upcoming 2026/27 financial year.
“We, the journalists working for BBC World Service, find this situation distressing and frankly baffling. The last thing journalists working tirelessly to serve their audiences across the world need is to worry about whether the organisation has the financial resources to keep going.
“The World Service branch of the National Union of Journalists calls on the government and the BBC to immediately come to an agreement to fund the World Service properly for the coming year, so World Service staff can continue focusing solely on its crucial mission.
“We also call on the government to end this annual uncertainty by enshrining a long-term, predictable, and sufficient, inflation-linked funding settlement for the World Service in the next BBC Charter; a settlement that would guarantee World Service's independence and would stop it from becoming the subject of drawn-out negotiations and a political football between BBC executives and the government of the day.
“This light on the hill is at risk of going out. We must keep it shining before the world turns dark, as that would be a disaster for the BBC, the UK and humanity as a whole.”
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“The war in the Middle East is yet another reminder of the vital role the BBC World Service plays in providing accurate, trusted news to people around the world at times of crisis.
“To continue shining a light around the world through its unrivalled journalism, the BBC World Service requires sustainable funding.
“Members are worried that without a proper deal, more jobs will be put at risk, workload and stress will increase, news output will be cut and the BBC's reputation will be damaged.
“The NUJ urges the BBC and the government to re-establish full funding for the BBC World Service and stop the annual cycle of uncertainty over its budget.”