The following appeared on the Letters Page of the Daily Telegraph, December 22, 2008:

World Service in peril

SIR – We are grateful to Andrew Pierce for his informative report about how the Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell misled Parliament with regard to the advertising of the post of director of the BBC World Service.

It is clear from even the most cursory comparison of broadcasting schedules that the claims by the minister and Nigel Chapman, the outgoing director, about “increased cultural output” are empty; all longer features about literature, history and British culture are to be axed.

It is equally clear (contrary to the minister’s claims) that there is more than enough evidence of pro-Kremlin bias in the output of the Russian service. Its refusal to publish the Russian text of Anna Politkovskaya’s last book on its website is one example. As for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian service gave more air-time to the Kremlin’s views than to those of its critics.

The producer of the only programme to give fair coverage to all points of view received an official reprimand from the management, even though this programme’s criticisms were far milder than a later Panorama documentary.

To maintain the BBC World Service’s reputation, the new managing director must be chosen through a fully open selection process. In addition, a new managing director must be authoritative in news and current affairs, capable of resisting pressure from all governments and should not believe that the World Service can be founded on the perceived importance of marketing.

To impose a closing date for applications of January 4, 2009 is to foreclose all these options.

Robert Chandler
Translator of Russian Literature
Teresa Cherfas
BBC Russian Service, 1985-88
Sergei Cristo
BBC radio, 1994-2000
Martin Dewhirst
Honorary Fellow, University of Glasgow
Greg Hands MP (Con)
Diran Meghreblian
Former current affairs editor, BBC Russian Service
Donald Rayfield
Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian, Queen Mary, London
John Roberts
Director, Great Britain-USSR Association/Britain-Russia Centre 1974-93
Elisabeth Robson
Former Head, BBC Russian Service
Irina Shumovich
Producer, BBC Russian Service, 1989-2003
Sir John Tusa
Former Director, BBC World Service