Mr Ricketts
MMB 301
RECE
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Reference
Minute to Mr. JAN 1992
TRY
Botton Taken
ข
BBC WORLD SERVICE TRIENNIUM 1994-1997: PROGRAMME PLAN
pa
Media
1. You asked for comments. I have asked Mr Bunten for his too and attach his minute separately.
2. I am not clear whether the purpose of this draft plan is to argue a case, or to set out proposals with key political technological and resource factors briefly indicated by way of providing context. I agree with Mr Hum it does not argue a very good case. I think the paper assumes, perhaps rashly, that the value of BBCWS broadcasting can be taken as read.
3.
(3
But I agree with the paper's basic political assumption that 1994-97 are likely to be critical years for both China and Hong Kong, and that (for various good reasons) broadcasting to them should have a high priority. I think on that basis that the suggested increases in Mandarin and English look reasonable.
4.
I
I do not entirely agree with Mr Bunten's qustioning of the value of the BBC having a broadcasting capacity in Cantonese. am sure he is right that the majority in Hong Kong and Guangdong will listen to Hong Kong commercial radio, but there is always a question of quality v quantity of listeners. And a local pop-driven commercial radio cannot be relied upon in all circumstances to provide reliable and objective news. For example they may decide at some point not to use BBCWSTV. What is more, WSTV relies on the BBC Chinese Service to provide its Cantonese translation facility; given this fact and the general commercial and political importance to us of Southern China and Hong Kong, I think there is a good case for the BBC to build up a small Cantonese Service at this stage. It is not something that can be done overnight, should the need arise.
5. Mr Hum touches on the question of transferable resources between the BBCWS and ourselves. There is inevitably a conflict of interests here between the FCO's role as competitor for increasingly scarce resources on the one hand, and as arbiter of the BBCWS's budget on the other. I am afraid I hold the heretical view that we should be prepared to acknowledge the possibility that the BBCWS might, in some places and
circumstances, do more good for the UK inc, than the FCO. Not necessarily in this case, I hasten to add.
K. Saunders
KAM Saunders
WH 311 270 3544
11 January 1993
CC Mr Bunten
w.service.R.JRB
CODE 18-77