BBC World Service Transmissions To North America And Australasia
EDM number 26 in 2001-02, proposed by Austin Mitchell on 22/06/2001.
That this House is strongly concerned that well over a million devoted listeners to BBC World Service will be abandoned on 1st July by the BBC's ill considered proposal to drop its short wave service to North America and the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand; urges the BBC urgently to reconsider its decision and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to persuade it to do so, so as to maintain services to these crucial areas and keep Britain's voice speaking loud and clear to the devoted elite audience reached by short wave transmissions who want and need a news and current affairs service which is of great value not only to them but to Britain's reputation and standing overseas; notes that the service cannot be adequately replaced by the BBC website's very limited capacity; and urges that full consideration be given by the BBC and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the compelling arguments against the decision developed on the website www.savebbc.org, which effectively demolishes the BBC's entire case for the penny pinching folly of abandoning a devoted audience with a real interest in Britain.
This motion has been signed by a total of 67 MPs.
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