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The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks with no future deal with the government currently in place, the corporation’s director general, Tim Davie, has warned.
In a last-minute pitch to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Davie said the uncertainty came as news organisations were cutting their international reporting and disinformation was “flooding the digital sphere at an incredible speed”.
Davie has made securing a new deal for the World Service one of his final priorities before he leaves his role in April.
He and other BBC leaders have been warning of the dangers of cutting back the service, with data suggesting trust in state broadcasters from Russia and China growing around the world.
Speaking at an event on global media security, Davie said the future of the World Service was now “front and centre” of discussions over the renewal of the BBC’s charter. He also sounded the alarm over immediate funding.
“In the meantime, the current funding arrangement with the Foreign Office runs out at the end of March,” he said. “Seven weeks today. We’re waiting to hear the outcome of the settlement.
“But while we do, other western news organisations are cutting their international reporting teams, disinformation is flooding the digital sphere at an incredible speed, and state-backed media firms are using AI to promote propaganda. We have no time to lose. As a country, we face big decisions about our role in the international arena.”
Most of the World Service’s £400m budget comes from the licence fee, though the Foreign Office contributed £137m in the last year.
“I urge the government to back the World Service, to act decisively and confidently about what we can achieve in this space, and to act soon,” Davie said. “So that amid all the global uncertainty, audiences can continue to rely on our journalism – the very best the UK has to offer.”
Longer-term, Davie has been advocating for more taxpayer investment in the service, given Donald Trump’s defunding of US public media operating overseas, as well as cuts being announced at leading outlets.
The BBC’s research found that its trust level was largely unchanged from four years ago at 78%. However, trust in Russia Today and China Global Television Network had jumped from 59% to 71% and from 62% to 70% respectively.
Last week the Washington Post laid off its Ukraine bureau chief and its entire roster of Middle East correspondents and editors as part of hundreds of job cuts.
Davie also used the appearance to praise journalists at the BBC’s Persian service. Its journalists have been warned their movements are being closely monitored by the Iranian state, while family members in Iran have been interrogated and persecuted for their reporting.
Journalists said family members had been threatened with arrest and the seizure of their assets unless their loved ones stopped reporting on Iranian unrest.
Davie said the journalists had been working “tirelessly to bring trusted news to the people who need it most”. He said: “On January 8, when the internet was blocked amid growing protests in the country, we enhanced our TV satellite offer and provided radio programmes over shortwave and medium wave to reach audiences.”
He warned that the BBC was being blocked from broadcasting in China, Russia, Turkmenistan and parts of Vietnam. He also said the corporation faced “real difficulties” in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Afghanistan.
Ministers have been sympathetic to the idea that the World Service is a powerful instrument of soft power. However, funding across Whitehall remains incredibly tight.
The Foreign Office minister Chris Elmore said: “The work the World Service does as an independent and trusted broadcaster, showcasing the UK, our culture and our values around the globe, is highly valued by this government.
“Grant-in-aid funding for the next three years for the World Service will be decided through the FCDO allocations process. The FCDO’s final overall allocations will be made in good time before the beginning of the 2026-27 financial year.”
