BBC job cuts risk leaving Britain’s voice in the world diminished and unable to counter foreign propaganda, a former boss at the company has said.
Howard Zhang edited BBC News Chinese, part of the World Service which saw cuts in the latest slate of job losses at the broadcasting giant. He had edited the show from 2016 until August this year, saying when he joined that he aimed to “get the British message across – of justice, fairness, of course, accurate information and standing firm against all the tyrannies around the world.”
He told The Telegraph that his team faced an “uphill battle” to combat Communist Party disinformation all while facing increasing budget and manpower cuts. In a brutal assessment of the BBC’s higher management, he compared them to generals who sent their soldiers into battle without weapons or ammunition, before trying to shoot them in the back.
But the worst part for him was the way the job cuts would hit Britain’s standing in the world.
He said: “The loss for me at least, as a naturalised British citizen, is for Britain’s long term global influence and prestige. People don’t even realise they’re losing this.”
Around 382 jobs will be lost as a result of the proposals, which the BBC said was required to make £28.5m of annual savings. The broadcaster blamed years of below-inflation licence fee freezes imposed by the government.
It’s services in 10 different languages will be cut, including in Chinese. MPs on the foreign affairs committee recently heard that the World Service cuts made up one of the most “self-defeating foreign policy acts of recent years” due to its erosion of British influence across the world.
The World Service was banned in China in 2021. But Mr Zhang estimated it can still be accessed by five percent of its population using digital back doors. But his team was brought down from 100 people to just 30.
Mr Zhang said: “We’re like front-line soldiers trying to fight and we only have one pistol, forget about machine guns – no machine guns, no bullets, no grenades. And those people are coming with howitzers.
“Meanwhile your bosses are trying to pull you off and shoot you in the back.”
The ex-BBC boss said the cuts had “absolutely” left a vacuum for Chinese disinformation. Lord David Cameron recently warned that China had become “more aggressive, more assertive.”
When it covered stories unfavourable to Xi Jinping’s government, BBC News Chinese found itself overwhelmed by their internet trolls, known as the “water army”.
A BBC spokesman said: “The needs of our audience have changed. As such, the BBC World Service is creating a specialist China Global Unit to focus on the reporting of China across the World Service and wider BBC platforms, demonstrating our commitment to covering stories from China.
“Separately, no other media organisation is doing more to combat misinformation.
“We have dedicated resources across BBC News, including the BBC Verify team, which put transparency and accuracy at the forefront of our journalism.”
The broadcaster did not recognise the staffing figures which Mr Zhang referred to.
