28/06/2013 Newswatch

Samira Ahmed. This week, the BBC's international news services come

under the spotlight. Hello and welcome to the programme. Later on

this programme - BBC News has record audiences abroad for its

international output, but from next year, that will be funded by British

licence fee payers. We will look at what effect that will have. And

also, it is that man again - is Russell Brand becoming the go to

commentator on political discussion programmes? And a problem that is

not going away - viewers tell us they are struggling to hear what

guests and reporters are saying. First, the big political story of

the week was Wednesday's government spending review. BBC News used a

helicopter shoe shown live pictures of the car taking George Osborne

from the Treasury to Parliament. South Africa have made it clear that

the condition of Nelson Mandela is critical. This week, his eldest

daughter criticised what she called the crass media frenzy around her

to the comedian Russell Brand appearing on question Time. So, who

should show up on The Andrew Marr Show, but the very same Russell

Brand? Now he is based in the US, his appearances are coinciding with

the start of his UK tour. I do not want the government looking at my

e-mails, some of them are very smutty. I am not sure we all want

to. I need to ask you one more question - Brazil dot stop dot I am

here to promote my tour, so even I am a bit sneaky. Follow me on

twitter! Thanks for having us on our news programme for the morning. You

are much better looking in real life, Andrew. Jeremy Bolton was one

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 48 seconds

interviewed the head of the British Medical Association, Dr Mark Porter.

This problem cannot be blamed on just one contract. I am very glad

the Secretary of State now recognises that. Thank you very much

indeed. The street was very noisy in the background, and one reviewer

Leslie, with 82-year-old years, and he clearly has a sense of irony. The

issue reared its head again this week, this time on the news channel.

This is Baldwin street in Bristol, linking the train station with the

city centre. Normally it is full of traffic, but not today. We have live

music and street performers. One of the performers joins me now... What

do you think of all of this case John Patterson did not love it, and

do you think there are? Full marks to those who said, more than a

quarter of a billion. That was the record audience this week for BBC

World News. But none of them are currently funded by the bees beat --

by the BBC licence fee payer. The BBC Arabic television channel is

paid for directly by the British Government, like all of the

corporation's services aimed at foreign audiences, who get a

combined total of more than 40 million TV viewers. That is right

the uranium authorities consistently jamming the satellites used and

intimidating BBC staff and their families, at least during Iran's

presidential election earlier this month. Undeterred by that, and by

further threats to its journalists in countries such as Turkey, during

the current protest there, the BBC would like to introduce services to

Afghanistan, Burma and North Korea. But from next April, and who have to

find all of these foreign services by itself, raising the question of

how the UK licence fee payer will feel about being for the global

transmissions. Thank you for coming in. Many viewers will be thinking,

how can you justify licence fee payers funding services from now on,

designed for foreign audiences, which we cannot see? I can

absolutely see where that question is coming from, and I understand it.

The British public is very supportive of the BBC World Service,

we know that, because we are doing a great deal of research, and talking

to a large number of people in the run-up to the World Service changing

its funding to the licence fee. What we hear is a range of things. We

hear people who respect the World Service for what it does for

Britain. We hear people who tell us about how they feel the World

Service enhances the reputation of this country, and more to the point,

helps it punch above its weight. That is because of the whole

concept. We hear that people trust what we do, and frankly, quite a few

people did not know that they were not paying for the World Service.

What difference will viewers in Britain notice? Well, hopefully they

should see a great deal of difference. We have already started,

now that we have moved in to New Broadcasting House, in one building,

we have already started to appear on network news, on World News, and

online. We are part and parcel of what World News produces. Our

bilingual journalist have been prominent in Brazil, in Turkey, in

Africa, in the Middle East, certainly. This is what the British

licence fee payer will be able to see. And of course, all of the Dyas

brewers will be able to access our online services. We have got 27

online services, in 27 different languages. One big new area for the

BBC has been these foreign language TV services, in countries like

Iran, and there are new ones being introduced all the time. In the case

of Iran, it has actually led to greater restrictions, harassment of

BBC staff, making it harder for the BBC's news operations? Iran is one

single example, and frankly, it was not just the BBC which was not

allowed into Iran, it was the BBC and a host of other news

organisations who could not go there. And those who could actually

were not terribly free to report the news that they wanted to report.

Whereas what we did from here, with our network of Lake correspondence

in Iran, we were able to project a very clear and impartial picture of

what is happening. -- with our lay correspondents. Some people are

saying we get a lot from certain areas, but virtually nothing out of

South America. What we are doing for the rest of the BBC, and for BBC

News, I think is extraordinary, in terms of the reach that we can get

hold of, and also in terms of how we can get the news. It is people from

language services who have their way into these countries. What the World

Service is about is plugging that gap of impartiality across the

world. And I think we do that well. Thank you very much. I give for all