DT
You can doubt it if you want, but it doesn't change the facts.
Prove it or at least base it on your listening to the various foreign language services.
Are you seriously telling me that you don't know about the BBC External Serivces' role during World War 2? Are you seriously saying that you don't know that the Russian Service would broadcast propaganda during the Cold War?
Are you telling me that you don't know that the BBC would broadcast material during their broadcasts on the various foreign language services that came not from BBC journalists, but from the Foreign Office? It's part of the reason why Britian is so popular not just with foreign tourists, but with refugees.
Again, I am shocked. Shocked that there are people out there who claim an interest in the broadcasting industry, who know little about its actual history.
But then, I guess this is the world we live in today. If it ain't written on the internet, it didn't happen, even though a lot of what is written on the internet also didn't happen, and in a lot of cases, isn't even based on anything even approaching reality.
You are aware that comparing what went on in World War Two to what goes on now is insane right? During World War Two the BBC both domestic and internationally broadcast some statistics and stories that were half-truths and existed primarily to give a view of the war that favoured the allies and boosted domestic morale - Germany with the likes of Lord Haw Haw did the same. The BBC French Service was also broadcasting pre-agreed messages to the French resistance so that the D-Day landings could essentially run to plan. But in World War Two people carried around gas masks, had an air raid shelter in their garden and the BBC didn't actually produce any television - so the comparison is piss poor.
During the Cold War the BBC Eastern European services did have a slight editorial bent against the Soviet system of government, but were generally viewed as impartial and accurate compared to VoA services and Mikhail Gorbachev has said himself how he listened to the BBC as it was the only way to find out what actually was going on in Russia during the late-80s. Also you have to note that in the 50s the BBC Russian Service was investigated by MI5 because many of its employees had communist ties. But maybe you are right, maybe we do need to add the BBC's impressive propaganda to the list of causes for the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.
The BBC World Service is funded by the FCO but is not an FCO puppet organisation - while it is a component of the information war, its part in the information war to areas like the Middle East is to provide accurate and impartial news that isn't got from the usual channels. The World Service doesn't provide a VoA-style 'isn't the West great' style service, far from that - it has programmes on the Arabic service that celebrate Middle Eastern cultures etc. While inevitably a Western-based news organisation will have a slight cultural bias, the World Service is definitely not an FCO propaganda operation.
You know, for someone who accused me, amongst others, of being a conspiracy theorist just weeks ago - this does seem very conspiracy-like.
You can doubt it if you want, but it doesn't change the facts.
Prove it or at least base it on your listening to the various foreign language services.
Are you seriously telling me that you don't know about the BBC External Serivces' role during World War 2? Are you seriously saying that you don't know that the Russian Service would broadcast propaganda during the Cold War?
Are you telling me that you don't know that the BBC would broadcast material during their broadcasts on the various foreign language services that came not from BBC journalists, but from the Foreign Office? It's part of the reason why Britian is so popular not just with foreign tourists, but with refugees.
Again, I am shocked. Shocked that there are people out there who claim an interest in the broadcasting industry, who know little about its actual history.
But then, I guess this is the world we live in today. If it ain't written on the internet, it didn't happen, even though a lot of what is written on the internet also didn't happen, and in a lot of cases, isn't even based on anything even approaching reality.
You are aware that comparing what went on in World War Two to what goes on now is insane right? During World War Two the BBC both domestic and internationally broadcast some statistics and stories that were half-truths and existed primarily to give a view of the war that favoured the allies and boosted domestic morale - Germany with the likes of Lord Haw Haw did the same. The BBC French Service was also broadcasting pre-agreed messages to the French resistance so that the D-Day landings could essentially run to plan. But in World War Two people carried around gas masks, had an air raid shelter in their garden and the BBC didn't actually produce any television - so the comparison is piss poor.
During the Cold War the BBC Eastern European services did have a slight editorial bent against the Soviet system of government, but were generally viewed as impartial and accurate compared to VoA services and Mikhail Gorbachev has said himself how he listened to the BBC as it was the only way to find out what actually was going on in Russia during the late-80s. Also you have to note that in the 50s the BBC Russian Service was investigated by MI5 because many of its employees had communist ties. But maybe you are right, maybe we do need to add the BBC's impressive propaganda to the list of causes for the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.
The BBC World Service is funded by the FCO but is not an FCO puppet organisation - while it is a component of the information war, its part in the information war to areas like the Middle East is to provide accurate and impartial news that isn't got from the usual channels. The World Service doesn't provide a VoA-style 'isn't the West great' style service, far from that - it has programmes on the Arabic service that celebrate Middle Eastern cultures etc. While inevitably a Western-based news organisation will have a slight cultural bias, the World Service is definitely not an FCO propaganda operation.
You know, for someone who accused me, amongst others, of being a conspiracy theorist just weeks ago - this does seem very conspiracy-like.
