BBC World Service facing ‘cognitive warfare’, says director-general Tim Davie
An inquiry is looking to establish whether increased Government support is needed.
The BBC World Service faces “cognitive warfare” and “overwhelming threats” from “a tsunami of bad actors”, the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie has said.
Giving evidence at a parliamentary session examining the future of the World Service, Mr Davie said: “As a nation we’ve got a public service broadcaster with the most trusted news service in the world. That’s something.
“The trouble is around us… you’re seeing trust ratings for RT (formerly Russia Today) and other Chinese services grow as they just take over more slots.
“And the other thing is, we are facing a tsunami of bad actors, disinformation, fakery. The threats are overwhelming.
“And you know, it is cognitive warfare, as it’s been called, as people try and win the hearts and minds of populations and people around the world.”
Mr Davie, 57, explained that the BBC’s current resources “are impressive on their investment” but they need to outweigh the investment from those “bad actors”.
He also spoke briefly about the corporation’s focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and weeding out disinformation, which he said is “going to be ferocious, absolutely ferocious, over the next few years”.
The session was part of an inquiry launched into the future funding of the World Service, which is focusing on the corporation’s influence as a soft power and whether increased Government support is needed.
At the session on Tuesday, Mr Davie revealed that every language service for the World Service has been preserved thanks to the uplift from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for 2025/2026.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the first Labour Budget since 2010 in October in which she announced an increase of £32.6 million in funding “to the World Service”.
A BBC statement said the broadcaster “welcomed the funding”, along with being “pleased the Government has acknowledged the strong case for investing” in it.
The World Service previously agreed not to close any language services under its current support package in a condition that is set to be lifted in 2025.
Owned and operated by the corporation, the BBC World Service is predominantly funded by the UK licence fee, which was frozen in 2022 for two years, and receives additional grant funding from the FCDO.
Mr Davie said he thinks it is “wrong” to have the World Service funded through the licence fee as it is not fair to the paying public, and wants to see it instead funded through general taxation.
He said: “My job, primary job, is to make sure public service broadcasting in the UK is sustained, and to do that, the underpinnings of the BBC are relatively simple, which is, do most households think they get good value from £169 a year?”
Mr Davie continued: “I have to ensure, in rapid inflation within pockets of what I’m delivering, such as some of our programming, that we can sustain delivering 30-plus dramas a year.
“We’re not trying to be the biggest, but we are trying to make sure we can secure Wolf Hall, we can secure Gavin And Stacey for Christmas Day.
“That’s important, as well as provide the incredible news services we do.
“But the whole thing works together as a package for your licence fee.”
He added: “If you are someone in Perth or Plymouth and you’ve paid your licence fee, you get less direct value from those language services, particularly.
“The World Service, vast majority of World Service English, is coming from international consumption, that’s the problem.”
Also giving evidence at the joint session of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and International Development Committee was deputy chief executive of BBC News Jonathan Munro.
