BBC 'must invest to guard against jamming by China and Iran'

It would be 'astonishing' if broadcasts continue to be blocked because BBC fails to spend money to protect them, says House of Commons committee

The MPs’ report will stress how Iran and China make immense efforts to jam the BBC Photo: AP
daily telegraph

By David Blair

6:30AM BST 17 Oct 2013

The BBC should invest in protecting its global news service from being jammed by countries like Iran and China, the Foreign Affairs select committee will say on Thursday.

The MPs’ report will stress how Iran and China make immense efforts to jam the BBC. The former obstructs the BBC Persian news channel; the latter blocks BBC World Service broadcasts in Mandarin. Since February, China has also “intensively jammed” the BBC World Service in English.

Iran and China also try to block access to BBC news websites. “The BBC needs to think sooner rather than later about what scale of investment will be needed in order to preserve open access to its internet-based services for international audiences,” say the MPs. New technology can protect satellite and radio services from being jammed.

”The BBC World Service makes a huge contribution to the projection of the UK, its values and strengths, across the world. It would be astonishing if that work were to be diminished purely because the BBC lacked the resources to protect its broadcasts from interference,” says the report. The MPs urge the BBC to “provide the resources necessary to afford that protection”.