BBC Monitoring

The organisation was formed in 1939 to provide the British Government with access to foreign media and propaganda. It provided the government with valuable information during World War II, particularly in places where foreign journalists were banned. The organisation played an important role in helping observers keep track of developments during the Cold War, the disintegration of the Iron Curtain and collapse of the Soviet Union. Also monitored were the Yugoslav Wars and the Middle East. They also had 7 decades of collaboration with the CIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service.{{Cite web |title=US to close CIA division’s UK intelligence monitoring unit |url=https://www.ft.com/content/99ede9cc-b582-11e7-aa26-bb002965bce8 |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=Financial Times}}{{better source needed|reason=I couldn't find any other sources to confirm this paywalled article.|date=March 2024}}

Although administratively and editorially part of the BBC, until 2013 BBC Monitoring did not receive any funding from the licence fee;{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38372067|title=BBC Monitoring: MPs raise fears over service's future|publisher=BBC |date=2016|author=Anon|access-date=23 December 2016}} instead it was funded directly by its stakeholders as well as by subscriptions from official and commercial bodies throughout the world. The principal stakeholder is the Cabinet Office and subscriptions were also received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the BBC World Service. Other customers include other government departments, private sector and voluntary sector organisations.

In the 2010 BBC licence fee settlement, the BBC agreed to take on the government's funding of BBC Monitoring from 2013/2014,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/therealstory/licencefee_settlement.shtml "BBC:The real story:BBC licence fee settlement"] Retrieved 16 January 2011 finding the £25 million required from the licence fee.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/19/bbc-licence-fee-frozen |title=BBC licence fee frozen at £145.50 for six years |website=The Guardian |date=19 October 2010 |access-date=16 January 2011}}

Reported on BBC News (17 January 2011),{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} BBC Monitoring cut 72 posts following a £3 million cut in funding over the next two years. Director of BBC Monitoring, Chris Westcott, said: "Regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding."

The proposal was to cut £3m from the service's costs by closing the 72 posts – about 16% of its staff – but expected to create 18 new posts. The BBC agreed to finance Monitoring from 2013/14 as part of the 2010 licence fee settlement which froze the annual colour licence fee at £145.50 for six years. The agreement also saw the corporation agree to take over the Foreign Office-funded World Service from 2014.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees strongly condemned the gradual scaling down of BBC Monitoring's capabilities in two separate reports published in late 2016.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} The reports claimed that BBC Monitoring's operations have been adversely affected by cuts. Both Committees demanded proper funding to ensure BBC Monitoring's future.{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/@jonathanmarks/open-source-stupidity-the-threat-to-the-bbc-monitoring-service-deaaa9a393b4#.vt3i2b4pg|publisher=medium.com|title=Open Source Stupidity: The Threat to the BBC Monitoring Service|first=Jonathan|last= Marks|year=2016}}

The following have served as Directors of BBC Monitoring since 1996:

• 1996−2003: Andrew Hills{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Hills, Andrew Worth | id = U20210 | year = 2007 | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U20210 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/annual_review/2002/monitoring.shtml|title=Annual Review: A year in review BBC Monitoring|publisher=BBC World Service|year=2002|author=Anon}}
• 2003−2015: Chris Westcott{{cite web|publisher=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/managementstructure/biographies/westcott_chris.html|title= Chris Westcott: Director, BBC Monitoring|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924203138/https://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/managementstructure/biographies/westcott_chris.html|archivedate=2015-09-24}}
• 2015−2016: Lucio Mesquita{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/lucio-mesquita|title=Lucio Mesquita appointed as Director of BBC Monitoring|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031063556/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/lucio-mesquita|archivedate=2021-10-31|year=2015|author=Anon}}
• 2016−2019: Sara Beck{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/01033590-a956-4841-8eca-7a5d095b99fd|title=BBC Monitoring: spotting fake news since the Second World War|first=Sara|last=Beck|year=2018}}
• 2019−present: Liz Howell{{cite web |year=2019|last1=Howell |first1=Liz |title=Liz Howell |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-howell-5b3b0517/ |via=LinkedIn |access-date=23 November 2021}}{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126180718/https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/about|archivedate=2021-01-26|url=https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/about|website=monitoring.bbc.co.uk|title=About BBC Monitoring|author=Anon|year=2021}}

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Monitoring

Category:Media analysis organizations and websites

Category:Organisations based in Reading, Berkshire

Category:Organizations established in 1939

Category:1939 establishments in the United Kingdom