News

Culture in an Age of Uncertainty. Active Citizens in Ukraine. Photo by Oleksandr Filonenko © Goethe-Institut, adapted from the original.

The Cultural Value Project: Cultural Relations in 'Societies in Transition' publishes its findings on the value of the work of the British Council and the Goethe-Institut

Tuning In's Alban Webb was featured in the Irish Times article by London Editor, Mark Hennessy. It examined the consequences of recent cuts on the BBC World Service and their implications for how its broadcast remit, with particular emphasis on soft power / public diplomacy, will develop in the future.

Read the full article

As part of its public policy fellowship scheme, the AHRC have funded Open University academics to work in partnership with BBC World Service professionals on a collaborative project. The scheme encourages arts, humanities and social science researchers to spend time within a partner organisation to undertake policy relevant research. 'The Art of Intercultural Dialogue: Evaluating the Global Conversation at the BBC World Service' will examine social media and digital diplomacy projects at BBC Arabic Service and the means and methods for evaluating them.

A global public good like the communication of sensible and unbiased information is a vital factor in development progress and human rights.

Is it too late to save the BBC World Service? The cuts announced in January include the closure of the Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services, the end of programming in languages such as Mandarin, Russian, Turkish and Vietnamese, and the cessation of shortwave transmission in Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Swahili and of the Great Lakes service (for Rwanda and Burundi).