BBC and broadcasting in the Persian Gulf

This file deals with BBC broadcasting to the Gulf and worldwide. It contains correspondence on:

• Proposals to broadcast BBC ‘English by Television’ on Bahrain’s national television service to improve English language skills in the country with the assistance of the British Council
• Reaction to a possible cost-cutting reduction in the broadcast hours of the BBC Arabic Service, from HMG's representatives in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria and Syria; and Foreign Office recommendations
• A BBC counter-proposal to reduce BBC Persian broadcasts in favour of BBC Pashto
• Criticism by HMG’s Tehran representative of a BBC Persian programme on British espionage; and the response of the BBC’s Austen Kark
• A survey of vernacular services in the BBC External Service
• The past jamming at Sharjah by HMG of broadcasts from Moscow and Tehran into Bahrain
• A Saudi proposal to broadcast from Northern Cyprus to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan
• A proposed visit to the Gulf by the BBC’s R E H Challis
• Possible wider regional interest in the 'Oman File', a transcriptions service of Gulf broadcast published in the Summary of World Broadcasts by BBC Monitoring for the Oman Government.