The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy
This article’s rationale is that the Arabic Service of the BBC holds a special position in the development of British public diplomacy and that such a position has its roots in the 1937 negotiations between the BBC and the Foreign Office that led to its creation in 1938. These discussions resulted i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Idioma: | English |
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Université de Poitiers
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| Col·lecció: | Cahiers du MIMMOC |
| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | https://journals.openedition.org/mimmoc/10245 |
| _version_ | 1827349343024185344 |
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| author | Houcine Msaddek |
| author_facet | Houcine Msaddek |
| author_sort | Houcine Msaddek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article’s rationale is that the Arabic Service of the BBC holds a special position in the development of British public diplomacy and that such a position has its roots in the 1937 negotiations between the BBC and the Foreign Office that led to its creation in 1938. These discussions resulted in the BBC’s willingness to handle the task of British projection responsibly, that is to say resorting to the omission of news which in the view of the Foreign Office would be inadvisable in times of crisis. The article seeks to show that this non-written agreement prevailed in the following six decades and is still valid up to the present day. The paper investigates the coverage of three moments of crisis in the history of British foreign policies in the Middle East. The first moment concerns the controversial news bulletin of 4 January 1938, the very first BBC broadcast in a foreign language. The other two moments relate to the Suez crisis and the first Gulf war. The article’s main line of inquiry therefore is to offer specific insights into the notion of soft power mediated by diasporic Arab broadcasters in circumstances when the stakes were high for Britain in the Middle East. The aim is to assess both the resilience and the ambiguities of John Reith’s vision of British projection through a model of broadcasting of his own making in a sensitive and complex region for the country’s formal diplomacy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T00:31:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-93f80c5818fb4a46bceb94d65a35e60a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1951-6789 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T00:31:47Z |
| publisher | Université de Poitiers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers du MIMMOC |
| spelling | doaj.art-93f80c5818fb4a46bceb94d65a35e60a2024-02-15T13:56:51ZengUniversité de PoitiersCahiers du MIMMOC1951-67892710.4000/mimmoc.10245The BBC and the making of British Public DiplomacyHoucine MsaddekThis article’s rationale is that the Arabic Service of the BBC holds a special position in the development of British public diplomacy and that such a position has its roots in the 1937 negotiations between the BBC and the Foreign Office that led to its creation in 1938. These discussions resulted in the BBC’s willingness to handle the task of British projection responsibly, that is to say resorting to the omission of news which in the view of the Foreign Office would be inadvisable in times of crisis. The article seeks to show that this non-written agreement prevailed in the following six decades and is still valid up to the present day. The paper investigates the coverage of three moments of crisis in the history of British foreign policies in the Middle East. The first moment concerns the controversial news bulletin of 4 January 1938, the very first BBC broadcast in a foreign language. The other two moments relate to the Suez crisis and the first Gulf war. The article’s main line of inquiry therefore is to offer specific insights into the notion of soft power mediated by diasporic Arab broadcasters in circumstances when the stakes were high for Britain in the Middle East. The aim is to assess both the resilience and the ambiguities of John Reith’s vision of British projection through a model of broadcasting of his own making in a sensitive and complex region for the country’s formal diplomacy.https://journals.openedition.org/mimmoc/10245BBC Arabiccensorshippublic diplomacyinternational broadcastingMiddle EastReithian model |
| spellingShingle | Houcine Msaddek The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy Cahiers du MIMMOC BBC Arabic censorship public diplomacy international broadcasting Middle East Reithian model |
| title | The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy |
| title_full | The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy |
| title_fullStr | The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy |
| title_short | The BBC and the making of British Public Diplomacy |
| title_sort | bbc and the making of british public diplomacy |
| topic | BBC Arabic censorship public diplomacy international broadcasting Middle East Reithian model |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/mimmoc/10245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT houcinemsaddek thebbcandthemakingofbritishpublicdiplomacy AT houcinemsaddek bbcandthemakingofbritishpublicdiplomacy |