Yugoslavia and the BBC
'N his letter to the Spectator last week on the BBC's Yugoslav service, Peter Wiles put for- mally a number of questions which have been asked by implication in our correspondence columns over the past few weeks. The reason that no BBC spokesman had attempted to answer the criticisms made by earlier correspondents was simple: when you have a bad case it is better to sit back and say nothing, rather than attempt to make a defence; the people concerned may get tired of writing letters—or the journal tired of printing them. In spite of the fact, though, that we have allowed correspondents more space than usual, there has been no sign of any drying up in the flow of letters; each of them—as this week's show—adding fresh material for investigation. And the subject is important : we would ordinarily have let the controversy (if anything so one-sided can be given that name) continue. We understand. however, that a question on the Yugoslav service put down by Desmond Don- nelly, NIP, and scheduled to be asked in the Commons after the recess, has already had its effect. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster --one of whose functions is to watch over these services—has ordered an inquiry; and it is reason- able to await its findings (if they are not too long delayed) before the correspondence is resumed.
What is really needed, though, is an inquiry on a larger scale than Dr. Hill appears to envisage. The BBC has no coherent policy for its foreign language broadcasts. Some' countries are given broadcasts trimmed to placate their govern- ments: others get theirs 'straight.' As Mr. Wiles showed in his investigation of the Russian ser- vice two years ago, its comments on Soviet affairs were far too favourable to Communism; if the critics of the Yugoslav service are correct, its fault is different—that it fails to make any decisive comment on Yugoslav affairs. Other services are much less timid--and, apparently, much more popular as a result. The Yugoslav service, in fact, should not be investigated in isolation; if the critics' objections to it are sus- tained by the inquiry, there will be a good case for a more extensive investigation into all the BBC's foreign services.
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