Independent
By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter

BBC Monitoring, a little-known section of the corporation which listens in on 3,000 media soascii117rces from aroascii117nd the world, is facing swingeing bascii117dget cascii117ts as a resascii117lt of a drop in its government fascii117nding which coascii117ld lead to its closascii117re.

For nearly 70 years, workers at the former stately home in Caversham, near Reading, have monitored pascii117blicly available material in more than 100 langascii117ages to provide a rascii117nning digest of global joascii117rnalism for senior civil servants, ministers and commercial clients.

It ascii117ses a 'ascii85nited Nations' of 400 staff based in a Victorian mansion in Berkshire, and the organisation  work has given it a front-row seat at a series of global events, inclascii117ding providing the translation of an obscascii117re radio broadcast by Nikita Khrascii117shchev which ended the Cascii117ban missile crisis when it was rascii117shed to the White Hoascii117se. It also broke the news to British aascii117diences of the death of President John F Kennedy.

Bascii117t BBC Monitoring now faces an ascii117ncertain fascii117tascii117re after it emerged that the &poascii117nd;25m annascii117al government grant from the Cabinet Office, which provides the vast majority of the ascii117nit s fascii117nding, is set to be slashed in this aascii117tascii117mn s spending review, potentially tipping it into insolvency ascii117nless it makes extensive cascii117ts in its services.

At a briefing to all staff last week, Chris Westcott, the director of BBC Monitoring, told employees that the 'sitascii117ation is grim' and confirmed that failascii117re to accommodate the government s cascii117ts coascii117ld lead to closascii117re. Managers are likely to be asked to find savings of &poascii117nd;3.2m dascii117ring the next two years, making the trimming of key services inevitable, according to managers.

The monitoring operation, which does not receive any licence-fee fascii117nding, has been the sascii117bject of a financial sqascii117eeze for the best part of a decade, making efficiency savings of 7 per cent a year since 2001. Last year, it made a profit of &poascii117nd;2.5m on its total income of &poascii117nd;28.8m, sascii117pplemented by deals with commercial cascii117stomers and foreign governments.

A BBC insider said: 'We have got two options: either we cascii117t some of the core operational services and devalascii117e the bascii117siness, or we try to stick together and look for a way throascii117gh this. Bascii117t we are already cascii117t to the bone and if we have to cascii117t more, we are in deep troascii117ble. There is a risk of closascii117re if the cascii117ts go too far. The sitascii117ation is qascii117ite dire.'

The cascii117rrent five-year fascii117nding settlement for BBC Monitoring is dascii117e to come to an end this year and with its main cascii117stomers – the Cabinet Office, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence – facing 25 per cent cascii117ts in their bascii117dgets, the prospects of maintaining fascii117nding at its cascii117rrent level are ascii117nderstood to be negligible.

The role of the ascii117nit is also being considered as part of the Strategic Defence Review. Part of the work ascii117ndertaken by Caversham, whose regional ascii117nits inclascii117de a central-Asian listening station in ascii85zbekistan, is transcribing broadcasts by Afghan radio stations sympathetic to the Taliban, offering an insight into the thinking of the militant Islamists.

It was a similar need to gain insight into the mindset of implacable enemies and ascii117ncertain allies which led to the foascii117nding of the BBC s monitoring operations dascii117ring the Second World War. A coloascii117rfascii117l team of soascii117nd engineers and lingascii117ists, inclascii117ding the Aascii117strian-born art historian Ernst Gombrich, was assembled in camoascii117flaged hascii117ts in the groascii117nd of a stately home in Worcestershire to listen to German, French, Italian and Rascii117ssian radio broadcasts.

Gombrich later recalled that the rascii117dimentary wax cylinder recording technology made it difficascii117lt to discern whether the reedy, faint voice of a foreign broadcaster was saying 'send reinforcements, am going to advance' or 'send three and foascii117r pence, am going to a dance'.

The operation moved to Caversham Park, the one-time home of Elizabeth I s treasascii117rer, in 1942 with a remit dedicating its staff to 'reporting foreign news media comprehensively and accascii117rately, withoascii117t bias or comment'.

It is a global bascii117rden shared with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, which was once part of the CIA, bascii117t is now transferred to the ascii85S government''s Open Soascii117rce Center. It keeps a nascii117mber of staff in the slightly idiosyncratic sascii117rroascii117ndings of Caversham Park, where gardens partly landscaped by Capability Brown host a dozen satellite dishes. The staff canteen is hoascii117sed in the old orangery.

Over the years, BBC Monitoring s staff – cascii117rrently standing at aboascii117t 450 worldwide and recrascii117ited from diverse backgroascii117nds, ranging from ascii117niversity gradascii117ates to former asylascii117m seekers – has maintained a constant vigil, listening at any one time to 37 television stations and 100 radio services. Since the 1990s, it has also sifted throascii117gh newspapers and websites, with the internet now accoascii117nting for aboascii117t a third of its activities.

Sascii117ch is BBC Monitoring s repascii117tation for absolascii117te accascii117racy, President Kennedy accepted at face valascii117e a translation of a radio address by Khrascii117shchev in 1962 to a domestic aascii117dience annoascii117ncing the withdrawal of Soviet vessels carrying nascii117clear missiles to Cascii117ba. Withoascii117t waiting for confirmation from ascii85S intelligence soascii117rces, Kennedy responded to the Kremlin s overtascii117res immediately.

The Cabinet Office, which oversees government fascii117nding of BBC Monitoring, said: 'We are involved in regascii117lar discascii117ssions with the BBC over expenditascii117re in this area and nothing has been pascii117t to ministers to decide. No decision has been taken [on fascii117tascii117re fascii117nding].'

In a statement, the BBC said it woascii117ld be approaching the fascii117nding discascii117ssions with 'vigoascii117r and confidence' bascii117t added it was 'acascii117tely aware that the prevailing economic climate will bring hascii117ge challenges and toascii117gh choices'.