Abroad now...

"Who funds what ?"  is a question heard more and more often at the top level of the BBC - and from the latest Executive Board minutes it seems the international news services are on the way to regaining some funding they nearly lost.

When the idea of putting ads on the BBC website that would only appear to users from abroad was first suggested, it looked like being the long-term saviour of the loss-making BBC World tv. News was, and still is the biggest driver of traffic overseas, and cash from ads would more than balance the BBC World losses, then running at around £10-£14m annually (though it's now in the black). But the Trust blundered in, the waters got muddied, and ads from BBC.com were being handled by Worldwide, rather than posted straight back to "news".

Now the Executive has endorsed a proposal to "merge" BBC World and BBC.com/news. I'd like to see the Exec insist on three things as a condition.

1) The quality of BBC World output has to improve, with a dramatically higher story count, fewer "programme makeovers" and more straightforward editorial drive.
2) BBC Worldwide should reduce the number of ad slots available on BBC World, as the other income stream  from online arrives. With so many commercials, BBC World is drifting too far from BBC "authenticity".
3) The international desk driving content for BBC.com/news needs to be merged with the World Service news teams, and fast.  In-depth online coverage of international affairs is often better, both in detail and presentation, on The New York Times website. That shouldn't be the case with the resources at the BBC's disposal.