BBC to Expand News in U.S., Eastern Europe

British Broadcasting Corp. has announced plans to expand its news programs in the United States and Eastern Europe.

“One of the main principles behind the success of our international broadcasting is that we broadcast to our friends as well as those who--until recently--were enemies,” said John Tusa, managing director of the BBC World Service. “We talk to open as well as to closed societies,” he said.

Tusa said that later this month, Americans will be able to dial up the latest BBC news program by telephone at any time “for less than a dollar a minute.” One cable television service, C-SPAN, is devoting an audio channel to a 24-hour relay of BBC news, and Tusa expects it to grow from its present 1 million subscribers.

Tusa, who was born in Czechoslovakia, said Eastern European countries still need to hear controversy, comment and news from a broad international viewpoint. He said non-Communist leaders in Eastern Europe have asked the BBC to continue its programming and are giving it facilities for local rebroadcast.

VOA Services Survive Cuts: The Voice of America, responding to pressure from its managers and listeners, has decided to save six language services slated for elimination by budget cuts.

VOA Director Richard Carlson informed employees in Washington on Friday that the Lao, Greek, Turkish, Swahili, Slovene and Uzbek language programs will remain on the air and that their 57 broadcasters and producers will keep their jobs.

The announcement came just one month after Carlson informed employees the services would go off the air April 1 to save the government’s radio network $3 million. “We will be given the money to keep the services on the air,” Carlson said.