BBC Russian Service: Petition to the Prime Minister (MISTAKE IN ORIGINAL MESSAGE)

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

As has already been pointed out, I made a mistake.  To be eligible to sign
this, it is enough to be a UK resident OR a UK citizen. Sorry!

The good news is that we have, in one day, already reached the number of
signatories (200) that guarantees an official response. My guess is that
over 1000, on an issue that is clearly of minority interest, would make a
real impact. And we still have 4 weeks to go.

Many thanks,

Robert



Dear all,

Please  consider signing the following petition, created by Sergei Cristo (a
former Russian Service producer).  Please also, if possible, forward the
link pasted below to as many people as possible.
 
 http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BBCWorldService/
<http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BBCWorldService/>
 
This will only take a couple of minutes.  In order to get an official
response, we need at least 200 signatories.  All of them have to be UK
citizens or residents.  We have a month.

When the French government recently decided to stop their own
Russian-language broadcasting service, 900 people signed a petition against
this.  Copies were sent to every deputy in the French parliament, and the
broadcasts were reprieved!
 
Many thanks,
 
Robert
 
                                        *****************

And if any of you would like further background, the best place to start is
my recent article on the Open Democracy site, which  was published on 10
Feb:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/Russia/article/BBC-ridding-itself-of-a-troubles
ome-Russian-Service

                                                **********************

And if any of you would like to read ALL about our campaign, here are many
more links to articles in the Times, the Daily Telegraph, a debate in
Parliament, and more....

Very best wishes, and thanks!

Robert Chandler

Here is the first link of all:
<http://tinyurl.com/6pcme4>

Here is the second:
<http://tinyurl.com/5w93y9>

Here is the third, which includes an excellent letter from Irina Shumovitch.
This might be the best place to start:
<http://tinyurl.com/62xed4>

And here is the fouth
<http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/BBC-World-Service-jobs-for-the-
boys>

         ****

There has also been a debate in Parliament about the World Service:
<http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2008-12-16a.1.0>

        ****

The BBC backed down with regard to their original decision about advertising
for a new Director of the World Service.  See
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/3918613/BBC-World-Service-ba
cks-down-over-300000-director-post.html>
And our related letter:
<http://tinyurl.com/74ehuw>  (You need to scroll down!)
        ****

A previously unpublished letter of mine has just (5 Jan 2009) been posted on
the website of Open Democracy.  It can be found at
<http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/BBC-World-Service-jobs-for-the-
boys#comment-489114>
together with the letter from Richard Sambrook to which it is a reply.

        ****

A letter signed by Oleg Gordievsky is in the Daily Telegraph (Jan 9).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/4176998/Letters-The-cold-snap-was
-a-dose-of-reality-like-the-recession-after-the-shirtsleeve-years.html

This article of mine was published on 10 Feb:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/Russia/article/BBC-ridding-itself-of-a-troubles
ome-Russian-Service


 And on 17 Feb. the Times published an important letter from the FNR (the
Independent Radio Foundation, a Moscow NGO): 
 http://tinyurl.com/csdzh4
OR
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5747761.ece.


This link goes to the excellent speech that Julian Lewis gave during the
Westminster Hall debate in mid-December.  This is followed by Chapman¹s
letter to Lewis and Lewis¹s reply:
 http://www.julianlewis.net/speech_detail.php?id=147

 
Here is an article (2 March 2009) in the Independent based on an interview
with Nigel Chapman:
http://tinyurl.com/av2fv9
 It is followed by some acerbic comments.

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