BBC WORLD SERVICE AND THAILAND

Motion Text

That this House expresses concern at the closure of the BBC Thai Service on 13th January 2006; notes the widespread unease regarding the ending of the service which first broadcast in 1941 and which has resulted in a petition from Thailand to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; further notes that all recent reputable surveys such as `Reporters Without Frontiers' have downgraded Thailand in the press freedom league thus underlining the importance of the BBC Thailand Service; is encouraged by the recent doubling of the audience for the service; further notes the admission by the BBC World Service that the decision to close the station, which operated on an annual budget of £800,000, was the most difficult of its recent decisions concerning closures; and calls upon the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the BBC World Service to review the decision and also requests the Inter-Parliamentary Union delegation of Members of Parliament visiting Thailand in February 2006 to investigate the issue.