The BBC World Service has been cut by a lot of staff, and many have been asked to relocate. However, journalists claim that plans to move Vietnam’s service to Thailand could pose threats to freedom of expression.
The Guardian reports several reporters raising concerns that there is history of the Vietnamese state abducting journalists from Thailand – and that the BBC had not recognised that Vietnamese people do not automatically feel at home in Thailand, despite both being south-east Asian countries.
One World Service employee spoke out about the Guardian: “Being a critic of the Vietnamese government, even when you’re inThailand, is not safe.”
Most of the BBC’s Vietnamese-language staff have previously operated out of London, due to the oppression of press freedom in Vietnam.
ABBCspokesperson told the Guardian: “The safety and security of our journalists is paramount. We are not proposing to open any new operations in Bangkok – for a number of years the Vietnamese service has been split between Bangkok and London, with half of the journalists based in Bangkok and half in London, all producing excellent and impartial journalism.”
This anxiety comes after the BBC announced the move – first published on Deadline – as part of a £30M ($32.7M) World Service savings drive, will see seven more language services moving to digital only, the closure of BBC Arabic radio and BBC Persian radio and the ending of some TV and radio programs.
After the proposals are implemented, more than half of 41 language services will be digitalized. The BBC also confirmed that some World Service journalists would be relocated to the UK. Around 380 jobs are at risk.