§ Mr. Wallerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the jamming of the British Broadcasting Corporation's Latin American service.
§ Mr. OnslowFrom about 2 May certain frequencies used by the BBC's Spanish service to Latin America have been jammed from points inside Argentina. The jamming, which we understand is only partially effective, involves transmissions to Argentina and neighbouring countries, but not the BBC's World Service in English. We have protested through diplomatic channels about this flagrant breach of International Telecommunications Convention rules. Clearly the Argentine authorities are frightened of their public learning the true facts about the Falklands situation via the BBC, whose reputation for objectivity is universally recognised. In close consultation with the BBC we are seeking by all possible means to overcome the jamming and have already authorised a 30-minute-a-day increase with effect from 7 May in the 5 hours a day which the Spanish service to Latin America has been broadcasting.
§ Mr. Wallerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if, in view of the fact that because a high proportion of the Argentine population is of Italian origin, the situation in the Falkland Islands is being followed closely by Italy, he will consider reviving the British Broadcasting Corporation's external service in Italian.
§ Mr. OnslowThe BBC's one-hour-a-day Italian service was never broadcast to South America. On 31 December it was replaced by a pre-recorded service for re-transmission by local Italian radio stations as part of the Government's plans to switch resources from current operations towards the greatly expanded capital programme to improve the BBC's audibility world wide. There are many channels for explaining Britain's viewpoint in Italy, not least the BBC's World Service in English. The Government are keeping the requirements for BBC broadcasts in vernacular languages under review.