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Whitehall’s soft power shrinks as the BBC cuts back again

The broadcaster’s African services face more cuts, even on its flagship Nairobi bureau as managers hunt savings and reshape digital teams

What is being presented in London as an efficiency drive looks like a strategic retreat in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg. Under government pressure, the BBC is trimming capacity in countries where audiences and credibility took decades to build and rivals are expanding with fewer budgetary constraints. Internal plans seen by Africa Confidential suggest some African services will be restructured as the BBC makes wider job cuts, although ministers claim the World Service as key to British soft power.

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