Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"This remarkable organization decided from very early on in its long career—it was founded in 1922—to adhere to two principles that have stood it in good stead: first, to broadcast across the globe, not just in the English language but in a host of foreign languages (Swahili, Hindi, Hausa, Turkic, and others) spoken by native speakers who had immigrated to the United Kingdom; and second, to offer factual, often understated reports of world news in as impartial a manner as possible—in direct and deliberate contrast, half a century ago, with Dr. Joseph Goebbels’s Propagandaministerium. The result was credibility, an immeasurable asset. During the Cold War, tens of millions of Soviet and Eastern European citizens listened in to get the truth in their Orwellian world. Today, approximately sixty-nine million people in Africa and forty-eight million in Asia hear its nightly broadcasts. . . . 'We hear from the BBC (Persian Service) news and views which we can’t get from our own media. The BBC is often first in reporting the important news in our country. Indeed I have often heard it first from the BBC if a colleague has been arrested.'" [Kennedy: Parliament of Man, Kindle Edition, Location 3891-3901]