BBC will splash £25m on Arabic channel to compete with Al Jazeera

Taxpayers will hand over £25million a year to fund a BBC channel which no one in Britain will be able to watch, it has been announced.

The corporation is launching an Arabic television service , which it hopes will compete with Al Jazeera and other channels across the Middle East.
Like the rest of the World Service, it will be paid for by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - and ultimately, by British taxpayers

The BBC claimed that its reputation for being trusted and impartial would make it attractive to the Arab world.
But politicians have called the move "empire building".
Tory MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: "I can't see what the point of it is. We seemed to have managed without one and I don't see what the need is to throw £25million into it."

He added: "I'm not entirely sure I would share their confidence that all the punters out there will think it is marvellously impartial, particularly given that it is funded by the Foreign Office.
"I can't see Osama Bin Laden giving his latest tapes over to the BBC."
Another MP, who did not wish to be named, said: "It is basically a propaganda exercise. The question is: Will the propaganda be good enough? I have to say I fail to see much difference between the BBC and Al Jazeera much of the time anyway."

The scheme for the Arabic channel has already come under fire as ten other services were dumped to make way for it.
As part of a £30million restructure, ten foreign language services - including Greek, Czech, Polish and Thai channels - were all axed, and 218 jobs were lost.
There are also concerns that a previous Arabic TV service by the BBC, in conjunction with Saudi company Orbit, ended in 1996 over disagreements about editorial control.

The British government funds the BBC World Service because it claims its independent approach to journalism brings credit to Britain.
Broadcasting costs are met by a parliamentary grant through the Foreign and Commonwealth office.

The new Arabic channel, which sits alongside existing online and radio services, is being offered free to those with satellite dishes or a cable connection in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf.
World Service director Nigel Chapman said the service would have exactly the same editorial standards as those in the UK.