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Although observers frequently attribute cultural tasks to the Council, broadcasting to the BBC, and press agentry to the British Information Service, the organizations are not sharply divided by function. For example, under its charter the Council is responsible for promoting "wider knowlege" of the UK. Thus, its centers stock and show general information films about the UK and provide foreign radio and television stations with printed, taped, and filmed English lessons and adult education materials. The BBC also distributes abroad to broadcasting stations and private groups educational films and transcriptions, as well as musical and other cultural works. The BIS and the COI arrange for the publication of authoritative articles by British authors in technical journals abroad, and all four groups engage in exchange of persons activities.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is a super-ministry, responsible for foreign aid and Commonwealth functions formerly assigned to separate ministries and functions traditionally assigned to a Foreign Ministry. In the area of information and cultural policies, the FCO includes: a) the Guidance and Policy Information Department, which gives policy direction to other portions of the FCO, to the BBC External Services, and to overseas posts; b) the cultural exchange department, which is in charge of cultural relations with East European countries, the Soviet Union, and the Peoples' Republic of China; c) the cultural relations department, which has similar

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duties for the rest of the world; d) the European Communities Information unit, a division established to handle informational matters concerned with British participation in the Common Market; and e) the informational research department, responsible for preparing informational reports for governmental missions abroad. The FCO controls at least the broad outlines, and in some cases even the specific details, of all official British approaches to foreign audiences. It specifies the hours and languages of the BBC's overseas broadcasts and the areas of operation and general program policy of the British Council, handles the FCO's own information programs abroad through the British Information Service (which generally operates within the Embassy structure) and maintains liaison with other organizations in the information and cultural field over which it has no

formal jurisdiction.

Under royal charter the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is charged with sole responsibility for broadcasting overseas on behalf of the government, and the expenses of its External Services are completely financed by government revenues. While the BBC receives information on government policy every day, it is not required to support government positions in its broadcasts, and the government has never formally vetoed the broadcast of a particular item. The only general restrictions currently governing External Service

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broadcasts are self-imposed:

the BBC does not editorialize or offer

its own point of view. The BBC has earned its reputation for fairness. and objectivity by a policy of reporting what others, including the government, are saying on both sides of an issue, but not taking a position on one side or the other of any question.

BBC External Services broadcasts about 720 hours per week in 38 languages. In addition, its transcription services annually sell more than 700 hours of pre-recorded programs, which include music, .documentary shows, and discussions of current problems, to foreign

radio networks.

BBC Television is a separate division of the BBC; dramatic series familiar to U.S. audiences such as the Forsyte Saga" and "The Six Wives of Henry VIII'were originally produced for domestic British audiences and then exported. Policy oriented television material is not prepared by the BBC. Such programming is carried out by the BIS in conjunction with the Central Office of Information, and the BIS is responsible for the placement of these broadcasts with television

stations abroad.

The British Council, like the BBC, also functions under royal

charter.

Under its charter it has been mandated three responsibilities: 1) promotion of wider knowledge of the United Kingdom; 2) promotion of wider knowledge of the English language; and 3) development

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of closer cultural relationships with other countries. The Council maintains 120 offices in 75 countries, and about 80 percent of its effort is directed toward the developing countries. English language teaching is the Council's most important function, and like USIA with whom it works closely, it emphasizes the training of language teachers, rather than direct teaching. The Council receives advice on its activities from a number of advisory committees representing various disciplines and interests.

The Council's autonomy, like that of the BBC, appears to exist

in fact rather than in law. Both its Director General and the members

of the Executive Committee are appointed subject to approval by the Foreign Minister, and country representatives' appointments are subject to approval by the British ambassador to the country in which the representative will serve. All of the British Council's financing is channeled through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, about twothirds of it from the budget item "overseas information expenditure", and the rest through the Overseas Development Administration for educational and training activities. In spite of these overt linkages, the Government attitude seems to be to involve itself only to the degree necessary, and neither the embassies abroad nor the FCO interfere in details of the Council's operation. Its dual identification is sufficiently well established to have, on occasion, permitted the Council to continue to function in countries with which diplomatic relations with the UK had been severed. However, in 1971 a committee

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of Parliament did recommend greater independence for the Council,

a recommendation which was not accepted by the Foreign and Commonwealth

Secretary.

As noted previously, the Council's primary activity is teaching English, emphasizing the training of teachers and development of new methodology and training materials. In addition, the Council promotes exchange of persons programs and coordinates the activities of both British lecturers and scholars abroad and foreign students in Britain. Libraries run by the British Council overseas provide information on subjects within the Council's responsibilities, and the Council also supplies materials to libraries other than its own. It is normally the Government's agent for carrying out bilateral cultural agreements, and is responsible for arranging presentations abroad of British drama, music, and the visual arts. In many developing countries the Council serves as agent for British volunteer services and supervises the educational work of the Overseas Development Administration. British Council Centers are almost always physically separate from the embassies; Center programs, in addition to English language instruction and student textbook loans, may include films, information on British universities, and administration of examinations for those universities.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has assumed an increasingly important role in British information programs as exports promotion has become a goal of the programs. In liaison with the FCO,