Government-funded anti-government media

• 10.04.2023 10:30 UTC+02:00
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A couple of days ago, Twitter designated NPR as state-affiliated media, although it has since backtracked slightly, amending its label to government funded media. At the time, I wondered how long it would take for the BBC to be assigned a new label.

And now it's come to pass, the comrades of the People's Republic of Portland Place are unhappy that they're also being designated as government funded media. They argue that the republic's not funded by the government, but by the British public.

Their claim is true, albeit misleading. The BBC is funded by the British public under duress.

There was a time when the mere use of a TV required that a TV licence fee be paid to the BBC. Failure to fund its increasingly manky old rope could land you with a fine or imprisonment, irrespective of whether or not you actually used its services. As a youth, I always thought it wrong that my retired grandparents had to pay for a TV licence, even though they exclusively watched ITV.

In recent years, viewers can choose to not pay for a TV licence, at the cost of no access to any broadcast programming on any device. Not just the BBC's programming output, but even that of alternative providers. Actually, the breadth of non-BBC services that require a TV licence leaves me wondering what the hell you can watch without one!* What's the difference between the corporation being publicly-funded indirectly via the government's coffers, or directly through a mandatory operational licence fee? Taxation or extortion: both represent an attack on freedom of choice.

The BBC argues that its Royal Charter requires it to remain independent of the government, particularly over editorial and creative decisions, the times and manner in which its output and services are supplied, and in the management of its affairs. That is, the corporation should remain uninfluenced by the government, which is laudable. But, by a similar token, it should remain non-partisan; without sociopolitical agenda; and abstain from attempting to influence government policy, either by opinion or tone. Unfortunately, the political and cultural socialists at Most­Trusted­International­News­Broadcaster Towers aren't so self-restrained.

The TV licence is little more than a yoke to keep British viewers hostage to supporting a tarnished organisation riding on its illustrious past. But it'll be scrapped in 2027, and the people of Great Britain will have free access to entertainment of their choice, without having to pay a levy to a politically-biased, woke organisation. Then, and only then, will the BBC earn the right to an independent media Twitter label. And until then, perhaps extortion funded media might be a preferable label to government funded media?

But it'll remain an antigovernment media outlet, all the time there's a non-socialist government in power. (oldman)