5 ms·

Government funded is incompatible with independent. By definition such an organization is dependent on continued government funding.

anindha 9y ago
As long as funding is guaranteed by law then it’s possible to be independent. BBC works like this.
rpedela 9y ago
Aren't PBS and NPR government funded and independent?
- D-Coder 9y ago
  https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-npr-and-pbs-should-stop-taking-government-money https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-npr-and-pbs-should-stop-ta... Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets $450 million/year. PBS: “less than 1%” of its “operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.”
  - rpedela 9y ago
    Looking at PBS [1] and CPB [2] budgets from 2014, it appears that PBS gets more than 1% from CPB (if I am reading it right) but it is still a small percentage. Thanks! 1. http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/financials/ http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/financials/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting#Funding_of_and_by_the_corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadca...
pazimzadeh 9y ago
Every government should fund journalism, and every citizen should read from several news sources (from different governments). The BBC is great, but you should not get your news about Britain from the BBC, get it from say Le Monde or NYT. And vice versa for France and the US.
- ovao 9y ago
  I’m curious: why should one not rely on the BBC as a primary source of news about Britain?
  - dilemma 9y ago
    Because BBC is influenced by the British power structure.
    - pazimzadeh 9y ago
      Not sure why you're getting down voted whereas I got upvoted. Whether it's conscious, most people/groups/governments have an easier time rationally evaluating others vs themselves. Just like I'm doing right now.
nhaehnle 9y ago
This is one of those platitudes that are designed to make you feel smart about yourself despite being pretty silly when taken seriously. Consider this: The funding of the judiciary comes from the executive and legislative branches of government. Yet, funding is never brought up as an argument in discussions of whether the judiciary is independent. The reason is of course threefold: there is a large societal consensus that the judiciary should be independent; the independence of the judiciary is established in constitutions; and political norms, as eroded as they may be in some parts of the West, aren't sufficiently eroded that politicians feel like they can play hardball over funding with the judiciary. All these factors could be established for an independent, government funded media as well.

anindha 9y ago

As long as funding is guaranteed by law then it’s possible to be independent. BBC works like this.

rpedela 9y ago

Aren't PBS and NPR government funded and independent?

D-Coder 9y ago
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-npr-and-pbs-should-stop-taking-government-money https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-npr-and-pbs-should-stop-ta... Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets $450 million/year. PBS: “less than 1%” of its “operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.”
- rpedela 9y ago
  Looking at PBS [1] and CPB [2] budgets from 2014, it appears that PBS gets more than 1% from CPB (if I am reading it right) but it is still a small percentage. Thanks! 1. http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/financials/ http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/financials/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting#Funding_of_and_by_the_corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadca...

pazimzadeh 9y ago

Every government should fund journalism, and every citizen should read from several news sources (from different governments). The BBC is great, but you should not get your news about Britain from the BBC, get it from say Le Monde or NYT. And vice versa for France and the US.

ovao 9y ago
I’m curious: why should one not rely on the BBC as a primary source of news about Britain?
- dilemma 9y ago
  Because BBC is influenced by the British power structure.
  - pazimzadeh 9y ago
    Not sure why you're getting down voted whereas I got upvoted. Whether it's conscious, most people/groups/governments have an easier time rationally evaluating others vs themselves. Just like I'm doing right now.

nhaehnle 9y ago

This is one of those platitudes that are designed to make you feel smart about yourself despite being pretty silly when taken seriously. Consider this: The funding of the judiciary comes from the executive and legislative branches of government. Yet, funding is never brought up as an argument in discussions of whether the judiciary is independent. The reason is of course threefold: there is a large societal consensus that the judiciary should be independent; the independence of the judiciary is established in constitutions; and political norms, as eroded as they may be in some parts of the West, aren't sufficiently eroded that politicians feel like they can play hardball over funding with the judiciary. All these factors could be established for an independent, government funded media as well.