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You mean like how opposition politicians are on the governments’ payroll and their job is almost entirely to criticise the government? The government pays for

You mean like how opposition politicians are on the governments’ payroll and their job is almost entirely to criticise the government? The government pays for lots of people who are not always friendly to them. Including judges, anti corruption bodies etc. I’m in Australia so I don’t know as many specifics about the BBC but our ABC which is modeled on the BBC in many ways (except it’s not a license fee but actual government funding that pays for it) has a charter which says ’as a publicly-funded broadcaster, the ABC is expected not to take editorial stances on political issues, and is required under its charter enshrined in legislation to present a range of views with impartiality.’ Given the number of complaints by government and oppositions at various times it does this job pretty well

908B64B197 5y ago
> You mean like how opposition politicians are on the governments’ payroll and their job is almost entirely to criticise the government? The government pays for lots of people who are not always friendly to them. Including judges, anti corruption bodies etc. These functions are pretty much guaranteed by the constitution. They ARE the government, not some state funded parallels organization with no way of fighting back. A simple majority could severely defund the BBC and pretty much nothing could be done. Makes for a good incentive to be nice to the government. > as a publicly-funded broadcaster, the ABC is expected not to take editorial stances on political issues, and is required under its charter enshrined in legislation to present a range of views with impartiality. For how long? Soon they might stop granting exit rights to dissidents! Australia is on a slippery slope and it seems it's only accelerating [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28451066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28451066
- robbiep 5y ago
  Again, over the long history of both the ABC and BBC there has been a strong record of investigative journalism that has been critical of the government at times. The independence for these purposes has been enshrined in law and withstood some pretty strong challenges from governments that were on the wrong side of their reporting at times. The organisations survived. The governments did not in all instances. Re: your hyperbole on Australia turning to authoritarianism, don't believe the hype. I could just as easily say soon the United States might begin locking up immigrant children or knocking down doors hunting for illegals. Or maybe offer bounties on people having abortions. Oh wait, they already are?

908B64B197 5y ago

> You mean like how opposition politicians are on the governments’ payroll and their job is almost entirely to criticise the government? The government pays for lots of people who are not always friendly to them. Including judges, anti corruption bodies etc. These functions are pretty much guaranteed by the constitution. They ARE the government, not some state funded parallels organization with no way of fighting back. A simple majority could severely defund the BBC and pretty much nothing could be done. Makes for a good incentive to be nice to the government. > as a publicly-funded broadcaster, the ABC is expected not to take editorial stances on political issues, and is required under its charter enshrined in legislation to present a range of views with impartiality. For how long? Soon they might stop granting exit rights to dissidents! Australia is on a slippery slope and it seems it's only accelerating [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28451066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28451066

robbiep 5y ago
Again, over the long history of both the ABC and BBC there has been a strong record of investigative journalism that has been critical of the government at times. The independence for these purposes has been enshrined in law and withstood some pretty strong challenges from governments that were on the wrong side of their reporting at times. The organisations survived. The governments did not in all instances. Re: your hyperbole on Australia turning to authoritarianism, don't believe the hype. I could just as easily say soon the United States might begin locking up immigrant children or knocking down doors hunting for illegals. Or maybe offer bounties on people having abortions. Oh wait, they already are?