gnvqsos Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'd be happy to pay the licence fee for Radio 4 alone. I do think that an impartial, not for profit, public service broadcaster is an important part of the fabric of a civillised nation. We are all forced to pay for roads, but we don't all drive. We all pay for schools, but we don't all have kids. I did not realise I have been paying for the roads-how come as I never buy petrol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I did not realise I have been paying for the roads-how come as I never buy petrol? If you ride a bike, I believe that you have to pay road tax:wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Thats not a very good analogy. We all listen to music, but are not forced to pay into a common pot of money to pay music bands. I think roads are a bit more important that television programs. I'm not sure that I agree. The BBC provides us with culture, news, comment and communication. All very important in their own way. The independence is a key feature of their importance, in my opinion. You wouldn't get that with a commercial station. Just look at the state of ITV to see what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygardener Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm not sure that I agree. The BBC provides us with culture, news, comment and communication. All very important in their own way. The independence is a key feature of their importance, in my opinion. You wouldn't get that with a commercial station. Just look at the state of ITV to see what I mean. I find C4 news far more independent and in depth than newsnight. Yes I know they get a tiny bit of the licence fee but if they can do it with a fraction of what the BBC gets then is it not worth at least trying to reform the BBC on a commercial basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm not sure that I agree. The BBC provides us with culture, news, comment and communication. All very important in their own way. The independence is a key feature of their importance, in my opinion. You wouldn't get that with a commercial station. Just look at the state of ITV to see what I mean. what do you mean? ITV is independent of the government, in fact I believe we have a free press already in this country without the BBC - we have a well balanced private media already that covers news from many different political perspectives. If all the BBC did was impartial news it might have a small amount of merit to force people to pay to have that - but why are forcing people to pay for strictly come dancing or premiership football or any of the other myriad programmes completely unrelated to the issue of independent news reportage. If these programmes are so popular there would be no problem to fund them in a voluntary manner because people would pay to watch them or advertisers would pay to put adverts in them. Look at HBO to see how good a private tv channel can be - a good counter example to ITV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 what do you mean? ITV is independent of the government, in fact I believe we have a free press already in this country without the BBC - we have a well balanced private media already that covers news from many different political perspectives. Leveson might take a different view. If all the BBC did was impartial news it might have a small amount of merit to force people to pay to have that - but why are forcing people to pay for strictly come dancing or premiership football or any of the other myriad programmes completely unrelated to the issue of independent news reportage. example to ITV. The BBC does far more than just the populist programmes that you cite. There are fantastic nature programmes. Brilliant radio drama. Excellent news coverage(with one obvious exception). It covers national events superbly, look at the Olympics, or the Jubilee. I don't want my media sponsored by Coke, or Samsung. I want a public service broadcaster that is independant and of high quality. The BBC offers exceptional value for less than £3 per week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Leveson might take a different view. The BBC does far more than just the populist programmes that you cite. There are fantastic nature programmes. Brilliant radio drama. Excellent news coverage(with one obvious exception). It covers national events superbly, look at the Olympics, or the Jubilee. I don't want my media sponsored by Coke, or Samsung. I want a public service broadcaster that is independant and of high quality. The BBC offers exceptional value for less than £3 per week. Well as I said before - those that wish to pay for it are more than welcome to do so. The problem is everyone else that is forced to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Leveson might take a different view. The leveson enquiry is about illegal practices such as phone hacking celebrity phones. That in no way means that we do not have a wide variety of news sources covering stories from a variety of political perspectives. In fact the Leveson enquiry may well be a danger to a free press - a lot of MPs would love illegal practices to be off limits to journalists. That way, the MP expenses scandal could never have been uncovered in the way it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I find C4 news far more independent and in depth than newsnight. Yes I know they get a tiny bit of the licence fee but if they can do it with a fraction of what the BBC gets then is it not worth at least trying to reform the BBC on a commercial basis? I can't see any C4 journalist doing to David Abraham, what Humphries did to Entwistle. C4 news is ok, but not a patch on Today, The World Tonight or The Six O Clock News. Today is simply the best source of news in the UK media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Well as I said before - those that wish to pay for it are more than welcome to do so. The problem is everyone else that is forced to do so. You miss the point. You have no choice over paying for a variety of services that are essential for a civillised society. I'm suggesting that the BBC falls into that category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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