Is it justifiable to continue to have public funding for the BBC in the twenty-first y century - Essay Example

In fact, some of them may even suggest that public funding for the BBC should be eliminated and it should be asked to compete with other channels on a commercial basis as that should be the basis of all television broadcasting. However, it must be noted that the charter of the BBC as well as the government’s view of the BBC makes it a public service and the nature of a public service is such that the public has to pay for it. This means that the primary source of funding for the BBC comes from the licensing fees paid by every television owner in the UK.

The trustees of the BBC are appointed by the government yet it is not really answerable to the government for its news reports and the coverage that it provides. The extent of the BBC’s well noted independence is largely controlled by the regulations which the British government places on the broadcaster. The funding for the BBC is supposed to provide money for high quality broadcast material suitable for the British public but these broadcasts also have to compete with other channels in the market who have obtained broadcasting licenses from the UK government and run on a commercial basis supporting themselves through advertisements.

However, the demands placed on the BBC as the flag bearing media company of the UK are quite different from the expectations which people have from the competition since the BBC is the only media outlet for which the people pay as a public service (Cox, 2004). This funding does not make the BBC a government mouth piece because even though the BBC receives its money from the government, it has a past which is full of conflict with the government to the point that at several times in history the British government of the time seriously considered taking over the channel (Cox, 2004).

The BBC remains a semi-independent source of news and information while the Royal Charter gives it a mandate to obtain public