Free the Airwaves
The British Broadcasting Corporation was founded in 1922, making it the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation. With it was instituted the radio licence fee. Since then, the radio licence fee has been scrapped in favour of the television licence fee, which in 2011 stands at £145.50 per household.
The BBC’s mission statement is, “To enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.” However, there is a growing sentiment in Britain that although the cost of the licence fee has been continually increasing, the quality of the BBC’s output has not necessarily followed.
This has led The Freedom Association to launch its Free the Airwaves campaign. Tom Waters has written a report under the same name for the TFA, which was launched on 14th September 2011. In it, he argues that the BBC has gone beyond its legitimate remit as a public service broadcaster, offering programmes which should more appropriately be left in the domain of commercial channels. He also finds that the BBC is a biased and wasteful organisation. What’s more, it raises its money through a licence fee which is essentially an unfair and regressive poll tax.
As a result, we call for a root-and-branch change in the structure of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, to make it appropriate for the 21st century.
In addition to the launch of the report, The Freedom Association has held several events on the issue of public broadcasting, including a panel discussion both at the UKIP and Conservative Party conference Freedom Zones.
We intend for this to be a long running campaign, so be sure to look out on our website for future events which you can get involved with.
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I would go further and abolish the BBC entirely. The BBC has not been a public service broadcaster, for a very long time. It’s left-wing cultural bias is so ingrained, that effective reform would be almost impossible. The licence fee is also preposterous; especially when most of it goes on the salaries of BBC ‘stars.’
Its* Yes, I am a pedant.
I think I disagree with almost all of this campaign.
And I think this blog below gives some good examples:
http://europhobia.blogspot.com/2005/06/why-bbc-is-great-and-anyone-who-says.html
Think he missed the point of the international role that the BBC plays, in representing Britain and people around the world as well. For example Aung San Suu Kyi listing to the BBC world service, as well as hostage victim Alan Johnson or Tribal people around the world listing to the BBC’s democratic voice of reason, which represents hope for some.
Read the bloggers article and take it all into account without such right-wing rhetoric of state intervention and anything state run = bad.
Mark.
Mark, I agree that the BBC plays an important role in broadcasting British values and voices to the rest of the world. However, it would be perfectly possible for the BBC to disband it’s British arm in light of the fact that a great deal of quality competition exists in this country, and continue to broadcast as a facet of the Foreign Office. Instead, the exact opposite is happening: the Foreign Office has cut it’s budgetary obligations to fund the BBC World Service, effectively dismantling this very important organisation, whilst at home the BBC is treated like a sacred cow.
The BBC’s lisence fee gives it a huge competitive advantage with no benefit for the fee-payers who increasingly chose their tv content from other providers.
Mass refusal to pay is the tactic that will work. I have not paid the Licence Fee for the best part of two decades, having repeatedly informed the BBC that I possess a TV but that I would provide in court ten reasons why the BBC has no right to impose a charge, beginning with EU ‘Directive 10′ re the right to receive free-to-air broadcast media (such as ITV) without hinder by government.
I stated that I would not pay under any circumstances, including imminent threat of prison, and that I would seek publicity for my stance.
For many years I received sometimes weekly threatening letters but eventually these cease. Evidently either the organisation the BBC uses to collect the Licence Fee is incapable of enforcement and/or the BBC backs off from action that precipitates adverse publicity given the precariousness of its position.
Clearly, a campaign of mass non-payment would work. Provocative campaigning by just a few to point out the unfairness and non-enforcing of the BBC’s tax would seed this, forcing the BBC’s hand either to take some protesters to court or capitulate. Given that whatever action (including no action) they might take would be counter-productive, then the demise of the BBC is just a matter of time.
Why don’t you try and persuade UKIP or the Tories to put the abolition of the BBC in their manifestos and see how far they get!
Your campaign of non-payment hasn’t really taken off, has it Steve? So that simply makes you a freeloader.
The simple fact is that the BBC provides excellent output across a range of platforms that is excellent value for money. One can watch a programme or film without being interupted every 12 minutes by 7 minutes of inane commercial messages. People like that.
Also the BBC reflects the national outlook far more accurately than either the laughably self-described ‘non partisan’ TFA or any other hard right yet allegedly ‘non partisan’ organisation such as the ‘Taxpayers’ Alliance’.
The drip drip of critcism aimed at the BBC by the likes of the TFA and other right wing entities such as the Mail/Express/Murdoch papers for being biased simply demonstrates how out of touch you and they are with the majority in the UK.
The BBC will be thriving long after the TFA has vanished from the scene.