The BBC and Libertarianism

Originally the BBC had a greater pretence to social betterment with “^*public service broadcasting”, although this was always extortion-funded, ^*paternalistic, ^*hierarchical, and ^*nationalistic. ^*Competition with ^*commercial stations has seen the BBC increasingly become more populist in its programming, thereby considerably undermining its official excuse for existing in the first place. However, with the rise of ^*political correctness (PC), it has also become the leading mouthpiece for PC ^*propaganda; which is not popular. And that has now often become the even more extreme ^*woke propaganda. For some decades it has also been the leading propagandist for bogus ^*environmentalist catastrophism and orthodox scientific theories. As such, it is now the leading source of misinformation in the country. The commercial, but state-regulated, channels have also had to become at least as bad if only to keep their broadcasting licences or to avoid fines. One example of BBC popularism and anti-education was its pandering to the ignorant view that the year 2000 marked the start of a new millennium, when the ^*common era calendar, which counts from one instead of zero, entails that 2000 is one year early.

That the BBC has occasionally produced some good programmes in the past with all the money it receives cannot be an excuse for its criminal funding and cannot compensate for the ^*opportunity cost: people would rather have spent their own money in other ways that they judge to be superior. Some ^*privatisation of the BBC has occurred and more is likely. This will be to the good for ^*liberty and ^*welfare, as long as privileges, political ^*cronyism, and state-regulation are restricted. Only full ^*depoliticisation can turn the BBC into a genuinely ^*liberal and ^*efficient organisation competing freely in the ^*market.

(This is an entry from A LIBERTARIAN DICTIONARY: Explaining a Philosophical Theory [draft currently being revised]. Asterisks indicate other entries.)