Found myself nodding my head as I read the below post.
In Australia all our radio and TV services are available to the masses
without restrictions.
The tax payer in Australia pays for our national - and at the moment
International - broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Some calculations were done some time ago which worked out that each and
every Australian paid 10 cents per day to keep the ABC going and even
though I'm not a huge fan of the ABC I think I certainly get my money's
worth given that I only pay 10 cents a day.
As the below poster mentions, services such as Radio Australia has made
a huge difference to people in developing countries and if Radio
Australia can educate and inform then I don't mind so much. Of course!
the ABC at times does run its own agenda these days but let's leave that
out of the discussion for the time being <smile>.
So my view is simple, whether or not I like the ABC I value my 10 cents
per day not only for what it gives me but for what others can be given
to listen to or to watch as well, unrestricted.
On 1/12/2011 1:21 AM, Martin McCormick wrote:
"Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith" writes:
In the case of the BBC, I am very strongly in favour of this ban to be
honest because we have to pay a license fee; why should others be able to
get in through the back door so to speak?
I am a believer of the statement that information wants
to be free. Most countries have put their best faces forward
over short wave radio for almost 90 years at great expense to
their tax-paying citizens. In the overall scheme of things, the
expense is miniscule compared with defense, health care in those
countries smart enough to realize that this is the best way to
do things, but it is still a large sum of money for staff
and transmitting facilities to just fling a signal in to the air
in hopes somebody over seas finds it interesting and useful.
The ability to listen to another country's broadcasts is
a tremendous educational resource and here is something else.
OSU, where I work, has had an international outreach
program since 1951 in which we encouraged students from abroad,
many from countries we don't necessarily get along with, to
obtain a student visa and study here. A number of them say that
they used to listen to the Voice of America, BBC Radio
Netherlands and many other Western countries and were curious
about democracy which is why they came here.
The same holds true for the UK, Germany, Australia and
others.
If you live in the US, you can certainly listen to the
Voice of America (VOA) on short wave, but American citizens do
not get VOA on their local radios or televisions because the
charter of the VOA which is run by the US Information Agency
specifically forbids American citizens from taking any part in
VOA contests or other activities. This was done many decades ago
to prevent "the government" from broadcasting to the American
people. In other words, our tax Dollars go to fund something we
can't even use which I am sure makes lots of people here angry,
but it is a very cheap form of defense.
For every terrorist out there foaming at the mouth and
piecing his bomb together, there are probably a hundred people
listening to and now watching VOA or BBC programs and saying to
themselves or even others, "Hey! This is pretty nice. Why isn't
our country more like that instead of like it is?" It's
education and outreach.
Sure, we can slap locks on everything and put a coin
slot on everything else, but what kind of world does this build?
Canada has a duel broadcasting system much like the UK
in which there is the CBC (Exactly along the same lines as BBC
(except for a letter)) and privately-owned broadcast stations
with all the screaming ads. There is no television or radio
license fee in Canada. The government gets the money from
general taxes.
I don't resent people out in the world listening to VOA
for free, because I listen to the BBC and many others for free.
It all kind of comes out in the wash.
There are a lot of things our government does with my
money that really stick in my craw, but broadcasting to the
world and showing us, warts and all, is a cheap way to forestall
hatred and misunderstanding.
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Dane Trethowan
From Melton Victoria Australia
skype callto:grtdane12
MSN: grtd...@dane-trethowan.net
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