Burn a Quran day

[FireGarden]

In Australia, the ABC is paid for out of taxes. About 10% of Australians ever watch the ABC. Catering to all tastes and religions on the ABC would ruin it. The ABC caters to the more critical and intellectual section in our society. But everyone pays for it in their taxes. There are four private stations that cater for the lowest common denominator. They are barely watchable. The ABC should continue to set itself apart. Most serious political dicussions, for example, are carried out on the ABC. Same with serious art and nature programes. However, it could not survive as a private industry dependent on private funding.

Government programs paid for by taxes should be about more than just making sure everyone gets a fair share. After all, many do not pay their fair share in taxes and no one pays the same amount of tax. So it's not really about fairness is it?

It is about fairness as far as I'm concerned. If people want fancy programmes with a high standard of debate, etc, then they should pay for it. If they ask other people to pay a share, then those people should also get the programmes they want. By and large, the latter is what the BBC does. And the BBC gets quite high viewing figures -- including having programmes which are repeated on commercial channels like Dave, etc.

If it was wall to wall programmes that very few people would watch, then I think the number of people dodging paying the licence fee would sky-rocket.

 

[BillyJoe]

Each to his own then.

I think the outcome is more important than fairness.
There are people who pay no taxes (ie the unemployed) so maybe they are not entitled to any programs of interest to them?

If it were not for the ABC, all we would have here on television is mindless drivel and news and current affairs as entertainment.
Fairness is too high a price.