Britain | The bill for the box

Who should pay for the BBC?

The century-old funding mechanism for Britain’s public broadcaster is under attack

The BBC Newsroom inside Broadcasting House. In the background, the BBC news is broadcasting live, in the foreground are the journalists and editors who work on the programme.

A lanky bronze George Orwell, cigarette in hand, guards the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation. An accompanying inscription declares: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” The public broadcaster has done plenty of that: Boris Johnson has called it the “Brexit-Bashing Corporation”. His advisers once promised to “whack” the bbc’s source of funding.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The bill for the box”

Are sanctions working?

From the August 27th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Britain

Stock price information displayed on a board at the London Stock Exchange.

Britain’s brokers are diversifying and becoming less British

London’s depleted stockmarket is forcing them to change

Sculpture by Charles Jencks of DNA double helix Cambridge University.

What a buzzy startup reveals about Britain’s biotech sector

Lots of clever scientists, not enough business nous


Illustration of Kier Starmer facing away next to the stripes of the Union Jack and the stars of the EU flag

Britain’s government lacks a clear Europe policy

It should be more ambitious over getting closer to the EU


The Rachel Reeves theory of growth

The chancellor says it’s her number-one priority. We ask her what that means for Britain