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by monch1962 1923 days ago
It _usually_ makes sense to optimise for engagement, particularly in the US where there's no state-funded media outlet (cue discussion about socialism that will be ignored). The UK has the BBC, Australia has the ABC, and both are state funded media outlets that aren't (at least overtly) driven by views. I'm sure their funding largely depends on how many people are consuming their product, but it's not as though some editor is going to be fired that afternoon if their "Oprah/Meghan" story loses out to the Murdoch equivalent. I'd be curious to compare how A/B testing works for state-funded media vs pay-for-access media outlets
2 comments
jordan_curve 1923 days ago
There’s absolutely state-funded media in the U.S. It just doesn’t encompass as much as those in the UK or Australia.

C-Span is a good example.

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lwf 1923 days ago
The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network[1] isn't publicly funded, no.

PBS, NPR, and, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting[2], lots of individual, independent local radio and television stations.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadca...

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clairity 1923 days ago
npr gets like 2% of its funding from public sources, despite being national public radio. they're as beholden to moneyed and corporate interests as nytimes, and as partisan and outrage-oriented too. i stopped donating years ago.
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JPKab 1923 days ago
I had to stop as well.

The article defending looting was absolutely a breaking point.

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clairity 1923 days ago
not sure which article was your breaking point, but for me, it's been a steady downhill slide for at least 5 years, with the complete whiff on the run-up to the 2016 election being a real wake-up-and-take-stock affair.
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refurb 1923 days ago
Based on the amount of click-bait from the BBC that gets posted to HN, I’m not sure your state funded option is much better.

I know the CBC in Canada is absolute crap - 80% of the reporting is sensationalistic and for the past 4 years has been focused on the nuances of Trump - not exactly relevant to Canada. At least not deserving of more coverage than domestic issues.

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ls-lah_33 1923 days ago
The BBC gets roughly a quarter of its income from commercial sources

https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2021/j...

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