Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, elon musk, opinion, twitter

Elon Musk Labels BBC "Government Funded" Because Sure, Why Not? Right?

Following the same tag it hit NPR with this week, Elon Musk's Twitter is designating the BBC as "government funded" even though it's not.

Maybe it's because 20-second Google searches are "too woke"? Maybe he's still in his "sobbing on the couch over a pint of Ben & Jerry's" stage after his reported "Twitter Files" breakup with Matt Taibbi? Whatever the reason, Elon Musk proved that his inability to understand how major media works is not restrained by international borders. Following up on NPR being hit with the same designation for no reason other than utter pettiness that can only be measured in billions of dollars in lost Twitter value, Musk's Twitter is now labeling the official BBC account as "government funded." Does it deserve the tag? No, but neither did NPR – and if you think that matters over at Musk's Twitter, then I'd like to spend some time off the grid wherever you've been living over the past few months.

In a nutshell? The BBC isn't funded by the government but actually by the public through folks paying a license fee (it's all explained here). While the government does have a role to play in what that licensing fee is set at, it's the BBC who contracts companies authorized to collect the fees. And while folks can argue the day-to-day particulars, the BBC's overall operations and decision-making on the editorial level are set to be independent of government control & influence. And yet, despite all of that? Yup, BBC gets tagged as "government funded" because when you own your social media service… apparently you get to dictate the "truth"?

Of course, there's also the possibility that Musk checked out a couple of episodes of Doctor Who. Thinking it to be a government-funded travel documentary series hosted by David Tennant meant to indoctrinate unsuspecting viewers to the "woke cause," Musk may believe that he's doing the right thing. I mean, we learned just before the end of the year that the dude sees himself as The Dark Knight, so I guess it kinda fits…

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