[coldcall]

No it doesnt surpris me, the UK media industry is an incestuous pond overflowing with leftwing scum.

Your second point about the BBC not being "state run", is incorrect. Its a public sector organization funded by a tax. It's a state broadcaster, end of story.

[Winniesboy]

The only direct control the state (ie the government) has over the BBC is through the periodic renewal, every decade or so, of the legislation which establishes the BBC's Royal Charter, and which enables it to raise revenue through the licence fee. There is no day-to-day management or editorial control. If there were the latter, it's difficult to see how the BBC could so vigorously promote views contrary to the policies of the state (as, for instance, over the Iraq war). Even with the loosest interpretation of the term, this sort of structure can't really be described as 'state-run', in the sense that the monopolistic broadcasters of authoritarian one-party states are state-run.

A second route of control used to be the government's influence in the appointment of the Chairman of the BBC Governors. However, the concensus seems to be that last month's appointment of Michael Grade as the new Chairman was largely free of that influence.