[dfwgator]

The BBC is the government approved/operated/subsidized broadcasting agency in the UK. The protesters are leaning on the Beeb to shut off the BNP's access to broadcast. I may not like what the BNP or even David Duke has to say. But they can say what they please anywhere, anytime in the United States. And that's the way it SHOULD be.

I suppose the difference is that with the BBC, since it is run by the government with money from the taxpayers, would you want your tax dollars to have these people on?

Now if it is a private television network, I would have no problem allowing these people to exercise their right to free speech. But if I'm paying for their airtime with my taxes, I might have a different view on that.

[abb]

I suppose the difference is that with the BBC, since it is run by the government with money from the taxpayers, would you want your tax dollars to have these people on?.

Which is of course the problem with having government owned/operated means of information distribution.

[Winniesboy]

The BBC is the government approved/operated/subsidized broadcasting agency in the UK.

Most definitely not government operated! Ever since Reith, successive governments (of both parties) have been irritated by the BBC's independence and have sought, mostly unsuccessfully, to curb it. The most obvious recent case was the BBC coverage of the causes of the Iraq war, particularly the David Kelly affair.