End of transmission?

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Originally uploaded by m220.

I was watching yesterday from the website of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE the interview of the recently retired Director of the company. Mr Arne Wessberg is also the President of the European Broadcasting Union.

It was truly interesting. He defended with convincing arguments the role of public broadcasting. He said that the diversity of languages in Europe is one of the key reasons why public broadcasting is needed and traditionally a huge part of television on this continent. Wessberg said:"Otherwise who would ever fund tv fiction in Icelandic."

I have always been a strong supporter of public broadcasting although I am not sure whether the current fee system is a wise one. If I would decide, I would fund public broadcasting directly from taxes. At the moment the fees are only paid by the ones who can afford them.

However I join the people saying that public broadcasters need to redefine their role. In that sense the decision of the BBC to go public with their archives is a move to the right direction and and legitimises the system.