"Broadcasting "carries with it such great propaganda power that it cannot be trusted to any person or bodies other than a public corporation," the committee wrote. The people who advocated establishing the BBC as a public company - a mix of politicians, businessmen and civil servants - believed that broadcasting needed to serve the public interest."
"They saw broadcast radio as an opportunity to support the health of democracy, and they designed public broadcasters to be key institutions helping societies be well-informed, politically engaged and socially cohesive. To understand the genesis of public broadcasting, it's useful to look at the history and founding of the British Broadcasting Corporation."
Public broadcasting was established with ambitious democratic purposes beyond spectrum management concerns. Founders envisioned broadcasters as key institutions supporting informed citizenry, political engagement, and social cohesion. The British Broadcasting Corporation, established in 1922 and converted to public ownership in 1926, exemplifies this model. British policymakers recognized broadcasting's propaganda power required public accountability rather than private control. Post-World War I, when public trust in government and media was damaged, leaders sought to rebuild social cohesion through informed citizens. Public broadcasters were designed as foundational democratic institutions, not merely technical solutions to spectrum scarcity.
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