Public funding for the BBC should be questioned - UK PM Johnson
LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The future of the funding of the BBC should be placed into question as it is unclear that the broadcaster should continue to be supported with public money, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.
The BBC is currently funded through taxation via the TV licence. Johnson questioned whether the system was fit for the modern age.
"I'm under pressure not to extemporise policy on the hoof. But you have to ask yourself whether that kind of approach to funding a TV, a media organisation makes sense in the long-term, given the way other organisations manage to fund themselves," he said.
"The system of funding out of what is effectively a general tax bears reflection... how long can you justify a system whereby everybody who has a TV has to pay to fund a particular set of TV and radio channels, that is the question." (Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
