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Bill: Radio Reform Bill
Details
Submitted by[?]: Capitalist Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: November 2093
Description[?]:
| Noting with regret that the government currently subsidises a radio station. Noting also that this is for educational purposes only. Recognising that the educational value of radio is severely limited. Recognising also that any educational value of radio can and will be provided by private companies looking to make profits. Hereby privatising the government subsidised national radio station. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Radio stations.
Old value:: The government subsidises a national radio station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised radio stations are allowed.
Current: The government subsidises a national radio station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised radio stations are allowed.
Proposed: All radio stations are private.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 11:46:38, August 07, 2005 CET | From |  Democratic Socialist Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | Education deserves subsidisation. If we let private companies run wild with it god knows what they will teach and how many adverts people will hear while learning it. Private radio is often biased, particularly towards big business. Other subsidised radio stations, such as the BBC here in Britian, are renound the world over for being factual, unbiased and informative. The government must maintain the best education and information it can for the people, and the current situation is an excellent way of doing it. Vote NO to this bill. |
| Date | 19:51:38, August 07, 2005 CET | From | Capitalist Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | BBC unbiased. Give me a break. |
| Date | 15:59:27, August 08, 2005 CET | From | Democratic Socialist Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | It's a lot less biased than most commercial radio stations, and its definitely not biased towards the government if that's what you're worried about. A few years back the government took them to court, so they're hardly best friends, even given the fact they're funded by the government and taxes. |
| Date | 16:33:47, August 08, 2005 CET | From | Liberty Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | All radio stations are biased. However, an entirely private radio spectrum maximises the number of different radio stations (and hence different viewpoints) that can be sustained. State-owned broadcasters are a bad idea in principle, the potential for abuse is simply too high. Even when the state broadcaster is reasonably independent from the government, its unique funding structure and other advantages enable it to harm competition in the rest of the market. Since we are talking about the BBC (and like The Capitalist Party, The Liberty Party recognises that the BBC is spectacularly biased) we should look at the effect that the BBC is having on other news outlets. Basically, the BBC is so dominant that it represents an almost insurmountable obstacle to any potential competitor, particularly evident with its news Internet site where it is able to pump endless amounts of taxpayer money into producing its site. The quality of the journalism is obviously not the reason that it is dominant. Similarly, you should listen to what frontline news reporters have to say about the BBC - small news outlets struggle to get a single reporter out to many events whereas the BBC, again because it is able to extort endless sums of money from the taxpayer, can send huge (and frequently pointless) teams to the most banal of events. The BBC is certainly not a great advertisement for state-owned broadcasting; and considering that the BBC is one of the least bad state broadcasters in the world, that is a pretty damning indictment of public-owned media generally. The Liberty Party fully supports this sensible proposal. |
| Date | 23:21:29, August 09, 2005 CET | From | Capitalist Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | I read that article somewhere, do you know where you read it? |
| Date | 00:46:08, August 10, 2005 CET | From | Liberty Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | OOC: It was in The Economist Jun 16th edition. If you are a subscriber, you can see it online at http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4088723 |
| Date | 21:04:41, August 10, 2005 CET | From | Capitalist Party | To | Debating the Radio Reform Bill |
| Message | Ah, i knew i read it somewhere. Thanks. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||
| yes |
Total Seats: 430 | |||
| no | Total Seats: 4 | |||
| abstain | Total Seats: 121 |
| Random fact: Real-life places should not be referenced in Particracy. |
| Random quote: "I don't believe you need to be bitch to succeed in business" - Lucinda Redwood, former Luthorian-Dorvish businesswoman |