Free Media

In Britain, during a House of Lords argument about appropriate funding for the new television medium, the BBC’s legendary leader John Reith compared the idea of broadcasting funded by commercials to the bubonic plague.

Since its inception, Britain’s BBC has been funded by an annual tax on every radio and television receiver in the UK. (In 2004, every British citizen paid $200 per color TV set.) The per-set tax system allowed the BBC tremendous resources, but it also kept for-profit broadcasters off the British airwaves .

In the US, early radio was a lot like the early internet. Hobbyists, and budding entrepreneurs were fascinated with a technology that was previously available mostly for government use. In just a few years, commercial radio equipment makers GE, Westinghouse and AT&T already developed radio stations and network connections between the stations. One of the first networks was NBC, which was, from the start, supported by commercial advertising. Americans thought they got a better deal than the British: their radio programs were “free.”

Today, the price of that freedom is exposure to nearly 100 commercials every day, or over 30,000 commercials, year in and year out. (Given the choice, would you prefer to watch 35,000 commercials or pay a few hundred dollars per year to avoid them entirely? )

Americans love a bargain. In exchange for that bargain, we have made it possible for marketing and media juggernauts to grow, and to dominate our culture.

Large corporations now control our stories. They define our heroes. They publish our textbooks. They provide our news. They set the topics for national debate. They provide role models and cultural cues that show us how to live our lives.