Although I don't agree with what Rather is supporting, I think it's important to note that there's a HUGE difference between state-funded media and state-controlled media.
Many free democratic countries have thriving state-funded media that is objective and perfectly free to criticize the government. The BBC state-funded, but it is still widely considered the gold standard for quality, objective journalism. They're also free to broadcast shows like Top Gear, which rips on the government (and especially its environmental policies) at every opportunity. Other high-quality state-funded broadcasters that I'm familiar with are the ABC and SBS in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.
In many cases these public broadcasters are superior to their commercial counterparts. For starters, they don't have to show advertisements. This is great for TV shows and even better for live sports. But more importantly, they don't have to pander to lowest common denominator audiences just to bring in the ratings. That leaves them free to broadcast higher quality programs instead of the reality TV and sitcom garbage you find on commercial networks.
There's a huge gulf between that sort of programming and state-controlled media, like you find in dictatorships.
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