Public broadcaster broken: ex-ABC boss

A former chairman of the ABC has declared the public broadcasting model is broken, saying services across the world are increasingly a vocal minority of self-interested elites.

Public broadcasters face new and possibly terminal challenges in modern democracy, Maurice Newman writes in The Australian, citing numerous scandals engulfing the BBC over the past three decades.

As public broadcasters cater to narrowing audiences, increased funding would be hard to justify, especially when respectable private alternatives exist and technology is opening up even more opportunities to be informed, educated and entertained, Mr Newman says.