Originally published in the Business Post.

Think public service broadcasting needs public money? Think again.

The American broadcaster Edward R Murrow never received a cent of taxpayers’ money, but still provided a masterclass in quality journalism.

Donald Trump’s trial for interfering with an election by paying an adult actress to stay quiet about his tryst with her has a lesson in it for RTÉ. In fact it has a lesson for all public service broadcasting.

In recent times public service broadcasting has – thanks to RTÉ drawing vast attention to its own funding, and the collapse of same – become synonymous with publicly funded broadcasting.

They are different things, and it’s a fallacy to assume public service requires public funding.

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