We don’t need the BBC...

...but not everyone knows it yet. Newspapers are struggling too. The Guardian is reduced to waving the begging bowl.

We want to make the world a better, fairer place. We want to keep the powerful honest. And we believe that doing so means keeping society informed by producing quality, independent journalism, which discovers and tells readers the truth.

It’s essential for the functioning of democracy. And our unique ownership structure means no one can tell us to censor or drop a story.

But it’s difficult and expensive work. While more people are reading the Guardian than ever before, far fewer are paying for it. And advertising revenues across the media are falling fast.

So if you read us, if you like us, if you value our perspective – then become a Supporter and help make our future more secure.

Oh dear what a pity never mind moving on. 

Online life has been fascinating for a few years now. We are witnessing a huge change in the way ordinary people get their information about the outside world. Not so long ago here in the UK it was.

TV

Newspapers

Magazines

Radio

Books

All were controlled by a few big players with the BBC leading the pack. Broadsheets told us what was what and did not tell what they thought we should not know. That was the situation for most of my life. If I hungered after deeper knowledge or a contrarian point of view I had to hunt it down and that was time-consuming and often difficult and unsatisfactory.

As we know, this cosy arrangement has now changed dramatically and the change has still to work itself out. Or not - governments still seem to prefer the old ways and appear keen to bring them back.

However, in 2016 two events in particular have given us signs of a new future, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. It may be a simplification to say so, but both events were neither desired nor supported by mainstream media. Yet they happened and that must be significant. Mainstream media support was not essential which presumably means it is destined to become even less essential.

To my mind the tabloids are adapting to the loss of status more effectively than the old broadsheets. The Telegraph, Guardian and Independent are not worth reading and the BBC is a joke, but the Mail, Mirror and Sun can be surprisingly punchy and relevant when they stop obsessing about tits, bums and celebrities for a moment.