BBC reigns

Sir — This refers to the article, “Net impact on the news media” (September 24) by Kushan Mitra. A case in point is how the BBC, which is taxpayer-funded in the UK, has survived in a respectable manner when there was an onslaught of satellite news channels during the early part of this century.

Those channels had the latest technology in graphics, studios etc, and a line-up of sharp presenters. While they thrived on their ability to break news at lightening pace, the quality of the news stories was pretty horrible.

The BBC, which for decades had been seen as a top news portal, was in a dilemma over whether it wanted to maintain the quality of its news or to enter the speed-competition with its rivals. It decided in favour of the former.