Discuss this article with... The British public trust the BBC and, by and large, they do so with reason. Though the Corporation may be too big and may be funded in an interestingly anachronistic way, its journalism is usually solid, generally intelligent, almost always trustworthy and sometimes, indeed, inspired. And so it needs to be. If a reader of The Times dislikes this editorial enough to want to cease supporting this newspaper, they have only not to buy it tomorrow. British citizens have no such recourse with the BBC. It will continue to be funded and influential without their agreement. This creates a position