Press Gazette reports that the government has appointed the organisations who’ll be running three so-called “independently funded news consortia” (IFNC) in Scotland, Wales and the Tyne Tees/Border region.
I don’t question the merits of the winning organisations; and I don’t blame them for going for the money. I mean, why not?

Dependently funded
But it’s bizarre to refer to these consortia as “independently funded”. They’re state-funded to the tune of a £47 million handout from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Fee ride
And where did the state get the money from? From the licence-fee payer. The hand-out comes from £130m left over from licence fee cash set aside for the digital switchover help scheme.

So it’s only really independent funding in the sense that it doesn’t depend in any way on the people whose money it was in the first place having any say in how it’s spent.

Panel game

Let’s be fair, though. The DCMS didn’t choose the winners by itself – that would be quite improper. The decision was made by an independent selection panel.

Appointed by the DCMS.

Nuff said.