while i haven’t looked into it particularly, i’m also sure there are ways to de facto public-fund media while still creating separation from the state if you’re really worried about that.

It’s not so much that I’m worried about it personally; it’s just more of a general concern for public trust given our current divisions. I just figure that, regardless of the party in power, half the country is going to call it a propaganda arm at any given time. OTOH, we already have that division with private journalism, so I guess nothing would really change much?

I think you’re right on the money (pun intended) that it would have to be a de-facto funding with clear separation from the state. This is where I feel BBC does well, at least with world news.

like, there probably isn’t just the single way to publicly fund media and you have to either accept that model or not publicly fund media, right?

Oh, I’m sure there are multiple feasible ways to do it - I just don’t know what/which, specifically, would be necessary or best. The funding part is a bit out of my wheelhouse as that’s not something we really covered in the journalism electives I took all those years ago. lol