The New York Times has hired Mark Thompson, former Director General of the state-sponsored British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as its Chief Executive Officer.
The BBC run by Mr. Thompson is financed by a ban on British citizens watching any form of TV unless they pay the state broadcaster an annual fee for a licence to watch. Such a penalty and such state control of communications would almost certainly be considered unconstitutional in the USA, where Mr. Thompson is to work, as a violation of the first amendment right to freedom of expression.
The BBC’s agents enforce the ban on TV watching with threatening letters, home visits by investigators and searches of homes with no licence to watch TV.