Is it better then nothing? Yes. Is it free, fair and unbiased? Hahaha fuck no.
As someone from a country that has this (Germany): It's not unbiased, because it's financed by the state and dependent upon the parties in power for it's continued existence. In Germany that means being beholden to a bunch of neolib and conservative parties. And obviously these libs and conservatives only know how eat hot chip, lie and privatize everything, meaning state media receives a pittance of money and politicians still complain about that being too much.
That really depends on how exactly the public broadcasting is funded. In Germany for example, this happens independently from other state expenses so there's no way that the government can directly controll the press. For this reason, the press tends to be critical of all political parties, including the ones currently in government.
Thats why most capitalist nations do have a public broadcast additionally to freedom of the press.
Is it better then nothing? Yes. Is it free, fair and unbiased? Hahaha fuck no.
As someone from a country that has this (Germany): It's not unbiased, because it's financed by the state and dependent upon the parties in power for it's continued existence. In Germany that means being beholden to a bunch of neolib and conservative parties. And obviously these libs and conservatives only know how eat hot chip, lie and privatize everything, meaning state media receives a pittance of money and politicians still complain about that being too much.
It is not financed by the state but directly through the citizens (although it is mandatory). Its' job is literally to be unbiased https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/hintergrund-aktuell/311191/oeffentlich-rechtlicher-rundfunk-von-der-gruendung-der-ard-bis-heute/
Yes, but said public broadcasters are incentivised to paint the current government in a favourable light in order to keep funding.
That really depends on how exactly the public broadcasting is funded. In Germany for example, this happens independently from other state expenses so there's no way that the government can directly controll the press. For this reason, the press tends to be critical of all political parties, including the ones currently in government.