Letters
Tell us what’s on your mind
Not paying licence fee doesn’t make you a ‘dodger’
I’d like to complain that Issue 725’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (pictured right) said that those who choose not to subscribe to the BBC are “licence-fee dodgers”. That’s offensive, as many long-term non-customers simply have no interest in accessing BBC services or indeed any live TV. Like with Virgin Media and Sky, no TV service can demand you watch their services. The BBC can’t count non-customers as lost revenue.
People are only evaders if they actually watch or record live TV, or watch the iPlayer. So it’s libel to brand as dodgers the 3.6 million people who declare they don’t do this.
Kate Fox
CA SAYS Kate’s correct that the 3.6 million households who don’t pay for a TV licence because they don’t watch live TV or use iPlayer are acting entirely within the law. They can’t be described as evading the licence. However, our article’s title wasn’t referring to those viewers as dodgers, but the three million who do watch the BBC but don’t pay for the licence. This remains illegal, whatever anyone’s view of the BBC or the legitimacy of the licence fee.
Think twice about what you write online
It doesn’t surprise me that most Brits don’t feel they can speak freely online (Issue 726, page 8), and I think the policing of online comments has gone too far. But we should remember that posting messages online, whether on a social-media site or a forum, isn’t the same as chatting at home. A message left on Facebook, for example, has the potential to be seen by millions of people and be left online for years. It can have a significant impact or influence, so you should always think twice before hitting the post button. A passing comment at home simply can’t have the same effect.