England is home to one of the freest media systems in the world. Though the United Kingdom (of which England is a part) ranked 24th on the annual list according to Reporters Without Borders, this was largely due to a six year old murder that has gone unsolved, and death threats received against reporters, both in Northern Ireland rather than in England.
One of the most interesting aspects of the English media system is that the BBC and its channels (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, etc.) are funded by a license fee that individual television owners must pay when they buy a t.v. if they want to receive the channels. This method of public funding is meant to keep the television networks neutral and free from commercial interests. No advertising can be found on the BBC website, and the network is publicly run. Furthermore, even the corporate-owned television networks in the United Kingdom are required to abide by a certain level of legally mandated neutrality. This latter fact is likely much to the chagrin of Rupert Murdoch (of News Corp. ownership fame), who owns the Sky Network in the country, and wishes to, sometime in the future, model that network to operate more like its American counterpart, Fox News.
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