Publicly funded news will never be independent or truthful. You can't give tax money to the government and let them control money flow to media outlets and expect them report truthfully and honestly. That's a recipe for disaster. All you need to do is look at totalitarian governments and how they control their media. You will NEVER have a free and independent media if it's money is coming from public funding.

I have no idea why people think the answer to fixing a shitty government is handing more money over to them and hoping they'll do the appropriate thing with it when they prove the opposite time and time again.