Ok, the thing about the BBC is that it provides a government controlled view from the UK. And there are, or were, plenty of other shortwave radio stations--controlled by their respective governments--that gave alternative views. The point is that if you're in Nigeria and want a view of the world that is not controlled by your LOCAL government, you could listen to these without the local government knowing. Sure, if you live in the UK and don't like the UK government propaganda, then the BBC might not be who you would listen to. But now that most countries other than China have discontinued short wave broadcasting in favor of Internet broadcasting, when a revolution breaks out in Syria or Egypt or whatever the first thing the government does--or can do--is shut off the Internet.

Re cash transactions, the point is that if I want to give $20 to my local alternative political party, a bill is untraceable. If I use my credit card, Acxiom knows about it and therefore the government knows about it. Anonymity of transactions is lost. The only people who will be retaining it are drug dealers who use $100 bills for everything.