It’s time to stand up for public service media journalists

This article was originally published in the journal “Public Value International”, volume 7: “Under Attack! Populism & Public Service Media”, Under Attack! Antidemokratischer Populismus und Medien (Östereichischer Rundfunk, ORF) and issued by the European Federation of Journalists.

By Maja Sever, President of the European Federation of Journalists and Renate Schroeder, Director of the European Federation of Journalists

Public service media is there to serve the public — the citizens, who fund them and to whom they owe responsibility, transparency, and trust. In times of democratic instability, the rise of populism, and increasingly frequent attacks on media freedom, public broadcasters should be the backbone of the media ecosystem – the strongest pillar – precisely because they do not – or less – rely on advertisers or politically influenced funding. They should be the guardians of truth and open dialogue, resisting anti-democratic forces not with propaganda, but with facts, ethics, quality, and integrity. Unfortunately, the reality is often different. Today, public service media are under major pressure. On the one hand, they are increasingly targeted by political interference, politicised staffing, program influence, and attempts at instrumentalisation. On the other hand, public service media suffer uncertainty: we’re seeing restructuring plans in many PSMs across Europe, which involve staff reductions, program and revenue cuts, and deteriorating funding systems. The lack of vision and political will to protect and strengthen public service media as the foundation of media infrastructure poses a serious threat to society and democracy—far beyond the scope of media alone.

Read more: Public media in Europe: Cooperate to survive

It is crucial to emphasize: there is no answer to populism, no defense of truth, and no inclusive public debate without journalism – strong, independent journalism within public service media. But even within PSMs themselves, especially among management, there is often a failure to grasp a key truth: without strong, professional, independent journalism – there is no public service. Because of such lack of awareness and proper practice, public service media are losing trust and becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack. Without strong journalism, the space for disinformation, manipulation, fear, and polarisation expands. Public service media must offer more than content distribution platforms. They must remain or become active players in the fight for freedom of expression, pluralism, social inclusion, audience engagement and media literacy. For this, journalists must be guaranteed the conditions, protection, and support to do their work according to the highest professional standards.

Within the European Federation of Journalists and its Broadcasting Expert Group (BREG), we bring together representatives of PSMs from across Europe who witness daily how demanding—but necessary – this struggle is. We see editorial freedom being stifled, funding being cut, and political control being pushed through “reforms,” undermining professional autonomy.

In our advocacy for the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), we fought for the legal protection of public media independence to be embedded in the European framework. Article 5 of EMFA provides measures to protect PSM from political pressure and aims to ensure financial sustainability to fulfil its remit. This is an important step forward. But this protection is still not a reality. We are now entering a crucial phase of implementation. And while we wait for EU rules to translate into concrete protection mechanisms, battles against public service media are taking place all over Europe.

“It’s time for public service media – and all of us with them – to respond clearly, loudly, and professionally to anti-democratic populism and attacks on media freedom.”

In Croatia, we are witnessing a crisis moment, with hundreds of layoffs announced at the public broadcaster—without a clear plan, public debate, or vision that would justify such cuts. Consolidation is happening without a mission—and without a mission, there is no public interest.

In Spain, every Friday, we stand in solidarity with colleagues in Galicia who are protesting in defense of public media values. Several regions have formed the alliance RTVs Públicas en Lucha – a united front against commercialization and political interference.

In France, we are fighting against a reform imposed by the Minister of Culture to centralize management further, aiming to tighten political control over newsrooms and reduce budgets. This year alone, €150 million in public funding has been lost. Journalists will protest in front of the National Assembly on the day the law enters parliamentary procedure.

In Italy, we witness the shrinking of the editorial independence of the RAI while politicians place “their representatives” in the board of the management of the PSM.

In Germany, the extreme right party AFD, but also politicians from some other parties attack the Public Service Media and try to destabilize the financing of the PSM.

In Finland, every 6th regional journalist working for YLE risks losing his or her job.