PSM Research


Welcome to the PSM Research page – an online hub of academic blogs, articles and insights. 

Here you will find a broad selection of recommended journals, reports, websites and guides related to the core values of public service media, as well as specially-commissioned Research Insights written by leading researchers and academics on a chosen subject. This page is produced in collaboration with IAPMR and MJRC.

About

This page is a live resource, bringing together the most recent academic research either about, or of relevance to, public service media. Topics include best practices, country reports and the mounting challenges faced by PSM worldwide such as media capture, diminishing budgets and media convergence.

The resources below have been curated by the Public Media Alliance in collaboration with the International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR) and the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC). You can find out more about our collaborators at the bottom of the page.


Research Insights

A collection of articles written by leading researchers & academics from around the world, especially commissioned for PMA and IAPMR.

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The State of Public Service Media Worldwide


Every year, the Media and Journalism Research Center releases the 'State Media Monitor' – the flagship study assessing the editorial, financial and governance independence of state-administered media companies across the world.

Download the 2025 report
Screenshot of the title page of the report
Screenshot. Credit: Media & Journalism Research Center.

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Latest Research

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Most of the following resources are open-source but some contain links to articles that require an institutional log-in to view. Please refer to your University, institution or employer if this is the case.

Framing Nordic public service media: Comparing policy discourses in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

This article surveys the Scandinavian PSM landscape over the last 10 years to determine the ways in which the role of PSM have changed.

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How public service media are changing in the platform era: A comparative study across four European countries

2024
This article seeks to examine the evolution of PSM in response to platformatisation pressures in four European countries.

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Conformity of public policy and citizens’ attitudes towards the public service media

2024
This study takes a look at the structure of PSM and how it matches with the involvement and perception of citizens on public media.

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A public value typology for public service broadcasting in the UK

2024
This research offers a framework to guide future cultural and media policy discussions about PSB and its values in the UK and beyond.

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Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries

2024
This study explores the relationship between public service media (PSM) systems and the strength of democracy.

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Democracy and Public Service Broadcasting

2023
This EBU report offers broadcasters a way to respond to challenges when measuring the role of PSM as a reliable and stable source of information.

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Business models and sustainability in the newspaper industry

2023
This article seeks to comprehend the viability of media business models and how media executives deal with digital change in the market.

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How Business Can Support a Healthy Infosphere

2023
The report examines why businesses should care about independent media and how they benefit from independent media.

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Public Service Media and Public Funding

2023
Recent public debates in several European countries have shown that public service medias’ public funding has become a controversial topic.

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Are public service media distinctive from the market?

2022
This study assesses whether public service media supply a distinctive and informative news service compared to market-led media.

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Finding the funds for journalism to thrive

2022
A policy brief by UNESCO that explores options to support media viability. "It makes 22 actionable recommendations."

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Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries

2021
Funding Democracy: A new report provides evidence that where public media is better funded, they are "positively correlated with healthy democracies”.

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Funding Journalism in Israel: Secrecy and Political Influence

June 2020
Unusual opacity is the most salient characteristic of the media system in Israel, where the involvement of political figures in media operation raises serious concerns.

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Who Finances India’s Journalism?

June 2020
Commercial advertisers are the largest players in terms of funding spent in the media in India, but the state has also a significant role, financing the country’s public service broadcaster, shelling out public advertising money to commercial media and holding a monopoly over the news radio market.

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Soft Power, Hard News: How Journalists at State-Funded Transnational Media Legitimize Their Work

May 2020
How do journalists working for different state-funded international news organizations legitimize their relationship to the governments which support them? In what circumstances might such journalists resist the diplomatic strategies of their funding states?

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Our Partners

We are pleased to partner with the IAPMR and MJRC for this resource

IAPMR

The International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR) brings together quality academic and industrial research from different disciplines. We support the continual evolution of public service media by aggregating theory and practice.  We look critically from industrial, production, audience, technological, economic and societal perspectives. We run conferences, produce publications and communicate knowledge to academia, industry, governments, and publics.


MJRC

The Media and Journalism Research Center is an independent media research and policy think tank that seeks to improve the quality of media policymaking and the state of independent media and journalism through research, knowledge sharing and financial support. MJRC continues the work of the Center for Media, Data & Society (CMDS), which until October 2022 operated as a unit of Central European University (CEU).


Header Image: Students Experimenting With Video Software stock photo. Credit: TommL/iStock