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.

PSM countering disinformation: opportunities and challenges

2023
This report shows how important it is for PSM to be independent to carry out their mission against disinformation.

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Traditional broadcasting features in VoD services

2023
This study shows how traditional broadcasting theories are compatible with the increasingly trending digital platforms and on-demand services.

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Public Service Media’s contribution to Society

2023
This research rethinks the contribution of PSM to society to recover its initial and essential mission.

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Public Service Media: Bridging Values and Trust

2023
This research focuses on the reasons why public service media have generally remained trusted institutions despite the rise of tech.

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The value of public service broadcasting in Japan during Covid-19

2023
The article analyses the shift in willingness to pay (WTP) for PSM before and after the first Covid-19 outbreak in Japan.

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Integrating Ethnic Content into Public Service Broadcasting

2023
When working towards a democracy, it is important that ethnic content can be integrated into public service broadcasting (PSB).

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What is life like without the BBC?

2022
The BBC commissioned this study to help it understand better the value that it delivers to UK households and how this could be improved.

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How Do Public Service Media Innovate?

2021
The authors explore to what extent public media rely on institutional links and tight coupling with the environment to develop new products.

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Distilling the value of public service media

2022
This paper shows the problem of proposing one definition of public value, given the diversity of the spaces in which public media operate.

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What are the ethical concerns behind ‘recommendations’?

2022
As PSM organisations now match other media platforms and content providers in offering recommendations, what are the ethical concerns they need to consider?

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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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The Contribution of NRK to Norwegian Media Diversity

November 2021
NRK: A review from The Norwegian Media Authority to the Ministry of Culture on NRK's positive contribution to Norwegian society.

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A Framework for Assessing the Role of Public Service Media Organizations in Countering Disinformation

October 2021
'In this article, we introduce a framework for assessing how PSM organizations are able to counter disinformation in different contexts.'

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The State of State Media

September 2021
A Global Analysis of the Editorial Independence of State Media and an Introduction of a New State Media Typology

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Are public service media distinctive from the market?

May 2021
'Interpreting the political information environments of BBC and commercial news in the United Kingdom'. An article by Stephen Cushion.

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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