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.

Action research at the BBC: Interrogating artificial intelligence with journalists to generate actionable insights for the newsroom

This paper reflects on action research on the role of AI in journalism at the BBC to create actionable insights for the newsroom.

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Radio audience in European minority languages: Important reality and structural correlation

This paper looks at the audience of public radio in indigenous minority languages across Europe, showing the role of PSM in preserving them

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Redefining objectivity: Exploring types of evidence by fact-checkers in four European countries

This article examines the different types of evidence adopted by fact checkers in four European countries and how they are used

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Projections: The Social Internet

This report focuses in how the BBC can use social media to connect with increasingly isolated online audiences.

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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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Public service media as critical media infrastructure for the digital era

This article argues PSM’s should be viewed as a critical part of communication infrastructures to ensure a well-functioning society.

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News Literacy and Public Service News Broadcasting: Is There a Connection? Evaluating News Literacy Among Viewers and Non-Viewers of PSB News Programming in Austria

This study examines the effect of television news programmes run by public broadcasters on the news literacy of consumers in Austria.

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

This research looks into the transformation of four European PSM in response to the pressures related to platformatisation.

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Programming Queerness? PSM Remits, Metarepresentational Discourse, and LGBTQ+ Portrayals

This article examines PSM's role in instigating and shaping domestic depictions of sexual and gender differences.

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The European Media Freedom Act: media freedom, freedom of expression and pluralism

This study analyses the European Media Freedom Act (EFMA) proposal, providing a political and historical overview of EU media policies.

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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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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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Addressing AI Intelligibility in Public Service Journalism

2023
This research explores the use of artificial intelligence at BBC News, and the levels of literacy and understanding staff have of it.

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News Personalisation and Public Service Media: The Audience Perspective

2023
This research looks at audience expectations and concerns about news content curated using artificial intelligence.

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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