Public Service and Community Media
JOURNAL
Benedetta Brevini
The International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society
University of Sydney. John Wiley and Sons, Inc
2015
Overview
This article outlines the similarities and differences between public service and community media. It offers a useful overview of their defining characteristics whilst situating them internationally and nationally in terms of their politics and funding mechanisms. The author goes on to explore their contemporary commercial and technological challenges.
To read the full article, click here.
New Zealand: Children’s Media Use Study
REPORT
“How our children engage with media today”
This research produced by New Zealand’s Broadcasting Standards Authority elucidates to the changing use of media platforms by the country’s 6-14 year olds.
The paper finds that television is still the dominant format for children although the use of tablets and smartphones is rapidly rising. It states that this age range is the biggest differentiator in media behaviour, with usage evolving as the child grows older. However, there is a clear tipping point at the age of 11 when the use of Youtube and social media rise dramatically.
The report also highlights differences between social setting, background and ethnicity in the use of different media platforms, the level of exposure and content preferences.
CRTC: Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015
POLICY BRIEF
“The way forward – creating compelling and diverse Canadian programming”
Published in 2015, this regulatory policy paper by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) sets out the Commission’s findings on ways to build a future Canadian television system that encourages the creation of compelling and diverse programming made by Canadians.
The report looks to build on the current strengths of the Canadian television industry and take it into the future; ensuring its ability to develop alongside changing audience viewing habits and the growing use of on-demand services.
The Legitimacy of Public Service Broadcasting in the 21st Century
JOURNAL
The Case of Scandinavia
University of Oslo, Norway
Nordicom Review 35 (2014) 2, pp. 65-76
Abstract
“The present paper examines the debate on the future of public service broadcasting in Norway and Sweden in the 2000s. I have analysed the discourses on PSB that dominate the public debate in the two countries, the cultural policy related to PSB, as well as the legitimising rhetoric of the Norwegian public service broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) and that of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). Theoretically, the analysis draws on normative theories on the role of PSB in promoting democracy, culture and a well-functioning public sphere, as well as theories on democracy and the public sphere per se.”
PSM’s Role in the Development of Media Technology and Applications
JOURNAL
NHK and ABC
Zorana Kostic
Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney, Australia
Published for RIPE@2014, Workgroup 5: PSM and Convergence
Overview
Triggered by the pressures of globalization, the processes of media convergence have split into a two-way communication process consisting of both convergent and-divergent axes. The challenges this duality has created have a continuing and accelerating impact on public broadcasting around the world, and the way it is being experienced by audiences. The more the themes and technology of convergence are exploited in and through the media, the more possibilities appear across multiple digital platforms, which cohere to form a type of techno-postmodernism or techno-cyberism. These convergent processes, where they intersect with public broadcasting have been branded, for want of a better term, as Public Service Media (PSM). The paper analyses these processes through an examination of transformational experiences in the oldest PSBs in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan’s NHK and Australia’s ABC. In this context the NHK and ABC become paradigms of how technological knowledge and social/cultural transformation can be reimagined to benefit the public interest.
The Export of US Infotainment
JOURNAL
The Death of International Public Service Television
Emerson College, Boston, US
Published for RIPE@2014, Workgroup 5: PSM and Convergence
Overview
What is the unstated line that public service networks will not cross when attempting to compete with commercial networks in terms of popular culture? This debate is often framed around documentary and the term “infotainment”—a value-laden term that cuts off any positive possibility of using popular culture as an effective tool for public service. What exactly does this mean? Working with concepts drawn from cultural studies specifically the work of Pierre Bourdieu, I will provide a discourse analysis of how popular culture and the fear of infotainment has been historically understood in the construction of three diverse public television networks.
Autonomy and Regulatory Frameworks of Public Service Media in the Triangle of Politics, the Public and the Economy
REPORT
Eva Nowak
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
University of Oxford
2014
Overview
“Traditional regulatory frameworks for public service broadcasters in Europe are challenged by developments in media technology, media use, and media economy. European states react in very different ways to these challenges emphasising political, public, or economic objectives in their regulation. This study analyses the influencing factors on PSM regulatory frameworks in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom”
To read the full article, click here.
Media and Gender
REPORT
A scholarly agenda for the Global Alliance on Media and Gender
This extensive report is a significant scholarly contributions to knowledge and action towards expanding women’s participation in all communication platforms.
According to the authors this volume “proposes a pragmatic research agenda for the Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG), looking back, building on the past and looking to the future.”
For access to the full open source publication, click here
The Australian Communications and Media Authority
POLICY BRIEF
The ACMA is Australia’s broadcasting, internet, radio communications and telecommunications regulator. Their intention is to make “media and communications work for all Australians“.
The role of the ACMA is diverse, from online safety courses for children and parents to conducting research on the Australian media communications environment to inform decision makers. Away from education and research, the ACMA also manage Australia’s radio frequency spectrum, ensuring that it is equipped for the continuing pressures rapidly growing ownership of mobile internet devices.
As regulators, the AMCA is responsible for investigating codes of conduct and practice both on an individual and organisational level. This includes combatting the misuse of content, abuse and producing guidelines that help to protect consumer and citizen rights.
The links below take you to two of the ACMA’s most recent reports. ‘The Communications Report 2014-2015‘ reports on the “performance of carriers and carriage service providers, including consumer satisfaction, consumer benefits and quality of service“, whilst the inaugural ‘ACMA snapshot‘ (September quarter, 2015) offers an overview of the ACMA’s “broad and diverse” regulatory activities.
Germany: Interstate Treaty on Broadcasting and Telemedia
POLICY BRIEF
This treaty is a great example of how to implement a funding transition and regulatory changes within a federal State.
Written by Germany’s Die Medienanstalten (the corporation representing all state media authorities in Germany), this 2019 version of the Interstate treaty contains the principal regulatory framework for public-service and commercial broadcasting in a dual broadcasting system of Germany’s federal states. It also takes into account the development of the broadcasting sector in Europe.