Public service broadcasting: as vital as ever
REPORT
Public service broadcasting: as vital as ever
By The UK House of Lords Select Committee on Communications
The House of Lords report on public service broadcasting in the age of video on demand concludes that PSBs are vital and in need of better support to produce high quality content and programming. But they also need to adapt to the changing media landscape in order to better serve audiences.
The report also reveals that public service broadcasting remains prominent within the UK and is a driver of the creative economy. Recommendations include the establishment of a new body called the BBC Funding Commission and to ensure that deals and plans are conducted with more transparency.
Read the PMA response to this report here.
The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina
REPORT
This working paper explores the future of public service broadcasting (PSB) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in light of the complex situation it is currently facing.
Taking into consideration the challenges, development and most recent changes, this research argues that a transformation for a truly PSB in Bosnia and Herzegovina has failed so far in respect to the key elements of a public media system: funding, independence, remit and transition to new technologies.
The publication examines three main points that are relevant to understand PSB in Bosnia and its future prospects. Firstly, it discusses policies development for PSB, how they were adopted and who played a key role in the policy-making processes. Special attention is given to key actors such as the EU, local political elites, and civil society. Secondly, the paper analyzes the political, legal and financial factors that influenced the country’s current situation. Thirdly, the paper examines the way digitisation, convergence, new multimedia platform, and social media influence and change the PSB media system in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its future prospects.
The paper was produced as part of the project “The prospect and development of public service media: Comparative study of PSB development in Western Balkans in light of EU integration“, which is currently exploring the present and future roles and positions of PSB in seven countries across the Western Balkans. The project has been carried out by the Center for Social Research Analitika in partnership with the University of Fribourg.
The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Serbia
REPORT
This paper examines the status, role, and main challenges of the reform of the public service broadcasting (PSB) in Serbia.
The study address three main research aspects. The first is related to the current operation of the PSB in Serbia, taking into account its regulation, status, model of funding and program quality. The second assesses the entire process of creation of media policies and laws regulating the status of PSB in Serbia, including the actors in those processes, their relations and influence. The final aspect of the research addresses the main challenges of PSB in Serbia with regard to technology innovation and digitalization, use of the new media, and the PSB’s relation with the audience.
The paper was produced within the project “The prospect and development of public service media: Comparative study of PSB development in Western Balkans in light of EU integration” that investigates the position, role, functioning, and the future of public service broadcasters in six countries in the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, taking into account the specific context in which these services developed and the role the European Union played in these processes. The project is implemented by the Center for Social Research Analitika in partnership with the University of Fribourg(link is external).
This project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation(link is external), through the SCOPES (Scientific cooperation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland) programme.
[Text by Davor Marko, sourced from the Center for Social Research Analitika]
Ensuring public service news provision in the era of networked communications
JOURNAL
Gregory Ferrell Lowe and Alan G. Stavitsky
International Communication Gazette
University of Tampere, Finland and University of Nevada, Reno, USA, Sage Publications
(2016)
Overview
The article analyses the economic viability of news production in the two main categories of media organisations, legacy media and digital native media, with a focus on USA and Europe. Their findings encourage the development of a more comprehensive news media system that follows innovation, advocates diversity and enhance quality. The article includes proposals for media policy, partnerships, education and professionalism.
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.
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.
Mapping Digital Media: News and New Media in Central Africa
REPORT
Challenges and Opportunities
Marie-Soleil Frère
The Open Society Media Program, December 2012
Abstract
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda and Burundi are among the continent’s smallest states. More than just neighbours, these three countries are locked together by overlapping histories and by extreme political and economic challenges. Their populations are overwhelmingly rural and young. In terms of media, radio is by far the most popular source of news. Levels of state capture are high, and media quality is generally poor. Professional journalists face daunting obstacles.
Telecoms overheads are exorbitantly high. In these conditions, new and digital media — which flourish on consumers’ disposable income, strategic investment, and vibrant markets — have made a very slow start. Crucially, connectivity remains low. But change is afoot, led by the growth of mobile internet access.
In this report, Marie-Soleil Frère surveys the news landscapes of DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda. Marshalling an impressive range of data, she examines patterns of production and consumption, the often grim realities of law and regulation, the embryonic state of media policy, the role of donors, and the positive impact of online platforms. Most media outlets now have an online presence. SMS has become a basic tool for reporters. Interactivity gives voice to increasing numbers of listeners. The ease of digital archiving makes it possible to create a collective media “memory” for the first time. Chinese businesses are winning tenders for infrastructure projects.
The report ends with a set of practical recommendations relating to infrastructure, strategies to reduce access costs for journalists and the public, education and professionalisation, donor activity, governance, regulation, and media management.
Public policies for public service media
JOURNAL & REPORT
UK and the German policy cases, with warnings and lessons from the USA
A 2010 article by Prof. Peter Humphreys (University of Manchester) that focuses on the impact of new technologies and changing media markets on public service broadcasting. The first part of the article focuses on the impact of new technologies and changing media markets on PSB whilst the second focuses on how to maintain a plurality of content and public service players. US examples and broadcast experiences are used comparatively throughout this paper.
This article was published for the RIPE@2010 conference series.
For the full article, click here
Riding the Wave
JOURNAL
Public Service Television in the Multiplatform Era
La Trobe University, Australia
Media, Culture and Society, Sage Publications, 2009, 31(5), p.807-827
Abstract
Despite their funding dilemmas, public service broadcasters are finding new legitimisation in the digital era. Re-asserting their mainstream status in the fragmenting marketplace, PSB institutions around the world are identifying new ways of delivering public service goals via interactive, on-demand media services across a range of platforms. By repositioning as media content companies, PSBs are forging new kinds of relationships with the public as viewers, users and producers, connecting communities, while also delivering an array of pluralist, personalised services. However, such changes inevitably bring new problems – conflicts with established practices, increased costs, new enemies in the marketplace and the temptation of new commercial revenue streams. Grounded in a series of industry interviews taken from across six case studies and referencing recent literature and policy documents, this article analyses the impact of public broadcasting’s digital rebirth on traditional public service principles.
Reinventing Public Service Broadcasting in Europe
JOURNAL
Prospects, Promises and Problems
Johannes Bardoel & Leen d’Haenens
University of Amsterdam; Catholic University of Leuven; Raboud University Numegen
Media, Culture and Society, SAGE Publications, 2008, 30(3), p.337-355
Abstract
New information technologies, liberalising policies and rapidly changing societies – from mono- to multicultural – entail serious consequences for the prospects of European public service broadcasters in a network society. The European concept of PSB as a comprehensive and universal service is challenged by both EU and national authorities at three levels: 1) mission and program task (comprehensive or complementary programming?), 2) organization (central organisation or a ‘distributed public service’?) and 3) financing (license fee, advertising or ‘state aid’?). There are pressures towards a more ‘pure’ model of public service broadcasting and/or towards de-institutionalisation of PSB and ‘distributed public service’. Recent pleadings for (eg, in the Netherlands) and practices (eg, in New Zealand) of new PSB policy directions will be evaluated. The paper deals with the question whether the European full-fledged PSB model is still realistic or a more small-scale public service à la the American PBS would be a more viable prospect.
To read the full article, see Sage Publications here.