Future-Proofing the UK’s Public Service Media
POLICY BRIEF
Future-proofing the UK’s public service media
PSM AP
2024
The rise of global platforms has brought new challenges that have threatened the legitimacy of public service media and broadcasters. In this context, PSM-AP has carried out a large-scale comparative research project, studying media laws, broadcast contracts and licences, annual reports, and current policy debates. This brief presents the core findings, analysis and recommendations to better support public service media in the UK.
Towards a Future-Proof Public Service Media?
POLICY BRIEF
Towards a Future-Proof Public Service Media?
PSM AP
2024
Social and technological advances that appeared in the last few years have brought new challenges for public service media. Radical changes in media use, the advent of streaming services and the dominance of big tech as well as the increasing diversity and polarisation of societies have led to the erosion of trust in traditional media. This policy brief results from the comparative research project analysing ‘Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms’(PSM AP). It outlines key discoveries and conversations regarding Public Service Media (PSM) and platformisation in several markets in Europe and Canada. Among the recommendations made by the authors, was the emphasis on adopting a digital-first approach while ensuring universality and bridging digital and socio-economic divides.
The Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Public Service Media
REPORT
The Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Public Service Media: A Comparative Analysis
Colin Porlezza, Laura Pranteddu, and Petra Mazzoni | Federal Office of Communications report
2023
With AI-driven tools becoming pervasive in newsrooms, influencing nearly every aspect of journalism from retrieving information through to production and distribution, this report examines both the opportunities and questions which artificial intelligence raises for public service broadcasters.
Laws recently introduced in Europe to regulate AI are examined, as well as forms of self-regulation that many broadcasters have introduced to ensure their use of AI holds true to values and ethics as public service broadcasters, to ensure reliability, transparency, diversity and fairness.
Traditional broadcasting features in VoD services
REPORT
The reappropriation of time in television: How traditional qualities of broadcast media are being adopted by their video-on-demand services
Julie Münter Lassen l Nordicom
2023
In an increasingly digital media landscape, traditional broadcasters adapt their services to suit the new habits of their audience, who are spending more and more time using digital platforms. But how does it affect the presentation and the scheduling of programmes? Are old broadcasting theories such as immediacy, being live, being daily, and providing event television compatible with the new on-demand services offered by more public broadcasters today?
This study takes a look at these different questions through two different models of Danish Video on-demand services, DRTV and TV2 Play and demonstrates how features of traditional linear television are still key characteristics of SVoD services in Denmark.
Public Service Media's contribution to Society
REPORT
Public Service Media’s contribution to Society
Manuel Puppis & Christopher Ali l Nordicom
2023
According to the authors, the contribution of Public Service Media (PSM) to society is a concept that has lost its meaning and this is why its legitimacy is being questioned in a context of transnational and fluid media ecosystem.
In this research, the authors take a look at the different perspectives and assessments that Public Service Media could undertake, in order to truly embody and legitimise their mission of a public service. They emphasise the fact that the crisis that PSM are currently facing regarding their role in society is not just a problem of communication with citizens and principal stakeholders. It delves deeper, to its conceptualisation and the fact it is currently tangled up in a neoliberal discourse to maintain its legitimacy. Through the lenses of public value, social integration or even rising technologies, this research rethinks the contribution of PSM to society to recover its initial and essential mission.
Public Service Media: Bridging Values and Trust
REPORT
Public Service Media: Bridging Values and Trust
Minna Horowitz & Alessandro D’Arma | EBU
2023
Trust is at the core of journalism and the media profession and has been one of the main concerns of recent academic research in media and communication. Public service media have been challenged in the last few years by the rapid rise of new technologies such as social media platforms. With disregard to values such as accountability and accuracy, these platforms and their constant flow of information, has led to a wave of distrust in the news and media institutions. Rather than looking at the erosion of trust induced by surveillance capitalism, this research focuses on the reasons why public service media have generally remained trusted institutions. Built around core values of public service media such as universality, independence, excellence, diversity, accountability and innovation, this study offers new perspectives on the relationship that links trust and public service media.
Business models and sustainability in the newspaper industry
JOURNAL
Business models and sustainability in the newspaper industry: Perspectives from European and North American executives
Paulo Faustino | Journal of Digital Media & Policy
2023
The digital revolution has created significant challenges to the viability of media economic models while also broadening prospects for editorial organisations and journalists. This article seeks to comprehend the viability of media business models and how media executives modify their practises to deal with digital change in a competitive market. For this article, media executives from three US newspapers (from the United States of America and Canada) and three European newspapers (from Ireland, England, and France) were interviewed. All of the newspaper firms interviewed continue to face substantial problems in their search for ways to ensure the sustainability of their business models in order to motivate their partners, shareholders, and employees while also contributing to more diversity in the information market.
Public service media as drivers of innovation
JOURNAL
Public service media as drivers of innovation: A case study analysis of policies and strategies in Spain, Ireland, and Belgium
Sabela Direito-Rebollal and Karen Donders | Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research
2023
Public service media (PSM) organisations must adapt to the post-broadcast era by innovating, staying current with new content consumption methods, and experimenting with the plethora of options that interactivity presents for audience involvement. They still have a duty to fulfil their public service mandate. This article examines PSM’s innovation strategies and policies to determine if they are becoming more user-centric rather than technology-centric. It assesses the innovation policies set forth by public broadcasters, as well as whether these priorities are consistent with the innovation objectives put forth by academics for PSM organisations. Three public broadcasters – RTVE (Spain), RTÉ (Ireland), and VRT (Belgium) – with diverse sizes and locations in various political, cultural, and economic contexts are the subject of this article. It finds that innovation is still predominantly centred on technology.
Nordic countries' digital strategies and third-party platforms
JOURNAL
Digital strategies and third-party platforms: How Nordic public service media are reframing their audio strategies for the future
Aura Lindeberg | Journal of Digital Media & Policy
2023
This paper indicates the relationship between broadcasters and third-party platforms. The research examined four public service media organisations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway who expressed their doubts regarding the distribution of their content on third party platforms. According to this study, PSMs’ ties with third-party platforms have gotten more complex , calling into question PSM’s value of universalism and the study also argues that national media policies are unable to regulate international audio distribution.
Public Service Broadcasters' Strategies About Radio Apps
BOOK
The Listener of the Future: Exploring Public Service Broadcasters’ Strategies About Radio Apps
Marta Perrota | The Bloomsbury Handbook of Radio
2023
The article explores how public service radio stations switch to digital services and what principles they adopt in order to compete with apps like Spotify. These platforms have created dedicated applications, investing heavily in terms of content, metadata tactics, algorithms, and the fruition experience – fluid, agile, and personalised – on smartphones, in cars, and at home via smart speakers. Certainly, most European public service broadcasters, who are currently in the midst of a lengthy and complex digital transformation, have taken on this issue with zeal, but with what idea of the listener in mind? What specific ideas of the public role have been common in encouraging the adoption of effective digital competition solutions? What were the strategies in place to reinvent the content access experience? What sparked their interest? What types of audiences, if any, did they chose to deliberately target? This work aims to investigate the idea of the listener concept, which is at the heart of the vision of the future of radio condensed in a digital tool that allows listeners to play their part. If one of the primary goals of public service is universality, how can this notion be reconciled with the future development of radio apps?