Nation Binding: How Public Service Broadcasting Mitigates Political Selective Exposure
REPORT
Linda Bos, Sanne Kruikemeier, Claes de Vreese
Amsterdam School of Communication Research ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(2016)
Overview
Is there a media system that promotes less political selective exposure? This article explores this question within the context of the US and Dutch media landscape, offering a comparison of the two. In particular, this article makes the case that where there is a relatively strong public service broadcaster, political selective exposure amongst an audience is lower due to its less partisan output. However, the authors do find that there is a large segment of citizens that choose to opt out of news consumption, despite its availability in today’s media landscape.
This article is Open Access, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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 Media in the Age of Digital Networks
JOURNAL
Gaëtan Tremblay
Canadian Journal of Communication
Université du Québec à Montréal
(2016)
Overview
This article addresses the question as to whether public service media is still relevant in the “age of the internet and digital networks”? It does so via an exploration of the way public service media has evolved into what it is today and how it might be redefined to offer a culturally and socially relevant role in today’s contemporary society.
Making Public Television Social? Public Service Broadcasting and the Challenges of Social Media
JOURNAL
José van Dijck & Thomas Poell
Television & New Media
University of Amsterdam, Sage Publications
(2015)
Overview
This article investigates how the rise of social media affects European public service broadcasting (PSB), particularly in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. The article explores this interaction on three levels: the level of the institution, professional practice, and content. The authors go on to explore how PSBs cope with the challenges of social media and whether it can be used to engage audiences without compromising public values.
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.
Auntie Knows Best?
JOURNAL
Public broadcasters and current affairs knowledge
Stuart Soroka, Blake Andrew, Toril Aalberg, Shanto Iyengar, James Curran, Sharon Coen, Kaori Hayashi, Paul Jones, Gianpetro Mazzoleni, June Woong Rhee, David Rowe and Rod Tiffen.
Cambridge University Press, 1 January 2013, British Journal of Political Science
Abstract
“PSBs are a central part of national news media landscapes. In many countries, PSBs are the first choice of citizens when it comes to news providers. And in perhaps more countries still, PSBs are thought of as specialists in provision of hard news.
We test this proposition here using survey data from a large cross-national survey involving indicators of current affairs knowledge and media consumption. Specifically, we examine whether exposure to public versus commercial news influences the knowledge citizens possess about current affairs, both domestically and internationally. We also test, using propensity score analysis, whether there is variation across PSBs in this regard.
Results indicate that compared to commercial news, watching PSB has a net positive influence on knowledge of hard news, though not all PSBs are equally effective in contributing to knowledge acquisition. This knowledge gap between PSB and commercial news media consumption appears to be mitigated by factors such as de jure independence proportion of public financing, and audience share.”
Ripe 2013: The Value of Public Service Media
Book | Journal
The sixth publication in the series of RIPE Readers on PSM published by NORDICOM
Editors: Gregory Ferrell Lowe & Fiona Martin
2013
Overview
With public service media under increasing scrutiny by governments and media markets alike, this reader contains a selection of chapters which investigate the diverse conceptions of public service value in media, keyed to distinctions in the values and ideals that legitimate media as a public service in many countries.
Chapters include ‘Comparing Public Value as a Media Policy Term in Europe’, ‘Disaster Coverage and Public Value from Below’ and ‘ A Market Failure Perspective on Value Creation in PSM’ as well as many others.
To access the full publication, click here.
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.