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ESSAY READING – ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ON PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
Here are two references to reports from the think tank – the Social Market Foundation. There are
hard copies in the library but these are the links. The first was published in 2008 and the second one
is slightly out of date as it appeared in 2004 but still makes interesting reading.
http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/publications/SMF%20PSB%20in%20the%20UK.pdf
http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/publications/TheBBCandPublicValue.pdf
http://online.sage
Here are a number of references to journal articles which discuss different
aspects of Public Service Broadcasting.
The Internet: A Challenge to Public Service Broadcasting?
Hills, Jill, Michalis, Maria
International Communication Gazette, Dec 2000; vol. 62: pp. 477-493
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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This article attempts to fill the gap in our understanding of the strategies that public service
broadcasters are utilizing in relation to the Internet. It starts therefore from a discussion of
corporate strategy and of branding. There then follows a survey of public service websites,
their interactivity and content. It shows that the websites of public service broadcasters vary
considerably. The article concludes that, by introducing a new set of competitors, the Internet
is set to increase the commercial challenge to the legitimacy of public service broadcasting
and has already begun to focus demands for another review of its role.
Report on the Conditions of Public Service Broadcasting
Padovani, Cinzia, Tracey, Michael
Television New Media, May 2003; vol. 4: pp. 131-153
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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In this article, the authors explore the relationship between the philosophical principles on
which the institutions of public broadcasting rest and their contemporary conditions. The
questions are, In what ways is public service broadcasting (PSB) changing in the
contemporary audiovisual environment? How is the contradiction between commercial needs
and the public service mission being articulated? Which paradigms are shaping the practices
surrounding PSB institutions? To answer these questions, the authors analyzed the trends
toward digitalization and funding in selected broadcasters: the British Broadcasting
Corporation, Radiotelevisione Italiana, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After discussing claims that PSB organizations have
been enjoying a period of relative stability, the authors conclude that the broadcasters'
resilience is mainly due to their readiness to embrace competition and commercialism; as a
result, public broadcasters are losing their distinctiveness and purpose. The sidebar details the
exemplary conditions of the Italian public service broadcaster.
A new public service communication environment? Public service
broadcasting values in the reconfiguring media
Harrison, Jackie, Wessels, Bridgette
New Media Society, Dec 2005; vol. 7: pp. 834-853
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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In a complex and changing communication environment public service broadcasting is being
subject to increasing scrutiny. Using a series of exemplars from various information society
programmes, this paper explores the social relations of a new communication environment,
audience participation and public service values in the reconfiguration of new media forms in
the European Union. These developments require a new analytical framework of a new public
service communication environment which enables us to identify reconfiguring' forms of
media, constituted from both traditional and new media. Our mapping of new, traditional and
reconfiguring forms of media helps us to identify under what circumstances and institutional
conditions the public service ethos is being sustained and rethought.
"Democracy as Defeat": The Impotence of Arguments for Public Service
Broadcasting
Jacka, Elizabeth
Television New Media, May 2003; vol. 4: pp. 177-191
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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In countries with a mature public broadcasting sector and where public broadcasting is being
challenged by the multichannel and digital environment, there is a veritable avalanche of
discourse aiming to ensure the future of the sector. Various key concepts are intoned like
mantras-public service, public sphere, citizenship, democracy-as if by their very repetition
they had the power to hold hostile forces at bay. The present article examines just one of
these-democracy-and suggests that the invocation of the term in typical defenses is at best
imprecise and at worse outdated. Furthermore, in its devaluation of various forms of popular
media, the typical defense ends up championing a set of media practices that are increasingly
irrelevant. The article concludes that a generalized defense of public service broadcasting is
"impotent" and must be replaced by localized and specific analyses of where public
broadcasting fits in various media ecologies.
The Limits of Television?: Natural History Programming and the
Transformation of Public Service Broadcasting
Wheatley, Helen
European Journal of Cultural Studies, Aug 2004; vol. 7: pp. 325-339
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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Natural history programming is one of the mainstays of 'flagship' broadcasting in Britain.
From thie geographically expansive documentary series of the 1950s to recent forays into
interactive television, the BBC has promoted the genre as justification of the licence fee. This
article examines The Blue Planet (200 l), focusing on the role of aesthetics in the quality
television debate. Combining close analyses of the programme with data collected during a
public screening of highlights fronm the series in 1--hyde Park, London (2002), -[he article
proposes that: The Blue Planet's visual arid aural splendour has been figured as an integral
part of the public service that it provides. In order to situate this argument within the ongoing
debate about quality television and public service broadcasting, this article draws oil earlier
critical discussions of heritage television. It is concluded that flagship television is antithetical
to the notion of quality television if we reintrodutice the concept of 'flow' into the debate.
Public Service Media Online? Regulating Public Broadcasters' Internet
Services--A Comparative Analysis
Moe, Hallvard
Television New Media, May 2008; vol. 9: pp. 220-238
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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Facing a digital media system, European public service broadcasters have encountered
increasing scrutiny from both competitors and regulators. As these institutions have ventured
onto media platforms very unlike traditional broadcast radio and television, discussions about
the scope of their activities have flourished. The case of the internet clearly illustrates the
emerging challenges. How have public service broadcasters approached the internet? How do
regulatory frameworks relate to the wider remits? Is it public service media online? This
article presents a comparative study of three Western European mainly publicly funded
broadcasters' activities on the internet, their arguments in support of them, the role of
competitors, and actual regulatory frameworks they relate to. It scrutinizes how different
forms of regulations affect the developments. Based on the findings, the article outlines
remaining problematic issues for national regulation of public broadcasters' online services
and suggests how researches might get a better grasp of public service media online.
Online Media Within the Public Service Realm?: Reasons to Include Online
into the Public Service Mission
Trappel, Josef
Convergence, Aug 2008; vol. 14: pp. 313-322
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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Public service media are no longer limited to radio and television as new media genres
emerge. Among others, the online medium has supplemented radio, television and the press
since the mid-1990s and has become a medium in its own right. Moreover, online media have
become essential elements of media consumption patterns. Public service media compete not
only with private radio and television broadcasters but also with the press. The question
arises, whether such competition in the online field results in more diversity and higher output
quality, serving the public interest better. In Europe, there are at least two different schools of
thought. One line of argument accepts the public service expansion into online media and
regards online media as a necessary and important field for public service activities. Another
line of argument suggests limiting the public service remit strictly to radio and broadcasting
and considers online media as an emerging market subject to competition among private
companies only. Based on the results of a comparative empirical analysis of online media
provided by public service broadcasters and print publishers in Switzerland, Germany and
Austria (from 2006) this article shows that the achieved results in media output are
disappointing. Only few online media live up to the expectations. The article finally argues
that the extension of the public service remit to online media might enhance quality and
diversity.
Factual entertainment on British television: The Midlands TV Research
Group's'8-9 Project'
Brunsdon, Charlotte, Johnson, Catherine, Moseley, Rachel, Wheatley, Helen
European Journal of Cultural Studies, Feb 2001; vol. 4: pp. 29-62
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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This article reports on a collective project by the Midlands Television Research Group into
the changing character of weekday evening programming in the 1990s on British terrestrial
television between 8.00 and 9.00. Over the decade, there has been a growth in factual
entertainment' and a decrease in analytic documentary, situation comedy and variety. Factual
entertainment comprises hybrid genres such as docu-soaps', CCTV footage-based
programmes and lifestyle and make-over programmes. Each of the four sections engages with
one aspect of the scheduling in the slot. Rachel Moseley discusses the gendering of the slot,
focusing on BBC's Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver. Catherine Johnson discusses pets, vets and
children in documentary programmes. Helen Wheatley looks at the treatment of real crime' in
the slot and Charlotte Brunsdon discusses historical antecedents to some of the lifestyle
programmes.
Television, Public Participation, and Public Service: From Value Consensus to
the Politics of Identity
Lunt, Peter
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sep 2009; vol. 625:
pp. 128-138
Abstract | Full Text (PDF) | References |
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The proliferation of popular television genres in which the public are key participants (talk
shows, reality TV, and makeover and lifestyle television) on the surface may seem less to do
with engagement and more to do with entertainment and voyeurism. However, this article
explores an alternative to the idea that popular television based on personal experience is a
marker of the end of television in general and the weakening of the public service tradition in
particular. Two programs, Oprah! and Little Angels, are shown to address the agendas of
reflexive modernity and governmentality and potentially to contribute to a normative social
order based on the project of the self. The fact that both traditional public service providers
and commercial channels are engaging with these social issues suggests that new ways of
legitimizing television in the public interest are emerging, with implications for the character
of public service television.