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Public Service Broadcasting: Product (and Victim?) of Public Policy
Introduction
According to one definition, “public broadcasting is seen as a particular model of media governance, a set of political interventions into the media market with the purpose of ensuring that broadcasters produce programs that are valuable to society” (Syvertsen 2003: 156; emphasis added). And indeed, it would be hard to find another media segment that is as much a product of – and hostage to – public policy as public service broadcasting (PSB). As a result, it could be said that while PSB organizations share some basic constitutive features, there are as many PSB systems as there are countries in which they operate, as each has been shaped to respond to the specific needs and characteristics of the particular country.
In turn, public policy on PSB is a reflection of a much broader policy approach. As indicated by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:
A debate about public service broadcasting (PSB) is in reality a debate about the philosophical, ideological and cultural underpinnings of society and about the role of the State and the public sector in meeting the needs of individuals and society as a whole. (Parliamentary Assembly 2004: 10)
This is well illustrated by the evolution of media policy paradigms (from the phase of emerging communication industry policy, to that of public service media policy, and, finally, to a new communication policy approach), prompted ...
