Public Service Media Organizations Research Articles

Platform paradoxes and public service media legitimacy: a cross-national study

ABSTRACT The intricate relationship between public service media (PSM) and social media platforms has emerged as a critical factor significantly impacting the legitimacy of the PSM institution. This study adopts a discursive institutionalism lens to examine how six PSM organizations across Europe, Australia and Canada communicate their relationship and ideas about social media platforms via their annual reports over a 10-year period (2013–2022). Annual reports provide valuable insight into PSM organizations’ discursive processes that are aimed at generating (and justifying) public and political support. The analysis uncovers a complex and at times contradictory set of discourses revolving around audience attention and interaction, editorial integrity, and digital safety. While building platform presence is portrayed as crucial for sustained reach and relevance, PSM organizations also position themselves as counterweights to negative platform influences within the national media ecology. We observe a shift towards increasingly risk-oriented platform narratives over time, particularly concerning Facebook, resulting in a more deliberate social media strategy among some PSM organizations, and even disengagement with the platform.

Public Service Media in the Platform Era: The Cases of Britain, Denmark, and Greece

Public service media (PSM) are grappling with structural shifts in the audio-visual sector, notably the shift of audiences towards over-the-top (OTT) or subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. They have also heavily invested in online platforms, adapting their policies to engage digital users on their video-on-demand (VOD) platforms. This paper assesses PSM policies in Britain, Denmark, and Greece, examining initiatives regarding adaptation to the digital era. It explores whether they implement new strategies to expand their digital reach. Data from policy documents and interviews with BBC, DR, and ERT leading executives inform the analysis. Findings showed varied responses among PSM organisations, influenced by market dynamics and the evolution of broadcasting traditions.

Public Service Media in Northern Ireland: Prominence and Vulnerability in a Small Media System

Public Service Media remains at the centre of the public sphere in Northern Ireland. Public Service Media organisations such as the BBC broadcast in a society that remains politically and culturally divided. This has been the case for decades, even if the worst of the violence in Northern Ireland has now dissipated. The Northern Ireland media system includes local media provision, along with provision from the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. This article identifies Northern Ireland’s media system as sharing characteristics with what Puppis (2009) defines as a small media system, under slightly different conditions. This article takes a Critical Political Economy approach to Public Service Media organisations operating in Northern Ireland, in order to argue that while there is prominence in the place of PSM in the media system, there is also vulnerability inherent.

Public Service Media and Diversity in the Digital Media Landscape: Opportunities and Limitations for Social Justice

This essay reviews the place and role of Public Service Media (PSM) in promoting social justice in the changing digital media landscape through the ethos of diversity. Media diversity – the value and practice of including varied viewpoints, social groups, voices, and channels or outlets in media – has long been a declared pillar of PSM organizations worldwide. However, current changes in the digital media landscape and the growing extension of PSM organizations to digital platforms require re-reading the premise of promoting media diversity as a tool for social justice. This essay identifies a paradox. On one hand, online media appear to accommodate a greater range of diverse voices and players, particularly in the PSM ecosystem. At the same time, these very same online spaces jeopardize diversity, as the increasing practices of personalization, algorithmic curation, and platformization often reduce diversity of representations, voices, and exposure to content, thereby hindering opportunities for social justice and equality. This essay shines a spotlight on this nexus of conflicting mechanisms. The essay begins with in-depth definitions of the two somewhat convoluted terms diversity and social justice. This section includes a review of global perspectives on PSM organizations, and the long-standing value of diversity promoted through them for decades. We then review the impact and changes identified in PSM platforms worldwide in light of the digital turn in the media field. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of the inherent tension between mechanisms that promote and hinder diversity online. Throughout this discussion, we raise questions about the practical dimensions of using online media to promote social justice through diversity. It provides a useful starting point for considering the intersection of Public Service Media, online platforms, diversity, and social justice. Thus, the essay will serve academic scholars studying social justice on a conceptual level as well as practitioners and stakeholders in the media industry at large, and PSM in particular, seeking to practically promote social justice.

SVoDs, new norms and the challenge for public service media

The growing popularity of subscription video-on-demand services (SVoDs) has transformed the European media landscape, re-shaped consumption habits, fragmented audiences and made it more difficult for public service media (PSM) organizations to engage especially younger audiences. This article analyses challenges, such as competing against the immense commissioning power of SVoDs, faced by PSM. Focusing particularly on the UK experience, it highlights how, despite the growing prevalence and popularity of SVoDs and their role in promoting wider circulation for material drawn from a variety of international sources, PSM organizations are still recognized by audiences and by television programme-makers as being pivotal to provision of certain sorts of quintessentially local content. As this article argues, the rise of global streamers has both accentuated and altered the ways in which PSM deliver public value, effectively re-positioning PSM as elements of what might be seen as critical media infrastructure.

Trust and Distrust in Public Service Media: A Case Study from the Czech Republic

Although public service media is a trusted island in the media landscape of many countries, trust in public service media is not absolute and universal. This study adopts a qualitative approach to explore what trust and distrust entail for the public, a perspective rarely applied in trust research. Also, it explores the extent to which the sources of trust and distrust are the same and whether the concepts of trust and distrust are identical (only inverse), or linked but separate. It focuses on the Czech Republic, where the level of trust in the news is among the lowest in the world, yet public service media is the most trusted news source (Newman et al., 2022). Based on four focus group discussions with the general public (<em>N</em> = 24), this study analyzes the reasons for the audience’s trust and distrust in Czech public service media. There are three main categories: trust in the message (i.e., people trust public service media if, in their view, it provides objective, truthful, reliable, relevant, and fast information without sensationalism and anti-system views); trust in the source (i.e., people trust public service media if they perceive the public service media journalists as professional); and trust in the public service media organizations (i.e., people trust public service media if they perceive the regulatory framework as effective in ensuring independence from politics and oversight boards as a guarantee for quality). As the reasons leading to trust were not identical (only inverse) to the reasons leading to distrust, our findings suggest that trust and distrust in public service media are not two sides of the same coin.

Public service media as drivers of innovation: A case study analysis of policies and strategies in Spain, Ireland, and Belgium

Abstract In the post-broadcast era, public service media (PSM) organizations have to innovate, stay up-to-date with new ways of consuming content, and experiment with the manifold opportunities that interactivity offers for audience engagement. At the same time, they are still obligated to achieve their public service remit and guarantee that services comply with values such as universality, diversity, creativity, and innovation. This article analyzes the innovation policies and strategies of PSM to understand if these are shifting from a technology-centric to a user-centric approach. It evaluates what areas of innovation are prioritized by both policy-makers and public broadcasters and whether these areas correspond with the innovation goals entrusted to PSM organizations by scholars. To this end, we adopted a multi-case study approach. The focus is on three public broadcasters of varying size and situated in different political, cultural, and economic backgrounds: RTVE (Spain), RTÉ (Ireland), and VRT (Belgium). Based on a qualitative document analysis, we conclude that innovation remains largely technology-centric. Strategies are oriented to the implementation of new technologies, the digital distribution of the content, and the collaboration with external partners. However, these public broadcasters have not yet promoted concrete actions to encourage the participation of their audiences.

News Personalization and Public Service Media: The Audience Perspective in Three European Countries

By shining a light on the previously neglected combination of public service media (PSM) and the audience perspective, this paper adds to the debate on (algorithmic) news personalization. While news personalization may offer new opportunities, it can clearly also conflict with the PSM mission of universality of access, reach, and content. This empirical study compares the audience perspective on the news personalization of users and non-users of public service news in Germany, France, and the UK. Overall, the findings of the online survey show that users of public service news in Germany and the UK—in comparison to non-users of these services—perceive more risks such as missing out on certain topics or viewpoints, place greater value on a shared public sphere, and more strongly prefer a news selection primarily made by professional news editors. In France, however, the differences between users and non-users of public service news are rarely significant, which is interpreted against the background of the different media systems and the role of PSM. The findings add to the understanding of what public service news audiences expect PSM organizations to provide while keeping the difficult balance between personalization and universality.

Distilling the value of public service media: Towards a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework

This paper problematises the difficulty of defining the public value of public service media. Through a double qualitative methodology, a series of components are identified and assessed in order to propose a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework. First, a qualitative analysis of the main legislations in force ( n = 44) and the grey literature public service media organisations display on their websites ( n = 14) was developed to extract, on an exploratory basis, the common constituent components of public value. Based on this, we developed a guided focus group of experts ( n = 15) to help us build a conception of public service media's value that can retain its validity for a long period of time in the multiplatform era. The results highlight the problems in proposing a single definition given the socio-political diversity of the spaces in which public service media operate and the uncertainty of a constantly changing audiovisual context.

Local fiction series: the value of European Public Service Media (1990–2020)

This paper investigates the role of European Public Service Media (PSM) in the commissioning and scheduling of local series over the past three decades. With a comparative approach between the main European television markets (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain), the schedules of 30 seasons of 25 general-interest channels have been analysed to explore how the changes in the markets have altered the role of public channels as promoters of domestic fiction and local culture. The study shows a clear division along a Northern European axis with a large, uninterrupted commissioning of locally produced fiction, while Southern European public corporations have had a lower, more erratic approach. Despite this difference, all European PSM organisations analysed have maintained and increased the volume of local series titles during the last decade despite the appearance of portfolio DTT channels and transnational SVOD services, in contrast to commercial corporations.

A Framework for Assessing the Role of Public Service Media Organizations in Countering Disinformation

Public service media (PSM) are widely acknowledged as part of the variety of solutions to disinformation. The remit of PSM, formed around values of universality, equality, diversity, accuracy and quality, implies a responsibility to fight disinformation by producing fact-based news content and finding anti-disinformation solutions. In this article, we introduce a framework for assessing how PSM organizations are able to counter disinformation in different contexts. Our normative framework provides a triangulation of contextual factors that determine the role of the PSM organization in the national environment, the activities carried out to fight disinformation and expert assessments of the potential of PSM to reduce the impact of disinformation. The framework is illustrated with analyses of PSM from the Czech Republic (CZE), Finland, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK).

How Do Public Service Media Innovate? An Analysis of Product Development by European PSM

ABSTRACT In this study, we use institutional theory to explore to what extent public service media (PSM) rely on institutional links and on tight coupling with the environment to develop new products for digital news. This framework is especially relevant for understanding how PSM innovate, as they differ from commercial media, and the mimicry of industry trends can lead to tensions with their public service mission. Thirty-six interviews were conducted with senior managers, editors, and other professional roles involved in project development at eight PSM organizations in six European countries. The results indicate that to reduce uncertainty, PSM follow two partially complementary approaches: mimetic isomorphism, i.e., relying on what is seen as best practice by other players within their sector, and tight coupling, i.e., closely connecting with the environment (especially with the audience). Other PSM are the most important source of inspiration, as relationships are close and organizational forms are similar. In contrast, digital-born media are considered to be successful in attracting younger audiences but differ greatly from PSM. In summary, PSM do not simply mimic other players perceived to be successful but consider their own specificities in terms of audiences, purposes, strengths, weaknesses, and public service mission.

Public service media, innovation policy and the ‘crowding out’ problem

ABSTRACT Public service media organisations manage the challenges they face as they transition to a converged environment by innovating in the areas of distribution, programming, and engagement. Many commercial media companies critique public service innovation and argue that it is ‘crowding out’ the private market. Focusing on public service media organisations in Germany and Australia, this article examines the relationship between innovation, regulation and resilience. We argue that while the Australian model of innovation performs a vital role for the domestic media industry, it does not always contribute to the long-term resilience of individual innovations brought out by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Conversely, while innovation is hamstrung by layers of bureaucracy in Germany, once innovations developed by Second German Television are legally approved, they operate in a relatively uncontested manner. To explain the findings, we propose a comparative framework consisting of four factors: size, public/private divide, regulatory frameworks and legal traditions.

Public service media in the age of SVoDs: A comparative study of PSM strategic responses in Flanders, Italy and the UK

Netflix and other transnational online video streaming services are disrupting long-established arrangements in national television systems around the world. In this paper we analyse how public service media (PSM) organisations (key purveyors of societal goals in broadcasting) are responding to the fast-growing popularity of these new services. Drawing on Philip Napoli’s framework for analysing strategic responses by established media to threats of competitive displacement by new media, we find that the three PSM organisations in our study exhibit commonalities. Their responses have tended to follow a particular evolution starting with different levels of complacency and resistance before settling into more coherent strategies revolving around efforts to differentiate PSM offerings, while also diversifying into activities, primarily across new platforms, that mimic SVoD approaches and probe production collaborations. Beyond these similarities, however, we also find that a range of contextual factors (including path-dependency, the role and status of PSM in each country, the degree of additional government support, cultural factors and market size) help explain nuances in strategic responses between our three cases.

Pandemic and Public Service Media: Lessons from Finland

Abstract This essay discusses the global context of public communication during COVID-19, as well as some specific lessons learned from public service media (PSM), specifically from the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio, Yle). We address the role of PSM as a national information channel during crises and as a sustainable element in the media system, points to the need to understand its role beyond news and to develop new interactive alternatives to global platforms, and calls for PSM organisations to address its audience – not as consumers – but as people with needs for information, entertainment, learning and meaningful interactions.

Out-of-the-box versus in-house tools: how are they affecting data journalism in Australia?

The proliferation of data journalism has enabled newsrooms to deploy technologies for both mundane and more sophisticated workplace tasks. To bypass long-term investment in developing data skills, out-of-the-box software solutions are commonly used. Newsrooms today are partially dependent on third-party platforms to build interactive and visual stories – but the business models of platforms are predisposed to changes, frequently inducing losses of stories. This article combines in-depth interviews and an ancillary survey to study the status quo and identify future challenges in embracing out-of-the-box and in-house tools, and their impact on Australian data journalism. Results indicate a dichotomy between commercial and public service media organisations. Commercial outlets are heavily reliant on out-of-the-box solutions to develop stories, due to a lack of skillsets and a shortage of skilled labour. By contrast, public service media are developing their own in-house solutions, which reflects their desire for the continuous digital preservation of data stories despite the challenges identified.

Introduction: Communication Rights in the Digital Age

Introduction: Communication Rights in the Digital Age

Latvian public service broadcasting (PSB) at a media policy crossroads on the path to public service media (PSM)

This paper critically examines Latvian media policy from the point of view of public value theory, regarding the management of public service media. Since 1992, Latvian Television (LTV, 1954) and Latvian Radio (LR, 1925) officially, i.e. according to law, are independent public service media organisations, and consequently two legal entities. In fact LTV and LR are two state enterprises with one supervising council (five members) elected by parliament according to political proportionality – National Electronic Mass Media Council (the NEPLP). Since 2011, the Latvian government has been slowly deciding plans for the reform and creation of a unified PSM corporation, not just a PSB, i.e. including not only radio and TV broadcasting but a multimedia approach, especially on the Internet platform, due to media convergence. Political decisions of government and parliament for the above-mentioned intent are still wanted. Also, an initiative by LTV and NEPLP to establish a Russian language TV channel was not taken further by decision makers.

Newsroom Integration as an Organizational Challenge

In this paper, we examine to what extent public service media (PSM) in six European countries have integrated or are integrating their newsrooms in order to adapt to an increasingly digital media environment. Based on 67 interviews over two years with senior editors and managers, this study constitutes the largest comparative analysis of newsroom change among PSM organizations conducted to date. Despite much talk of “convergence”, our empirical analysis shows that full newsroom integration remains the exception in this sector. Although all of the PSM studied experience pressure to reorganize across platforms, only two have achieved high levels of newsroom integration. Our findings suggest that centralizing online news under a single operational roof — only recently undertaken and still incomplete at several PSM — is a necessary first step to more thorough editorial reorganization across platforms. Our data also shed light on the complex ways that internal and external variables combine to shape organizational change: in addition to organizational challenges, we highlight broader historical, political, and economic factors affecting how PSM have responded to rapid technological shifts in the media environment.

Public service media online, advertising and the third-party user data business: A trade versus trust dilemma?

News and media web pages generate valuable consumer data, collected by third-party servers. Using longitudinal experiments, this article shows that third-party servers are active in 34 cases of European public service media (PSM) websites from 19 countries. This constitutes a pressing privacy problem in relation to GDPR and challenges the notion of PSM organizations as particularly trusted providers of media content. This has implications for their role and placement in the commercial media landscape as well as for their independency, but also for their survival in the future media landscape. Our analysis shows not only connections between the presence of advertisement and the number of third-party servers found but also a reflection of different types of European media systems. To provide a benchmark for our analysis, we also analysed 64 private media websites for the presence of third-party servers. The empirical results suggest a pressing need for discussions on whether and how PSM organizations can participate in the commercial web ecology of user data exchange and utilization, for example, for the purposes of user profiling, targeting and PSM performance measurement.