IRIS 2006-4:3/3

Media Division

Report on Public Service Media in the Information Society

Tarlach McGonagle

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

In February 2006, a report entitled “Public service media in the information society”, which had been prepared by Christian S. Nissen for the Council of Europe's Group of Specialists on Public Service Broadcasting in the Information Society, was made public.

The main objective of the report is to “describe some of the key developments and trends in the media, and to address the long list of challenging and often controversial issues confronting Public Service Broadcasting in coming years”. It examines a wide range of topics, under the chapter titles: “` Les forces profondes ' in the new media landscape”; “Public service media: from a monopoly to a competitive market”; “Public service media: a pact with society”; “Objectives and obligations of public service media”; “The remit: public service media content and services”; “Organising the provision and distribution of public service media”; “Public service governance” and “Financing public media”.

In the “Summary and conclusions” section of the report, it is stated that: “[I]n line with the segmentation and individualisation of modern society in general, public media are moving from collective `broadcasts' to providing content and services tailor-made for a society of individuals”. The report therefore homes in on “a number of possible consequences of this development”.

According to the report, “[T]he combination of broadcast mass media (traditional radio and television) and more personalised `on demand' services” will facilitate efforts by the public service media (PSM) to resolve “the classic dilemma of assuring a high reach among listeners, viewers and other users on the one hand and of ensuring that the overall PSM offering can differentiate itself from that of commercial providers on the other”. The report also argues against the distribution of PSM functions and obligations among private media companies: “especially to guard against radical solutions where the publicly-owned corporation is abandoned in favour of a PSM `trust'”. As regards the issue of governance, the report highlights “the often disturbing differences between the spirit and letter of the laws governing broadcasting and the harsh realities of the daily life of PSM”. It also weighs up “some of the pros and cons of the ever more restrictive and detailed regulation of the European Union authorities”.

To conclude, many distinct issues are discussed in the report, as is shown by the selection of issues mentioned above. However, their interplay with one another is also emphasised throughout the report, thereby contributing to a coherent analytical whole.