ABSTRACT
For many decades proponents of public service broadcasting (PSB) have argued it is not there to address market failure, but to further a societal project that prioritizes citizen needs over consumer preferences (Garnham 2000), and therefore to contribute to the “good society” (Galbraith 1996). While this view has indeed suffered from the neo-liberal upsurge in the 1980s, it remains at the core of most scholarly work on PSB and, nowadays, public service media (PSM). Most Western and Northern European governments cling to the holistic idea of an informing, educating and entertaining public broadcaster (Donders 2012). PSM as well as the institutions traditionally entrusted with its delivery have proven to be resilient. Public broadcasters are an essential, if not in many countries the main, part of “cultural policy toolkits” (Gibbons and Humphreys 2012, pp. 1–17). Nevertheless, quite a lot of research on this issue has forecasted the “decline and fall of public service broadcasting” (see Tracey 1998) or at least a fundamental “earthquake,” questioning and affecting the role of PSM in a digital environment and the value of its centralized organizations (Jakubowicz 2007; Bardoel and Lowe 2007). While a ‘downfall’ scenario has rarely become a reality, pessimistic views on the future of public service broadcasting often reign in scholarly debates (for an evaluation see Collins et al. 2001). And admittedly, recent events in Greece have illustrated that PSM is not untouchable at all. The abrupt abolition of public broadcaster ERT provoked massive outrage in Greece and other countries. However, government has proceeded with its plans, creating a new, smaller and – it is feared – less independent and therefore less politically harmful broadcaster.
