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SUE GARDNER ITS FUTURE AND ITS PAST ITS PAST PUBLIC :

knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 2 PUBLIC BROADCASTING’S RISE, AND THE BEGINNING OF ITS DECLINE ITS OF DECLINE BEGINNING THE AND RISE, BROADCASTING’S PUBLIC MARKETPLACE A GLOBAL AS THE OF DEVELOPMENT THE THE PATH FORWARD PATH THE PUBLIC BROADCASTING’S ORIGINS AND PURPOSE AND ORIGINS BROADCASTING’S PUBLIC CONTENTS 8 5 11 DEMOCRACY BEGINS TO DECLINE TO BEGINS DEMOCRACY 11 3 13

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Contents knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 3 by decadesby of cutbacks and challenges, but they’re still one of our best tools for protecting democracy and building healthy . healthy building and democracy protecting for It’s time to reinvest in public broadcasters. They are creaky vessels, battered battered creaky vessels, are They broadcasters. public in reinvest to time It’s “I like to pay taxes; with them I buy civilization.” them with taxes; my pay to like “I wanted to buildwanted to social cohesion, and they wanted the poor access have to to culture. and education how JohnHere’s Reith, the BBC’s founding director general, described the BBC’s mission: carry the “To into greatest possible number of homes endeavour knowledge, human of department every best in is everything that The people who advocated establishing the BBC as a public company – a mix of politicians, businessmen and civil servants – believed broadcasting that needed serve to the public interest. They believed an informed citizenry was essential a healthy to democracy, and they were living in a period when public faith in government and media been had badly I. shaken World by War They manufacturers, and in 1926 a Parliamentary committee recommended committee recommended Parliamentary a 1926 in and manufacturers, radio it be converted being to publicly owned and accountable Parliament to great such it with “carries Broadcasting General. Postmaster the through power it that cannot be trusted person any to or bodies other wrote. committee the corporation,” public a than To understandTo the genesis of public broadcasting, it’s useful look to the at history and founding of the British Broadcasting Corporation. was the It first respected. and prominent most the probably still is and broadcaster, public The BBC was established in 1922 as a private corporation a consortium by of But the people who founded public broadcasting grander had ambitions. They broadcast saw radio as an opportunity support to the health of institutions key be to broadcasters public designed they and democracy, helping societies be well-informed, politically socially and engaged cohesive. When talk we about today the origins of public broadcasting often we talk about spectrum scarcity.And it’s true part that of the public broadcasting was created was because radio frequency spectrum was finite, and there needed divide to be to way a it up. ORIGINS AND PURPOSE ORIGINS CHAPTER ONE: CHAPTER ONE: PUBLIC BROADCASTING’S

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter one: Public broadcasting’s origins and purpose knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 4 advance a sense of national identity and culture, and with supporting social cohesion. But the goal itself was simple: to entities were that mandated and structured and funded be to on the side of the people. Public broadcasters were required be to accessible and everyone available to in their countries, not just people whom the market would naturally serve. They often had special obligations children, to minority linguistic and racial groups, and people living in remote regions. They were tasked with helping build to and a mouthpiece for the state, andpublic many broadcasters complained have of political interference, especially during and war other times of crisis. And public history, their Throughout own: its of problems brought has autonomy unaccountable. and aloof as criticized often been have broadcasters them the at mercy of the government most were of the set day, up be to funded through a license fee – a special tax paid most by or all of a country’s residents, went directly that the to public broadcaster. These measures couldn’t guarantee and in practice autonomy, they never worked perfectly. Critics often have accused public broadcasters of acting as Most were a monopoly set up have to over broadcasting services in their countries, and were fully publicly bufferfunded. themagainst To direct overseen entities, independent as up set were control, they government being than boards. Rather government-appointed) (albeit autonomous by funded annual by appropriations from tax revenues, which would put around the world began set to up their own public broadcasters, many explicitly modeled on the BBC. Their approaches varied, but all the had same core objective: construct to an entity, free of commercial and political entertainment and information interest public provide pressures, would that programming. educational and intellectual entertainment, every variety of like and dislike, dislike, and like of variety every entertainment, intellectual and educational taste and distaste, on every conceivable subject.” The BBCaspired be to both popular and elevating. governments of dozens establishment, BBC’s the following decades the In and achievement,” and serve to “every order of socialclass, every grade of

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter one: Public broadcasting’s origins and purpose knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 5 TV audiences. theAt same time, the political winds were shifting. Governments spent had much of the mid-20th century in institution-building mode: creating not just public broadcasters, but other many large publicly funded institutions. In In theIn 1980s and ‘90s, cable TV started come to widespread into use in Europe and North America. Because cable could carry more distinct channels than transmittertowers, regulatorswere ableto increase the number of broadcast licenses. This was the end of spectrum scarcity and of fragmentation the of beginning the and monopolies, broadcasting public was then “a mighty behemoth,” wrote British media historian Jean Seaton, “forging powerful collective experiences, the common coin of everyday life.” But toward the end of the 20th century, public broadcasters’ influence fade. started to the Italian dramatic miniseries “La Piovra,” and in the U.K., “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” “Doctor “Fawlty Who” Towers,” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” attention the commanded broadcasters public years, 50 than more For influence. and Broadcasting power significant had and audiences large of They broadcast pretty much every musical genre, from operato jazz to folk hip-hop,to and they made the , which is watched every year hundreds by of millions of people. They World Cup air the FIFA Olympics. the much-loved programming: and entertainment created They the Danish the costume German crime drama “Matador,” series “Tatort,” designed do: They to provided a broad range of programming was that both high quality popular. and theirIn news and information programming, they coveredwars, politics at every level, and important social issues and conflicts. They produced highly programs. children’s and science, educational history, successful natural DECLINE DECLINE For much of the 20th century, public broadcasters did exactly what they were RISE, AND THE THE AND RISE, BEGINNING OF ITS CHAPTER TWO: PUBLIC BROADCASTING’S

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Two: Public Broadcasting’s Rise, and the Beginning of its Decline knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 6 , are less are better- are likelier vote to , especially on issues , “freedom, from interference are less likely express to negative that seven that public of 18 broadcasters it concluded , and the people who live in them their new dependence on had had advertising dependence on new their . Countries with strong public broadcasters broadcasters public strong with Countries . found found than those exposed news to on private TV. They have more realistic perceptions of their societies their perceptions of more realistic have informed and related crime to and immigration. They attitudestoward immigrants higherhave levels of social trust focused on policy substance rather than horse race and palace intrigue study one “Essentially,” coverage. marketby forces and government seems lead a form to to of public rivals”. its commercial ‘better’ than markedly is that broadcasting Research shows people that exposed news to on public A large body of research has found public that broadcasters air more hard news and current affairs programming(international news, domestic counterparts, commercial their than policy-orientedpolitics, news) public and what they that provide is less sensationalist, more balanced, and more 20 public broadcasters “inexorably” led programming to was that hard distinguish to from of that counterparts. commercial their Public broadcasters produced have major benefits for the countries they serve. As they declined, some here’s started of what we lose. to U.S. companies and offering adaptations or dubbed versions of programming programming of versions dubbed or adaptations offering and companies U.S. originating in the . The public broadcasters been had pushed to roughly averaging shares reduced audience dramatically with periphery, the about 30 percent of the total available audience. Their budgets were smaller. Their distinctiveness significantly had eroded:1999 A McKinsey study of other commercial activities. commercial other By 2000, the broadcasting industry been had transformed. Rather than each money, public with funded broadcasters, public by dominated being with a monopoly or near-monopoly in a single country, broadcasting was now a global marketplace made up of thousands of channels, owned many by fees and reducing parliamentary appropriations, and public broadcasters broadcasters public and appropriations, parliamentary reducing and fees started fill to the holes in their budgetsby rampingadvertising up and other model: revenue shift their in substantial a to led This revenues. commercial By 2011, a Nordicity analysis studied were making a third or more of their revenues from advertising and too. In 1986, the Thatcher-commissioned the Committee 1986, recommended Peacock In too. three oneprivatizing of France’s public BBC Radio 1 and 1987, TV In 2. channels was privatized. the 1990s, In late the New Zealand government NZTV. network broadcasting owned publicly its considered privatizing license capping broadcasters, public to funding public cut Governments a very differentworld from the one in which public broadcasting had been created, and it led significant to changes for the institution. transportation and like utilities privatize to began Governments broadcasters, public considered privatizing services, they cases some in and the 1980s, they started a more take to market-centered approach. This was

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Two: Public Broadcasting’s Rise, and the Beginning of its Decline knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 7 . , “tends minimize to the knowledge gap between the concluded egalitarian pattern of of citizenship.” pattern egalitarian Multiple studies found countries that have with strong public broadcasters broadcasting, groups. Public social between gaps knowledge smaller have one advantaged and disadvantaged, and therefore contributes a more to likely hold to extremist political views

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Two: Public Broadcasting’s Rise, and the Beginning of its Decline knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 8 The internet was lauded for helping people in authoritarian countries circumvent censorship, and sites Facebookwere like and credited for providing places for pro-democracy activists share to information and organize. But this new flourishing of diversitywas short-lived. News organizations sharing made even obscure music, books and movies broadly and freely available. launched , which quickly grew become to a high-quality, comprehensive information resource. Blogs and social dialogue, and self-expression of flourishing supported a YouTube and media including voices historically had that been shut out of the public discourse. former self, serving small audiences with old-fashioned tastes. The bulk of of old-fashioned with bulk The tastes. audiences serving small self, former public learning and debate would happen elsewhere – newly vital and diverse and energetic – on new platforms. itInitially, looked the like internet optimists might be right. Newspapers, magazines and broadcasters beganpublish to online for free, and file- than actively carving out a space for the public good, regulators were now model. market-centered a into themselves fit to broadcasters public asking thisIn new marketplace, it was thought perhaps that public broadcasting would no longer be necessary. it existed, If it might be as a vestige of its they didn’t fund the development of public interest digital services, and in cases many they actually constrained the online activities of their public broadcasters. By 2013, regulators in 11 countries required public broadcasters submit to public to value tests, in which, before building a new digital offering, the public broadcasterwas requiredto show itsthat public Rather new: was media. This sector private to harm outweigh would value gain access a new to diversity of experiences and perspectives, and would wiser. and informed become, better perhaps, theAt dawn of radio and TV, governments actively had intervened try to ensureto they would benefit . But when the internet came along, In theIn internet’s early days, observers many believed it would usher in a golden age of access information to and culture. The had performed a restrictive, gatekeeping function, and it was felt knocking that down those could gates broadly have positive societal effects.People would THE INTERNET AS A A AS INTERNET THE MARKETPLACE GLOBAL CHAPTER THREE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Three: The Development of the Internet as a Global Marketplace knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 9

in a 2017 BuzzFeed News investigation as a mix of

described seen an opportunity reinvent to news from first principles, wholly way in a constructed for social sharing and pretty much entirely uncoupled from traditional commitments accuracy to and balance. The new formula: Build a site of quickly written stories designedto provoke strong emotional into stories the share to Facebook use them), share will people (so responses spring up, producing now what we call hyperpartisan news. assiduously been had sites media conventional while that out turned It tweaking and fine-tuning theirwork it to make more Facebook-friendly, new players – had – marketers ideologues, internet opportunists, and growth hackers sites The like Washington Post and The Atlantic. As a result, he wrote, “the web, 2015, by was thoroughly overrun commercial by junk, much of it directed the at very basest human impulses of voyeurism and titillation.” 2015 was also the year in which a new type of publishing operation started to just read it, but share it. 2016,In Columbia University professor law Tim published Wu “The attention merchants: The epic scramble get to inside in which our heads”, he described how in the early 2000s BuzzFeed pioneered had practices of optimizing for social sharing, which were copied later traditional by news and information changed. First, new tools made it possible for content creators to continuously test and optimize their work – everything from headlines to image choice story to length – so people that would click on it. And second, started a bigger play to role in how people found new content, which led content creators optimize to their work so people that would not gradually models have emerged. For TV, movies, music and some some and movies, music TV, emerged. For have models business gradually For subscriptions. through usually pays, user it’s noncommodity news everything advertising. it’s else, incentivized always has it so audiences, large on dependent Advertising is sensationalism. Butwith the advent of internet advertising, two things They are U.S. multinationals rather than being rooted in the countries in which they operate, and they are largely unconstrained commitments by to interest. public the protect itsIn early days, the internet hadn’t yet figured out a business model. But By 2010 it become had apparent rather that than freeing ourselves of gatekeepers, simply had we exchanged The one old set for ones another. beenhad newspapers and broadcasters. The new ones are of course the techgiants: FAMGA (Facebook, Apple, , and Amazon), FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix,(Google, Google), or GAFA Amazon,Facebook, Apple). They are different from their predecessors in two significant ways: Harassment and abuse started to drive women and members of minority minority members of and women drive started to abuse and Harassment groups out ofpublic spaces. Crowdsourcednews never really tookAnd off. in categoriesmany of activity (search, social, shopping), out been of what had a emerged. players dominant marketplace, crowded struggled find to workable a business model, and many shut down.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Three: The Development of the Internet as a Global Marketplace knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 10

engagement with partisan news be to found

that collectively, that hyperpartisan tens sites of millions have of Facebook different normative standards – and some with no concerns aboutaccuracy even as a standard is that not upheld always – with a polarized public with little trust intermediary,in any and drawnto information that confirms preexisting biases. The result is a frayed, incoherent and polarized public sphere.” everyone is asking for car crashes, so it tries supply to them.” “Our new era,” wrote sociologist in her 2017 book Zeynep “Twitter and Tufekci Gas: The and Power FragilityTear of Networked Protest”, “is marked the by multitude of people and institutions with the capacity broadcast, to each with If film’s great film’s power is itsIf immersiveness, and TV’s is immediacy, and print’s is the cool delivery of facts and data, it turns out the that great power of the internet be itsmay ability figure to outwe’ll click what on, and give us more of it. “Say driving you’re down the road and see a car crash,” The New Times wrote,York paraphrasing co-founder Twitter Ev Williams. “Of course you look. Everyone looks. The internet interprets behavior this like mean to The Street Wall Journal. But they are powerful Times The anyway. New York found Buzzfeed and followers, consistently higher than with news from sites CNN. like stories, with headlines “There’s like I’ll send no way kids my public to school beto brainwashed and “Donald is unqualified, the by lobby,” LGBT Trump unstable and unfitto lead. Share youagree!”if publishers,Its with names The like Angry Patriot, Occupy Democrats, and Fed-Up Americans, the don’t brand have recognition and authority say, of, ads.the same exact It’s business model as traditional online news – except it cuts a lot of the costs, researching like and editing, which makes it much profitable. more This new quasi-newstakes the form of memes, videos and very short text people’s feeds, then direct the resulting trafficback to your site,stuffed with

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Three: The Development of the Internet as a Global Marketplace knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 11 that they that believe the reported , each generation of young less likely agree to it’s essential to found . has risen

have become have the United States from “full democracy” “flawed to democracy” What’s especially troubling is faith that in democracy is lowest among the young. Since 1995, Mounk and have Foa and ideals successively been democratic less supportive has people of institutions. long-standing democracies live in a democracy, and also less likely reject to nondemocratic alternatives such as military rule. Over the past years, 15 in most countries, the percentage of people who approve of “having a strong leader who doesn’t bother to have with elections” In prettyIn much every country around theworld, people are reporting increasing dissatisfaction with even the idea of democracy, according to analysis Survey of World Values data carried out political by scientists Yascha Mounk and Roberto Foa. Over the past 30 years, they found, citizens in most status. Americans were losing faith in the U.S. government and public public and government U.S. the in faith losing were Americans status. institutions, said, it increasing because of income inequality decades and of scandals and problems, among them the wars, Iraq the 2008-09 financial gridlock. The and partisanship shutdowns, government federal crisis, U.S. election of , wrote, was a symptom of underlying dysfunction, not its cause. Since 2006 the Economist Intelligence Unit has tracked the health of Democracy 2016 the In Index. Democracy its through democracies Economist the time first the for Deplorables,” the of “Revenge titled Index, downgraded The Barometer Edelman Trust started measuring global public trust in institutions in 2001, and in 2017 it recorded its largest ever single-year drop. respondents worldwide of percent 53 found It current system is failing them it – that is unfair and offers little hope for the future – and only percent 15 believe it is working. Survey after survey tellsa bleak story: Around the world, in liberal democracies, large numbers of people believe political elites are no longer interests. their representing BEGINS TO DECLINE CHAPTER FOUR: CHAPTER DEMOCRACY

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Four: Democracy Begins to Decline knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 12

public broadcasters, and for those institutions to recenter themselves on on themselves recenter to institutions those for and broadcasters, .public digital world been had we that making for decades in conventional radio and TV. in a mess. we’re Our societiesToday, are fractured and fragile, and need we healto the rift between the people and the institutions intended serve to them. I believe calls that for a reinvestment in public institutions, including Public broadcasters were designed the elevate to societies in which they operated: help to them better be smarter, informed, healthily pluralistic and successful. For decades they did exactly that. Their impact faded because of technological and changes: cut we their funding, deregulated we their industry, and didn’t we the make kind of policy interventions in the externalities of the internet – the proliferation speech, of hate the silencing of – extremism and polarization political of deepening the minority voices, and are now being urgently taken up throughout society. argument. my Here’s The election shocked of Donald the Trump world, and has prompted new that institutions the and democracies our of health the about conversations support them. The news industry continues collapse, to just and we’re now beginning experience to the real-life repercussions of living in a world with institutions. Discussions negative about journalistic weakened significantly If you had asked you had meIf a few years ago if I thought it was possible that have would I broadcasters, public their in reinvest would governments laughed. changed. have things But the 90th anniversaryof its first transmission,were the circumstances in which the BBC was founded. comeMaybe have we full circle. compromised and damaging. And also a kind of post First anxiety World War about commerce and big business. And out of those three things we that don’t want, comes one thing do: the we impulse you that must attemptto deal with the public in a more straightforward and honest and informing way.” Seaton is the official historian of the BBC, and what she was describing,on that struckthat me as eerily resonant. This is British historian Jean Seaton, speaking on BBC Radio 4: “There was a realsense of a kind of moral corruption around the media. There was hostility towards politicians, and a sense politics that was In writingIn this piece I stumbled across a description of the U.K. in the 1920s

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Four: Democracy Begins to Decline knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 13 are the ones who are the most interested in news, the ones most able to subscriptionpay costs, and the ones advertisers most reach. to want That’s not great for democracy: can expect We see to a growing gap in political participation. knowledge and who don’t it are like dropping it from their media diets. This means there’s no commercial justification anymore for producing broad generalist news packages. means can we It expect private sector media to narrowly target people who are well-off andwell-educated, because they The costs of news production used be to subsidized advertisers, by but that subsidy has mostly disappeared. now know We interest that in news is very unevenly distributed. a world In of abundant choice, people who news like are increasing their consumption shifting of it (and more toward partisan whereas people entertainment), more like it treating sources, perhaps and linguistic groups, racial and people living outside large metropolitan areas Publicand broadcasters the poor. can’t focus exclusively on those latter groups, but they need put to them theat center of their work. Rather than following the market, public broadcasters need program to against it, with a focus on providing public service value. purpose of public media is provide to value where markets can’t or won’t What might look that like? The people who will be served well in a global market include English speakers, the affluent and the educated. Less well served will be minority That’s not the world live we in anymore, and so the challenge for public broadcasters is figure to out to artfully, how strategically insert themselves landscape media global sector-dominant private competitive, crowded, a into understands that in a way people that options, many have and the that bring back the coal jobs. And nobody really wants turn to back the clock. Public broadcasters were designed supply to a broad range of services to the countries they served, especially incountries too small develop to strong intended was programming broadcasting Public markets. culture and media up a major make to part of people’s news and culture diets. I have a lot of sympathyI have for governments and regulators trying navigate to mediatoday’s and culture landscape. Nobody wants be to the Donald Trump of culture policy, bailing out of international agreements and promising to CHAPTER FIVE: FORWARD THE PATH

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Five: The Path Forward knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 14 who read it. The beauty model of that is it that enables the focus to on serving Wikipedia readers rather than needing monetize to them via third parties. And so, Wikipedia shows us what the internet might look like, if it put From 2007 until 2014, I was the Wikimedia executive Foundation’s director, and one of the things I did there was figure out our revenue model.wereWe lucky: Wikipedia’s massive readership meant if that even a tiny fraction of readers were willing support donate to to the site, could we cover our costs. more than 90 percentToday of Wikipedia’s funding comes from the people Wikipedia was founded in 2001 by American entrepreneur Jimmy Wales. It It Wales. Jimmy American entrepreneur by 2001 in founded Wikipedia was afterit years and world, two the around volunteers by written collectively is launched, the people who write it persuaded Jimmy incorporate to the site as a nonprofit, which he named the WikimediaFoundation. If that seems that If daunting, I will point an unlikely to but useful model: Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the internet equivalent of a park or a library or a school. a It’s public service. mission: Its give to every person in the world free access to the sum of all human knowledge. The media and culture landscape has dramatically changed, and adapting itto requires rethinking everything. The challenge: the how take to old connection, truth, curiosity, empathy, as (such values broadcaster public accessibility) and figure out to how enact them in a new context. could public broadcasters develop to increase their responsiveness and responsiveness and their increase to develop broadcasters public could accountability? The answers these to questions not be may obvious, but the answers to path is: Public broadcasters need ask to themselves what would serve the people best. expertise public that broadcasters can’t match, how can public broadcasters best reach the people of their countries? With audiences fragmented and people increasingly consuming media alone, is there still a role for programming aimed big, at broad, general audiences? a world In in which gathering and analyzing public input is now trivially what mechanisms easy, domesticpolitics and public policy-oriented news – and which now also news. includes local There are other many important questions public that broadcasters need a world In in which media answer. to distribution is largely controlled massiveby technology companies with economies of scale and domain large volumes of commodity news for highly interested audiences, because those people’s needs will be met. Instead, it might sense make lean to toward designing services engage to people who are somewhat less news- interested, and offer to the kinds of news programming thethat market is less likely provide to – which traditionally has been international news, For the public broadcasters, this suggests sense not make it may produce to

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Five: The Path Forward knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 15

that’s radically changed. not complicated. that It’s entirely It’s possible do. to And it’s necessary, now more than ever. people, they will trust you and use to want your service. That’s the forward path for public broadcasters. Governments need to ensure public that broadcasters sufficient have public funding autonomyand doto their work. And public broadcasters themselves need figure to out how landscape media a into service values public traditional their translate to All of Wikipedia’s growth has been entirely organic, and has happened simply because people trust Wikipedia and find it useful. Wikipedia’s success in public the put you if that suggests marketplace global hypercompetitive a interest the at heart of what you do, and if you are providing real value for Wikipedia became the No. 5 most popular site on the internet, with more than half a billion readers worldwide, without ever having paid a cent for marketing or advertising. doesn’t It benefit from corporate synergies.Its product and engineering team is tiny compared with those companies at like Google and Facebook. doesn’t It optimize its pages boost to its search engine media. social on sharing encourage or standings What I am saying, though, is Wikipedia’s that popularity proves people that are interested in being treated, words, in Seaton’s in a “straightforward and honest and informing way.” can check them for themselves. not sayingI’m public that broadcasters would serve their users better by producing mountains dispassionate of gray, text. They wouldn’t. Wikipedia is a purelyinformational resource, and the mandate of the public broadcaster is broader than that. stating opinions and seriously contested assertions as facts, to avoid stating stating avoid assertions facts, to as contested seriously and opinions stating facts as opinions, and acknowledge to the relative prominence of opposing claim Every prohibited. are pseudoscience and theories Conspiracy views. third-partyindependent using verifiable be to needs Wikipedia makes sources, and the sources are listed the at bottom of every article so readers Wikipedia articles are pretty much the polar oppositehyperpartisan of news. They lots of text, have meticulously footnoted, written in a style and that’s flat mildly dull. The Wikipedia style propaganda, guide prohibits opinion, advocacy, scandal- avoid to writers asks It “puffery.” calls it what and self-promotion mongering, When you visit Wikipedia,what’s immediately noticeable is what’s not there. The interface There is plain and gray. are no banner ads, no autoplaying video, no pop-ups, and norows of sponsored content the at bottom of articles. the needs and desires of itsusers first.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Chapter Five: The Path Forward knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn 16 / 16 many nonprofit, grant-making and policy organizations, mostly related mostly related organizations, and policy nonprofit,grant-making many most powerful recipient the woman, was inaugural the of Knight for Awesomeness Internet of Medal Cat Nyan the of proud recipient ran CBC.CA. Sue’s work has received many awards and honors: and has received work ran CBC.CA. awards she many Sue’s has received from honorary an laws Ryerson of doctorate University, Suite 3300 Suite at Davos, has been ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s 70th Forbes 70th by has been magazine as the ranked world’s Davos, at and technology strategy consultancy. She is the former longtime longtime former the is She consultancy. strategy technology and Miami, 33131–2349 FL to technology, media, gender, and digital freedoms. digital and media, gender, technology, to the Year award from award the Harvard Humanist Association, the is and a Year was named a Technology Pioneer for the Forum Economic World the for Pioneer Technology a named was 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Sue a San Gardner Francisco-based runs Ventures, Tiny media operates Wikipedia.operates the at years Before 17 for she that, worked executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that nonprofit that the Foundation, Wikimedia the of director executive Foundation’s Innovation Award, received Award, the Humanist of Cultural Innovation Foundation’s to advisor and member board a is She Freedom. Internet Defending Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where, in her final position, she position, she final where, her Corporation, in Broadcasting Canadian Telephone: (305) 908–2600 (305) Telephone: JOHN S. AND JAMES L. FOUNDATION KNIGHT

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE | Colophon knightfoundation.org | @knightfdn