The Value of Public Service Media T he worth of public service media is under increasing scrutiny in the 21st century as governments consider whether the institution is a good investment and a fair player in media markets. Mandated to provide universally accessible services and to cater for groups that are not commercially attractive, the institution often con- fronts conflicting demands. It must evidence its economic value, a concept defined by commercial logic, while delivering social value in fulfilling its largely not-for-profit public service mission and functions. Dual expectations create significant complex- The Value of ity for measuring PSM’s overall ‘public value’, a controversial policy concept that provided the theme for the RIPE@2012 conference, which took place in Sydney, Australia. This book, the sixth in the series of RIPE Readers on PSM published by NORDI- Public Service Media COM, is the culmination of robust discourse during that event and the distillation of its scholarly outcomes. Chapters are based on top tier contributions that have been revised, expanded and subject to peer review (double-blind). The collection investi- gates diverse conceptions of public service value in media, keyed to distinctions in Gregory Ferrell Lowe & Fiona Martin (eds.) the values and ideals that legitimate the public service enterprise in media in many countries. Fiona Martin (eds.) Gregory Ferrell Lowe & RIPE 2013 University of Gothenburg Box 713, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden Telephone +46 31 786 00 00 (op.) Fax +46 31 786 46 55 E-mail: [email protected] www.nordicom.gu.se 8 4 8 3 2 5 6 8 1 9 8 7 9 ISBN 978-91-86523-84-8 The Value of Public Service Media The Value of of Public Service Media Gregory Ferrell Lowe & Fiona Martin (eds.) NORDICOM The Value of Public Service Media RIPE@2013 Gregory Ferrell Lowe & Fiona Martin (eds.) © Editorial matters and selections, the editors; articles, individual contributors; Nordicom 2014 ISBN 978-91-86523-84-8 Published by: Nordicom University of Gothenburg Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG Sweden Cover by: Roger Palmqvist Cover photo by: Arja Lento Printed by: Litorapid Media AB, Göteborg, Sweden, 2014 ISO 14001 ECO IC LA D B R E O L N 341 834 PRODUCT GROUP Contents Preface 7 Paul Chadwick Prologue 11 Chapter 1 Fiona Martin & Gregory Ferrell Lowe The Value and Values of Public Service Media 19 I. DEFINING & CRITIQUING ‘PUBLIC VALUE’ Chapter 2 James Spigelman Defining Public Value in the Age of Information Abundance 43 Chapter 3 Hallvard Moe & Hilde van den Bulck Comparing ‘Public Value’ as a Media Policy Term in Europe 57 Chapter 4 Peter Goodwin The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing? Economic Arguments and the Politics of Public Service Media 77 Chapter 5 Michael Tracey The Concept of Public Value & Triumph of Materialist Modernity. ‘…this strange disease of modern life…’ 87 II. DIMENSIONS OF CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC SERVICE VALUE Chapter 6 Christian Edelvold Berg, Gregory Ferrell Lowe & Anker Brink Lund A Market Failure Perspective on Value Creation in PSM 105 Chapter 7 Josef Trappel What Media Value? Theorising on Social Values and Testing in Ten Countries 127 Chapter 8 Karen Donders & Hilde van den Bulck The ‘Digital Argument’ in Public Service Media Debates. An Analysis of Conflicting Values in Flemish Management Contract Negotiations for VRT 145 Chapter 9 Minna Aslama Horowitz & Jessica Clark Multi-stakeholderism. Value for Public Service Media 165 III. PUBLIC SERVICE VALUE IN PRACTICE Chapter 10 Takanobu Tanaka & Toshiyuki Sato Disaster Coverage and Public Value from Below. Analysing the NHK’s Reporting of the Great East Japan Disaster 185 Chapter 11 Stoyan Radoslavov Media Literacy Promotion as a Form of Public Value? Comparing the Media Literacy Promotion Strategies of the BBC, ZDF and RAI 205 Chapter 12 Jonathon Hutchinson Extending the Public Service Remit through ABC Pool 223 Chapter 13 Georgie McClean Public Value and Audience Engagement with SBS Documentary Content. Go Back To Where You Came From & Immigration Nation 245 Chapter 14 Tim Raats, Karen Donders & Caroline Pauwels Finding the Value in Public Value Partnerships. Lessons from Partnerships Strategies and Practices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Flanders 263 The Authors 281 Preface As this sixth RIPE Reader goes to press, published again by the Nordic Infor- mation Centre for Media and Communication Research (NORDICOM) at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the RIPE network is healthy and enjoying a new phase of international growth. This Reader offers the best fruits of the RIPE@2012 conference in Sydney, Australia, in a thoroughly mature form. The contents were peer reviewed (double blinded) and the standards were rigorous. Building on our efforts in the RIPE@2011 Reader (edited by Lowe and Jeanette Steemers), this collection again includes non-European contributors as we pursue the effort to become a more globally inclusive initiative. The RIPE@2012 conference was titled Value for Public Money – Money for Public Value. In our first collective venture outside Western Europe, the historic home of public service broadcasting and the roots of the RIPE initiative, the experi- ence was excellent and the results fruitful – as we trust this Reader will amply demonstrate. The RIPE network is keen to support the growing international interest in establishing independent public service media organisations of various types and in diverse arrangements in countries and regions where this approach has not been common in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. We are hopeful that developments will have a mutually beneficial and reinforcing role for rethinking public service media also in Europe. The 2012 conference, hosted by the University of Sydney and sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation [ABC], owes a debt of gratitude to the collaborative work, guiding hand and enthusiasm of the late Associate Professor, Anne Dunn, who sadly passed away before the conference she had worked so hard to produce, and for so long, took place. Anne was a former television and radio broadcaster, ABC radio manager, and a founder of the University of Sydney’s media studies programme. Our tribute during the conference under- scored how greatly she was missed. We hope the collective efforts and results did her the honour that is merited. We are mindful, as well, of her husband, Peter Dunn, who participated fully in the conference and contributed to the results. 7 PREFACE We wish to also thank the conference hosts and sponsors, and especially the ABC’s Chairman, the Hon. James Spigelman, and its Managing Director, Mr. Mark Scott; the University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Department of Media and Communications; and key participants, including executives of the Special Broadcasting Service [SBS], Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, and our RIPE@2014 conference sponsor, Japan’s Nippon Hoso Kyokai [NHK]. We are all thankful to the staff and volunteers of the Art Gallery of NSW for the Indigenous art tour, and the indefatigable chef Angie Hong for the Vietnamese banquet we enjoyed at her restaurant on King Street – Thanh Binh. On behalf of the 2012 conference host and sponsors, we express our grati- tude to the Conference Planning Group [CPG] and the RIPE Advisory Board [RAB], together with their home institutions that provided funding and support for their involvement. The CPG members for RIPE@2012 were: Anne Dunn and Fiona Martin for the University of Sydney; Paul Chadwick for the ABC; Michael Huntsberger, for Linfield College, USA; Gregory Ferrell Lowe, for the University of Tampere, Finland; Yoshiko Nakamura, for NHK, Japan; Philip Savage, for McMaster University, Canada; Jeanette Steemers, for the University of West- minster, UK, and Hilde Van den Bulck, for the University of Antwerp, Belgium. The CPG thanks the RAB members for their cheerful guidance and wise counsel: Minna Aslama Horowitz, for St. John’s University, USA; Jo Bardoel, for the Universities of Amsterdam & of Nijmegan; Netherlands; Maureen Burns, for the University of Queensland, Australia; Taisto Hujanen, for the University of Tampere, Finland; John Jackson, for Concordia University, Canada; Per Jauert, for the University of Aarhus, Denmark and Brian McNair, for the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Importantly, we all wish to thank David Sutton, Head of Strategic Policy for ABC Corporate Affairs, Lisa Hresc, Head of Corporate Marketing at ABC Research & Marketing, and Jenny Sterland, Information Coordinator at ABC Editorial Policies for their organisational capacities, grace under pressure and attention to detail. Day 1 of RIPE@2012 at the ABC was a stimulating event and impres- sively presented, with a dedicated set design and excellent stage management. Kudos, as well, to Madeleine King, the conference assistant from the University of Sydney. Her diligence, patience and cheer throughout – especially when wrangling student volunteers and wayward academics – is much appreciated. Finally we give special thanks to the contributors to the 6th RIPE Reader for you dedication, flexibility and patience during a rigorous year-long editorial process, and to Ulla Carlsson and her team at NORDICOM who, as usual, have made this an efficient and enjoyable creative experience. Thanks especially to Karin Poulsen who shepherded the volume through the final stages. The series of RIPE Readers continues to grow in significance and reputation thanks in no small part to the excellent editorial and publication support of NORDICOM. 8 TITLE The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, and the Graduate Studies Program in Media Management at the University of Tampere, have funded this RIPE Reader. We are grateful. Now we all look forward to the RIPE@2014 conference, co-hosted by the Institute for Media and Communication Research at Keio University and NHK in Tokyo, Japan, that will take place from August 26th-29th. For more information about the RIPE initiative, our conference and this series of Readers, as well as useful updates, please visit our website at: www.ripeat.org.