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Public Broadcasters, the Internet, and Democracy Comparing Policy and Exploring Public Service Media Online Hallvard Moe Dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) University of Bergen Public Broadcasters, the Internet, and Democracy Comparing Policy and Exploring Public Service Media Online Bergen, 2008. Copyright: Hallvard Moe (Part I, and Part II, Article 1); Sage Publications (Part II, Article 2, 4, and 5); Intellect Books (Part II, Article 3). Public Broadcasters, the Internet, and Democracy Comparing Policy and Exploring Public Service Media Online Hallvard Moe Dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) University of Bergen Abstract This thesis is a study of public service broadcasting facing a digital media system. Its focus is on internet services since the mid-1990s. With a comparative design, the thesis discusses how public service broadcasters seized opportunities and handled challenges related to the internet, and how national and supranational regulatory regimes and policy actors coped with public service broadcasting venturing online. I concentrate on publicly owned former monopolists, assessing four such institutions in three states: the British BBC, Norway’s NRK, and the ARD and the ZDF in Germany. I argue that traditional practices of media policy do not suddenly change in the digital era. Rather, settings for public service are to a large extent still defined within well-established frameworks, and dependent on the conditioned legacies of each state’s political culture. Discussing similarities and differences in the development of the institutions’ inter- net activities, and their corresponding national regulations, I find the de- velopment characterized by ad hoc solutions. This also applies to the EU policy regime, built on a competition law-logic. With the latter regime, I argue, we are incapable of grasping the autonomous democratic func- tions of public broadcasters’ online services. Moreover, the regime pro- vides insufficient space to play out national differences. The thesis goes on to explore the democratic functions of public broadcasting institutions in an online environment. With a founding in normative public sphere theory, I contend that there is a potential in on- line communication not only for dialogue, but also for dissemination. Both communicative forms should be utilized by public service actors in ways that consistently counter processes of enclosure and balkanization in the public sphere. On this basis, I develop a scheme for public service media online. By scrutinizing marginal parts of the cases’ internet activities I lastly explore this scheme, and the limits of public broadcast- ers’ publicly funded online offers. Thereby, I aim to revitalize discussions about the functions of public service as a media policy tool in the digital era. In my view, public service media remain relevant. The thesis sub- stantiates why, and outlines how. Sammendrag Denne avhandlingen er en studie av allmennkringkasting i møte med et digitalt mediesystem. Avhandlingen fokuserer på utviklingen av internet- tjenester siden midten av 1990-tallet. Med et komparativt design ana- lyserer jeg hvordan allmennkringkastere utnyttet mulighetene og hånd- terte utfordringene knyttet til internetts framvekst. Videre undersøker jeg hvordan nasjonale og overnasjonale regulatoriske regimer og politiske aktører taklet allmennkringkasternes bestrebelser på internett. I de komparative analysene konsentrerer jeg meg om offentlig eide tidligere monopolister: BBC i Storbritannia, norske NRK og Tysklands ARD og ZDF. Jeg argumenterer for at tradisjonelle mediepolitiske praksiser ikke plutselig forandres i møte med digital teknologi. Allmennkringkasternes vilkår defineres fortsatt innen veletablerte rammeverk, avhengig av nasjonale politiske kulturers særtrekk. Den komparative analysen av allmennkringkasternes internettjenester og deres nasjonale reguleringer viser at utviklingen har vært preget av ad hoc løsninger. Dette gjelder også for EUs regime, som er basert på en konkurranselovgivningslogikk. Jeg viser hvordan EU-regimet ikke gir tilstrekkelig rom for nasjonale ulikheter. Med utgangspunkt i et slikt regime klarer vi heller ikke å gripe det demokratiske potensialet i allmennkringkasternes internettjenester. Avhandlingen fortsetter med en utforskning av hvilke demokra- tiske funksjoner allmennkringkasterinstitusjonene kan inneha på inter- nett. Med normativ offentlighetsteori som grunnlag argumenterer jeg for at det er et potensial i internettbasert kommunikasjon, ikke bare for dia- log, men også for disseminering. Begge kommunikasjonsformer bør ut- nyttes av allmennkringkastingsaktører på en måte som motvirker inn- hegninger i, og balkanisering av, offentligheten. Jeg utvikler så et forslag til hva allmennmedier på internett kan bestå av. Til slutt tester jeg dette forslaget, og grensene for institusjonenes offentlig finansierte aktiviteter, gjennom en diskusjon av tre marginale internettjenester fra case’ene. Målet er å revitalisere diskusjoner om allmennkringkasting som et poli- tisk verktøy. Etter mitt syn forblir allmennkringkasting relevant. Avhan- dlingen underbygger hvorfor, og viser hvordan. Contents List of publications.............................................................................................. xiii Preface.................................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgements............................................................................................... xvii Part I: The final contribution Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................ 3 Public service broadcasting in the digital era................................................... 5 Public service broadcasting and the internet.................................................... 7 The articles: findings and arguments................................................................. 10 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2: The research field and the approach of the present study.................19 Studying public service broadcasting in the digital era................................... 19 Studying public service broadcasting and the internet................................... 23 The approach of the present study.................................................................... 26 Public versus commercial?.................................................................................. 30 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 3: Broadcasting and democracy............................................................. 35 Broadcast media and modern society................................................................ 35 The rationale behind broadcasting regulations................................................ 39 The birth of public service broadcasting.......................................................... 43 Defining public service broadcasting................................................................ 49 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 4: From broadcasting to the internet..................................................... 57 The history of public broadcasters’ auxiliary activities................................... 57 Categorizing public broadcasters’ internet services........................................ 61 The internet and the public sphere.................................................................... 67 The internet, policy, and public broadcasters................................................... 71 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 75 Chapter 5: Theorizing public service and democracy......................................... 77 The origins of research on public service broadcasting and democracy..... 78 ix Contents Criticism and revision.......................................................................................... 81 Against a limiting view of politically relevant communication..................... 84 Meeting the challenge raised by the model of agonistic democracy............. 87 Implications for the present study...................................................................... 91 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 95 Chapter 6: Comparing media policy.....................................................................97 Comparative analysis: definitions and strategies.............................................. 98 Comparing across nations in a globalized world............................................. 101 Selecting cases....................................................................................................... 105 Sources and their uses.......................................................................................... 110 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 116 Chapter 7: Conclusions........................................................................................ 119 Conclusions to the thesis as a whole................................................................

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