Public Service Broadcasting: the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century By Dave Atkinson and Marc Raboy (ed.) et al. With an introduction by Pierre Juneau UNE SC O Publishing ISBN 92-3-103421-9 Published in 1997 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP (France) Printed in the UNESCO workshops © UNESCO1997 Printed tn France Preface In the last years before the end of this century, it would seem often it is a case of the same programme or series in different that time is running at an accelerated pace and it would languages or different seasonal segments of the same series; therefore not be out of order to look backwards a few years to presentation of violence, sex and pornography with little gain a richer perspective for today and for the future. attentton to time scheduling and the possibility of young The year 1989 could be described as a turning point in children watching; hourly and daily transmission of pro- many ways. Undentably, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in grammes dealing with social, cultural or political ideas with Novemberofthatyear, it was symbolic of a major transition for lictle or no regard for the sensitivities of the viewing publicsin many countries from totalitarian regimes towards a process of different parts of the world. democratization, abrupt in most cases, dissatisfying in many, This conjuncture of space technology and audio-visual and deceptive in some. But most of those undergoing this marketing has thus dealt public service broadcasting its great- process, while fully aware of the hardships and uncertainties estchallenge, to provide an educational, social and culturally- ahead, would rather not turn back to the failed systems. Even oriented audio-visual service that is not solely dictated by beyond the frontiers of Europe, many other countries around marketing decisions. the globe were experiencing their own ‘Berlin Wall’, that is, And 1989 was also the year that UNESCO defined and they were engagedin various aspects of the struggle towards launched its new communication strategy, ending decades of a culture of peace and the reinforcement of democratic proc- contentious debate and rallying all under the universal belief esses. in freedom of expression as formulated in Article XIX ofthe But it was also the year that multi-billion dollar mergers Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For UNESCO, the in media industries had begun, enabling transnational satel- one specialized agency of the United Nations with a special lite and cable distribution services to set up shop in entire mandate in communication, 1989 was in every waya turning geographical regions covering whatever populations lay be- point. The new communication strategyreinforced the opera- neath the satellite’s footprint, thus bringing down the ‘walls’ tional aspects of the key constitutional concept, the free flow of national barriers to broadcasting. The earlier concerns and of information. Endeavours to achieve a wider and better fears of direct satellite broadcasting expressed in the 1970s balanced dissemination of information were made subject to now appeared in full force and with visible changes for the a higher principle, the freedom of expression. And underpin- television public and an impact whose effects are still being ning all these efforts was the recognition ofthe needto build felt and analyzed: wider ranges of programme choice, though communication infrastructures and train communication manpower in the developing countries. As approved bythe thinking about public service broadcasting and seek to appre- twenty-fifth General Conference in November 1989: ciate more fully the interplay of technical, commercial and political factors that today make highly tentative the future of Its objective throughout is to render more operational the concern of all broadcasting, but especially of public service broadcasting. the Organization to ensure a free flow of information at international Former Chairman of Canadian Broadcasting Corpora- as well as national levels, and its wider and better balanced dissemi- tion, and currently President of the World Radio and Tele- nation, without any obstacle to the freedom of expression, and to vision Council, Pierre Juneau, opens this issue with an intro- strengthen communication capacities in the developing countries, so duction recalling the social and cultural role of broadcasting. that they can participate more actively in the communication proc- InPartOne, Dave Atkinson providesa thorough review ofkey ess. (Paragraph 243 of the Third Medium Term Plan, 25C/4.) researches and papers on public broadcasting to arrive at the essence of public service broadcasting today, and determine This was a strategy thataimed to be relevant especially to the how it can maintain and strengthen its legitimacy against the new countries in transition to democracy. Press freedom is dictates of solely market-driven logic. certainly an integral part of this strategy, but so also is public In Part T'wo, Marc Raboy presents an exhaustive syn- service broadcasting, particularly as state-owned and control- thesis of the actuality of public service broadcasting today in led broadcasting in many countries operated mainly as mono- the face of increasing globalization. This is followed by case- polies and served for the most part only as the propaganda studies from sixteen countries, each illustrating different outlets of their political administrations. Leaping over the aspects of how the problem is being met in different regions barriers of literacy, space and time, broadcasting has an even and countries. greater potential to reach mass audiences. Hence it is all the Both of these studies, examining public service broad- more important that broadcasting maintain high professional casting from the literature and specialist writings, and from standards,credibility and impartiality, despite the onslaughts case-studies, were planned together and should be studied of commercial marketing and political influences. together. This is why UNESCO encouraged in 1992 the organi- Public Service Television in the Age of Competition will be zation of the World Radio and Television Council, an associa- published in a longer and fuller version by the Centre tion of pioneer and leading broadcasters dedicated to the d’Etudes sur les Médias, Quebec, Canada. Similarly, Public mission of public service, and has supported its activities to Broadcastingfor the Twenty-first Century will be published in a analyze the situation of public broadcasting and disseminate longer and fuller form by Luton Press, Luton, England; the information with a view to strengthening public broadcasting, projecton which it was based was undertaken on behalf of the especially in the transitional countries. Much of this work World Radio and Television Council, with the additional culminated in the international round table organized by support of the Canadian International Development Agency UNESCO from 3 to 5 July 1995 atits Headquarters in Paris to (CIDA) and the University of Montreal. UNESCO acknowl- discuss the educational and cultural functions of public ser- edges with gratitude the co-operation of both publishers in vice broadcasting. Beinga round table,this forum brought out the preparation of these abridged versions for its Series of various and variant views, but did not attempt to formulate Reports and Papers on Mass Communication. any unanimous recommendations. None the less, the over- riding sentiment at this round table was the need to strengthen public service broadcasting. The ideas and opinions expressed in this book are those of the It is timely then that communication researchers, spe- authors and do not necessarily represent the views of cialists, managers and planners should review pastand recent UNESCO. Contents Acronyms used in the text 7 Contributors 9 General introduction Prerre Junean 11 PART 1. PUBLIGC SERVICE TELEVISION IN THE AGE OF COMPETITION Dave Atkinson 1. Overviewof a crisis 19 2. Legitimacy of public television in the era of the market 31 3. The public television ideal 47 Conclusion 73 PART 2. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Edited by Marc Raboy Introduction: Public service broadcasting in the context of globalization Marc Raboy 77 1. Shifting paradigms in the heartlands of public broadcasting Great Britain: Public service broadcasting, from national culture to multiculturalism Paddy Scannel! 91 Sweden: Broadcasting and the social project OlofHultén 95 Germany: The regulation of broadcasting Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem 99 Belgium: The Politics of Public Broadcasting Jean-Claude Burgelman and Peter Perceval 103 Canada: The Hybridization of Public Broadcasting Marc Raboy 107 Australia: Broadcasting, policy and information technology Marcus Breen 111 Japan: Public broadcastung as a national project Shinicki Shimizu 115 United States: PBS and the limitations of a mainstream alternative Michae! Tracey 119 2. Emerging models for development and democracy Poland: Prospects for public and civic broadcasting Karol Jatubowicz 125 Ukraine: Public broadcasting between state and market Olga V. Zernetskaya 129 India: Broadcasting and national politics Niéki/ Sinka 133 Namibia: Broadcasting and democratization Nakhum Gorelick 137 Philippines: Towards an alternative broadcasting system Florange! Rosario-Braid (with Ramon R. Tuazon) 141 Equatorial Africa: Broadcasting and development Charles Okigbo 145 Cambodia: Broadcasting and the hurdle of poverty