DS DS MARIA NORBÄCK Making Public Service Television A study of institutional work in collaborative TV production MARIA NORBÄCK This dissertation is about the institution of public service television as it is enacted in Sweden at the beginning of the 21st century. Public service broadcasting – first radio, then TV – was introduced as a solution to the problems that arose at the be- Making Public Service Television ginning of the 20th century, namely how to control and organise the new broad- Television ServiceMaking Public casting technology. Almost 100 years later public service TV is still around even though technological developments have made many of these problems obsolete. A study of institutional work in collaborative What problems is it perceived to solve in the media landscape of today? TV production This study investigates collaborative productions of public service TV program- ming that involve the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, commercial production companies and additional financers. The empirical material is generated through MARIA NORBÄCK an extensive study of five collaboratively produced TV programmes. The theoreti- cal inspiration for the study comes from institutional theory and recent develop- ments of the concept institutional work. By conceptualizing public service TV as an institution, and by drawing on the old but often neglected understanding that institutions are “permanent” solutions to “permanent” problems, I propose that institutional work involves the construction, reconstruction and deconstruction of problems that an institution is perceived to solve and the connecting of prob- lems and solution. This thesis adds to the knowledge of how actors can contribute to make insti- tutions durable by engaging in practices that can destabilise and transform institu- tions so that institutions can function as solutions to new and different problems. By elaborating on these ideas, this study opens up the “black box” of institutional 073 JIBS Dissertation Series No. durability and discusses how institutional transformation may even be essential for institutional survival in the long run. Jönköping International Business School Jönköping University JIBS Dissertation Series No. 073 • 2011 ISSN 1403-0470 ISBN 978-91-86345-24-2 JIBS DS DS MARIA NORBÄCK Making Public Service Television A study of institutional work in collaborative TV production MARIA NORBÄCK This dissertation is about the institution of public service television as it is enacted in Sweden at the beginning of the 21st century. Public service broadcasting – first radio, then TV – was introduced as a solution to the problems that arose at the be- Making Public Service Television ginning of the 20th century, namely how to control and organise the new broad- Television ServiceMaking Public casting technology. Almost 100 years later public service TV is still around even though technological developments have made many of these problems obsolete. A study of institutional work in collaborative What problems is it perceived to solve in the media landscape of today? TV production This study investigates collaborative productions of public service TV program- ming that involve the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, commercial production companies and additional financers. The empirical material is generated through MARIA NORBÄCK an extensive study of five collaboratively produced TV programmes. The theoreti- cal inspiration for the study comes from institutional theory and recent develop- ments of the concept institutional work. By conceptualizing public service TV as an institution, and by drawing on the old but often neglected understanding that institutions are “permanent” solutions to “permanent” problems, I propose that institutional work involves the construction, reconstruction and deconstruction of problems that an institution is perceived to solve and the connecting of prob- lems and solution. This thesis adds to the knowledge of how actors can contribute to make insti- tutions durable by engaging in practices that can destabilise and transform institu- tions so that institutions can function as solutions to new and different problems. By elaborating on these ideas, this study opens up the “black box” of institutional 073 JIBS Dissertation Series No. durability and discusses how institutional transformation may even be essential for institutional survival in the long run. Jönköping International Business School Jönköping University JIBS Dissertation Series No. 073 • 2011 ISSN 1403-0470 ISBN 978-91-86345-24-2 JIBS Making Public Service Television A study of institutional work in collaborative TV production MARIA NORBÄCK Jönköping International Business School P.O. Box 1026 SE-551 11 Jönköping Tel.: +46 36 10 10 00 E-mail: [email protected] www.jibs.se Making Public Service Television: A study of institutional work in collaborative TV production JIBS Dissertation Series No. 073 © 2011 Maria Norbäck and Jönköping International Business School Illustrations: Anita Norbäck ISSN 1403-0470 ISBN 978-91-86345-24-2 Printed by ARK Tryckaren AB, 2011 2 To Göran with love 3 Acknowledgements Äntligen! Finally here it is, the finished dissertation. So many moments of happiness and intellectual growth and so many moments of trial and tribulation before I could write these acknowledgements. So many people whom I could not have done this without! First of all, thanks to all the TV programme makers who generously shared their experiences, thoughts, and time with me. It is after all you who made this whole thing possible. Thanks to my supervisors who have supported me throughout this journey. Robert Picard, thanks for your insightful comments and all the freedom you have given me. Leif Melin, a million thanks for your hard work, wisdom, and guidance. Your intellectual and moral support over the years has been essential. Anna Larsson, for your sharp eye for theory and structure, your keenness for analysing the crazy world in which we live and your sense of humour, thanks. It would not have been as fun without you. Dissertations are not written in a vacuum, and this one is no exception. So therefore, thanks to all colleagues at the Media Management and Transformation Centre and at the ESOL (Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Organization and Leadership) department, as well as all other colleagues at Jönköping International Business School for providing a good academic climate. Thanks for helpful comments and support, as well as friendship. It has been fun working with you all. A special thanks to Rolf Lundin for being a mentor and looking out for me. Many thanks to my sisters in arms in academia, the Hat Order. Elena Raviola, Jenny Helin, Anette Johansson, Kajsa Haag, Benedikte Borgström, and Lisa Bäckvall. I am so grateful for your emotional and intellectual support. Once we have taken the hat, the world is ours for the taking! Thank you Stefan Jonsson, for the good job you did at my final seminar pointing out the gaps in the thesis manuscript and for the advice on how to improve it. Thank you Susanne Hansson for helping me transform the text into a book format. During this academic journey I have had the opportunity to spend time in other places than Jönköping. Thanks to the nice people at Scancor, Stanford, for giving me the opportunity to spend the summer of 2008 there and to all the other visiting scholars who were there that summer. Thanks to the nice people at Copenhagen Business School in the department of IOA and in the department of Business and Politics for receiving me as a guest researcher. Many thanks to the nice and wise people at Gothenburg Research Institute – especially Rolf Solli and Barbara Czarniawska – for letting me take part in your 5 community and giving me academic shelter in Göteborg. I have so appreciated my time here. I could not have travelled to these great places and met with these nice people without funding from Sixten Gemzéus Stiftelse and FAS. Nor could I have written this dissertation without the financial support of KK-stiftelsen and of the Hamrin Foundation’s generous contribution to the Media centre at Jönköping International Business School. Many thanks for this. Thanks to my friends and family in Göteborg who have made my time off work fun and eventful. To my parents in law, Gull-Britt and Christer, thank you for all your kindness and all your baby-sitting during these last years of writing dissertation. I am so grateful to my parents, Anita and Lars-Erik, for your support and encouragement. I thank Lars-Erik for reading and commenting on the manuscript in its various stages of completeness, and Anita for your beautiful illustrations. They bring life to these otherwise dull pages. Finally, Emmy and Göran, this book is for you. Emmy, you make life so much fun and help me get my priorities right about the important things in life – like playing monsters, dancing to the radio, and eating ice cream. Göran, you are my one-man cheerleading squad with your unfaltering support and trust in my ability to actually pull this through. You are the apple of my eye. Göteborg, 17 November 2011 Maria Norbäck 6 Abstract This dissertation is about the institution of public service television as it is enacted in Sweden at the beginning of the 21st century. Public service broadcasting – first radio, then television – was introduced as a solution to the problems that arose at the beginning of the 20th century, namely how to control and organise the new broadcasting technology. Almost 100 years later public service TV is still around. What problems is it perceived to solve in the media landscape of today? How do the people making public service TV programmes understand it in relation to their work? This study investigates public service TV as it is enacted in collaborative productions of public service TV programming by the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, commercial production companies and additional financers. This is a setting that opens up for a negotiation of what public service TV is and should be, as well as which actors should have the right to produce it.