scholarly journals Public Service Broadcasting as a Modern Project: A Case Study of Early Public-Affairs Television in Canada

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hogarth
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
North American ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Modern Project ◽  
Long Form

Abstract: This study of public-affairs programs suggests that Canadian television hardly functioned as a modern disciplinary apparatus in its initial years. In the early 1950s, Canadian broadcasters sought to stake out and strategize a "middle ground" between U.K. (information) and U.S. (entertainment) TV, featuring public-affairs programs that Canadians would actually choose to watch in a more or less competitive North American broadcast market. However, newsmagazines and traditional long-form documentaries consistently violated the early pedagogical protocols of Canadian television and thus call into question conventional notions of public-service broadcasting.These shows and the controversies they generated should make us rethink Eurocentric theories about public-service broadcasting as a quintessential disciplinary machine. Résumé: Cette étude sur les émissions d'affaires publiques suggère que la télévision canadienne ne fonctionnait guère comme appareil disciplinaire moderne pendant ses premières années. Au début des années cinquante, la radiodiffusion canadienne chercha une position intermédiaire stratégique entre celle des Britanniques (axée sur l'information) et celle des Américains (axée sur le divertissement), mettant l'accent sur une programmation d'affaires publiques qui intéresserait véritablement les téléspectateurs canadiens dans un marché de la radiodiffusion nord-américain passablement concurrentiel. Cependant, à l'époque, les téléreportages et les documentaires traditionnels à long métrage négligèrent les protocoles pédagogiques de la télévision canadienne et mirent ainsi en question les notions conventionnelles de la radiodiffusion du service public. Ces émissions et la controverse qu'elles suscitèrent devraient nous faire repenser les théories eurocentriques qui envisagent la radiodiffusion publique comme modèle de machine disciplinaire.

scholarly journals Economic Engagement, Development, and Entrepreneurship: The Role of Applied Public Service Colleges

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Land Grant Universities ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
Economic Engagement

This article investigates the unique role of applied public service colleges in engaging with communities through economic development and entrepreneurship-related activities. Schools of public administration, affairs, and service are often distinctively tasked with being public facing, connecting and working with outside agencies, nonprofits, and other stakeholders. Using a case study of Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, which employs a public-private partnership model to find solutions to challenges facing communities, the economy, and the environment, the authors discuss the emerging engagement role of these schools using a typology of strategies brought forth by the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. The authors outline seven specific programs run by the Voinovich School and discuss the activities, services, and intensity of each. As opposed to other forms of civic or community engagement, this article focuses primarily on economic engagement, such as technical assistance, business development, and related activities that drive regional and rural economic growth. Having a deeper comprehension of how such programs operate to enhance engagement and interaction between academics and outside stakeholders can be an important aspect of growing similar connections in other schools to further pursue regional connectivity and development.

Representing climate change on public service television: A case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Debrett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Commercial Media ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Vested Interests

Publicly funded broadcasters with a track record in science programming would appear ideally placed to represent climate change to the lay public. Free from the constraints of vested interests and the economic imperative, public service providers are better equipped to represent the scientific, social and economic aspects of climate change than commercial media, where ownership conglomeration, corporate lobbyists and online competition have driven increasingly tabloid coverage with an emphasis on controversy. This prime-time snapshot of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s main television channel explores how the structural/rhetorical conventions of three established public service genres – a science programme, a documentary and a live public affairs talk show – impact on the representation of anthropogenic climate change. The study findings note implications for public trust, and discuss possibilities for innovation in the interests of better public understanding of climate change.

scholarly journals New digital realities and old public service broadcasting models – the case of public access and participation in Singapore’s televisual landscape

2017 ◽  
Vol 170 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-114
Author(s):  
Tania Lim ◽  
Azad Bali ◽  
Marcus Moo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Media System ◽  
Media Services ◽  
National Media

Does public service broadcasting (PSB), with its 20th-century state-controlled and state-funded structure, still have a role to play in increasing access, public participation and a strong national media system in today’s globalising East Asia? This article, by taking Singapore as a case study, examines why and how traditional PSB media players have been forced to change their institutional and transactional responses to the ‘shocks’ of digitisation. In particular, it examines how the rise of Web 2.0, with its de-territorialised media services and social media, challenges PSB’s relevance as trends towards universal access, a greater participatory culture and active audiences render PSB content increasingly anachronistic.

scholarly journals Slow Television

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel Puijk
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Competitive Environment ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Cross Media ◽  
Cruise Ships ◽  
Live Broadcast ◽  
Popular Engagement ◽  
Southern Norway

Abstract Public-service broadcasters are compelled to seek innovative ways to fulfil their publicservice functions in an increasingly competitive environment. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) has been experimenting with new programme formats and cross-media concepts. The concept of slow television was developed by the regional office in Bergen. On July 16, 2011, they started a five-day live broadcast from one of the cruise ships that sailed up the Norwegian coast from Bergen in southern Norway to Kirkenes near the Russian border. The broadcast was a huge success. I take this programme as a case study and provide an analysis from the perspective of innovation within public-service broadcasting. The article addresses the following questions: 1) In what way was the programme innovative? 2) How was the programme accepted and produced? 3) What accounts for the success of the broadcast in terms of number of viewers and popular engagement?

scholarly journals The datafication of Public Service Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (69) ◽  
pp. 090-115
Author(s):  
Jannick Kirk Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Key Performance Indicators ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Business Rules ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Path Dependencies ◽  
Demand Service

Historically, public service broadcasting had no quantifiable knowledge aboutaudiences, nor a great interest in knowing them. Today, the competitive logic of themedia markets encourage public service media (PSM) organizations to increasedatafication. In this paper we examine how a PSM organization interprets the classicpublic service obligations of creating societal cohesion and diversity in the newworld of key performance indicators, business rules and algorithmic parameters.The paper presents a case study of the implementation of a personalization systemfor the video on demand service of the Danish PSM ‘DR’. Our empirical findings,based on longitudinal in-depth interviewing, indicate a long and difficult processof datafication of PSM, shaped by both the organizational path dependencies ofbroadcasting production and the expectations of public service broadcasting.

Public Service Broadcasting, Hard News, and Citizens’ Knowledge of Current Affairs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toril Aalberg ◽  
Stephen Cushion
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Commercial Media ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Current Affairs ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Media Systems

Public service broadcasters are a central part of national news media environments in most advanced democracies. Although their market positions can vary considerably between countries, they are generally seen to enhance democratic culture, pursuing a more serious and harder news agenda compared to commercial media . . . But to what extent is this perspective supported by empirical evidence? How far can we generalize that all public service news media equally pursue a harder news agenda than commercial broadcasters? And what impact does public service broadcasting have on public knowledge? Does exposure to public service broadcasting increase citizens’ knowledge of current affairs, or are they only regularly viewed by citizens with an above average interest in politics and hard news?The overview of the evidence provided by empirical research suggests that citizens are more likely to be exposed to hard news, and be more knowledgeable about current affairs, when they watch public service news—or rather news in media systems where public service is well funded and widely watched. The research evidence also suggests there are considerable variations between public broadcasters, just as there are between more market-driven and commercial media. An important limitation of previous research is related to the question of causality. Therefore, a main challenge for future research is to determine not only if public service broadcasting is the preferred news provider of most knowledgeable citizens, but also whether it more widely improves and increases citizens’ knowledge about public affairs.

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