scholarly journals 2014 UNESCO Lecture: ‘No-one died covering celebrity news’

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
News Media ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Tertiary Institutions ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Television Network ◽  
Telecommunications Services ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Celebrity News

Commentary: We enjoy freedom of speech in New Zealand, even though the Bill of Rights Act guarantee can be over-ridden. We have a variety of privately owned news media, even though the vast majority are owned by overseas interests. We have state-owned radio and television, even though our major television network was freed of its public service broadcasting obligations in order to pursue commercial goals. We have high quality tertiary institutions to train our future journalists, even though the ranks of our newsrooms have been systematically depleted. We have sophisticated telecommunications services, even though only 1 percent of us have optical broadband. The qualifications will not be lost on you. In other words, when I reflect on our good fortune I see that it is tempered by shortcomings, actual and potential. In this address I argue that the shortcomings are increasing and, if unchecked, ultimately threaten the way we function as a society.

scholarly journals Locking Out the Mother Corp: Nationalism and Popular Imaginings of Public Service Broadcasting in the Print News Media

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Service ◽  
News Media ◽  
English Language ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Print News ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Société Civile ◽  
Media Choices

Abstract: Early promoters of public-service broadcasting (PSB) in Canada emphasized its democratic and nationalist merit. Of these twin pillars, only nationalism appears to still be standing. In this article, the author surveys the vision of PSB that emerged in the national English-language print media during the 2005 CBC/Radio-Canada lockout and suggests that our peculiar brand of multicultural nationalism (which underestimates the divisions within civil society) has subsumed democratic values. Yet, she argues democratic principles—particularly those of access, participation, and publicness—are critically important to defending the relevance of PSB in the current environment of seemingly endless media choices and borderless technology. Résumé : Les premiers promoteurs de la radiotélédiffusion de service public au Canada mettaient l’accent sur ses mérites démocratique et nationaliste. Aujourd’hui, de ces deux piliers, il semble que le mérite nationaliste soit le seul qui tienne bon. Dans cet article, l’auteur analyse la vision de la radiotélédiffusion de service public que l’on retrouve dans la presse écrite nationale de langue anglaise au cours du lock-out de CBC/Radio-Canada en 2005 et elle suggère que notre type spécifique de nationalisme multiculturel (qui sous estime les divisions de la société civile) a englobé les valeurs démocratiques. Toutefois, l’auteur affirme que ces principes démocratiques—en particulier ceux d’accessibilité, de participation et de valeurs publiques—sont extrêmement importants lorsqu’il s’agit de défendre la pertinence de la radiotélédiffusion de service public dans le contexte actuel de soi-disant choix infinis de médias et de technologies sans frontières.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL: Introducing PJR

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
David Robie
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
News Media ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Foreign Ownership ◽  
The State ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Television Network ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Privately Owned

Journalism and related information and mass communication issues have a dearth of outlets in the South Pacific. While the region's news media has developed technically in leaps in bounds in the last decade and journalistic standards have risen, the region's information profile remains much the same. The major daily newspapers remain dominated by foreign ownership — the newest daily, The National in Papua New Guinea, is Malaysian-owned — and television/radio remains, in spite of the increasing number of privately owned FM broadcasters, in the hands of the state or, in the case of PNG's EMTV, an Australian television network.

scholarly journals The pervasive power of man-made news

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy McGregor
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Service ◽  
News Media ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Senior Women ◽  
The Status ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Status Of Women

Since the first woman was appointed as editor of a major newspaper in New Zealand in the mid 1980s, what has been the progress of women to top editorships? And what is the status of women at governance, management and staff journalist levels? These questions examine gender equality issues and are important given the power and ubiquity of the news media in modern society. The article analyses participation of women in the news media against the so-called ‘feminisation’ of pre-entry journalism training. The findings show that little progress has been made at editorship level, while there is more progress for senior women just below editorship level. Further, there is a difference in the status of women in governance of public service versus privately-owned broadcasting. The article is critical of the data available to monitor participation by gender and ethnicity in New Zealand journalism over time. Strategies to help break down the pervasive power of ‘man-made news’ are proposed. These include female shareholder activism at the governance level of media companies, and a greater commitment by the New Zealand Journalism Training Organisation to regular monitoring of women’s newsroom participation. Without it the status of women in New Zealand journalism remains invisible.

scholarly journals The Sound of Silence: The Absence of Public Service Values in Canadian Media Discourse about the CBC

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooks DeCillia ◽  
Patrick McCurdy
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Service ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ◽  
The World ◽  
Analyse De Contenu

Public service broadcasting (PSB) across the world is in crisis. This article examines how, if at all, normative academic ideals of public service broadcasting inform discussion about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Canadian news media. The researchers undertook a quantitative (N = 467) and qualitative (n = 29) content analysis of five years of Canadian news media coverage about the CBC published between January 1, 2009, and April 30, 2014. Their systematic analysis of this research found little connection was made between the CBC and discussions of public service values. This study contends that the pre-eminence of neoliberal discourse represents a serious assault to broadcasters with a public service ethos.Partout dans le monde, la radiodiffusion en tant que service public est en crise. Cet article examine comment les idéaux normatifs académiques de la radiodiffusion publique contribuent à alimenter le débat sur la Société Radio-Canada (SRC) dans lesmédias canadiens. Dans le cadre d’une analyse de contenu quantitative (N = 467) et qualitative (n = 29) portant sur cinq années de couverture médiatique canadienne à propos de CBC (1er janvier 2009 au 30 avril 2014), nous avons constaté qu’il y avait peu de relation entre les valeurs de la SRC et celles qui sont liées au service public dans les nouvelles diffusées par les médias canadiens. Cette recherche fait valoir la prééminence dans le débat d’un discours néolibéral qui soulève plusieurs enjeux éthiques quant à son adéquation avec les valeurs liées au service public en tant que tel.

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.

‘Terrible things happen’: Peter Bowker's Occupation and the Representation of the Iraq War in British Television Drama

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Harper
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Television Drama ◽  
Narrative Space ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
British Military ◽  
Discursive Strategy ◽  
Historically Situated ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

Peter Bowker and Laurie Borg's three-part television drama Occupation (2009) chronicles the experiences of three British soldiers involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. By means of an historically situated textual analysis, this article assesses how far the drama succeeds in presenting a progressive critique of the British military involvement in Iraq. It is argued that although Occupation devotes some narrative space to subaltern perspectives on Britain's military involvement in Iraq, the production – in contrast to some other British television dramas about the Iraq war – tends to privilege pro-war perspectives, elide Iraqi experiences of suffering, and, through the discursive strategy of ‘de-agentification’, obfuscate the extent of Western responsibility for the damage the war inflicted on Iraq and its population. Appearing six years after the beginning of a war whose prosecution provoked widespread public dissent, Occupation's political silences perhaps illustrate the BBC's difficulty in creating contestatory drama in what some have argued to be the conservative moment of post-Hutton public service broadcasting.

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