scholarly journals Television and politcs: Spain and France

Comunicar ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás Pedroso-Herrera

The television has turned into the center of the reflections of the contemporary societies due to its presence and power. The political class from different countries has elaborated a series of documents that offer solutions to the problems raised by the use of the television. The Council of Europe in 1986 suggested in the document «The future of public service broadcasting» that the television had to serve for the democratic and cultural development of the Europeans. The French Senate elaborated another document («L'entrée dans the société of l'information») in 1996 in which it was warned that the television did not have to be ruled only by the market and that it had to be controlled for the state. The Spanish government entrusted a report («Informe para la reforma de los medios de comunicación de titularidad del estado») to several intellectual for the restructuring of the public audio-visual sector. The most important conclusion consists of the fact that the purpose of this sector is the public service that must not be measured up exclusively for the economic profit. La televisión se ha convertido en el gran referente social y cultural de las sociedades contemporáneas. Idolatrada y denostada a partes iguales, ocupa gran parte del tiempo de los ciudadanos de las sociedades avanzadas. No hay clase social o cultural que se sustraiga a la seducción de las imágenes y mediatiza la vida de adultos y jóvenes en la misma medida. Pero, incluso reconociendo todas las virtudes que este avance tecnológico tiene, la televisión se ha convertido en la caja de Pandora a la que todo el mundo culpa de la mayor parte de los males que aquejan a los ciudadanos. Intelectuales, filósofos, comunicólogos, profesores, sociólogos, padres y madres reflexionan sobre el poder de la televisión. Y las conclusiones a las que arriban son bien distintas. En una nueva versión de «apocalípticos» o «integrados» hay una frontera que separa a los que resaltan lo bueno del medio (sus posibilidades de conocer el mundo en directo, sus usos en educación, su capacidad para entretener y divertir…) y los que opinan que el conocimiento superficial, la incultura y el aburrimiento se introducen en el seno de las familias por medio de este ingenio tecnológico cada día más perfeccionado. La reflexión ha llegado hasta el punto de interesar a la clase política que ha percibido que debe dar respuesta a todos los interrogantes que plantean los ciudadanos: ¿Hay manipulación informativa en todas las televisiones (públicas y privadas)? ¿Es realmente necesario que existan televisiones públicas? ¿Cómo deben ser financiadas estas televisiones públicas? ¿Es necesario regular el sector o es preferible dejarlo según las necesidades del mercado? En este sentido ha habido en Europa dos interesantes intentos por regular (o no) la televisión. Así el Senado francés a finales de 2002 emitió un documento que era al mismo tiempo reflexión y advertencia: por un lado se indagaba en el peso que las nueva cultura de la información tenía sobre el ciudadano, haciendo especial hincapié en la televisión, y por otro se concluía que era necesario un cierto control que tuviera como consecuencia una televisión de calidad. De la misma manera en 2004, el gobierno de Rodríguez Zapatero reunió lo que se vino en llamar un «consejo de sabios» para que reflexionara y apuntara soluciones sobre el fenómeno televisivo. Sobre los contenidos de ambos documentos, sobre sus consejos y sobre las soluciones apuntadas trata la presente comunicación.

Author(s):  
Jon Thoday

This chapter considers the threats faced by public service broadcasting (PSB). These threats come externally from market forces, from commercial adversaries chipping away to advance their own agendas, and from the political class with their concerns about bias. The BBC also faces the challenges common to all mature organisations: that of calcification and inertia consequent upon size and success. These attacks have not only had a real effect at the BBC but also on the wider industry with UK PSB content spend reduced by almost £1 billion in the space of a decade. Both management and government need to recognise that content must be re-prioritised. If this cannot be done, the industry must act to found a new organisation whose sole priority is the support of content.


Comunicar ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Soler-Campillo

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the recent Report of the Experts Committee on the Public Media (TV) in Spain. The objective is to understand the complex scenario and the legal and economical circumstances that have determinated the elaboration of this report, essential to prepare the restructuration of RTVE Group. Festival, we are going to refer to the evolution of RTVE Group since its origins, where it is possible to identify most of the actual problems, including the democratic transition and the last years of Aznar’s government. In second place, we are going to present the main proposals of the Experts Report that stresses the role of public television as a public service, including the critics formulated by two members of this Committee, like Miguel Angel Armedo, appointed by the Ministry of Economy and Treasure, and Fernando González Urbaneja, who has presented a particular report. The reaction of the spanish press to this Report will be presented to understand the social context, very politicized in the last year. Finally, this paper ends with a reflection on the oportunity of this report, and the necessity to tackle the financial reform of the public television, and the public mass communication media in Spain. Our paper tries to conclude that the composition of the Experts Committee should be different, with more consensus from the political forces of the spanish Parliament. We think it would be necessary to propose two different Committees, one integrated by experts like Enrique Bustamante, Emilio Lledó, Victoria Camps and Fernando Savater, specially prepared to indicate the main lines for the political overview; and a second Committee, integrated by financial and economical experts, to design the concrete estrategies to reform the spanish public television. We cannot forget that RTVE debt is the main problem that has to be solved in a stricted way as soon as possible, that implies a correction of exploitation debt. In this sense, a first step has been done, defining the necessity of a TV programation as a public service, like it has been argued by Professor Enrique Bustamante. Nonetheless, the RTVE Group reform is still unresolved, and it is a matter that has to be treated rigurously in the next months. The public debt accumulated by RTVE Group, and the public regional televisions debts, is a capital matter that has been negatively critized by european institutions. La presente comunicación tiene por objeto el análisis del reciente Informe sobre los medios de comunicación de titularidad estatal, base de un futuro proyecto de ley, elaborado por un comité de expertos nombrado por el gobierno para tal fin. Se pretende enmarcar el complejo escenario al que se ha tenido que enfrentar el «Comité de Sabios» para la elaboración de este informe y tratar de esbozar los modelos jurídicos y económicos posibles existentes y sus perspectivas de futuro. Vamos a organizar nuestra exposición en los siguientes apartados. En primer lugar, vamos a referirnos muy brevemente a la evolución del Grupo RTVE desde sus orígenes, en cuyo contexto cabe situar buena parte de los problemas actuales, pasando por la transición democrática, hasta la última etapa del gobierno Aznar, en el que se agudiza la situación financiera de la televisión pública y se produce una bajada de calidad muy notable en los contenidos de la programación. En segundo lugar, se expondrán las principales propuestas del Informe que giran en torno a la reivindicación de la televisión como servicio público, y asímismo se recogerán las críticas formuladas por Miguel Angel Arnedo, experto nombrado por el Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda, y Fernando González Urbaneja, que ha emitido un voto particular que se desmarca del planteamiento general del Informe. A continuación, se hará un examen de la reacción al Informe en la prensa escrita, que se ha producido en un contexto social muy politizado, que responde a una contraposición de intereses entre los diferentes grupos de comunicación. Finalmente, la comunicación se cierra con una reflexión sobre la oportunidad del Informe, y la necesidad de abordar el problema de la financiación de los medios de comunicación públicos. Nuestra comunicación pretende concluir que habría sido necesario conformar un Comité de Expertos que contara con el mayor consenso posible de las fuerzas políticas desplegadas en el parlamento español. Tal vez habría sido necesario crear dos comisiones de trabajo, una primera, conformada por los expertos Enrique Bustamante, Emilio Lledó, Victoria Camps y Fernando Savater, que habría podido marcar las lineas maestras del planteamiento político que debe dirigir un estudio técnico de las reformas a introducir en la transformación necesaria del modelo de gestión y de financiación de los medios de comunicación públicos, lo que debería ser materia de trabajo de un Comité de expertos específico. No debemos olvidar, en ese sentido, que el problema de la deuda y de la financiación del ente RTVE ha de abordarse con rigor. Y ello pasa por tratar de corregir el déficit de explotación del grupo, que no hace sino provocar un reiterado endeudamiento del ente público. Se ha dado, pues, un primer paso muy importante: definir la necesidad de una programación de servicio público, como ha señalado el profesor Enrique Bustamante. Pero la tarea pendiente es todavía enorme, ya que aún no se ha entrado propiamente en materia, algo que han reclamado legítimamente los expertos del mundo de la economía y de las finanzas, pero que no resta mérito al trabajo realizado por este Comité de expertos. Desde el punto de vista de la economía de la comunicación existe una crisis en el modelo de gestión económica aplicado hasta ahora. Se trata de un problema cuya solución no puede dilatarse en el tiempo ya que la deuda pública que arrastra el ente público de RTVE, y también las televisiones públicas de carácter autonómico, ha sido puesta en entredicho por los organismos europeos.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Darren Kew

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.


Author(s):  
Sven Stollfuß

This article investigates how platformisation changes the practices of content production and distribution through the case of the web series, Druck (tr. Pressure (2018–), for the public service content network ‘funk’ (ARD and ZDF). An analysis of the German adaptation of the Norwegian television and web series Skam (tr. Shame) (NRK3, 2015–2017) shows how public service broadcasting (PSB) in Germany is changing due to the influence of social media. To reach a younger audience, PSB has to meet them on third-party platforms. Consequently, PSB must provide content that fits the mobile media environment of social media.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Darren Kew

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Dhoest ◽  
Hilde Van den Bulck ◽  
Heidi Vandebosch ◽  
Myrte Dierckx

The public broadcasting remit in the eyes of the audience: survey research into the future role of Flemish public service broadcasting The public broadcasting remit in the eyes of the audience: survey research into the future role of Flemish public service broadcasting In view of the discussion about the future position of public service broadcasting, this research investigates the expectations of Flemings regarding their public service broadcasting institution VRT. Based on the current task description of the VRT, a survey was effectuated among a representative sample of Flemings (N=1565). Questions were asked about the content (broad or complementary to commercial broadcasting), audience (broad or niche) and distinctive nature of public service broadcasting. The analysis shows that, overall, Flemings are in favour of a broad public service broadcasting institution with a strong focus on entertainment (besides information), oriented towards a broad audience. At the same time, they believe the institution should distinguish itself from its competitors, through quality, social responsibility, cultural identity and (particularly creative) innovation, among other things. Cluster analysis shows that the call to prioritize culture and education over entertainment, which dominates public debate, is representative of only a minority (20%) of highly educated Flemings.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Tawanda Zinyama ◽  
Joseph Tinarwo

Public administration is carried out through the public service. Public administration is an instrument of the State which is expected to implement the policy decisions made from the political and legislative processes. The rationale of this article is to assess the working relationships between ministers and permanent secretaries in the Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe. The success of the Minister depends to a large degree on the ability and goodwill of a permanent secretary who often has a very different personal or professional background and whom the minster did not appoint. Here lies the vitality of the permanent secretary institution. If a Minister decides to ignore the advice of the permanent secretary, he/she may risk of making serious errors. The permanent secretary is the key link between the democratic process and the public service. This article observed that the mere fact that the permanent secretary carries out the political, economic and social interests and functions of the state from which he/she derives his/her authority and power; and to which he/she is accountable,  no permanent secretary is apolitical and neutral to the ideological predisposition of the elected Ministers. The interaction between the two is a political process. Contemporary administrator requires complex team-work and the synthesis of diverse contributions and view-points.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lien De Cang ◽  
Katia Segers

How to serve the audience? The Belgian National Radio Institute (N.I.R.) in search of putting into practice the public service remit through its music and audience policy before the era of television (1930-1953). How to serve the audience? The Belgian National Radio Institute (N.I.R.) in search of putting into practice the public service remit through its music and audience policy before the era of television (1930-1953). This article questions in what way the Belgian radio-broadcaster was searching how to put into practice the central public service remit through its music and audience policy from the start of the institute in 1930 till the launch of television in 1953. Departing from a theoretical reflection on the concept of Public Service Broadcasting, this article presents the results of a qualitative content analysis of policy documents (minutes, annual reports) as well as writings of key members of the N.I.R.-staff. It reveals a shared paternalistic vision on the public service remit as well as oppositional views upon the audience and how to serve it.


This chapter discusses the skill challenges in the creative industries. The public service broadcasting (PSB) system is the driving force behind the UK's vibrant TV production sector. The PSBs are responsible for some 80 per cent of total investment in UK original non-news content. Independent producers are responsible for around 60 per cent of total commissioned hours on the five main PSB channels. As new platforms and formats emerge and old divides are blurred, there is a need for a holistic and collaborative approach across not just PSBs but all screen-based industries to ensure that the creative industries' talent base can compete globally. This requires upskilling and re-skilling with an integrated view and a systematic approach to tackling barriers to entry and enabling progression within an ever more casualized workforce.


Author(s):  
Philip Schlesinger

This chapter illustrates how ‘most of the Holyrood political class has been reluctant to explore the boundaries between the devolved and the reserved’, even on less life-and-death issues such as broadcasting. Conversely, it also tells of at least one post-devolution success story for classic informal pre-devolution-style ‘Scottish lobbying’ in Westminster. Scotland is presently one of the UK's leading audiovisual production centres, with Glasgow as the linchpin. The capacity of the Scottish Parliament to debate questions of media concentration but also its incapacity to act legislatively has been observed. There are both political and economic calculations behind the refusal to devolve powers over the media via the Communications Act 2003. Ofcom now has a key role in policing the terms of trade for regional production that falls within a public service broadcaster's target across the UK. The BBC's position as the principal vehicle of public service broadcasting has come increasingly under question. The Gaelic Media Service set up under the Communications Act 2003 has a line of responsibility to Ofcom in London. Scottish Advisory Committee on Telecommunications (SACOT) determined four key regulatory issues needing future attention by Ofcom.


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