The public right to know in a sea of global media Helen Shaw Athena Media -Ireland Amsterdam: Summit of the Future Jan

The sea of global media  Fewer owners – more choice  Fragmented commercial markets  Digital expansion – new media  The death… or re-birth of public broadcasting?

Consumers and citizens  ‘the market is highly efficient but it has no goal, its sole purpose is to produce more in order to consume more’, Octavio Paz.  Consumer and citizen needs and rights are different even conflicting  Examples: plastic bag levy, smoking ban.

Information as a public good  Citizenship versus consumerism  Social versus individual  News and information as a public and social good rather than a product and commodity  Seeing public media like public health, part of the social contract. 

Death or re-birth?  SO much choice on digital media why pay for content?  Yet …media independent of direct state and market control has become a compelling issue in today’s world.  Why?  Global media can mean a choice between more of the same – cultural imperialism.  Trust has become the core issue.

Defining….  ‘we have to stop thinking of public broadcasting as a stand-alone organisation and see it as the principal node in an emerging network of public and civil initiatives that taken together, provide the basis for new cultural space, a digital commons, that can help forge communal connections..”  Prof. Graham Murdock – Loughborough University

Why do we need public media?  Post Iraq and media debate  Tsunami+ interconnectedness of our world  A market driven, globalised world needs trusted information to underscore our civil society – our humanity – our inter-relationship.

Why we need public media  ‘soft power’ rests on credibility  The ‘paradox of plenty’ – in a global information age power flows to credible gate-keepers  Plentitude of information – poverty of attention  ‘power in information flows to those who can…authoritatively validate, sorting out which is correct and important’ Joe Nye – Paradox of Power (2002)

Re-inventing public broadcasting  Content beyond institutions  Public media and the internet  Not-for profit content underscoring global civic society  Seeing public funding as a content pool  Public media competition to ensure quality and accountability

Emerging trends...  In Ireland 5% of the TV licence fee goes to a fund for all broadcasters  Australia has merged internet and broadcasting regulation  BBC Charter Renewal based around seeing content as a public good  DR – Denmark multimedia model 