Public broadcasting

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Public broadcasting, also known as public service broadcasting or PSB (though this term has a specific different meaning in the United Kingdom - see public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom), where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public, has traditionally been the dominant form of broadcasting around the world. The broadcasters' funds can come directly from individuals through donations or fees, or indirectly as state subsidies that originated in taxes or other national funding sources. Some public broadcasters supplement this with contributions from corporations, which may be granted a limited amount of advertising time in return. However, when advertisements occur on public broadcasting outlets, they are usually much shorter and less attention-grabbing than on commercial broadcasting stations. Commercial broadcasting now occurs in many countries around the world, and the number of countries with only public broadcasting has declined substantially.

One of the best known public broadcasters is the British Broadcasting Corporation, based in the United Kingdom, whose mission is to "inform, educate and entertain". In the United States, public broadcasting is more decentralized and is not government operated, but, does receive some government support. The majority of funding comes from community support to hundreds of public radio and public television stations, each of which is an individual entity licensed to one of several different non-profit organizations, municipal or state governments, or universities. These organizations often produce their own programs, but largely depend upon national producers and program distributors such as National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Public Radio International (PRI), and American Public Media. U.S. government support is filtered through a separate organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Contents

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Defining public broadcasting

There is no standard definition of what public broadcasting is exactly, although a number of official bodies have attempted to pick out the key characteristics. Public service broadcasters generally transmit programming that aims to improve society by informing viewers. In contrast, the aim of commercial outlets is to provide popular shows that attract an audience—therefore leading to higher prices when advertising is sold. For this reason, the ideals of public broadcasting are often incompatible with commercial goals. Of course, public broadcasters also strive to entertain their viewers, but they can still come across as being overly paternalistic in nature.

The Broadcasting Research Unit lists the following as major goals or characteristics of a public broadcaster:

  • Geographic universality — that the stations' broadcasts are available nationwide, with no exception (a criterion failed by Five; however, in the case of PBS in the United States and the CBC/Radio-Canada in Canada, the "nationwide" criterion is satisfied by either member stations (as is the case with PBS) or, as is the case with most public broadcasting systems around the world (including Canada's CBC/Radio-Canada), the system owning transmitters to broadcast nationwide.
  • Catering for all interests and tastes — as exemplified by the BBC's range of minority channels (BBC2, BBC Radio 3, and various digital services), but also by the commercial Channel 4.
  • Catering for minorities — much as above, but with racial and sexual minorities etc. (for example Channel 4, BBC Asian Network, Radio-Canada, Australia's SBS).
  • Concern for national identity and community — this essentially means that the stations should in the most part commission programmes from within the country, which may be more expensive than importing shows from abroad.
  • Detachment from vested interests and government — in other words, programming should be impartial, and the stations should not pander to the desires of advertisers or government. In practice however, such impartiality is questionable, even with the BBC. Even when a station is removed from corporate and government interests, there may be a sense that it panders to a particular social group (the middle class that ascribes the values PSB aims to disseminate).
  • One broadcasting system to be directly funded by the corpus of users — the licence fee in the case of the BBC, member stations asking for donations in the case of the US's PBS/NPR.
  • Competition in good programming rather than numbers — quality is the prime concern with a true public service broadcaster. Of course, in practice, ratings wars are rarely concerned with quality, although that may depend on how you define the word "quality".
  • Guidelines to liberate programme makers and not restrict them — in the UK, guidelines, and not laws, govern what a programme maker can and cannot do, although these guidelines can be backed up by hefty penalties.

Some of these definition points may not be acceptable everywhere. For example in the United States public radio may see part of its mission to bring in foreign shows, e.g. shows from the CBC/Radio-Canada or the BBC.

In the modern world, the mass media is tremendously competitive, and as such, it can be difficult for a public service broadcaster to survive amongst commercial interests, especially with the increased number of channels that digital broadcasting provides.

Modern public broadcasting is typically a mixed commercial model. For example, the CBC has always relied on a subsidy from general revenues of the government, and more recently, in the case of the CBC television, advertising revenues, making them competitive with commercial broadcasting. Some argue that this dilutes their mandate as truly public broadcasters, who have no commercial bias to distort their presentation of the news. In most countries in Western Europe, state broadcasters are similarly funded through a mix of advertising and public money, either through a licence fee or directly from the government.

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Advantages and disadvantages

A key advantage of public broadcasting is that it can rely on stable management and policies to attract and develop journalistic talent. This tends to make public broadcasters worldwide particularly trusted for reporting news. Even in the United States, where there is far more competition for top news anchors, journalists, hosts and commentators, some of its public broadcasts, such as The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, are widely respected and can attract important people to comment on the issues of the day. Those guests can in turn count on a commitment to balance, and perhaps also more educated questions, which assured them they would not be turned into a public spectacle for the sake of ratings (always a risk in any TV or radio programme.)

Another key advantage of public broadcasting is that a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture) is relatively easy to implement. For instance, the Canadian government commitment to official bilingualism creates stable work at the CBC for translators, journalists who work in French in English regions of Canada, encourages production of cross-cultural material. Some, such as Quebec separatists, argue that this is also a policy of cultural imperialism and assimilation. However, this is a criticism of the policy, rather than of the cultural methodology. In the UK, the BBC has also taken a strong stance in favor of multiculturalism and diversity: many of its on-screen commentators and hosts are of different ethnic origins.

For those who oppose cultural policy on principle, the above arguments are actually arguments against public broadcasting. However, even opponents of government cultural policy (who may state their objection as disagreement with 'culture being shoved down their throat'), rarely object to being exposed to the "cultural policies" of commercial broadcasting: pop culture, law presented as if it were truth, militarism and identification with 'our boys' etc., all manner of culture bias, and consumerism in the form of advertising itself. In public broadcasting, these things can be centrally controlled and limited, or at least openly discussed. Some will say lack of a cultural policy is a policy in itself: commercialism.

An interesting example of this balancing role is the use of the word "terrorism". While commercial broadcasters often use the word as if it were a category one could observe directly, public broadcasters are forced by their very mandate to justify their use of the word — the BBC at one point claimed it would label no one a "terrorist" as they considered it a political term. Throughout the IRA crises, the BBC steadfastly referred to "the IRA", "Republican forces" or to "militants". They avoided the term "terrorist" and even "extremist".

One viewpoint is that some public broadcasting, and also some pirate broadcasting, provides a necessary counterweight to the commercial media. Advocates of deliberative democracy, which requires much 'air-time' and 'feedback' and access to public figures to work, usually consider public broadcasting to be an absolute necessity to the maintenance of a complex modern technological democracy.

Whether one likes it or not, in many nations, public broadcasting is all there is. Where commercial media is allowed at all, it may be seen merely as an avenue for the presentation of commercial products that few in the population can afford and as a cultural policy of foreign 'invasion'. Public broadcasting sometimes serves simply to put voices or languages on the air that may otherwise be completely ignored, and sometimes due to a lack of voice, obliterated. To the degree that rumours and hatred can be dispelled by diligent public broadcasting, it can be seen as a public good. Where it is used to amplify hatred and fear, as dictators have used it, it can even be an instrument to foment genocide.

Accordingly, public broadcasting must probably be managed as carefully as any nation manages its police or military forces. The ability of electronic media to mobilise and motivate the public to a common cause is profound, and its abuse is probably as serious as abuses of force.

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Public broadcasting around the world

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Australia

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is funded entirely through an Australian Government grant-in-aid, which has made it vulnerable to cuts in government spending. The multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia's other public broadcaster, now accepts limited sponsorship and advertising.

In addition, there are a number of community television stations (most operating as Channel 31 despite being unrelated across different states) and radio stations that survive almost entirely on donations and corporate sponsorship. They are organised similarly to PBS and NPR stations in the US, however are much less powerful; largely due to competition from the ABC and SBS. They also take on the role that public access stations have in the US.

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Canada

In Canada, the main public broadcaster is the national CBC, which operates two television networks (CBC Television and SRC), four radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, La Première Chaîne and Espace musique) and two 24-hour news channels (CBC Newsworld and RDI) in both of Canada's official languages.

In addition, several provinces operate public broadcasters; these are not CBC subentities, but distinct networks in their own right. These include TVOntario, which operates two networks (English TVO and French-language TFO), Télé-Québec, SCN in Saskatchewan, public radio station CKUA in Alberta, and Knowledge Network in British Columbia. Some of the provincial broadcasters operate through conventional transmitters, while others are cable-only channels. Alberta also has a semi-public television network, ACCESS, which is licensed to provide some public service programming but is owned and operated by a commercial broadcaster. The network, formerly a public broadcaster operated by the provincial government, was sold to CHUM Limited in 1995. CJRT-FM in Toronto also operated as a public government-owned radio station for many years; while no longer funded by the provincial government, it still solicits most of its budget from listener and corporate donations and is permitted to air only a very small amount of commercial advertising.

Some local community stations also operate non-commercially with funding from corporate and individual donors. In addition, cable companies are required to produce a local community channel in each licensed market. Such channels have traditionally aired community talk shows, city council meetings and other locally oriented programming, although it is becoming increasingly common for them to adopt the format and branding of a local news channel.

Canada also has a large number of campus radio and community radio stations.

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Europe

The original British Broadcasting Corporation, widely trusted even by citizens of the Axis Powers during World War II, was widely emulated throughout the former British Empire and later Commonwealth: the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Broadcasting Corporation are simple applications of that model. Also Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio, the public broadcasters in Sweden are basically an application of the model used in Britain, funded by television licence fees and carrying no advertising. So is the Flemish broadcaster VRT on its television channels, for its radio services it depends on a mix of advertisement income and government dotation. In theory, public broadcasting is not beholden to advertisers, political parties, or the government of the day—and some critics say, it is also not particularly responsive to its viewers. In the Netherlands a different system is being used. Broadcasting foundations receive time to broadcast their programmes on the television and radio channels, based on the amount of members. This system reflects every population group.

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Latin America

Latin America has never had a history of European style public service radio or television except for Chile's Televisión Nacional, an open channel which serves the entire country (including Easter Island and Antarctica bases). Televisión Nacional, popularly known as channel 7 because of its Santiago frequency, is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Chilean Senate. It is meant to be independent of political pressures, although accusations of bias have been made, especially during election campaigns.

State broadcasters tend to be either very weak and under-funded (as the Argentinian ATC), or to be clearly under the control of the party in power. Starting from these singularities, commercial broadcasting quickly and effectively conquered its audiences, leaving public and state broadcasting a token role. In some countries, such as Ecuador, where broadcasting was originally legally defined as a commercial venture, a public broadcaster was never born.

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New Zealand

In New Zealand, the former public broadcaster BCNZ (formerly NZBC) was broken up into separate state-owned corporations, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ). While RNZ remains commercial-free, TVNZ has been heavily commercialised, leading to accusations of 'dumbing down'.

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Japan

In Japan, the main public broadcaster is the national NHK, sometimes informally referred to as Radio Tokyo by English speakers. The broadcaster was set up in 1926 and was modelled on BBC Ltd, the precursor to the British public service broadcaster BBC created in 1927. Much like the BBC, NHK is funded by a "receiving fee" by every Japanese household, with no commercial advertising and the maintenance of a position of strict political impartiality. NHK runs two national terrestrial TV stations (NHK General and NHK Educational) and three satellite only services (NHK BS-1, BS-2 and the hi-definition NHK Hi-Vision services). NHK also runs 3 national radio services and a number of international radio and television services, akin to the BBC World Service. NHK has also been an innovator in television, developing the world's first high definition television technology in 1964 and launching high definition services in Japan in 1981.

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United States

Image:UIUCGregoryHall200511 KaihsuTai.jpg Public broadcasting in the United States is as old as broadcasting itself. Most early public stations were operated by state colleges and universities, and were often run as part of the schools' cooperative extension services. Stations in this era were internally funded, and did not rely on listener contributions to operate; some accepted advertising. Networks such as Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin Public Radio began in this way. The concept of a "non-commercial, educational" station per se does not show up in U.S. law until the 1940s, when the FM band was moved to its present location; the part of the band between 87.9 and 91.9 MHz is reserved for such stations. Educational television, the forerunner of modern U.S. public television, evolved in big cities in the 1950s; in rural areas, it was not uncommon for colleges to operate commercial stations instead.

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Television

In the United States the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television network operates on a largely viewer-supported basis (see telethon), with commercial sponsors of specific programs. Over time, sponsorship announcements have slowly transformed into something resembling regular TV advertisements, though they are usually shorter and have a more muted tone than what is seen on commercial TV, and many organizations still only receive a short thanks for their contributions. Most communities also have public access services on local cable television stations, which are sometimes supported in part through donations.

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Radio

The first publicly funded radio network in the Untied States was the Pacifica Radio Network, founded by pacifist Lew Hill in 1946. Pacifica now operates six stations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, and New York City, and distributes syndicated programming via satellite to affiliates.

The second public radio network, NPR, was created in 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This network (generally exclusive of Pacifica) is commonly refered to as 'Public Radio. Independent local public radio stations buy their programming from distributors such as National Public Radio (NPR); Public Radio International (PRI); American Public Media (APM), and Pacifica, most often distributed through the Public Radio Satellite Service (PRSS). Public radio stations in the US tend to broadcast a mixture of news and talk radio programming along with some music. Some of the larger operations split off these formats into separate stations or networks. Public music stations are probably best known for playing classical music, although other formats have been used, including the emerging "eclectic" music format that is rather freeform in nature (common among college radio stations, though a well-known eclectic NPR member station is KCRW in California). There are also public college radio stations using an FCC Class D license. XM Satellite Radio provides a station of public radio programs licensed from all three content providers.

Local stations derive most of the funding for their operations through regular pledge drives and corporate sponsorship. The local stations then contract with program distributors and also provide some programming themselves. NPR produces some of its own programming such as Morning Edition; Weekend Edition; and All Things Considered. PBS and PRI do not create their own content. NPR also receives some direct funding from private donors, foundations, and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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List of public broadcasters

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North America

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Asia

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Australasia (Oceania)

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Europe

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See also

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External links

nl:Publieke omroep ja:公共放送 fi:Yleisradiotoiminta sv:Public service zh:公共廣播

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