Synopses & Reviews
Benedetta Brevini investigates the extent to which a Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) ethos has been extended to the online world in Europe. She examines the most significant policy initiatives carried out by PSBs in Europe on online platforms, and analyzes how the public service philosophy is being reinvented by policy makers (at both the national and European level), by PSB institutions and by their competitors. Brevini examines Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, where PSB has been the subject of landmark reforms that have changed its legal and policy frameworks. Concurrently, at the European level, the debate about the redefinition and expansion of PSB in the new media has been vigorous. As such, Brevini elaborates on and discusses a normative democratic framework for PSB online in Europe named 'PSB 2.0'. She argues that, if the online world is to be infused with the same public service ethos which characterizes traditional broadcasting, European policy makers and institutions need to understand that a reconfiguration of public service values and principles - in other words, PSB 2.0 - is becoming crucial.
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To come
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Public Service Broadcasting Online explains the rich and treasured legacies of, and current threats to, institutions that historically have been vital to a cultural and political sense of belonging and engagement among Europeans. By taking stock of and comparing a diverse range of European public service broadcasting (PSB) systems, Benedetta Brevini helps us understand the ongoing political stakes of the digital migration of PSB. More importantly, at a time when European governments of all kinds have fallen prey to the seductions and imperatives of neoliberal ideology and practice, the author offers invaluable guidance for preserving what is best about European public service media.' - Professor Andrew Calabrese, University of Colorado, USA
'Public service broadcasting was a visionary experiment that extended the social purpose of radio and television through the enabling role of the democratic state. Can the potential of the internet to serve the public be similarly extended through state intervention? What are the obstacles that lie in the way? For an innovative and scholarly answer, read this admirable book.'
- Professor James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
About the Author
Benedetta Brevini is Lecturer in Media Policy in the Department of Journalism at City University, London, UK. Her research addresses a range of current issues in international media policy and the political economy of online media. Her work has appeared in international publications such as the European Journal of Communication, Interaction: Studies in Communication and Culture, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, Political Communication Polcom. Her co-edited book, Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism and Society, was published in March 2013. Before joining academia she worked as a journalist in Milan, New York and London, and she currently writes for The Guardian's Comment is Free.
Table of Contents
ContentsList of tables1. Introduction
2. The European and Global Policy Framework of Public Service Broadcasting
3. Theorizing Public Service Broadcasting Online
4. A Normative Framework for PSB Online: The Idea of PSB 2.0
5. Comparing Histories of PSB in Denmark, France, the UK, Spain and Italy
6. Historical, Political and Cultural Legacies: The Impact on PSB Online
7. European Union Influence on PSB Online
8. Commercial Pressure from Rival Competitors: The Impact on PSB Online
9. Conclusion
Bibliography
Endnotes