A new approach

From PSB to PSP

Public service broadcasting has proved highly successful as a means for creating wide public benefit from mass media. Naturally, it is not immune to technological changes in the means of distribution of TV content as well as the arrival of new forms of content which are arising from the possibilities of new media technologies. It could be said that these developments are acting to accelerate the evolution of existing public service broadcasters into media brands with public service purposes (at varying degrees of centrality to their activities - ranging from the BBC to five). Alternatively, this could be phrased as the evolution of public service broadcasting into public service content. This is a major challenge in and of itself. The provision of public service mass media in the 21st century requires considerable thought. The BBC and to a lesser extent Channel 4 are already grappling with what the evolution of the media landscape means for them as institutions; the challenge to their core businesses as mass media players is large enough. Whilst they are both also responding to the potential of new media technologies, they are not uniquely focussed on this area. In addition, their institutional structures, priorities and talent bases are not clearly aligned to the new, participative model.

Whilst PSBs are undoubtedly travelling in a direction which is seeing them increase their interactive media activity, they are doing this, logically and by necessity, from the point of view of traditional, mass media entities moving into a new space. This is undoubtedly a valid and important approach to the evolution of media, but it reflects only part of the picture. The opportunities of new media do not arise solely from their relationship to mass media - but also from their common ancestry with communications technologies such as the telephone and computer modem. The potential benefits they could bring should likewise not be solely seen through the lens of the evolution of mass media. This raises the question of whether the framework for public service media can respond to the changes in the market conditions in which it operates and in the expectations of citizens of the media ecology of the 21st century simply by a process of evolutionary change. A more radical approach might better harness the specific public service potential of participatory media.

It is not the role of this paper to assess the rationale that OFCOM has laid out in its reviews of Public Service Television, wherein it has identified structural change in the landscape of public service broadcasting. OFCOM's notion of the Public Service Publisher (PSP), which is one response to a perceived gap in public service content provision, has opened the debate on what we as a society want from our publicly-focussed media organisations in a way which goes beyond television. Broadcasters are already looking at this future themselves, of course. There is clearly an overlap between the evolution of public service broadcasting and the organisations which provide it and the potential of new media. However, it is important to be pragmatic when considering this evolving space. The interactive media and broadcasting are not forces arrayed in opposition. They are likely to co-exist. Mass media will play a dominant role for some time yet. Indeed, the arrival of on-demand media is likely to put a premium on the role of PSBs as commissioners of innovative work, high quality news services and more. The sustainability of PSB might well, therefore, rest in part on the ability of public service broadcasters to harness new media, but it is unlikely to be totally reliant on it. This means that a blended solution is likely to be needed, for instance, to the question of how to provide balance and plurality in the supply of public service content which includes, but is not limited to, the participatory media which is the focus of this paper.

There is a further reason why it is essential to look beyond the broadcasting sector. The interactive media revolution is not just affecting media players. Almost all institutions are seeing both their external and internal relationships being reconfigured. Newspapers were amongst the first to feel the change, closely followed by music recording companies as the arrival of digital distribution changed their traditional models - and continues to do so. A profound example which is relevant to our discussion is e-commerce. This has fundamentally realigned the relationship between consumers and suppliers. Mainstream retailers and even online operations - wonderful though many are - are, in essence, extensions of the high street model - and thus analogous to broadcasters who are struggling to harness new distribution potential. eBay is a fundamentally different beast. It takes the car boot sale and scales it to a global level. The effect is transformative on the economy - and has triggered a wave of new business formation by reducing the costs of doing business and matching interested buyers with products. This could be called participatory e-commerce. It clearly shares a root with the notion of participatory media which has been discussed above.

Likewise, we are beginning to see the potential for a genuine revolution in the delivery of public services through harnessing interactive media. Many government services are migrating online and, in the process, are taking on some of the characteristics which would once have been the preserve of public service broadcasting. Examples include the formation of Teacher's TV by the Department for Education and Skills, or the many public information programmes which now include very considerable online dimensions funded, produced and delivered directly for or on behalf of public sector institutions.

This applies even more to cultural activities such as the arts, museums and galleries sector which - in many cases - are moving beyond simply providing access to cultural artefacts into a mode where many institutions are finding that the facilitation of learning, understanding and participation are more central to their missions than ever before. These and others present compelling reasons why we might want to extend the case for public service broadcasting and re-evaluate it in the light of changing circumstances by looking at it in the wider context of public service delivery as a whole and diminishing the special status which we have previously given to mass media.

Traditionally, the value of public service television broadcasting has been found in a combination of social and economic factors. Broadly speaking, the policy case has rested on a compact between two notions. The first, the "public good" argument, has revolved around the idea that "broadcasting can contribute to society in ways which other media cannot" (BBC Green Paper). The second, the economic, or "market failure", argument, states that the market would not provide "everything we have come to expect from broadcasting." (Ibid) Combining these two factors together has been the standard defence of public service broadcasting since the foundation of the BBC and Lord Reith's mission to "inform, educate and entertain". These factors are likely to remain central.

Recently, a consensus has begun to emerge based on the use of a set of purposes, such as those set out in the BBC's document, Building Public Value and by OFCOM in its Public Service Broadcasting Review to help to describe and assess PSB activity. This approach has gone some way to acknowledging the conceptual differences between the former public service broadcasting world and the evolving environment of more widespread public service media. Set alongside the general principles of universality, fairness and accountability, public good in media content has been said to consist of five main elements:

It is still necessary that a market failure should exist in the provision of such services - as with most public sector activity - but we are beginning to see attempts to define more clearly the positive case for public activity in the media market. This focus on output and demand is very welcome. Participants at the Public Service Broadband Seminar organised by the Broadband Stakeholders Group in 2004 arrived at a similar set of conclusions.

The question I would like to consider is this. What would be the characteristics of a public service media organisation which was uniquely and explicitly designed to deliver these notions of public value in the unfolding participatory media landscape?

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