Participation and Partnership: A Copernican Revolution To Reengineer Public Service Media For The 21st Century

Practically the entire societal, media and technological context within which public service broadcasting was born has changed fundamentally since then. For a number of years now, the need for a reassessment and redefinition of PSM, but primarily for a renewed source of its legitimation and rationale for its existence, has been increasingly apparent. Nevertheless, what we might call the “incumbent ” or “legacy ” concept of PSM has displayed considerable staying power. Policy and regulatory frameworks for PSM have equally displayed considerable inertia and resistance to change. As a result, in some cases PSM inhabits what might be called a time warp: it is still defined, and in many cases organized, in line with ideas inherited from the past which have an ever smaller purchase on the reality surrounding PSM today and requiring its fundamental change. This change should be driven by a redefinition of policy and regulatory frameworks relating to PSM and remodel both PSM organizations themselves (internal change) and their relations with other players on the media scene, the audience and civil society (external change). Policy change should encompass, among other things, the following elements