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broadband diffusion, user activities and the economic models of new media services all contextualize the wider ecological challenges mentioned above,
as public service providers must now negotiate their future across numerous platforms. What role does policy play in the repositioning and maintaining
center-to-many mass communication with simultaneity of transmission and reception (broadcasting) across multiple distribution technologies? How will
public service goals be achieved across a media ecology characterized by a proliferation of gateways and intermediaries? The current paper will evaluate
the interplay of the European Union’s media and communications policy with these broad challenges for broadcast dynamics and pubic service media goals
and relate them to the local adaptation of those policy norms in bothWestern and Eastern European contexts.
PN 332
PSM in the CEE/SEE Region: Mission, Values and Characteristic Challenges
G.F. Lowe
1
1
University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
Value is an extremely important concept for public service media organizations. It is also a complicated and complex notion because there are many types
of value and three are important with regard to public service media: intrinsic, exchange and use. Something with intrinsic value is good in and of its self; its
value does not depend on external relationships. For PSB historically, key intrinsic values include universalism and enlightenment. Exchange value is about
the result of an economic transaction –what a consumer gets in exchange for what she spends.The issue of value for money matters today, especially under
conditions of austerity because paying for PSM is a required fee or a compulsory tax – it is not optional. Use value is about the practical benefit an individual
gets from using what she has acquired. Here, as well, PSM is greatly challenged because there are people who use little or none of the services and contents,
or access what they use via the internet for which they pay a monthly price. If a person doesn’t find PSM useful, why should they pay for it? A lot of what PSM
executives say about the value of the enterprise is primarily about intrinsic value. Terms and phrases are used to defend the organization against attacks,
largely political, without sufficient clarity about the practical meanings, intentions and implications. Intrinsic value cannot be absolutely proven, however,
and thus remains arguable. Although an effective rhetorical defense remains important, it is not enough today because there are multiple stakeholders and
the environment is characterized by increasing complexity. The presentation draws on work about types of value and their importance for PSM in the 21
st
century that are contributing to a project organized by the European Broadcasting Union to develop social impact indicators for PSM. In this paper, we focus
more precisely on relevant challenges in the central European region. The general concerns for PSM development in the context of networked communi‑
cations are largely the same everywhere, and will be discussed, but this region has specific challenges related to 1) the heritage of state broadcasting, 2)
the continuing propensity for political interference, 3) less economic resources than is commonly the case in Western Europe, and 4) the preference for
commercial media as a presumed best approach to ensure independence from the state. In recent years, PSM has been under significant pressure from
governments in Hungary and Poland, for example – countries earlier considered to be doing rather well in PSM development. Thus, this contribution to
the panel will extend an already percolating discussion by focusing specifically on the mission, values and value of PSM in the CEE/SEE region.