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PN 154
The Politics of Media Policy in Scotland
P. Schlesinger
1
1
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Public service media in the UK are in flux. The BBC’s Charter is under review in 2016 and the corporation is facing far-reaching questions posed by the Con‑
servative government about its scope and scale. At the same time, the future as a non-profit corporation of the other key PSB, Channel 4, is in question,
while ITV – the key player of the PSB-regulated Channel 3 commercial network – may yet be an attractive prize for a US major to own and operate. 2016
could bring far-reaching structural and regulatory change, on top of changing consumption patterns, large-scale (particularly younger audience) migration
to tablets and smartphones, and the growth of VOD and OTT services. As the British system looks poised to mutate, there are other pressures coming from
the sub-state level, most notably in Scotland, which is a devolved nation within the United Kingdom. In 2014, a referendum on independence was relatively
narrowly defeated by 55% against separation to 45% for setting up a new state. Scotland’s autonomy will now be further extended. In the course of the ref‑
erendum, the role of the BBC in Scotland became a very contentious issue, with leading nationalist politicians and some sections of the electorate convinced
of its bias against independence. This was the latest twist in a longstanding debate about the role of the BBC in Scotland. In the UK general election of May
2015, the pro-independence Scottish National Party became a major force in the Westminster Parliament – the third party by size – and is pressing for
radical devolution, with independence still the ultimate goal. The Nationalists want public service broadcasting in Scotland to be federalized and controlled
by the Scottish Parliament – in effect, to decentralize the BBC and change its focus - and also for more licence fee money to be spent on TV production in
Scotland. There is a distinctive media landscape in Scotland, where most commercial television is supplied by the Scottish commercial PSB, STV, which is
linked to the ITV network. Scotland also has a distinct configuration of local commercial TV and Gaelic language broadcasting. The BBC’s Charter Review
has stimulated an unprecedented level of Scottish Government and parliamentary interest, as well as some public debate. Therefore, in addition to general
questions about the future of public service broadcasting finance and the BBC’s scope and scale, the complex politics of the multinational British state have
increasing implications for the future structure and governance of the BBC and the wider broadcasting market place. The Scottish debate’s call for federal‑
ization is ahead of the UK’s constitutional development. This paper will analyse the forces at play in the dual Scottish public sphere and cultural space, as
an instance of complex media politics than can be engendered by nations without states.
PN 155
Broadcasting, the Welfare State and Media Ecosystems: Changes and Challenges for Public Service Broadcasting
T. Syvertsen
1
, V.S. Sundet
2
1
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
2
Lillehammer University College, Lillehammer, Norway
One of the most salient issues in todays’media landscape regards public service broadcasting. In many Western countries, public service broadcasters have
historically been seen as cornerstones of the public sphere, and, in the Nordic countries, also as key welfare state institutions. This paper uses the case
of the British and Scandinavian public broadcasters—BBC, NRK, DR and SVT—to discuss the changing political context for public service broadcasting in
the second decade of the 21
st
century. Focusing on the recent political reviews of public broadcasting in these four countries, the paper discusses to what
degree there is evidence that traditional characteristics of the welfare state, such as universality, public private cooperation and a positive view of state
intervention, continue to impact on the governance of public broadcasting, and what can explain national similarities and differences?Theoretically, the pa‑
per draws on perspectives that all emphasise the strong links between public service broadcasting and other aspect of culture and society: The “advocacy
coalitions”-perspective (Bulck & Donders, 2014) emphasises that the legitimacy of public service broadcasting is dependent on value coalitions extending
beyond the realm of media policy; the “media welfare state”-perspective (Syvertsen, Enli, Mjøs, & Moe, 2014) discusses public service broadcasting as
a central welfare state institution; and the “media ecosystem”-perspective (Raats & Pauwels, 2013) discusses the impact of public service broadcasters
on the surrounding media, including the role as standard-setter, innovator and facilitator for private media companies. Based on analyses of political
documents and the public debate, the paper finds that the discussion about public service easily becomes a fulcrum for more overreaching debates about
the future of media policy, the media ecosystem and the welfare state. A burning issue in all four national debates is how to secure good conditions for pub‑
lic media in the light of profound technological and economic change, while at the same time securing the livelihood of commercial media. The paper finds
the issue of public-private cooperation to be increasingly important in all four countries.Yet, the comparison also identifies important differences. In Britain,
the debate is more confrontational, and the government has a stronger agenda of innovation and of challenging the BBC. Although this puts the incumbent
BBC at risk, it could arguably be seen as a policy in favour of developing stronger private institutions and innovation in the creative industry. In the Scandi‑
navian countries, the same arguments, stakeholders and positions are present, but in these countries the positions gradually become less confrontational
and more consensual in the course of the political consultation and negotiation over the future of public broadcasting. The Scandinavian discourse is more
geared towards continuity and more positive to the tradition of public service broadcasting than the British discourse: Whereas the consensus in the Nordic
countries promotes a higher degree of stability for public service, the controversies in the British debate may lead to more fundamental change.