Lecture 12/09/2011- Dr Bruce Redman "Public Media"

What is Public Media?
A media whose mission is to serve or engage a public.

Who are the major players Australian Media Landscape?
ABC (founded in 1929 as a "nation building project"), ABC 2, ABC 3, SBS (launched in 1980 as a "multicultural" channel), SBS2, Triple J, ABC Radios

Who are the major players International Media Landscape?
BBC & 4 (Britain- Licence Funded), PBS & NPR(USA), TVNZ (NZ), CBC (Canada), DR (Denmark), arte (France), RTHK(Hong Kong), NHK(Japan).

Community Media in the Australian Media Landscape-
4ZZZfm.org.au
31 Digital- Community TV

What is Public Media's role in a democratic society?
It is media that is in support of public and democratic processes.

Public Media should have public value.
 'Public Value' (According to the BBC) is-
1. Embedding a ' public service ethos'
2. Value for licence fee/ or tax payers money
3. Weighing public value against market impact.
4. Public Consultation- Two way street. Influenced a lot by social media and advisory boards.

 Broadcasting Research Unit states that Public Media should contain the following traits.

• Geographic universality
• Universality of appeal
• Special provision for minorities
• Special relationship to the sense of national identity and community
• Distance from all vested interests
• Universality of payment
• Competition in good programming, rather the competition for numbers
• Liberate rather than restrict

What are the various functions of Public Media?

• Nation Building- NBNCo
• National Heritage- Anzac Day Parade, Nature, Historical Figures
• National Identity- Who are we?
• National Conversations- Sport

Commercialisation of Public Media-
BBC worldwide- commercial arm of BBC, makes around two hundred million dollars a year.
The World Game Shop- powered by rebel sport
National Datacast
ABC Commercial- ABC Shops etc

A key mechanism of Public Media is news and news CAFF.
For example:
41% of Australians get their news from the ABC
Each week 12.6 million Australians watch ABC TV.
The ABC is only source of radio news analysis and lengthy interviews with politicians.

Public Media News Style-

• Serious
• Broadsheet style (vs tabloid Style)
• Importance over interest
• Considered (not quick and unchecked)

This often leads people to thinking that Public Media is-

• Boring
• Elitist
• Limited Interest
• Poorly Presented.

The different aspects of Public Media-

• The Press- News etc
• Entertainment- Julia Show, Inspector Rex etc
• Utility- Weather etc
• Social-  Cooking etc
• Propaganda- For example CCTV and Fox News Channel

To do list and challenges for Public Media-

• Produce quality
• Maintain relevance
• Engage in the democratic process
• Be independent from funders and or journalists own opinions