TEXTE 26 - Between the Fourth Estate and the Fifth Power by the Lounge interactive design

RIPE@2022 PUBLICTEXTEVALUE26

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN EUROPE

BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER CONTRIBUTIONS2022:CONFERENCERIPE

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PUBLIC VALUE FOREWORD

In order to define distinctive media quality Austrian Broadcasting Corporation has created a structure of five Quality Dimensions. Comprehensive media production in TV, radio and online is described along 18 categories to prove how ORF fulfills its Public Service Mission in the context of the current media environment and its challenges.

KLAUS UNTERBERGER KONRAD MITSCHKA ORF PUBLIC VALUE

ORF is required by law to provide comprehensive quality control. In ad dition to the Public Value Report and the Annual Report, this consists primarily of elements created with the help of scientific expertise: The „Audience Panels”, during which the audience‘s opinion on various pro gram pillars is explored, are evaluated by a social science institute. The representative survey on program appreciation, among other things, is conducted by social scientists, as is the testing of the quality profiles - the self-commitments of ORF editors to various program genres. And ORF‘s annual public value study, which has been published for years in coope ration with other European public broadcasters, is entrusted to outstan ding experts, especially from the field of communications science. Not only the ORF-programms with their public mission and remit to inform and educate on TV, radio, and online, but also ORF quality control is thus closely linked to scientific knowledge. Consequently we reacted positively to the request of RIPE founder Greg Lowe and the University of Vienna to hold a separate ORF Day in Vien na for RIPE, the most important scientific conference on public service media. This first day of the conference focuses on the exchange between journalism and science on the conference topic „Between the Fourth Es tate and the Fifth Power”. Two high-ranking panels as well as the key note speech by Patrick Barwise (London Business School) are published on zukunft.ORF.at. In addition, this issue of PUBLIC VALUE TEXTE publi shes the extended abstracts of the scholars invited to the conference. We would like to thank Michael-Bernhard Zita and Regina Außerwöger from the University of Vienna for organizing the conference and all the authors for writing the abstracts. If you want to read the texts online in addition to the print edition, you can find these and other contributions online at zukunft.ORF.at.

CORPORATE VALUE TRANSPARENCYINNOVATIONCOMPETENCE

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QUALITY DIMENSIONS

More information, statements and documents you may find on http://zukunft.ORF.at.

NATION VALUE ADDEDIDENTITYVALUEFEDERALISM

SCIENCE AND PSM: A CONNECTION

INDIVIDUAL VALUE EDUCATIONENTERTAINMENTSERVICETRUSTANDSCIENCERESPONSIBILITY

“TEXTE” publishes contributions from international and Austrian media experts focusing on Public Service Media quality.

ORFRESPONSIBLE:HammerAlbrechtGeneraldirektion

PUBLISHED AND PRODUCED BY: Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF Würzburggasse 30 1136 Wien

INTERNATIONAL VALUE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

ORFDESIGN:Marketing & Creation GmbH & Co KG,

Public Value

THE POLITICS OF TAIWAN PSM COLLABORATING WITH CIVILSOCIETY ORGANIZATION IN FACTCHECKINGHAMILTON CHENG, FUJEN UNIVERSITY

URBANO REVIGLIO, UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO JANNICK SORENSEN, AALBORG UNIVERSITY

PROMOTING PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA THROUGH COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION MARTA RODRÍGUEZ-CASTRO, UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA • SARA PÉREZ-SEIJO, UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA • PAULO FAUSTINO, UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO

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ACCOUNTABILITY79IN

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN PSM NEWS: THE AI INTELLIGIBILITYAGENCY PROBLEM AND THEFUTURE OF PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM DR. BRONWYN JONES, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH • DR. RHIANNE JONES, UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD • PROF. EWA LUGER, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN EUROPE IN A FIELD OF TENSION BETWEEN PUBLIC MANDATE AND PLATFORM ECONOMY DR. NATASCHA ZEITEL-BANK, UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK 116

FOURTH ESTATE AND INNOVATION: NEWS PERSONALISATION AS A CHALLENGE AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ANNIKA SEHL, UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN • MAXIMILIAN EDER, UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN 90

WORK ENVIRONMENT IN JOURNALISM: A STUDY OF THREE COUNTRIES IN PANDEMIC LARS NORD, MID SWEDEN UNIVERSITY • MERCEDES DE LUIS ANDRÉS, INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES/ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN

MEDIA UNDER PRESSURE - THE AUSTRIAN CORRUPTION SCANDAL AND THE TRUST IN MEDIA COVERAGE GISELA REITER, UNIVERSITÄT WIEN

PERCEPTION56AND

CONSTRUCTING ADAPTIVE INDICATORS TO CLASSIFY MEDIA SYSTEMS TYPOLOGIES OLGA BLASCO, UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA • VICENTE LIERN, UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA • MARTA RODRIGUEZ-CASTRO, UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA 150

160

BEING RIGHTLY INEXACT – JOURNALISTIC EXPERTISE AND A DIGITAL PUBLIC MIRCO LIEFKE, FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN • MATTHEW MAHLER, YALE UNIVERSITY

BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND INNOVATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON GUIDELINES FOR PSM MULTIPLATFORM JOURNALISM DANIELE FERREIRA SERIDÓRIOS, TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY • DOMINIK SPECK, TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY • DANILO ROTHBERG, UNESP SÃO PAULO STATE UNIVERSITY • SIVALDO PEREIRA DA SILVA, UNB - UNIVERSITY OF BRASÍLIA

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN DENMARK, UK AND GREECE: ACHILLEAS KARADIMITRIOU, UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS

PLURALISM AS A POLICY GOAL. A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO PUBLIC MEDIA REGULATION ON VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY MICHAEL PAKVIS, IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL • TIM RAATS0, IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

THE RISE OF IRANIAN PRIVATE MEDIA PLATFORMS AND CHALLENGING THE IRIB’S CONSTITUTIONALMONOPOLISTICPOSITION

FOR ALL OF US, FOR EACH OF US YLE AND THE USE OF AI BY PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA: TESTING A THREELAYERED MODEL HILDE VAN DEN BULCK, DREXEL UNIVERSITY • HOROWITZ MINNA, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI • MARKO MILOSAVLJEVI UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA 97

DATA DRIVEN INNOVATION PROCESSES FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA VIA HETERODOX ECONOMICS HANNA JEMMER, TALLINN UNIVERSITY • INDREK IBRUS, TALLINN UNIVERSITY

DEFINING WHAT’S NEWS PHIL NAPOLI, DUKE UNIVERSITY/NORTH CAROLINA

THE MOST TRUSTED OF THE LEAST TRUSTED: IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA BETWEEN SECURITY AND PRECARITY MARK CULLINANE, TU DUBLIN

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA AND FUNDING OF THE FOURTH ESTATE: PERCEPTION OF THE AUDIENCE ON PAYING LICENCE FEE IN THREE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ANNIKA SEHL, UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN 86

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BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER CONSERVATION AND INNOVATION IN PSM JOURNALISM ELVIRA GARCIA DE TORRES, CEU CARDENAL HERRERA UNIVERSITY • JOSÉ MARÍA LEGORBURU, CEU SAN PABLO UNIVERSITY • DAVID PARRA VALCÁRCE, COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID • CONCHA EDO BOLÓS, COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID

PRACTICE OF JOURNALISM ETHICS IN THE CONTENTIOUS AGE HAILEY HYUN-KYUNG OH, SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY REPUBLIC OF KOREA

GHANA CORPORATIONBROADCASTINGANDTHEFUTURE OF PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM KOBINA BEDU-ADDO, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER • UK/ GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM, GHANA 147

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WHO’S THERE? PUBLICS, CITIZENS, CONSUMERS OR USERS? ‘IMAGINED PLATFORM AUDIENCES’ BY SWISS PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA FIONA FEHLMANN, ZÜRCHER HOCHSCHULE FÜR ANGEWANDTE WISSENSCHAFTEN

SADEGH EMAMIAN SEYED MOHAMAD, SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY • SEYED MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN KHALILI, SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY • ARIAN EBRAHIMINEJAD, SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

FROM PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA TO PUBLIC SERVICE PLATFORMS: CATALINA IORDACHE, IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL • TIM RAATS, IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

PLATFORM DEPENDENCY AND PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS DELIVERY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ALESSANDRO D’ARMA, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER • MARIA MICHALIS, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

MASTERING METRICS: PRACTICES AND VALUES OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS PRODUCTION MARIA CONSTANTINOU, UNIVERSITY OF NIKOSIA

THE PLATFORMIZATION OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION, THE CASE OF FINLAND TUIJA ALTO, TAMPERE UNIVERSITY 145

PARTY FOR PROFESSIONALISEDPROFESSIONALISMEVERYBODY?VS.AMATEURS IN

PUBLIC VALUE CONTENT

THE SITUATION OF JOURNALISTS IN POLISH PUBLIC TELEVISION (TVP) — THE MANAGEMENT OF A PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTION AGNIESZKA W GLI SKA, UNIVERSITY OF LOWER SILESIA 102

VALUES AND TRUST: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING AND STRENGTHENING THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA JOURNALISM MINNA HOROWITZ, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI • ALESSANDRO D’ARMA, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

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PATH DEPENDENCE OR PATH CREATION IN DATA-DRIVEN INNOVATION? CASE STUDY EVIDENCE FROM THE EUROPEAN PSM NEWS MEDIA INDUSTRY PAUL CLEMENS MURSCHETZ, PARACELSUS MEDIZINISCHE PRIVATUNIVERSITÄT SALZBURG • KAREN DONDERS, UNIVERSITY (ELCHE, SPAIN) • JOSÉ A. GARCÍA-AVILÉS, UNIVERSITY (ELCHE, SPAIN) • MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ, UNIVERSITY (ELCHE, SPAIN) • MARKO ALA FOSSI, TAMPERE UNIVERSITY FINLAND

DESTROYING PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES IN AN EU MEMBER STATE: THE CASE OF HUNGARY GÁBOR POLYÁK, MERTEK MEDIA MONITOR, EÖTVÖS LÓRÁND UNIVERSITY • ÁGNES URBÁN, MERTEK MEDIA MONITOR, CORVINUS UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST 93

THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST DR. IRVING WOLTHER, CULTURAL SCIENTIST 105

PLATFORMS‘ GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF ONLINE PROMINENCE OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA CONTENT KRISZTINA ROZGONY, SENIOR SCIENTIST, INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES (CMC)/ AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 83

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN THE CROSSHAIRS: NATIONAL POLICYMAKING PROCESS, THE EU COMPETITION REGULATION, AND THE CASE OF YLE’S TEXT-BASED NEWS ONLINE MARKO ALA-FOSSI, TAMPERE UNIVERSITY • MINNA HOROWITZ, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI • KARI KARPPINENM, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI • RIKU NEUVONEN, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI • HANNU NIEMINEN, UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI 46

DIS/ENABLING ACCOUNTABILITY: A STUDY OF ISSUES, LACKS, AND POTENTIALS OF POLICY COMPLIANCE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ON YOUTUBE PETER KAHLERT, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH • SUZETTE KAHLERT, UNIVERSITÄT KASSEL • MARYAM TATARI, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH 38

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA, NEWS USE, POLARIZATION, AND MEDIA FREEDOM SERVET YANATMA, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (LSE). • ATTE JÄÄSKELÄINEN, LUT UNIVERSITY, FINLAND 110

We relied on Aufderheide, Lieberman, Alkhellouf and Ugbomar (2020) vision of podcast as public media content based on the social value of informative, public affairs and educational content it provides, menti oning the „rich array of public service functions of podcasting as well as its capacity for social importance and public service” (p. 1685). In fact, podcasts published by private actors such as „The Daily” by The New York Times function as public media in a double sense, since it is distributed by a public corporation. Regardless of the differences, the private sector is a source of inspiration for public corporations when in novating, generally by studying the market for new products (Sehl and Cornia, 2021).

To provide an answer to the research questions, we analyzed media pro duction challenges affecting public podcasts through 15 in-depth, semistructured interviews with Spanish reporters from national and regio nal media who produce podcasts on news, public affairs or educational content, with special emphasis on written. The sample included those responsible for the daily or weekly services of El País, El Mundo, El De bate, ABC, Las Provincias and The Objective, as well as pioners in daily services. Other interviewees were Antonio Rubio, winner of the Ondas International Podcast 2022 Award for ‚GAL. El triángulo‘, Pablo Romero, author of Las tres muertes de mi padre ( Ondas Award 2018 and „Best Podcast of the Year Apple Spain” 2018) as well as journalists who have made special reports linked to current affairs in Ser Euskadi and La Van

ELVIRA GARCIA DE TORRES CEU CARDENAL HERRERA UNIVERSITY JOSÉ MARÍA LEGORBURU CEU SAN PABLO UNIVERSITY

DAVID PARRA VALCÁRCE COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID CONCHA EDO BOLÓS COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID

Since its invention in 2001 by Dave Winer and Adam Curry (Nuzum, 2019), after being baptized by Ben Hammersley in 2004 and promoted by Steve Jobs in 2005, podcasting has gone through different phases of development: from the purely experimental era to the „second era” (Bo nini, 2015), marked by the success of serials and the generalization of connectivity until today´s big podcasting (Quah, 2019), characterized by millionaire investments. Recently, Aufderheide, Lieberman, Alkhallouf and Ugboma (2020) question whether after podcasting has become an economically viable part of the media landscape its public service func tions are at risk in news media private sector, -this last question being the object of analysis of this study.

Our reseach questions were: (RQ1) what elements of public service can be found in today native podcasts produced by Spanish news media in the private sector and (RQ2) how the commercial and service functions are currently balanced, in a context of large investments and integration in the business model of private media. Our main hypothesis (H1) is that at the current stage, the value of public service has not been canniba lized by commercial interests, since production is at a very early stage of development.

ardian had already experimented with it in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and USA Today in 2015 (Gallego, 2010 and Martínez-Costa and Lus, 2019). The daily podcasts do not account even for 1% of the total, but already represent around 10% of downloads in Australia, the US and France (Ne wman and Gallo, 2020). Public radio corporations are also dedicating resources - to different extents- as part of their public service mandate (Martín-Caro, 2000; Winocur, 2009).

2. Methods

The warp speed changes in the news media landscape -due to the digital transformation- constitute a challenge for both old and new generation media outlets, especially, those aimed at demanding audiences who seek rigorously produced news contents, ready for consumers at any time of the day. News media face the challenge by experimenting with formats that meet this demand, altering their news production cycle as well as the newsroom profiles, roles, tempo and skills such as breaking news alerts, newsletters and podcasts, being the latest the particular object of interest in this research.

BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER CONSERVATION AND INNOVATION IN PSM JOURNALISM

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

1. Research Questions

Podcasts are associated to brand-value, quality and loyalty, key elements to exercise a greater control over revenues and reduce the dependence on digital platforms (Bell, Hardstone, 2019; Nafría, 2017 and 2018) and print and native news media, with little or no audio heritage, are willing to innovate and explore commercial and editorial possibilities of native podcast. Among the different podcast formats newspapers are exploring -which include news summaries, micro-bulletins and talk shows (New man and Gallo, 2020)- the „daily” stands out. It owes its name to the successful podcast ‚The Daily‘, aired by The New York Times since Feb ruary 2017, but it was not the first, as The Daily Telegraph and The Gu

It is relevant for future research to follow up the evolution of the public service function of podcasting in private media and other providers as well as measuring the impact national and regional public corporations in podcast production to identify the threat of commercialization and impact of the logic of the market in the private sector as well as the op portunities for journalism.

guardia. Three parameters were examined in the interviews: profile/ skills challenges, production and public service dimension. When explo ring the issue -the elements of public service- we took into consideration to establish the guidelines the approach and topics suggested by Aufder heide, Lieberman, Alkhellouf and Ugbomar (2020) and Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021´ findings.

Podcasts open a window to topics that do not find their space in the writ ten media, stories and not so often heard voices: „That is the idea, to go to the original voice.” Some of the journalists interviewed mentioned the search for diversity, usually in relation to gender, but also to age and other socio-demographic characteristics: migrants, people with functio nal diversity, children. Journalists in the newsroom spontaneously par ticipate by suggesting topics and even voice cuts to those responsible for the Thebulletin.areaoftraining and personnel presented negative connotations as most journalists not only lacked specialized training but devote long hours to podcast production carrying out scripting, production, editing, voice-over and recording tasks. Those with experience in the audiovisual sector, radio, television or even knowledge of the film industry have gre ater resources for editing and producing podcasts but most find resour ces on their own and use the most basic sound editing programs as is it now that the media begin to invest resources in training.

3. Discussion

Fieldwork confirmed the main hypothesis. Journalists expressed a sense of freedom when it comes to selecting topics or the focus: „I select the to pics and the approach. In other projects I participate in the evaluation, if we give the green light or not to the story.” Another interviewee clarified, mentioning the context: „It‘s important to gain or retain subscribers, but in both podcasts we‘re at an early stage where this doesn‘t matter so much.” Most journalists discover the creative possibilities of podcasting and a greater freedom compared to producing content for print media. In the words of one of the journalists interviewed: „It is an attraction, an incentive; the day you have to record is probably the worst day for you (...) but I enjoy recording it and I enjoy, above all, doing that exercise I mentioned before of reflection”. The Guardian and The New York Times were spontaneously mentioned as major references, which reinforces the public service value associated to podcast by professionals, and made explicit by all of them. A minority of journalists interviewed mentioned editorial line as a framework or commercial or marketing interests.

This research is part of the project „Media alliances as a survival engine for journalism against disintermediation and disinformation. Consorti ums and collaborative journalistic projects” financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain (Reference PID2021125724OB-C21).

In short, both the overload of work - which journalists take on because it is an assignment together with the fact that it is a format they enjoy because of the creativity and possibilities for exploration - and training have a negative impact in our assessment, but otherwise everything in dicates that at the current stage, the value of service is not compromised at this point in the private sector analyzed: „... we don‘t discard a project just because it will have few listeners. We think of the listener to propose topics that interest him and look for the right angle. Luckily (I think it‘s lucky), the format is still in its infancy and that‘s why we are still free from the logic and pressure of hits or audiences”.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

4. Funding

• Newman, Nic y Gallo, Nathan (2019): News podcasts and the opportunities for publishers. Reu ters Institute for the Study of Journalism - University of Oxford.

• Martínez-Costa, Pilar y Lus, Eva (2019): “El éxito de los pódcast de noticias y su impacto en los medios de comunicación digital”. Miguel Hernández Communication Journal, 10(2), pp.323-340. https://dx.doi.org/10.21134/mhcj.v10i0.314

• Nuzum, Eric (2019): Make noise: a creator`s guide to podcasting and great audio storytelling. Workman Publishing.

• Berry, Richard (2015): “A golden age of podcasting? Evaluating Serial in the context of po dcast histories”. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 22(2), pp. 170-78. https://doi.org/101080/19376529.2015.1083363

While the reasons for the erosion of trust in news are complex and multifaceted, one prominent factor is the rise of the “Fifth Estate” of social media and digital platforms, challenging and partly replacing the “Fourth Estate” of professional journalism that in democratic societies has nor matively performed a watchdog function. Today’s digital platforms and social media have become major news sources (e.g., Newman et al., 2022) while indiscriminately providing massive amounts of information and entertainment, professional and amateur content, and real and false information. They are also thought to create information silos instead of a shared public arena (e.g., Muhammed & Mathew, 2022). The Fifth Estate, then, is not based on trusted facts and an imperative to inform ci tizens but on surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2019) that aims to achieve the highest possible engagement in order to collect the most user data for commercial gain.

In this essay, we consider how PSM organisations can build trust in news media by adhering to their essential values, such as universality and in dependence – as well as how those values can be challenging to main tain, with potentially detrimental effects on trust. Trust is a key requi rement for PSM, as well as an asset to their legitimisation strategies. At the same time, PSM can be a precious tool for democratic governments aiming to increase levels of trust in news media and other knowledge institutions, one of the pre-conditions for good governance.

• Sehl, Annika and Cornia, Alessio (2021). Do Public Service Media Innovate? An Analysis of Pro duct Development by European PSM. Journalism Studies 22:11, 1469-1486.

• Aufderheide, Patricia, Lieberman, David, Alkhellouf, Atika and Ugboma, Jiji Maijiri (2020). Po dcasting as Public Media: The Future of U.S. News, Public Affairs, and Educational Podcasts. International Journal of Commnication 14, 1683-1704.

• Newman, Nic y Gallo, Nathan (2020): Daily news podcasts: building new habits in the shadow of coronavirus. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism - University of Oxford.

• Winocur, Rosalía (2009): Ciudadanos mediáticos: la construcción de lo público en la radio. Ge disa.

• Bonini, Tiziano (2015): “The second age of podcasting: reframing podcasting as a new digital mass medium”. Quaderns del CAC, 41(18), pp. 21-30.

• https://doi.org/10.5209/dcin.67234

• Legorburu, José M.; Edo, Concha y García-González, Aurora (2021): “Podcasting as an oppor tunity to recover and renew the audio feature genre in Spanish. A case study of Cuonda and Podium Podcast”. The Radio Journal. International Studies of Radio & Audio Media, 19(2), pp. 311-326. https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao_0046_1

• Martín-Caro, Miguel A. (2000): La radio del siglo XXI : un servicio público en la economía global. Fragua.

VALUES AND TRUST: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING AND STRENGTHENING THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA JOURNALISM

ALESSANDRO D’ARMA UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

MINNA UNIVERSITYHOROWITZOFHELSINKI

• Gallego, Juan I. (2010): Podcasting. Nuevos modelos de distribución para los contenidos sono ros. Barcelona: UOC.

• Leoz, Asier y Pedrero, Luis M. (2022): “Audio storytelling innovation in a digital age: the case of daily news podcast in Spain”. Information, 13(4), 204. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13040204

• Quah, Nicholas (27.03.2018): “Homepages may be dead, but are daily news podcasts the new front page?”. NiemanLab. are-daily-news-podcasts-are-the-new-front-page/https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/03/homepages-may-be-dead-but-

• Sullivan, John L. (2018): “Podcast movement: Aspirational labour in the formalisation of pod casting as a cultural industry”. En Llinares, Dariio; Fox, Neil y Berry, Richard (Eds.), Podcasting: New Aural Cultures and Digital Media. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 35-56.

Trust in the media and journalism is in decline. The most recent edition of the global Digital News Report reveals that in 2022, compared to the year before, trust in the news fell in almost half of the 46 countries that were surveyed (Newman et al., 2022). Even so, major recent crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have yet again proven that a healthy degree of trust in knowledge institutions, including the media, is necessary to ensure the proper functioning of democracies (see Bennett et al., 1999; Tsfati & Cohen, 2005).

References

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• Lindgren, Mia (2016): “Personal narrative journalism and podcasting”. The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 14(1), pp. 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1386/ rjao.14.1.23_1

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

• Correyero, Beatriz y Baladrón, Antonio (2007): “El podcasting en los medios de comunicación españoles” En Verón, José J. y Sabes, Fernando (Coords.), Presente y futuro de la comunicación digital. Asociación de la Prensa de Aragón, pp. 145-169.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

• EBU (2012). Public service values. Editorial principles and guidelines. European Broadcasting Union.

• Muhammed T, S., & Mathew, S. K. (2022). The disaster of misinformation: A review of research in social media. International Journal of Data Science and Analytics, 13(4), 271–285. https://doi. org/10.1007/s41060-022-00311-6

The question of trust in PSM is urgent for PSM organisations as well as for societies in which PSM operate. Globally, independent and trustwor thy journalism is becoming a rare commodity (Dragomir & Söderström, 2021), and PSM are one of its institutional protectors. There are some signs that the gains in trust in journalism achieved during the pandemic are beginning to fade (Newman et al., 2022). Even if news is increasin gly consumed online, often in an environment created and controlled by global commercial platforms, PSM can still seize opportunities for trust-building. The values articulated by the EBU create a road map for emphasising the distinct trustworthiness of PSM.

FROM PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA TO PUBLIC SERVICE PLATFORMS

The research employs a comparative case study analysis of five broad caster video-on-demand services (BVOD) in Western and Northern Eu rope: Belgium-Flanders (VRT.NU), Belgium-Wallonia (RTBF Auvio), Fin land (Yle Areena), Ireland (RTÉ Player), and Norway (NRK TV). The cases were chosen based on their similarities, such as media systems, small market characteristics, substantial market share and audience reach,

• Tsfati, Y., & Cohen, J. (2005). Democratic consequences of hostile media perceptions. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 10(4), 28–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1081180x05280776

CATALINA IORDACHE IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

The shift from analogue to digital has seen public service media organi sations (PSM) expand their offerings to mobile and on-demand delivery (Jakubowicz, 2008; Lowe & Bardoel, 2008; Moe, 2008). Recent develop ments in the media landscape have also signalled the need for these or ganisations to reposition themselves as platforms. This platformisation process (Evens & Donders, 2018) comes with both challenges and op portunities to reach their public service remit. Previous contributions in PSM scholarly work have focused, amongst others, on existing pressures resulting from platformisation, including managing algorithms, recom mender systems and content personalisation, strategies to reach (young) audiences, challenges related to organisational transformation, the transposition of PSM strategy in an online portal logic, and competition with global subscription-video-on-demand platforms (see, e.g., Bruun, 2021; D’Arma et al., 2021; Donders, 2019, 2021; Lassen & Sørensen, 2021; Raats & Jensen, 2021).

• Bennett, S., Rhine, S. L., Flickinger, R. S., & Bennett, L. L. M. (1999). ‘Video Malai se’ revisited. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 4(4), 8–23. https://doi. org/10.1177/1081180x9900400402

We argue that, based on what research tells us about the multidimensi onality of trust and audiences’ relationship with PSM, we can connect these six core principles with different aspects of trustworthiness. This connection can help PSM organisations evaluate and strengthen their internal strategies. More broadly, the framework highlights the crucial role that PSM organisations, driven by these core values, can play in building media trust in European democracies.

• Dragomir, M., & Söderström, A. (2021). The state of state media. A global analysis of the edito rial independence of state media and an introduction of a new state media typology. Central European University Democracy Institute. ment/article/2091/thestateofstatemedia.pdfhttps://cmds.ceu.edu/sites/cmcs.ceu.hu/files/attach

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References

Against this backdrop, we outline a framework for understanding the relationship between PSM values and trust, reflect on the framework in the light of what is known about trust in journalism, and discuss the strategic implications of this relationship for PSM – and for democracy at large. The essay is organised around the core PSM values identified by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU, 2012): universality, indepen dence, excellence, diversity, accountability, and innovation.

• Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. Public Affairs.

Building on Napoli (1998), D’Arma et al. (2021) identify a series of strate gic responses of PSM to the growing popularity of video streaming servi ces: complacency, resistance, differentiation, mimicry, and collaborati on. Based on this framework, the paper focuses on both the operational and strategic decisions taken by PSM in their process of platformisation, as well as the more fundamental ones. Our overarching research ques tion (RQ) is: How does platformisation reshape public service media’s core remit and values, and how are they transposed in their online servi ces and offerings? This is done by analysing (1) how PSM organisations position themselves online by identifying and comparing which of the strategies above they employ; (2) to what extent they adopt a platform logic, specifically through the use of personalisation and algorithmic cu ration; and (3) to what extent these platforms complement, overlap with, or contradict PSM’s role and remit.

TIM RAATS IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

• Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Robertson, C., Eddy, K., & Nielsen, R. K. (2022). Reuters Institute digi tal news report 2022. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Third, although some require the use of a user account, all services are freely available to their citizens. Universal access is considered a priority and, albeit limited, mechanisms of accessibility are increasingly present

Overall, the five case studies apply various combinations of the strategies discussed by D’Arma et al. (2021). First, most of the services were laun ched relatively late, and features enabling user preferences and enlar ging user comfort, or large-scale expansion of catalogues beyond simply offering catch-up was added only in recent years. This reflects attitudes of complacency in the late launch and development of some of the BVOD services, as well as their expansion from a catch-up service to a standalo ne streaming platform. Path-dependency also plays a role in this, as the linear channels of most cases studied still hold strong market positions. With the exception of NRK, this has delayed the shift to online as ondemand presence was not considered a priority until more recently.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

strong domestic competition, and clear commitment to a multi-platform strategy (Puppis, 2009; Syvertsen et al., 2019; Van den Bulck et al., 2018). PSM concepts such as diversity, universality, access, and trust are integ rated into the platform logic through a variety of means and approaches, ranging from embracing and expanding technological affordances and tools to different levels of transparency and caution in using algorithms and personalisation. Nevertheless, the process also involves a number of challenges, stemming primarily from operational innovation, building scale, and content curation and differentiation. Platforms also provide PSM with novel opportunities for the interweaving of information, edu cation, and entertainment yet these are still used at their full potential, as the implementation of digital strategies is still work in progress in most cases. Innovation is also seen as a core value of PSM (Donders & Van den Bulck, 2016), not only technological, but also creative and social.

Fourth, despite PSM’s focus on news and current affairs programming, all of the analysed platforms clearly prioritise popular, entertainment content on the forefront of the platform, thereby presumably getting the lowest threshold possible to attract and engage with viewers. News content itself is available on the platforms but is often less prominent, as all of the investigated cases also link to separate PSM news websi tes. As such, PSM players tend to mimic SVOD strategies by prominently featuring their most attractive titles. The strategic focus on high-budget drama with global appeal can also be seen as a form of mimicry, as pro ducers and broadcasters acknowledge that Netflix has raised viewers’ expectations about domestic content, calling for ‘bolder’ and ‘edgier’ themes and storytelling (Econopolis/SMIT, 2017; Raats & Jensen, 2021).

Second, the case comparison shows a clear prioritisation of producing and delivering content of national interest and from local producers, such as current events, documentary and human-interest programming, and domestic drama. The promotion of a national culture and identity is also increasingly linked to the economic objective of strengthening local or do mestic audiovisual production (Bardoel & d’Haenens, 2008; Wauters and Raats, 2018), which serves different goals and means than those emplo yed by foreign or commercial streaming services, who aim for transnatio nal expansion and appeal. TV drama has always been strongly associated with local content and commissions of PSM in Europe, and they remain the largest investors in domestic fiction in their respective markets, parti cularly in Norway, Finland, and Flanders (Raats & Jensen, 2021).

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Finally, other mimicry strategies used are identified at the technological level, through design and interfaces, user log-in, the use of algorithms and personalised recommendations. PSM are also encouraging audience to binge-watch by offering box sets and specific labels/categories, as well as making use of discoverability and prominence tools such as the autoplay function, particularly for the ‘play next episode’ option. At content level, short-form content and web-series are also used as a form of mi micry and competition with video-sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, in an attempt to appeal to young audiences. In that regard, differences between the players were limited, as all players set out from both a design and features that mimic the interfaces of services such as Netflix. Differences between players are most visible in the catalogue sizes and the positioning of specific public service or content aimed at younger audiences. As this study only briefly considered general positi oning strategies, future work could focus on examining personalisation and curation strategies through catalogue analysis.

on the BVOD platforms, especially for news content and current affairs programming. Universal appeal is reached through quality content such as accurate and impartial news, current events and topics of national/ regional interest, human interest programming and documentaries fo cused on topics relevant to the target audience. In the case of some public broadcasters, users can decide on whether to create an account. If they refrain, this also limits personalisation and suggested content, as user data is not processed or stored. The Belgian services were the only ones that required the creation of a user account to access catalogue content. Through their emphasis on local investments and universal access, as well as focus on delivering content of national interest, PSM show clear the differentiation strategies, as described by Napoli (1998).

• Raats, T., & Jensen, P. M. (2021). The Role of Public Service Media in Sustaining TV Drama in Small Markets. Television & New Media, 22(7), 835–855.

• Bardoel, J., & d’Haenens, L. (2008). Reinventing public service broadcasting in Europe: Pros pects, promises and problems. Media, Culture & Society, 30(3), 337–355.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

As per tools, open data movements stress the use of public data and sha ring data. Its openness and transparency propositions mean that PSM organisations not collecting their own data could rely on public data to encourage data driven innovation. Blockchain technology shares the openness and transparency objective but provides a technological layer to create further trust, clarity in IPR management. Additionally, the no tion of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) means that de centralised setups of organisations as foreseen by innovation commons and cross innovation theories can be employed. Thirdly, ABM serves as an analytics tool for researchers and PSM to assess complex innovation processes within and around PSM organisations so that elements of data driven innovation patterns can be identified more clearly and organisati onal change geared towards improved innovation processes can be more

DATA DRIVEN INNOVATION PROCESSES FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA VIA HETERODOX ECONOMICS

• Van den Bulck, H., D’Haenens, L., & Raats, T. (2018). Public service media in Western Europe today: Ten countries compared. In L. D’Haenens, H. Sousa, & J. Trappel (Eds.), Comparative Media Policy, Regulation and Governance in Europe (pp. 93–116).

• Donders, K., & Van den Bulck, H. (2016). Decline and fall of public service media values in the international content acquisition market: An analysis of small public broadcasters acquiring BBC Worldwide content. European Journal of Communication, 31(3), 299–316.

• Bruun, H. (2021). From scheduling to trans-programming. Media, Culture & Society, 43(4), 613–628.

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• D’Arma, A., Raats, T., & Steemers, J. (2021). Public service media in the age of SVoDs: A compa rative study of PSM strategic responses in Flanders, Italy and the UK. Media, Culture & Society, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720972909

• Donders, K. (2019). Public service media beyond the digital hype: Distribution strategies in a platform era. Media, Culture & Society, 41(7), 1011–1028.

• Moe, H. (2008). Dissemination and dialogue in the public sphere: A case for public service me dia online. Media, Culture & Society, 30(3), 319–336.

• Napoli, P. M. (1998). Evolutionary theories of media institutions and their responses to new tech nologies. In L. Lederman (Ed.), Communication Theory: A Reader (pp. 317–329). Kendall Hunt.

• Evens, T., & Donders, K. (2018). Platform power and policy in transforming television markets. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

• Puppis, M. (2009). Media Regulation in Small States. International Communication Gazette, 71(1–2), 7–17.

• Syvertsen, T., Donders, K., Enli, G., & Raats, T. (2019). Media disruption and the public interest. Nordic Journal of Media Studies, 1(1), 11–28.

• Jakubowicz, K. (2008). Public Service Broadcasting in the 21st Century. What Chance for a New Beginning? In G. F. Lowe & J. Bardoel (Eds.), From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media: RIPE@2007 (pp. 29–49). Nordicom.

Examining online portals also sheds light on the commissioning strate gies of PSM, and how they aim to differentiate their services in an incre asingly crowded media market. The paper also clearly supports the ar gument that a shift from a linear to on-demand logic entails much more than simply providing an additional outlet for linear content and exis ting PSM services. Instead, the shift towards BVOD can be considered a crucial step in the transition to an online-first public media logic, and a strategic shift towards PSM operating as platforms, which has repercus sions for the entire production, commissioning, packaging, distribution and organisational management of public service media.

• Donders, K. (2021). Public service media and the law: Theory and practice in Europe (1 Edition). Routledge.

Abstract. This paper explores the possibilities, both theoretical and more practical, to overcome some of the limitations in analysing Public Service Media (PSM) innovation via neoclassical economics. It aims to complement neoclassical theorising focusing on data driven innovation by introducing heterodox ideas. More concretely, innovation commons and cross innovations approaches that are characterised by more dyna mism and contain decentralisation and democratisation principles are discussed as potential frameworks to think somewhat differently about data driven innovation regarding PSM. More practical tools for media organisations to increase their competitiveness via data analytics capa bilities include open data, blockchain technology and agent-based modelling (ABM). There is a clear overlap between the conceptual models and the operational tools. Openness, decentralisation, transparency, trust and dynamism characterise them all while the overall purpose is that they are more likely to allow for public value to occur. Public value is something that sets PSM apart from other more profit-oriented com panies, as informing and educating the public, acting as a fourth estate and providing a platform for discussions are some functions that have historically been also part of PSM responsibilities.

• Lassen, J. M., & Sørensen, J. K. (2021, September 27). From broadcast volume to on-demand value: DR’s strategic response to changes in Danish media policy. RIPE@2021: Public Service Media’s Contribution to Society, Online.

• Lowe, G. F., & Bardoel, J. (Eds.). (2008). From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media: RIPE@2007. Nordicom.

References

• Econopolis/SMIT. (2017). Doorlichting Vlaams audiovisueel beleid. [Evaluation of the Flemish audiovisual policy]. Econopolis/imec-SMIT-VUB. naar-de-leefbaarheid-van-productie-aggregatie-en-distributie-van-audiovisuelehttps://cjsm.be/media/nieuws/onderzoek-

Analysing legacy media operations through the lens of heterodox econo mics is not that new or revolutionary as demonstrated by Cunningham et al. (2015). However, more practical and data-analytics centred ways of using evolutionary or complexity economics to develop micro-economic approaches to media management have not been explicitly introduced before. These possibilities include ideas from different strands of hete rodox economics for media organisations to be considered on the mic ro level. These approaches encompass principles such as transparency, accountability, decentralisation, democratisation which seem to fit the nature of PSM aiming to offer public value in addition to being economi cally feasible.

The role of a firm from an evolutionary economics perspective is viewed differently from neoclassical economics (Winter 2006). As innovation is seen as the central driver of the economy (Perez 2003) this means also looking more closely at the dynamics within a firm (Winter 2006: 140).

worth to look into heterodox economics, more specifically into related theoretical approaches and practical tools that complement neoclassi cal theorisation. This brings newness into analysing PSM.

Innovation commons is a concept suggested by Jason Potts (2019). Potts argues that innovation starts with cooperation where scattered informa tion is made meaningful and uncertainty is overcome (2019:5). He uses

2. Heterodox economics

systematic. Therefore, these frameworks and tools should help to pivot the thinking on how data use could contribute to creating further public value while increasing PSM competitiveness in the current datafied plat form economy.

3. Innovation commons

The focus on profit driven and shareholder centred entrepreneurship largely stems from neoclassical economic theorising. As Nelson & Winter (1982:195) note, the dominance of neo-classical economics has conditioned a strong focus on microeconomic theorising in terms of firms being believed to operate with given technologies and therefore, questions of long-term growth and innovation are difficult to analyse. We posit that neoclassical economics can be viewed as a limited approach due to the focus on profits of firms and the assumption that a free market determines the optimal pricing considering supply and demand (the invisible hand) but it fails to explain innovation in media, information and cultural markets and the changing characteristics that determine economic development and growth over time. Instead, we propose to look beyond neoclassical economics. More specifically, it is

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1. Introduction

From the perspective of complexity economics, Holt et al. (2011) argue that the dynamics in an economy and from the perspective of a company are not linear but complex and ever-changing which therefore undermi nes the linear and fixed models used in neoclassical economics. Further, firms are not isolated from their environment. Their activities are framed by policies, regulations (Perez 2003: 42), cultural norms and history (Cun ningham et al 2015: 67), that is not considered as much in neoclassical microeconomics. Heterodox views increase the complexity when analy sing a firm’s position within the economy. Evolutionary, complexity and institutional economics bring new aspects to the forefront which also justifies looking at legacy media through different lenses. The theoretical approaches that we propose and which take into account these aspects are innovation commons and cross innovations thinking. Practical tools that fit heterodox economics thinking are use of open data, blockchain technology and agent-based modelling (ABM). The conceptual models will be scrutinised first and then we discuss the practical tools and how these could benefit PSM.

In a media scape where global digital platforms have come to domi nate the media market via excessive data analytics capabilities it is worthwhile to investigate how the thinking about public service media (PSM) innovation practices could be pivoted. The focus on data as a competitive advantage has been noted by many authors (Stucke & Gru nes 2016; Ezrachi & Stucke 2016; Khan 2016) and others (Caplan & boyd 2016; Nielsen & Ganter 2017) have witnessed how legacy media inclu ding PSM has lost its role in communicating news, opinion pieces and other media content. Hence, the media industry could be argued to be succumbing to platform power (Evens & Donders 2018). With it comes the need to inquire about data analytics innovation opportunities that legacy media businesses could use in their operations to improve their competitiveness. This is relevant in an information saturated world where social media provides the opportunity for everyone to post an opinion, a news story. This can be seen as contributing to the poten tial formation of echo chambers facilitating societal polarisation. The operating logic of social media and platform economics differs some what from the operating principles of PSM. Concerning platforms, pri vate aims like profitability, market dominance, increasing shareholder satisfaction (Rahman & Thelen 2019) are some of the key objectives. For the latter, the provision of public value and service via informing and educating citizens, offering multiple perspectives and acting as a fourth estate complements economic sustainability criteria.

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4. Cross-innovation

Very often lack of innovation is seen as an investment problem. However, pooling knowledge as a phase 0 is characterized by uncertainty about what information is needed. Therefore, in addition to governments to fund innovative ideas, facilitation of networks is important. Regarding the capabilities to collect and use data (the coordination problem) PSM organisations struggle in the data saturated world dominated by digital platforms. Especially as PSM aims to create public value in addition to private value. This struggle can be viewed as a search for information to identify innovation opportunities and turn them into new products or services. This means that coordination is a central issue as Potts (2019) repeatedly points out. Relevant information, ways to approach and address data sources can be found both within media organisations as well as beyond them. Hence also commons-like groupings can emerge at the boundaries of organisations or inside them calling forward the need to cooperate and facilitate collaboration. Collaborating with external partners is related to the idea of intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship’ has been observed as a strategic way of managing legacy media companies (Küng 2015: 42). As Boyles (2016) observes the internal start-up units in media organisations have emerged and should bring with it a more adap tive spirit that fits the quickly changing digital news ecosystem.

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tral element determining rules and procedures within an organisation (Küng, 2016, p. 114.). These approaches complement the innovation com mons framework by linking it to specific media management strategies.

Cross-innovation happens when media organisations innovate by cros sing sectoral boundaries. The concept was developed by Ibrus (2019b) and it builds on (national) innovation systems theory that itself grew out of evolutionary and institutional economics. But it also links these approaches with cultural and media studies, especially with concepts such as mediatisation, datafication and platformisation. National in novation systems studies address the evolution of institutional systems

Ostrom’s (1990) work on commons where “a commons is a communal property regime over a shared resource in which each stakeholder has an equal interest” which means sharing common resources for the com mon interest of a group (2019:8). Potts (2019:5) brings examples of clubs (computer clubs), movements (Paris cafés for the emergence of impres sionism etc.). In relation to institutional economics, he emphasizes the importance of creating institutions in order to overcome uncertainty and diffusion of information. More importantly, what commons can achieve is better organisation and outcomes when the free-riding problem is re solved (Potts 2019: 11). With appropriate institutional arrangements, it therefore becomes more beneficial to cooperate.

When it comes to facilitating commons-like groups consisting of diffe rent kinds of experts within organisations then Ostrom’s (1990) criteria for assessing cooperation potential in a commons framework become re levant. Therein, the following eight criteria are relevant for our purposes (Potts, 2019, pp. 116-127): boundaries, rules, consent, monitoring, sanc tions, conflict resolution mechanisms, recognition of rights and nested enterprises where each criterion should be clearly defined. For example, for successful functioning of the commons there should be rules, moni toring of rule breaking and sanctions among other mentioned characte ristics to keep the commons effectively functioning.

Organisational set-up of PSM organisations can be analysed via empi rical work to determine whether adhering to the criteria above means a higher likelihood of successful cooperation and innovation. Retroactive inquiries into the dynamics of actual innovation processes (new service, process or a product) of legacy media companies could uncover the relevance of the framework and its applicability in relation to innovating content creation, services, and internal processes across the media or ganisation. It could therefore be used as a tool for the media organisati on to assess the potential of a commons like structures within or across organisations. The questions to ask include whether there are diverse (including people approaching data sources and uses in different ways) self-emerging groups acting in common interest; whether partnerships with external stakeholders are initiated; what rules are put in place in order for the commons to not fail and lastly, whether these collabora tions lead to successful innovations and market opportunities. This can bring about discoveries about collaboration and innovation trajectories that can serve as best practices for PSM. In conclusion, this suggests that in the era of datafication, adaptive epistemic communities within a PSM organisation could find new combinations for data use.

Relating Potts’s coordination problem to institutional economics (the re levance of culture and norms for an economic actor), Küng (2016, p. 114) introduces the concept of ‘interpretative approach’ to a firm’s strategy emphasising how employees with different epistemic backgrounds play a significant role within a media organisation. Employees link different ly to the dynamically changing environment, bring in alternative ideas or data sources, enabling their combinations with yet other ones. This determines an organisational culture that is created and recreated con tinuously, but as a whole it makes organisations more resilient. This is related to what she calls the adaptive approach where change is a cen

There have been efforts to study open data based innovation by priva te companies (see Dawes et al., 2016; Jetzek et al., 2014; and Susha et al., 2015). Janssen et al. (2017) suggest that service innovation on the ba sis of open data tends to be limited and businesses lack the knowledge on using open data for economic benefit. As Susha et al. (2015, p. 29) suggest, motivations for different firms are contingent on whether they are start-ups or more established firms. Start-ups especially do not often have necessary skills to access and analyse open data (Susha et al, p. 29). Regarding PSM, Zaragoza Fuster and Garcia-Avilés (2020) studied BBC News Labs (UK) and RTVE Lab (Spain) where both use open data to innovate PSM offerings such as speech-to-text, transmedia or data jour nalism but do it differently and for differing purposes. However, the uni versality of a public service is enhanced by both. Regarding data journa lism, Stoneman (2015, p. 1) echoes a concern, saying that data journalism needs specific skills. However, data journalism is one of the ways legacy media can acquire new relevance – not only by analysing and publishing on governance practices and societal or market trends, but also using emergent knowledge on those trends in innovating and adapting their own service provision. For instance, urban population and mobility data are relevant for developing forms of location based journalism; aggrega ted health data for health journalism, etc.

Related to public value, there seems to emerge an agreement that when businesses use open data, they should provide a service that benefits the public, not just the companies themselves (Conradie and Choenni, 2014). As Enders et al. (2021: 5) note, open data attracts different stakeholders which can end in new collaborations and services. For PSM, sharing data can mean increased collaboration and therefore play a significant role in innovation. More specifically Enders et al. (2021) outline three cate gories of distinct benefits. The first is internal improvements where a

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that interlink institutions such as firms, universities, investment banks, libraries, incubators, accelerators, relevant public agencies, etc. This ap proach, driven by Lundvall and others (Lundvall, 1992; 2010; Potts, 2011) has been focusing on tacit transfer of knowledge, on everyday dialogue and learning between firms and other institutions across existing value chains or beyond them. This would result in incremental improvements in techniques, forms or meanings. That is, cultural innovations are con stituted by dialogues and resultant learning that happens in networks.

What matters is that if innovations are understood as novel combina tions of ideas or technological, social or cultural forms then such com binations as nascent rules are in the first place set to emerge at the boundaries of existing sectors. They emerge out of dialogues between industries and further develop when the parties in dialogue start autocommunicating (Hartley et al., 2021: 79-82) – they start distinguishing themselves and their unity by the means of self-referential communi cations, defining and establishing the new rule and its social forms of being. This is what was meant by Ibrus and colleagues (2019a) when they studied the ‘emergence of cross-innovation systems’: the emergence of new combinatory sub-sectors where legacy media is co-innovating with other service industries.

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5. Open data

Open data sharing is one of the ways to coordinate the emergence of cross-innovation systems, relevant to PSM. Open data or data produced or commissioned by public bodies or government controlled entities which are made accessible, can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone. In other words, it is typically governmental data that is made available for the public (NGOs, media, private companies etc.). In a way it is one of the clearest forms of public value creation as governments make their data open so that others can derive value from it. Additio nally, companies, especially public companies or broadcasters can pu blish open data as a way to contribute to public value creation, so that others can create value from it.

Our proposition, however, is that one of the core areas of cross-innovati on for public service media are data exchange systems. Large platforms have been able to dominate data markets and extract value from these due to the economies of scale and network effects they can exploit. They control contacts between customers and different kinds of service pro viders on the global scale. Yet, due to their scale their data collection methods are also standardised, they are not aware of all the local data re sources outside of their platforms. Relatedly, our suggestion is that while legacy media firms do not enjoy economies of scale in the global data markets, they could exploit economies of scope in local/national data ecosystems. By collaborating with public agencies (and their open data offerings) or other service sectors, public service media firms could deve lop new kinds of data based services – for example health content based on data from health industries; urban journalism based on aggregated mobility data; educational content services based on learning analytics provided by the educational sector; cultural recommendations based on, say, aggregated modelling based on ticketing and reception data, etc. De velopment of such data sharing and/or open data ecosystems would con stitute, in effect, locally relevant data-related innovation systems that would also be partly driven by public value ethos.

shift towards collaborative mind-set regarding sharing and using data happens, also new data related skills can emerge and data processes can become standardised. This, in PSM organisations could be likened to the once-only principle where data that is collected once, could be reused in a network of like-minded media organisations. This can re duce the administrative burden but requires unambiguous communi cation within the media organisation regarding data use. Additionally, regular brainstorming with the involvement of different stakeholders about existing datasets, for example archived cultural heritage data can bring about new ideas for either new content and services, or internal efficiencies. Secondly, open data can be an innovation driver as media firms benefit from external skills, know-how, ideas as others engage with their published datasets. That is, building on Lundvall’s (1992) idea of in novation systems evolving via tacit learning in networks, tinkering with peers on open data could lead to new services as more stakeholders get involved and discover possibilities previously unidentified. More practi cally, engaging with other companies, academia, start-ups, and the like can bring about novel open data use cases and new collaborative forma tions (innovation commons or inter-institutional cross-innovation sys tems). Thirdly, external visibility is improved as publishing data creates transparency among users and business partners and therefore increa ses the brand’s reputation while it also helps with community building between stakeholders (Enders et al., 2021). Therefore, open data does not fit the traditional way of measuring value in monetary terms and calls for a different, more multidimensional type of analysis. In order to coordina te the emergence of public value driven and commons based innovation based on open data Jetzek (2017) has suggested the development of open data platforms as multi-sided markets that bring together data providers and users, so intermediation becomes the value that is created. This is re lated to Mazzucato’s approach to public value creation where the public sector takes the early lead and coordinates an innovation system in order to let participants learn how value can emerge from it. These innovations would be typically local and aimed at creating public value for the soci ety as well as use value for the media and cultural industries, strengthe ning potentially all actors in a cross-innovation system.

6. Blockchain solutions

commons, where the processes require diverse expertise, shared purpo se, permissionless participation, shared ownership and bottom up en thusiasm. We argue that blockchains have the potential to decentralise and democratise processes intrinsic to PSM operations and can facilitate the emergence of a new institutional setup.

Public blockchains as open ledgers of data could be understood simply as another way to share open data. Yet, from the perspective of instituti onal economics (Allen et al., 2020) blockchains have been suggested to drive institutional change in the digital economies. As blockchains are also understood to drive decentralisation movement in the internet eco nomy, they can be tied to the idea of cross-innovations and innovation

Differently from some of the other creative industries (film, music, art, social media) there has been less experimentation with blockchains in legacy journalistic media (exceptions include Civil, AdChain, Nwzer and a few others – Ivancsics, 2019). Regarding PSM, use of blockchain tech nology has been studied very little (one example is Miguel-de-Bustos & Izquierdo-Castillo, 2021). However, many innovation areas of these rela ted sub-sectors are also relevant for journalism. Publicly available time stamping and ownership verification have been of most interest to crea tive industries, especially in terms of decentralising and automating the governance of authorship, provenance tracing and intellectual property rights (IPR) management. This could provide process innovation oppor tunities to PSM as it typically collaborates with numerous authors and other contributors – easing IPR management and collaboration related workflows. A marketplace for media content could be established. There, legacy media in need for news gathering, photos, videos, infographics could buy the piece and the rights. In doing so, cross-sectoral innovation could be increased as PSM needs different types of content that could then be more easily acquired. This could democratise the media market, exemplifying how blockchains could change the institutional set-up of the creative and media industry. The downside could be even more pre carious work conditions for the creatives if they must compete for such micro-contracts.

Centralisation is how digital platforms handle data, they rarely share it with users or other businesses. Especially the question of rights has become fuzzy as these platforms often claim the published content and extract value from it. PSM could change this by using blockchains for as signing credit in a transparent manner and with that offer payments user and partner contributions. The ledger system provides security and also ensures transparency similarly to the open data movement. Blockchain technologies allow to redefine the governance and coordination of rela tions within a network of actors by potentially reducing costs, increasing accountability and simplifying the exchange of value. Regarding either the commons like setup or cross-sectoral collaboration, shared data ex change systems are especially relevant in verifying contributions and as signing credit which blockchain could therefore facilitate.

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Further, ABM aims to meaningfully connect micro and macro levels. It aims to cover both and by increasing complexity introduces more varied perspectives on potential innovation and competition strategies. It could

7. Agent-based modelling

Another decentralisation related notion arises from the innovation commons framework and relates to institutional economics. In innovation commons, for innovation to occur, it is presumed that a group faces a common problem which motivates them to collaborate and overcome the obstacle with a new approach (innovation) by pulling together different expertise. This requires an institutional set-up, rules for the group ensu ring progress, effective monitoring and eliminating free-riding. In PSM this becomes relevant when assigning credit for all kinds of contributors. Theoretically blockchains allow to create such rules for a group, main ly in the form of decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs; see Hassan and DeFilippi, 2021). The nature of DAOs can vary, it can mean automatically self-executing algorithms via smart contracts, or it can be a more informal commons initiative where internal rules, composition and sanctions are established by the members of the DAO (commons) where the execution is less automated (done via a Discord group, for ex ample) and allows for more dynamism. DAOs could be used as a new institutional form for facilitating participatory journalism as they enable to transparently share the rights and rewards as well as to hand over the governance of media production to the wider community of contributors and stakeholders. However, designing DAOs needs care so they would encourage creation of public value and would focus on the common good as is fit for PSM.

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label as market shaping, where the public sector focuses on changing the direction of innovation so it would encompass more public value. This can change the notion of what competitiveness signifies by adding the notion of creation of public value within it. We propose that experi menting with blockchain technologies in order to build broader, more participatory media production and innovation systems.

We have argued above that innovation is a complex process that is dif ficult to grasp with linear and fixed models of neoclassical economics. This applies certainly also to contemporary data-driven and collaborati ve innovation processes in PSM. Hence, tools are needed to analyse and coordinate the ongoing processes. For that, evolutionary economists (Winter & Nelson 1982; Pyka & Hanusch 2006: 33) have suggested agentbased modelling (ABM). ABM could serve as an analytical tool for PSM and researchers alike to discover organizational dynamics around new products and services. The findings could help the firms assess and res hape their innovation processes, described above.

The main aim is to study the general behaviour or aspects of a behaviour where both results and development paths can be explored (Elsner et al. 2015: 230). It involves several steps from identifying the system - its components, creating mathematical models where components are tur ned into variables and equations, formalising the model as a computer program, determining which part of the system is to be investigated and how deeply it is to be studied to finally running a simulation and ana lysing the results (Elsner et al. 2015: 230). A simulation is claimed to be valid when the data it produces is similar to the behaviour of the realworld structure, however, no simulation is completely correct or reliable (ibid.). The main advantage of ABM is to uncover relevant aspects within the process of innovation by allowing to study a great variety of possible states and dynamics. It is based on using empirical data. These advanta ges make ABM an attractive tool as empirical data from different media organisations can make revealing real life case studies. A researcher or a media company could map the components that form variables and equations, which are then formalised in a model to run a simulation in order to analyse the emerging patterns of cooperation, for example. It somewhat resembles machine-learning techniques which can be incor porated into ABM as well.

For many media companies, this technology is promising as contribu tions to a project, rights and licences could be more easily tracked and with that openness and transparency is ensured. It is also important that payments between creators and users based on the blockchain techno logy would eliminate the middlemen- the dominant platform companies with multi-sided market infrastructures. Avoiding centralised platforms can potentially increase collaboration and partnerships as more crosssectoral collaboration could lead to new innovations. It again exempli fies how blockchains could act as a gamechangers in the light of institu tional setup of the media market.

A final point which also fits into the innovation systems framework is that in order to create such institutional change a supportive environ ment is needed. According to Allen et al. (2020), novel public policies are needed in order to facilitate blockchain based institutional reforms and innovations, also in the media services sector. Both innovative com panies and a supportive innovation policy as a functioning network of mutually beneficial relations can produce a change that potentially chal lenges the centralised multi-sided markets approach. These systemic changes could be likened to what Mazzucato and Ryan-Collins (2019)

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• Boyles, J L. “The Isolation of Innovation: Restructuring the digital newsroom through intrap reneurship.” Digital Journalism 4:2 (2016): 229-246.Bell E with Wardle C, Brown P, Rashidian

also help identify processes and agents crucial for innovation by mapping how new ideas emerge, how new processes are implemented or new servi ces and products developed. This relates to the notion of tacit knowledge transfer relevant in cross-innovation framework which could therefore be explored via ABM. Regarding the macro level, regulatory framework and media policy could be inserted as rules into the model to see how these impact the dynamic of a media organisation (PSM) in a media system.

sectoral boundaries to produce a more symbiotic relationship between partnering organisations. On a more operational level we suggested that blockchains, open data and agent-based modelling present opportuni ties motivated by non-orthodox rationales but they vary in terms of their focus. These three tools allow to view, assess, analyse the circumstances for PSM organisations in new ways and with that potentially build their capacity to increase their competitiveness in an environment where the content and communications markets have been dominated by a few global players.

For analytic exercises boundaries need to be drawn – the simpler the model, the easier the analysis. Hence care needs to go into determining what composes a system. In the case of PSM organisations, their emplo yees, partners, relevant policy makers, rules stemming from regulations and such could be potentially accounted for in order to explore data re lated innovation patterns and predict outcomes based on the decisions agents take. The rules can be deduced from observing the organisational culture or from the information from the surrounding agents (partners), or laws and policies as rules. As a result, analysis via ABM can bring in more dynamism, heterogeneity and complexity as agents in those mo dels can have varying resources, goals and views.

8. Conclusion

This article departed from an understanding that neoclassical economics falls short in analysing innovation processes, also in the PSM which ope rates on two levels – not only towards economic sustainability but also for creating public value. Additionally, linear and inflexible microecono mic modelling inherent to neoclassical theorising lacks the tools needed for analysing innovation processes that are complex and nuanced. In or der to better analyse the opportunities for media organisations in the era of platformisation and datafication we proposed turning to approaches within the heterodox economics domain.

References

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• Allen, D. W., Berg, C., Markey-Towler, B., Novak, M., & Potts, J. (2020). Blockchain and the evo lution of institutional technologies: Implications for innovation policy. Research Policy, 49(1), 103865

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stress the use of public data and sharing data. Its openness and transparency propositions mean that PSM organisations not collecting their own data could rely on public data to encourage data driven innovation. Blockchain technology shares the openness and transparency objective but provides a technological layer to create further trust, clarity in IPR management. Additionally, the notion of DAOs me ans that decentralised setups of organisations as foreseen by innovation commons and cross innovation theories can be employed while taking care that the public value principle is as relevant as economic incentives driving the crypto-economics movement now. Thirdly, ABM serves as an analytics tool for researchers and PSM to assess complex innovation pro cesses within and around PSM organisations so that elements of data dri ven innovation patterns can be identified more clearly and organisational change geared towards improved innovation processes can be more sys tematic. It adds to the dynamism needed to explore data driven innovati on efforts. All together these five notions form a whole to think differently about the competitiveness of legacy media organisations regarding data driven innovation for new services and products.

ABM has been already tested within media organisations mostly to simu late customer behaviour and marketing strategies. In other sectors supply chain management has been analysed via ABM. ABM has been used also together with network science to model the role of factors in innovation diffusion processes (Rand & Rust 2011: 2). Therefore, we suggest, supply chain management and influential nodes in the innovation process net work of legacy media organisations could be established via ABM.

We highlighted two concepts: ‘innovation commons’ and ‘cross-inno vation systems’ where the former stresses the importance of bottom-up initiatives and dialogue to tackle common issues via including diffe rent expertise while the latter stresses institutional collaboration across

There is a clear overlap between the conceptual models and the opera tional tools. Openness, decentralisation, transparency, trust and dyna mism characterise them all while the overall purpose is that they are more likely to allow for public value to occur. While the conceptual mo dels stress the importance of these characteristics in thinking about and planning innovation processes, the three tools are means to insert these values more concretely into analysing legacy media organisations and their Openpotentials.datamovements

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other complex data-driven systems are changing journalistic practices and processes and contributing to the structural transformation of what it means to make news (Diakopoulos, 2019). But the complex, opaque, and inscrutable nature of AI and secrecy of the companies leading the field are contributing to a black box society (Pasquale, 2015). This paper analyses the challenges facing Public Ser vice Media (PSM) as they experiment with and deploy AI in their news rooms. It posits that a lack of AI intelligibility is a fundamental issue leading to limited agency for journalists (as individuals and collectively) and for PSM (as organisations and an institution in society). Intelligibi lity, understood here as basic comprehension that enables intentional action, underpins the ability to have meaningful agency, understood as the capacity to make practical and normative judgements amongst alter native possible actions, when engaging with AI. Drawing from empirical data (interviews, document analysis, workshops) gathered during a 2.5year qualitative research project at the UK’s largest public service broad caster, the BBC, we found evidence of growing investment into in-house development of AI alongside procurement, licensing and use of external companies’ AI models, services, and tools. This was primarily in the form of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP). We ob served technology teams grappling with questions of values and obliga tions, and with the tensions and conflicts involved in scaling automated decision-making/support in news. We found highly variable levels and types of understanding of AI and algorithms among journalists, with few mechanisms to bring this core community into conversations about the se influential new technologies and into dialogue with the technology teams developing and deploying them.

• Caplan, R. and d. boyd. “Who Controls the Public Sphere in an Era of Algorithms? Mediation, Automation, Power.” Data & Society (2016): 1-19.

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• Miguel-de-Bustos, J. C., & Izquierdo-Castillo, J. (2021). Public Service Media and Blockchain Technology: First Thoughts. In The Values of Public Service Media in the Internet Society (pp. 93-110). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

• Hanusch, H., & Pyka, A. (2005) Principles of neo-Schumpeterian economics (No. 278). Volks wirtschaftliche Diskussionsreihe.

• Cunningham, S., Flew, T., & Swift, A. (2015). Media economics. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Two potentially problematic power asymmetries arise in this context: between newsworker and AI; and between PSM and platform compa nies. Regarding the former, AI systems distribute cognition and control between human and machine in new ways, which are yet to be fully un derstood. They are often opaque and notoriously difficult to understand for non-experts, who are nevertheless expected to engage with them in the course of their work. As such, individual PSM journalists and their organisations struggle to understand these systems, critically evaluate their implications in the newsroom, and play an active and informed role in questioning, challenging, and (re-)shaping them. If these systems are

• Hartley J, Ibrus I and Ojamaa M (2021) On the Digital Semiosphere: Culture, Media and Science for the Anthropocene. New York: Bloomsbury.

• Holt, R.P.F, J. Barkley Rosser Jr. & David Colander (2011) The Complexity Era in Economics, Re view of Political Economy, 23:3, 357-369

N, et al. (2016) Who owns the news consumer: social media platforms or publishers? Columbia Journalism Review. Available at: new_research_from_the_tow_center.php http://www.cjr.org/tow_center/platforms_and_publishers_

• Ivancsics B (2019) Blockchain in Journalism. A Tow/Knight Report. New York: Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia Journalism School.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN PSM

• Ezrachi, A. & Stucke, ME (2016). Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the AlgorithmDriven Economy, Harvard University Press

• Zaragoza-Fuster, M. T., & García-Avilés, J. A. (2020). The role of innovation labs in advancing the relevance of Public Service Media: the cases of BBC News Labs and RTVE Lab. Communication & society, 33(1), 45-61.

• Elsner, W., Heinrich, T., & Schwardt, H. (2014). The microeconomics of complex economies: Evolutionary, institutional, neoclassical, and complexity perspectives. Academic Press.

• Dawes, S S, L Vidiasova and O Parkhimovich. “Planning and designing open government data programs: An ecosystem approach.” Government Information Quarterly 33 (2016): 15-27.

• Conradie, P and S Choenni. “On the Barriers for Local Government Releasing Open Data.” Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014): 510-517.

• Enders, T., Benz, C., & Satzger, G. (2021). Untangling the Open Data Value Paradox: How Organi zations Benefit from Revealing Data. In International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (pp. 200-205). Springer, Cham.

• Raman, K. S., & Thelen, K. (2019). The rise of the platform business model and the transformati on of twenty-first-century capitalism. Politics & Society, 47(2), 177-204.

• Jetzek, T., M. Avital and N. Bjorn-Andersen (2014) “Data-Driven Innovation through Open Government Data.” Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research 9.2 (2014): 100-120.

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• Ibrus I (2019b) From Innovation Systems to Cross-innovations. In: Ibrus I (ed) Emergence of Cross-innovation Systems: Audiovisual Industries Co-innovating with Education, Health Care and Tourism. Bingley: Emerald.

• Ibrus I (2019a) Emergence of Cross-innovation Systems: Audiovisual Industries Co-innovating with Education, Health Care and Tourism. Bingley: Emerald.

• Janssen M, Konopnicki D, Snowdon JL and Ojo A (2017) Driving public sector innovation using big and open linked data (BOLD). Information systems frontiers, 19(2), pp.189-195.

• Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Khan, L. M. (2016). Amazon‘s antitrust paradox. Yale lJ, 126, 710.

• Winter, S. G., & Nelson, R. R. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign‘s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.

DR. BRONWYN JONES UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH DR. RHIANNE JONES UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD PROF. EWA LUGER UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

• Evens, T., & Donders, K. (2018). Platform power and policy in transforming television markets. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Stucke, M.E. and A. P. Grunes. (2016) “Introduction.” Stucke, M.E. and A.P. Grunes. Introduc tion: Big Data and Competition Policy. Oxford University Press.

• Dopfer K and Potts J (2008) The general theory of economic evolution. New York: Routledge.

• Boczkowski, P. (2004). The Mutual Shaping of Technology and Society in Videotex Newspapers: Beyond the Diffusion and Social Shaping Perspectives. The Information Society, 20: 255–267

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• Diakopoulos, N. (2015). Algorithmic accountability: Journalistic investigation of computational power structures. Digital Journalism, 3(3), 398-415. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.9764

• Diakopoulos, N. (2019). Automating the News: How algorithms are rewriting the media. Cam bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

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• Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cam bridge: Polity Press.

• Simon, F. M. (2022). Uneasy Bedfellows: AI in the News, Platform Companies and the Issue of Journalistic Autonomy, Digital Journalism, https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2063150

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• Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System. The Systems Thinker, 9, 5.

not intelligible to journalists, they risk disrupting long-standing profes sional norms and practices that underpin responsible news production, including those of accountability (Diakopoulos, 2015). This in turn, th reatens to undermine public trust in journalism and the risks are parti cularly acute for PSM, which are (usually) funded by taxpayers’ money and held to high standards under public scrutiny. Journalists and edito rial workers hold the expert knowledge required to understand where AI meets editorial policy and practice but feel uncertain, uninformed and marginalised in this arena. Regarding the PSM-platform power asymme try, the infrastructures entailed in building AI into news production –the hardware and software (e.g., cloud computing and storage, physical devices), products and services (analytics, advertising and distribution tools), research and innovation funding and training etc – are domina ted by a handful of powerful platform companies (Simon, 2022). The im peratives and incentives driving the development of these systems are often not the same as those driving PSM and in some instances may in fact undermine established PSM values (e.g. independence, universali ty) and journalistic ethics and values (e.g. impartiality, objectivity, ac countability). This places PSM at a disadvantage, as most do not have the resources to develop their own AI, which leads to a reliance on those provided by these companies and necessarily, a degree of acceptance of the values they reflect from their design contexts.

So what can be done to ensure PSM journalists retain agency and PSM organisations can create alternative forms of public value in a news eco logy transformed by AI and platform power? Science and Technology Studies theorists illustrate how technological development and social practices can be seen as co-constructive and engaged in a process of mu tual shaping (Boczkowski, 2004), while sociologists indicate how know ledge and reflexivity can empower communities (Giddens, 1984). In par ticular, PSM can proactively build new communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) around AI in news production. A community of practice engages in joint enterprise (as understood and continually renegotiated by its mem bers); develops relationships of mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity; and creates a shared repertoire of commu nal resources (routines, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) over time. We argue that if PSM are to further integrate AI into their news operations without undermining core values, they must simultaneously improve and extend their capacity to understand and mitigate the risks these systems pose and identify opportunities of specific benefit to PSM journalism’s remit and goals. To achieve this, PSM need to find ways to foreground their distinctive values and priorities when dealing with AI companies and systems, i.e. when procuring/licensing, designing/deve

loping, deploying/using these systems. We observed a growing effort to invest in people and skills for the application of AI in news and a com mitment to goals of responsible and value-aligned AI, which recognis ed the need to bring a greater diversity of expertise and views together, including from social science and humanities disciplines/professional backgrounds. However, efforts to date have been ad hoc and not yet sca led up across the organisation. We discuss the pressing need for PSM to a) bridge editorial and technical divides within the organisation to faci litate specific types of knowledge exchange between editorial and tech nical communities, b) foster AI and algorithmic literacies amongst jour nalists, and c) focus development of newsroom technologies on values, distinctiveness and alternative measures of public value. We argue these efforts could help build resilience against pervasive platform logics and indeed rejuvenate PSM approaches to their longstanding role delivering news of democratic value and developing editorial standards (Cushion, 2012), this time for responsible AI-supported journalism. The paper con cludes with a set of recommendations for how PSM organisations and journalists might retain, extend and exert their influence in relation to AI, focusing on approaches to developing communities of practice and deepening practitioner involvement in the whole product development cycle. By linking evidence of on-the-ground challenges posed by AI in journalism to broader theorising about platform power, the mutual sha ping of technology and society, and the democratic value of PSM news, this paper contributes to critical debates about how PSM as a corners tone of the Fourth Estate can provide a counterbalance to increasingly pervasive platform influence.

• Cushion, S. (2012). The Democratic Value of News: Why Public Service Media Matter. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Pasquale, F. (2015). The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Infor mation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

DIS/ENABLING ACCOUNTABILITY: A STUDY OF ISSUES, LACKS, AND POTENTIALS OF POLICY COMPLIANCE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ON YOUTUBE

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has been interpreted using mixed methods, mappings, and assessing suitable focusses on to penetrate the vast body of data and imbalanced

At the same time, users should have been enabled to distinguish bet ween machine curated and editorial curated content, which means that

Our study consists of qualitative research on policy, involving expert interviews, document analysis and issue mapping, as well as a digital exploration and description of YouTube’s recommendation system and content curation based on data provided by users of the platform via voluntary donation. We conducted 15 semi-structured expert interviews with internal ARD and regional PSMs stakeholders and collected their publicly available documents, guidelines, and regulatory frameworks to address our argument. We took a step forward by visualizing all of the collected data into one map. The map then provides us with a con sistent view of different actors and capability to navigate the relation ships between different actors. For the digital platform exploration we have collected data from over 5000 YouTube users (resulting in about 2000 complete and valid data sets) for over 6 weeks containing their user histories and a set of experiments. In these experiments we have investigated content compositions as they result from YouTube’s au toplay feature, the videos featured in YouTube’s own News and “Top Story” section, and the performance of YouTube’s search query func tion. The elicitation took place against the background of the German federal election 2021, and has been enabled by a data donation infra structure and software developed by AlgorithmWatch which runs the scraping of data and execution of experiments automatically. The data

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potentials, limitations, and issues to be found con cerning PSM policy compliance on YouTube: both parties profit from collaborating, since PSM can use YouTube as means of dissemination in addition to its own online media libraries, and YouTube finds in PSM a lar ge, established source of trustworthy and meaningful content providers. PSM, however, are confronted with an environment that restrains their ability to comply with their own platform policies of, i.a., diversity or qua lity assurance when it comes to curation (e.g. News and top stories section of YouTube) and visibility through the recommender system in terms of being reachable and associated with non-PSM contents and vice versa.

Public broadcasters still rely on private third-party platforms when it comes to issues of informational range and reaching different audien ces. This results in a particular entanglement and co-production of the so-called fifth power: an intersection of public service and private distributor, or of a public content provider and private platform. To get an understanding of that specific digital ecology, our paper draws to gether insights from current German public service media (PSM) policy research and a recent study of content recommendation and German News curation on Google’s user-generated content (UGC) video plat form YouTube[DE].

Public Service Broadcasting has experienced a significant transformation in its functionality and operation since the rise of the internet and new distribution technologies. The conventional many-see-few model offered within TV and radio has disrupted as a new private user-generated con tent streaming platform, Video-on-Demand platforms, and social media formed a new section in the media market. In addition, the new media platforms could attract many millennials and ‘Gen Z’ to themselves and proliferate in original content production and technology development. However, with the new machine curation and recommender system, in tervention is happening in the conventional editorial curation process. While the ARD Mediathek and Audiothek’s recommendation engine is fundamentally working based on collaborative filtering and content fil tering algorithms, complying with the public remits keeps the PSM away from complete automation. Journalists and editors always have the au thority and supervisory role over the content creation, curation, and mo deration. However, the limited user quantification and metadata collec tion can feed into the recommender engine and suggest related content to the user, it doesn’t lead to a complete automation of the curation and only impact a small part. Furthermore, human curation does not just substi tute recommendation machines, it is used for the employment of public value concerning the digital front- and back-end design of the platform. Like PSM’s traditional distinctiveness against rating oriented private broadcasting, their online libraries are not subjugated to engagement or duration of users staying with the web service but can foster features of topical diversification and balancing content in different, decisive ways.

PETER KAHLERT TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH SUZETTEUNIVERSITÄTKAHLERTKASSEL MARYAM TATARI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH

Therefrequencies.areambivalent

Concerning YouTube as a third-party infrastructure for PSM’s obligati on to be commonly accessible, we focus on their own, platform-specific newsfeed and content curation by recommendation. There are at least two noteworthy aspects about YouTube’s own newsfeed. It is not even always that new, featuring a lot of redundant content and also videos that already have been up some while. This might be an issue of labeling that can be observed with YouTube’s Newsfeed that would also show you News specifically concerning German law being displayed as “World News”. The second aspect is the extreme bias towards “WELT Nachrich tensender” which is featuring the most videos in the Newsfeed, which is in general dominated by private news media or creators native to the platform. Only in the first layer of top recommendations of that Newsfeed we would find for anonymous like with our data donors’ log-in a general majority of PSM channels, with still being “WELT Nachrichtensender” the most present channel for almost all cases. YouTube itself claims, that at least their Newsfeed would be curated by “external evaluation” (c.f.

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agents and forms of agency, accountability should not be reduced to an exclusively technical problem; suitable concepts, such as “algorithmic accountability”, require a sensitivity towards legal, organizational, and technological accounts alike. Accordingly, we argue that one must not fall for the pit-falls of ‘purification’ (c.f. Latour 1993) whether concerning the procedural design, management, and life of a platform or concer ning the academic and political debate. A way of compensating for these pit-falls of separating ontological realms of discourse or even reducing them to a political, economic, legal, or technical issue is to closely fol low the agents and interactions to produce rather a problem-case sen sitivity than a repository of use-case solutions. In response, we suggest the “Grenzgänger” as an analytical conceptual vehicle. This figure of crossing borders allows one to follow agents, agency, practice and infra structure across boundaries of actor-networks. It refers to the notion of “boundary objects” (Star/Griesemer 1989) which help understanding the simultaneousness and adaptation between distinct and incommensu rable semantic and ontological realms in the arena of media service and media economy. Such pragmatist perspective can account for coherence (e.g. shared stories and video footage across PSM and private platforms, volatility (in case of their loss), discrepancy (e.g. different understandings of content diversification), and emergence (e.g. the semantic webs that connect mis/information through content sequences specific to the platform and its recommender system). Understanding these and simi lar interpenetrations, intersections, and entanglements within media infrastructures that contain both, PSM and private platforms, requires a concept like Star’s (1999) nine-dimensions of infrastructure that embeds users and its “communities of practice” explicitly in the infrastructure itself. This applies on the one hand for dynamic research objects like recommendation systems that are genuine and volatile results of userplatform-interactions - e.g. YouTube’s autoplay. On the other hand, to manual curation that employs sensing feedback and sets of performance optimization in terms of editorial practice, like it is the case with PSM. This applies a fortiori to intersections where YouTube recommendations and SEO guidelines become part of PSM editorial concerns.

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at least data collection should be transparent for the user. Guaranteeing that the user will understand the reason behind receiving certain con tent is of different importance for the PSM.

PSM online media libraries like ARD’s “Mediathek” and private platform providers like YouTube employ various technologies that represent dif ferent and most importantly separate interests and perspectives. Whe rever manifold layers intersect, like in the case between PSM and priva te third-party UGC platforms, the clash of socio-technical boundaries,

Duringhttps://dataskop.net/erste-ergebnisse/).theautoplayexperiment,wehave round an environment that uses PSM content to draw away from “problematic” content. During our pretests, trying to have an account being recommended to watch politically far-right content would rather result in recommended videos showing late-night cabaret or PSM formats like “Phönix News”. Similarly would be found with our auto-play experiments. There we found e.g. CG Arvay’s channel not showing up in our data at all, except for his video on alleged risks of mRNA vaccination which we have defined a seed-video of our experiment. Figures like him thread recommendation paths that closely interweave ‘alternative’ information, institutional information, agitating and educational content. YouTube thus creates, for better or worse, vortexes that draw users from “problematic” content to a random feed of provocatively indecisive and established content from PSM chan nels, that are not always exit points within the horizon of our experiment.

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• Is there a long-term policy defence of public service media against a background of growing competition, thriving in an environment do minated by technology companies and OTT (Over the Top) subscripti on-based models of television content’s distribution? Are the relevant multiplatform services part of an official (management) portfolio?

BBC, having a great legacy on broadcasting field, seems to remain faith ful to the cooperative philosophy that has historically characterised the relationship between public service and commercial broadcasters in the UK. Even though the BBC is acknowledged by its senior executive team as “the primary provider of universal public value content, which is made available to citizens and consumers”, it is also perceived as a public ser vice institution constantly open to collaborations with different types of players such as other public service broadcasters, the commercial sector, or other players operating in the communications industry. This coope rative ideal between public service and private media companies, based on “different and distinct business models in the wider media sector” is described as “beneficial” both for the BBC and for the audience and is re garded as “one of the unique factors of the successful UK marketplace”.

Based on the above transformations occurring in the communication field, several reasonable but crucial questions are raised. The major and most comprehensive one refers to what extent and through which means can public service media in the above-mentioned media markets meet the challenges of contemporary media environment and defend the exis

tence of a thriving PSB system in the digital age in which the platformisa tion of communication is a dominant trend. Several sub-questions arise from this main question, which can be summarised as follows:

of this study is on three countries (UK, Denmark and Greece) and their respective public service broadcasters (BBC, DR, ERT), but the conceptual application of interpreting the sustainability of public service media organisations is designed to be applicable in other media environments as well. The specific public service media organisations were selected as ideal for the research sample, since they represent three different paradigms of the television landscape in Europe. The research draws upon qualitative interviews with key executives, working at the three public service broadcasters under scrutiny, and policy documents.

• Do public service media display due care as to the enhancement of audience’s interaction with the digital platforms?

Public service media have long been a key element of the television field, particularly in Europe. Their contribution to the democratic functioning of society as “cornerstone” (Splichal, 2007: 255) lies in helping people act as informed citizens by cultivating a critical spirit and adopting a reflec tive attitude towards current affairs and social events (Fuchs, 2021: 20). In 2007 the academic debate on public service broadcasters focused on a new idea that advocated their necessary evolution into public service media (Bardoel & Lowe, 2007). Today, several years later, the argumen tation of scholars reasonably raises a new issue concerning the wider evolution of public service media into public service platforms (Bonini & Mazzoli, 2020).

ACHILLEASUNIVERSITYKARADIMITRIOUOFATHENS

• What multi-platform strategy means to each of the public service broadcaster of the research sample?

The research findings reveal that the executives engaged in the policy configuration of the public service media, included in the research sam ple (BBC, DR and ERT), advocate the idea of a new strategy based on the platformisation trends; however, the approach to this shared objective differ among the three public service broadcasters. This is also confirmed by previous studies underlying that the strategies developed by the pub lic service broadcasters in the online environment are heterogeneous in terms of maturity and target-setting (Donders, 2019: 1012). This differen tiated approach may have been influenced by the fact that the regulatory framework for online public service media services and the perception of „public value” vary between European countries (Moe, 2008).

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN DENMARK, UK AND GREECE:

• Are there challenges and concerns related to the adequate funding of public service media in their effort to develop multiplatform digital services?

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

This new trend encompasses a shift in perspective regarding the values that public service media should serve in an age characterised by the dominance of the digital platforms both in the cultural (Nieborg & Poell, 2018) and in the wider social field (van Dijck et al., 2018). Therefore, pu blic service media are considered to go through a transitional phase in which the meaning of their existence needs to be expanded so that they can evolve into public service platforms, otherwise they risk being mar ginalised or degraded within the communication field (Bonini Baldini et al., The2021).focus

The sustainability of public service broadcasting has proved a peren nial issue with challenges succeeding one another (commercialization of the media field, digitalisation of communications, long-lasting prob lem of excessive politicisation and, recently, the rise of platformisation of communication). The measures proposed by the BBC to ensure and strengthen the presence of public service media in the future media field concern the financial stability of the media organisation through a uni versal, licence-fee funded BBC, the need for simplicity in terms of its re gulatory structure “recognising the global digital marketplace” as well as a new legislation aimed at “modernising the regulatory framework and ensuring public service broadcasters are prominent and available on all major TV platforms”. DR broadcaster, after its funding cuts experi ence based on a 2018 political decision, the policy being applied, aimed at safeguarding its sustainability against the trends of the digital revo lution, is governed by two key elements: the empowerment of society‘s awareness regarding the challenges brought to the foreground by the de velopment of technological giants as well as the organised promotion of a plan regulating the operation of the large technological organisations. This is reflected in initiatives such as the White Paper, issued by the Danish government in June 2021 regarding the technological giants, in combination with the new „office of technological giants”, which, accor ding to DR officials, is being prepared by the Danish Ministry of Culture having as a mission the „policy development in relation to the regulation of technology companies such as Google and Facebook”. As to the case of ERT broadcaster, the fact that in the Greek media market there are no officially reported pressures regarding the funding model of the public service media (based on both licence fee and advertising revenue) is at tributed to the stable character of the public service broadcaster, howe ver ERT executives underline the need for increase in the broadcaster’s annual budget that will permit greater investments in content and in technological equipment related to production and distribution.

Despite the reasonable differences in priorities at the level of policy con figuration, the representatives of the three public service broadcasters seem to share the view that the operational purpose of the public service broadcasting system, apart from the updated additions dictated by the digital transformations, remains broadly the same, however the means of its fulfilment need careful reconsideration and radical change. This crucial fulfilment, even though it concerns a new vision related to the online environment, does not entail the abrupt termination of the line ar broadcasting model, but, instead of it, the gradual alignment of the broadcaster with the new trends of the non-linear television experiences.

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ERT broadcaster, albeit it holds a marginalised position in the broadcas ting sector due to chronic vulnerabilities related to state interventionism, feels like the compensator for the weaknesses of the commercialised model of broadcasting. According to its senior executive team, against this latter model, which undermines any possibility of variety in the audiovi sual flow offered to internet users, public service media are considered the ideal media operators which can compensate for the lack of content regarding “culture, history and society”, framed by a type of “prestige, sensitivity and objectivity”, non-existent in commercial digital plat forms. Investing in a future policy of public broadcasting, incorporating both linear and non-linear television services in a harmonious frame work of complementary coexistence, the senior executive team of ERT admits the useful guidance given by the EBU based on practices adopted by already successful public service media in Europe. In the case of the Greek public service broadcaster the abundance of content, triggered by the rise of streaming platforms, and the consequent increase in compe tition between public service and commercial media, is believed to have incited ERT to invest in many new productions against a background of internal and external transformation of the media organisation.

DR, serving the clear remit of “bringing Danes together with concrete impact” and governed by three main “ambitions” (support of democra cy, contribution to national culture and empowerment of communities within Denmark), feels like „filling a significant gap compared to com mercial broadcasting”, a distinctive rationale that affects its policy con figuration in the online environment. Preserving the obligation of the public service broadcaster to offer content accessible by all, conducive to active citizenship within the democracy and strengthening the national culture and language, is described by the executive team of the media organisation as a necessity, which is deemed to need the advocacy of those in power in a direction of enhancing the digital presence of DR broadcaster. Emphasis is placed on strengthening the regulatory frame work regarding technological giants and digital platforms as well as on other urgent measures safeguarding the visibility of public value content originating from public service television. Among these are the full edi torial independence of the public service media in content creation and the avoidance of censorship by technological platforms, the transparen cy in the algorithms that recommend content on digital platforms so as not to undermine the visibility of public value content, the access to data related to the use of the public value content, the assurance of content provider‘s brand attribution so as to be clearly distinguishable the public value content coming from the public service broadcaster.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

• Bonini Baldini, T., Túñez-López, M. & Barrientos Báez, A. (2021). “Public Service Media in the Age of Platformization of Culture and Society”. In M. Túnez-Lopez, F. Campos-Freire, & M. Rodríguez-Castro (Eds.), The Values of Public Service Media in the Internet Society, pp. 45-58. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-56466-7.

This working paper focuses on the much-debated role of public service media (PSM) in Europe, with the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) case. While PSM have been under commercial and political pressure in many European countries for a while, Finland has been a markedly strong and mature PSM country, with high audience reach and trust and political support among the main parliamentary parties.

This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (Euro pean Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning» in the con text of the project “Reinforcement of Postdoctoral Researchers - 2nd Cyc le” (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY).

RIKU UNIVERSITYNEUVONENOFHELSINKI HANNU UNIVERSITYNIEMINENOFHELSINKI

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• Splichal, S. (2007). “Does History Matter? Grasping the Idea of Public Service at Its Roots”. In G. Ferrell Lowe, & J. Bardoel (Eds.), From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media. RIPE@2007, pp. 237–256. Göteborg: Nordicom.

• Bonini, T., & Mazzoli, E. (2020). Public Service Media in a Platform Society: Theorizing ‘Convivi al’ Public Service Platforms. Paper Presented at RIPE Conference 2020, Geneve.

• Bardoel, J., & Lowe Gregory, F. (2007). From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media: The Core Challenge. In G. F. Lowe, G. Ferrell, & J. Bardoel (Eds.), From Public Service Broadcas ting to Public Service Media, RIPE@2007, pp. 9–26. Göteborg: Nordicom.

According to recently emerging scholarship, the enforcement of “public service” can be achieved by seeking innovation focusing more on au dience engagement rather than on technology innovation (Direito-Re bollal & Donders, 2022: 9). However, the research findings reveal that - at the level of policy - the public service broadcasters of the sample seem neglectful as to the imperative to enhance the degree of public participa tion on their digital platforms.

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN THE CROSSHAIRS: NATIONAL POLICYMAKING PROCESS, THE EU COMPETITION REGULATION, AND THE CASE OF YLE’S TEXTBASED NEWS ONLINE

Inremit.2017,

1. Funding

• Donders, K. (2019). Public service media beyond the digital hype: Distribution strategies in a platform era. Media, Culture & Society, 41(7): 1011–1028. Doi: 10.1177/0163443719857616

• Fuchs, C. (2021). “The Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Utopias Survey Report”. In C. Fuchs, & K. Unterberger (Eds.), The Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto, pp. 19-68. London: University of Westminster Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/ book60.c. License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

• Moe, H. (2008). Discussion forums, games and Second Life: Exploring the value of public broad casters’ marginal online activities. Convergence, 14(3): 261–276. doi: 10.1177/1354856508091080

• van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & De Waal, M. (2018). The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

MARKOTAMPEREALA-FOSSIUNIVERSITY MINNA UNIVERSITYHOROWITZOFHELSINKI KARI UNIVERSITYKARPPINENMOFHELSINKI

References

• Nieborg, D., & Poell, T. (2018). The Platformisation of Cultural Production: Theorizing the Con tingent Cultural Commodity. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818769694.

Yle has still been targeted with claims of unfair competitive advantage, with different foci at stake. In 2016, the Finnish Media Federation, an advocacy organization for private companies in the media and printing industries, failed in its campaign to cut Yle funding as a parliamentary working group was able to find a compromise. The Federation had also called for an inquiry about the appropriateness of personalization servi ces for PSB, which did not find a conflict between Yle’s practices and its

the Federation filed a complaint with the EU Commission, clai ming that Yle’s textual online content conflicts with EU state aid rules. Three years after that, the Government, following unpublished discus sions with the Commission Competition Department, considered amen ding the Act on Yleisradio to limit its text-based web content mainly to support its audio and video content. In practice, this might mean less competition for commercial online news. A public online consultation was held in the summer of 2020, with strong arguments against the pro posal from various stakeholders. In most statements, the concern was expressed that the amendment would limit freedom of speech dispropor tionally and widen inequalities related to access to news – developments that contradict the traditional role of media in the Nordic welfare states.

Fundamentally, however, the case highlights the problem of technolo gical media convergence, which means that various forms of media are distributed via the same system – the Internet. From a regulatory point of view, the current debate on Yle represents issues due to the dual regula tion system (print and broadcasting) and, on the other hand, issues with the internet. Yet, it is evident that this understanding of the media sector is outdated and that the Amsterdam protocol needs an update, reflecting the different ways public service content is distributed.

text-based news by PSM organizations has come increasin gly under scrutiny as a result of the introduction of the so-called ex-ante test, according to which significant new services should be analyzed based partly on their public value but also their potential market impact. In practice, the question of online news has mostly been left to the Mem ber States, the only requirement being that the public service remit is sufficiently well defined. This approach has been assessed to be the most “market-driven” of the EU stance regarding PSM and also one that some member states have used to narrow the remit of PSM. The Finnish case is unusual because it appears that the Commission’s Competition Depart ment has been more involved in defining the scope of acceptable online services than what has usually been the case.

On the 1st of March 2022, Parliament voted to accept the amendment. In its parliamentary assessment, the Transport and Communications Committee had supported the amendment yet noted that the process gave undue power to the complainant and that, all in all, the parliamentary process was not executed in the best possible manner.

Inservices.Europe,

plies political rationality where public media is assigned a limited and potentially declining role as an exception to “natural” market conditions. Also, framing the issue as a competition problem, instead of cultural or media policy, for instance, has an added consequence of reducing it to an administrative matter of following the EU rules where national poli cymakers have no alternatives. Such a frame also crowds out additional considerations, such as limits to freedom of expression nationally and limitations to the PSM mandate of universal reach, especially for those who greatly rely on Yle’s free text-based news – whether due to economic concerns or to disabilities that necessitate news in textual form. These al ternative arguments were repeatedly expressed in the public comments on the proposal to limit Yle’s services by individuals and non-govern mental advocacy organizations.

The process and outcome of the complaint against Yle also reflect broa der European-wide tendencies. Campaigns against public service media organizations usually begin with a demand for a clear definition, which can serve as a straitjacket that prevents the evolution of public service organizations in the new media environment. In this case, framing textbased public service media content as a market distortion problem im

At the national level, the case of Yle exemplifies opaque communications policy decision-making, observed in earlier media policy processes. The case also presents a danger of curbing the scope of public service media through the back door, resorting to inaccessible and technocratic proces ses instead of open public debate. It may also indicate a more fundamen tal transition in Finland from the so-called media welfare state to the competition state. Interestingly, the case has resulted in similar debates in Denmark and Sweden, prompting industry advocates to express inte rest in filing similar complaints.

Still, other initiatives have since targeted Yle’s remit: In 2021, Finland’s largest media group Sanoma filed a complaint with the EU regarding Yle’s streaming service Areena claiming the expansion of Yle’s digital offerings has diminished Sanoma’s ability to market its own educational and other products. In early 2022, RadioMedia, the umbrella organizati on for Finnish commercial radios, called for an assessment of Yle’s audio

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

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“I can think of nothing else but these names now,” he replies. She clearly does not agree with the idea that the names distract him from the deeper point of the story. “Are you serious!? Sometimes you are a real nitpicker,” she says with equal parts humor and con cern. “I wanted it to have a nice opening.”

The leading editor defends his assessment: “I desperately try to slip into the shoes of the audience. I think those words are too sensati onalistic. The viewers will stick to them and won’t understand the real dimensions of the mass extinction.”

Their news making practices are instead guided by the insight – which becomes manifest both as a journalistic value and a factual reality – that the world is at once a pluralistic one with many and often contradictory perspectives and one where it is nonetheless possible to have experiences that are, at least partially, in common with others. Given their uni quely betwixt and between professional existence, that is, as both hyper producers and consumers of news, these journalists are made keenly aware of the fact that that the news is never any one thing. It is always many things depending on how it is crafted and read – from a certain point of view and in relation to certain other referents. At the same time, however, they also recognize, that, at least when it has been made well, it manages to avoid being many discordant, or even illogically (un)rela ted things. To put it somewhat differently, what these journalists come to

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

The leading editor browses through all stories of ‘his’ show and stops at a report on the mass extinction of insects which he reads carefully before suddenly walking over to the journalist drafting the story to ask: “Wandering violin mantis and hermit?” She looks up to him smiling: “Isn’t that a great hook?”

While this paternalistic attitude to “guide the audience in the right di rection” may seem outdated it also indicates the discursive procedures with which journalists judge better and worse forms of news while ac cepting the constitutive difference between their own unique perspective and those of their viewers. These procedures are essential for the maintenance of a democratic public and the source of journalistic authority which is still associated with PSM.

maintaining trust in PSM news provision. Specifically, this innovative study illuminates the procedures of professional news making and con siders if and/or how they can be updated to match current challenges, and what (new) role old media can play in an age in which the bound aries between consumers and producers of information are blurred. The findings from 6+ months of research spent at ZDF’s headquarters throughout 2017-2020 are contrasted with visits to other channels’ news rooms both public and private. Rather than taking the finished products of PSMs as our object of analysis, we examine the moment-by-moment situated crafting of news stories and the various ways in which ZDF’s journalists, in drafting their stories, take their audience into account. Our analysis reveals that journalistic expertise cannot be easily replaced by metrics, algorithms and crowdsourcing. In crafting their news stories, the journalists at ZDF never just blindly apply certain standards or news values. Nor are their news stories ever just the expression of their own subjective preferences or prejudices which might somehow be superse ded or overcome by some more objective technology. Nay, this expertise is grounded in and emerges from the interactions between journalists within the newsroom – interactions which allow the journalists to assess better and worse ways of crafting their stories. One of the many things that ZDF’s editors evaluate in and through their newsroom exchanges is their relationship with their audience, and in particular, what the things are that their audience is and is not capable of comprehending. What is made evident to the editors as they assess such questions is that it is impossible for them to shape their stories in a way that they can appeal to some pre-defined, narrowly delimited set of audience concerns. What they also come to recognize is that they cannot mindlessly present their stories to the world, assuming that others are necessarily equipped to understand what they have written, as is often done on social media.

MATTHEW MAHLER YALE UNIVERSITY

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MIRCO LIEFKE FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN

This paper is based on ethnographic research which examines questions of journalistic authority that are at the heart of working group topics 5 & 6: declining trust in public institutions and strategies for building and BEING RIGHTLY INEXACT –JOURNALISTIC EXPERTISE AND A DIGITAL PUBLIC

In recent years, Public Service Media (PSM), have been the subject of un relenting public attack. Critics have routinely accused these institutions of being relics from another age, publicly subsidized bodies that are no longer worth their expense, given that everything that a public could ever need to know is now just a few clicks away. No less of an esteemed critic than Jürgen Habermas has gone so far as to praise the new, digi tal media for their ability to end legacy news outlets’ “editorial custody” (2021, p. 488) glimmering in the following fieldnote:

The analysis of several episodes of news making shows that journalists employ a mode of communication in which they aim to be ‘rightly in exact’. First of all, for journalists this means to constantly remind each other of the uniqueness of their own view of the world. They are in a special almost panoptic position which allows them to see connections between news stories and even news shows their audience will not reco gnize and will not care about. So, while they cannot but take their own understanding of incoming news as a starting point for the production process it would be misleading to assume any kind of exact correspon dence with the audience’ understanding. For better or worse they cannot simply impose their own perspective(s), their own state of knowledge, their own preferences onto their viewers which see the news literally in a different light or for that matter in many different lights.

A world common to all made possible, at least in large part, in and through broadcast news is at once more than and less than the private realities of its producers and consumers. News is more insofar as it is not just idiosyncratically true for us but also for others, and it is less insofar as it never entirely captures the truth of any one of our individual exis tences as I’s. If it were only the former it would be but an abstraction, something that we could hardly relate to if at all. If it were only the later its significance would be only an imagined one – a phantom of our fan tasies. It is, thus, in being both greater than and less than our private realities that news necessarily takes on its rightly inexact character.

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• Arendt, H. (2018) Vita activa oder Vom tätigen Leben. 19th edn. (Piper, 3623). München: Piper.

recognize is that news, to borrow a metaphor from Hannah Arendt (2018, p. 78), functions in much the same as a table does. It is that which simul taneously brings us together and divides us, it summons us and prevents us from falling into one.

At the same time, however, the audience’s capabilities are not entirely independent from the journalists’ previous work, which has influenced what the audience can reasonably be expected to know, what questions it likely has and whether stories will be received as fitting or not fitting in preestablished narratives. Therefore, and despite the unavoidable diffe rence between journalists and audiences the former cannot simply pro duce the news anyway they like. They are accountable to both the gene ral public and their fellow journalists and adhere to the dynamics of the public debate which they shape and reaffirm at the same time. And while journalists can never meet all the different expectations – public and pro fessional ones, their own ones and those of others – they can and have to make sure that the news coverage is based on reasonable decisions which take into account plural and sometimes contradicting concerns.

Thus, journalists address their audience as members of this general pub lic which is constituted neither by homogenous individual identities nor by abstract similarities. They craft their stories with an eye towards tho se “strangers who want to remain strangers to one another” (Habermas, 2021, p. 481) – toward a public that never exists as a self-same-object, but as a body that is always in creation, always being re-made in conversation with itself. This public “body” transcends personal wants and needs and lies beyond the diverse identities which are a major force driving and legitimizing the self-expression on social media. Unlike social media which largely avoids the challenges of communication among strangers as a result of its hyper personalized character, PSM has the capacity to create a common ground as an antidote for an ongoing fragmentation of news production and consumption. While a digital public on its way to a “redactional society” (Hartley, 2000) teaches legacy media to account for even more viewpoints the former can learn from the latter how a public is maintained despite the fundamental differences of its members.

As the adequacy of these concerns can never be judged abstractly journa lists have no other choice than to ongoingly engage in – sometimes vica rious - debates and assessments of each other’s work in which they boot strap their standards. This often means actively distancing themselves from their preferences and agreeing to certain compromises with their colleagues, which might be more boring as the example above shows to ensure a fair chance for most if not all people to understand the news as best as possible. In a worst-case scenario this leads to a reproduction of superficial clichés seducing society. In a best- case scenario, however, the careful inexactness with which PSM produce news lays the ground from which a world common to all can emerge and which works as a social lubricant easing interactions within the framework of an widely accessible public (Scannell, 1989, p. 155).

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

References

• Hartley, J. (2000) ‘Communicative democracy in a redactional society: the future of journalism stu dies’, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, 1(1), pp. 39–48. doi: 10.1177/146488490000100107

• Scannell, P. (1989) ‘Public Service Broadcasting and Modern Public Life’, Media, Culture and Society, 11(2), pp. 135–166.

• Habermas, J. (2021) ‘Überlegungen und Hypothesen zu einem erneuten Strukturwandel der po litischen Öffentlichkeit’, in Seeliger, M. and Sevignani, S. (eds.) Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit? Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, pp. 470–500.

2. Purpose and argumentation

KAREN DONDERS UNIVERSITY (ELCHE, SPAIN)

JOSÉ A. UNIVERSITYGARCÍA-AVILÉS(ELCHE,SPAIN)

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PATH DEPENDENCE OR PATH CREATION IN EVIDENCEINNOVATION?DATA-DRIVENCASESTUDYFROMTHEEUROPEANPSMNEWSMEDIAINDUSTRY

The study qualifies path dependence theory in research on data-driven innovation management in the news media in the era of digital transfor mation of PSM news media. It discusses links between the theory fields, its constituencies, and perspectives and validates its properties through empirical evidence.

PAUL CLEMENS MURSCHETZ PARACELSUS MEDIZINISCHE PRIVATUNIVERSITÄT SALZBURG

7. Originality/Value

MIGUEL UNIVERSITYHERNÁNDEZ(ELCHE,SPAIN)

State-of-the-art innovation in the news media has become a sine qua non condition for survival in an industry full of change. Big data as state-ofthe-art innovation which mines audience behaviour to understand what content, shows, movies, and music audiences want is huge. Viewing his tory, searches, reviews, ratings, location and device data, clickstreams, log files, and social media sentiment are just a few data sources that help take the guesswork out of identifying audience interest.

4. Design/Methodology/Approach

A multi-method/criteria research design was used to capture the com plex interplay of media innovation factors and strategic media manage

MARKO ALA FOSSI TAMPERE UNIVERSITY FINLAND

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

3. Theoretical framework

5. Findings

ment as seen from a path dependence theory perspective. We confronted secondary research on factors of innovation in the media with empirical evidence drawn from case study analyses in innovation management of news media organizations in Austria, Belgium, Finland, and Spain. Data was triangulated from different sources, including qualitative case study analysis which involved in-depth semi-structured expert interviews with case study executives (N=20).

Building on path dependence theory, we analyze whether “history matters” in PSM news media such that factors of data-driven innovation effectively shape an organizational innovation path. However, while path dependence emphasizes the role of history and context, path creation in contrast em phasizes the active role of agency to ignite managers’ innovation appetite to constitute a genuine, thus path-independent innovation trajectory.

1. Background and problem

This study empirically validates how specific factors underlying inno vation in PSM news media act as stimulus for strategic choices taken by managers to create a specific innovation path for competitive advantage. We argue that a complex and varied set of constituent factors determi ne the strategic management of data-driven innovation practices in PSM news on many levels. These are typically agent-based, organizational/ institutional, or driven by contingent environmental triggering events.

6. Practical implication

We found a rather narrow range of cross-disciplinary research literature with relevance to the news media based on path dependence theory with a view to date-driven innovation which analyze relationships between path dependence/creation to inform strategic innovation objectives and choice in PSM news media. The study finds that media innovation remains an ambiguous concept with many connotations which may obscure rather than enlighten the complexity of the current challenges in the industry. However, indicative evidence of various factors of data-driven innovation that shape the creation of a strategic innovation path of a PSM case firm was found. Consequently, interviews revealed that an effective strategic innovation path practice is hard to come by given the nature of various disruptions if not paradoxes in following a specific path, events that are trig gered by organizational and environmental challenges exerted on PSM. The investigation proved that executives decided for individual innovation paths. The creation of selected paths was contingent upon most of the fac tors identified, although to variable degrees. Findings also support the fact that executives preferred the constitution of an idiosyncratic and mindful deviation from path dependence. History mattered, but actors also shaped it.

This study is inspired by gaining insights on “actionable knowledge” from media practice. This enhances “implementable validity” and “inst rumental impact” by discussing critical challenges executives face in the process determining most effective paths of organizational innovation.

As this paper’s title suggests, this analysis intends to evoke the spirit of Herbert Gans’ (2004) landmark book, Deciding What’s News, in which Gans analyzed how news organizations decided which individual news events merited coverage (and how much). In this paper’s analysis, the notion of defining what’s news is meant to reference a more macro level of decision-making, in which digital platforms make determinations as to how to categorize individual media outlets. In this paper, the point of focus is on the definitional categories of state-controlled and -affiliated media, and on the implications associated with these particular labels.

This paper will conclude by situating digital platforms’ efforts to develop meaningful labeling systems and associated content curation policies related to state-controlled and -affiliated media within the broader is sue of long-running efforts by platforms and policymakers to effectively define journalism, news outlets, news programs, news stories, and jour nalists, and to implement these definitions in various regulatory, policy, and content curation contexts (Bell, 2021; Tambini, 2011, 2021). The con cluding section also considers avenues for future research.

This paper then considers the implications of the current state of plat forms labeling practices for state-controlled and -affiliated media for the discoverability, impact, and public perception of public service media. This section evaluates the different systems currently being employed by the various major platforms and how they may impact public service me dia. This section also considers the broader issue of whether platforms’ labeling of news outlets should be more expansive, and reflect the wider (and widening) array of types of news outlets that operate online.

DEFINING WHAT’S NEWS

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

In addressing this topic, this paper will conduct an in-depth analy sis how digital platforms such as Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter define state-controlled and -affiliated media outlets (see, e.g., Samek, 2018; Twitter, n.d.); and if and how these definitions, and the content curation implications associated with these dimensions, have evolved over time. This paper will pay particular attention the controversies that have arisen in the wake of these efforts, such as the critiques directed at YouTube’s definitional approach to state-supported media, which many critics saw as providing inadequate distinction between outlets such as the BBC and Russia Today, and potentially causing confusion amongst news consumers (see, e.g., Shaban, 2018a, 2018b). This paper will also examine critiques of subsequent efforts by the platforms to develop more comprehensive and consistent labeling criteria (see, e.g., Buckley et al., 2020; Radsch, 2020). As part of this analysis, this paper will also review the empirical literature to date that has examined how the labeling sys tems employed by the platforms are being implemented; and how they are affecting user behavior and the circulation of content in the social media ecosystem (e.g., Bradshaw et al., in press; Kofman, n.d.; Nassetta & Gross, 2020).

PHIL NAPOLI DUKE UNIVERSITY/NORTH CAROLINA

As the almost universally-condemned Russian invasion of the Ukrai ne began, many digital platforms and video program distributors took action, by ceasing to carry content by Russia’s state-run television net work, Russia Today. On the social media front, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) all announced decisions to block Russia To day in Europe (Darcy, 2022). In some cases, these actions were follow-ups to earlier actions, such as demonetizing, demoting, and labeling content from Russia Today and other Russian state-run media outlets (Gleicher, 2022). Streaming hardware provider Roku blocked access to Russia To day, and in Canada and the U.S., cable, satellite, and streaming services such as Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Dish, Sling, and DirecTV have dropped the network from their services (Nickinson, 2022).

These efforts – in response to an active Russian disinformation campaign intended to support of its military campaign – highlight the importance of digital platforms, and other categories of content distributors, being able to accurately identify state-run media outlets, in order to take neces sary actions to prevent the dissemination of disinformation. Such actions are particularly important in times of war. These recent actions may be relatively uncontroversial, even as they represent a powerful exercise by digital platforms and content distributors of their gatekeeping authority.

However, it has also been the case that earlier efforts by digital platforms to design and implement a labeling system for state-controlled and -af filiated media outlets, as part of their content curation protocols, have proven controversial for a number of reasons. This paper will delve into these efforts, with a particular emphasis on their implications for the vi sibility and discoverability of content from public service media outlets.

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MERCEDES DE LUIS ANDRÉS INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES/ ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN

• Tambini, D. (2011, November 30). Who is a journalist and why it matters. Inforrm’s Blog. https:// inforrm.org/2011/11/30/who-is-a-journalist-and-why-it-matters-damian-tambini/

• Bell, E. (2021). Off Label: How tech platforms decide what counts as journalism. Columbia Jour nalism Review. http://existential.cjr.org/p11022581/

• Samek, G. (2018, February 2). Greater transparency for users around news broadcasters. Blog. Youtube. https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/greater-transparency-for-users-around/

• Tambini, D. (2021). What is Journalism? The Paradox of Media Privilege. European Human Rights Law Review, 5.

• Twitter. (n.d.). About government and state-affiliated media account labels. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affiliated

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• Gleicher, N. (2022, March 1). An update on our ongoing work around state-controlled media [Tweet]. @ngleicher. https://twitter.com/ngleicher/status/1498714355554152453

• Nassetta, J., & Gross, K. (2020). State media warning labels can counteract the effects of foreign misinformation. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr2020-45

• Gans, H. J. (2004). Deciding What’s News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time. Northwestern University Press.

• Radsch, C. (2020, August 12). Tech platforms struggle to label state-controlled media. Commit tee to Protect Journalists. https://cpj.org/2020/08/tech-platforms-struggle-to-label-state-cont rolled-media/

• Shaban, H. (2018a, February 3). YouTube’s new attempt to limit propaganda draws fire from PBS. Washington Post. youtubes-new-attempt-to-limit-propaganda-draws-fire-from-pbs/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/02/03/

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

We focus here on these tree countries with different media markets, me dia legislation and diverse journalism traditions. Besides our content analyses from Swedish, Spanish and French newspapers, we add in sights from in-depth interviews, conducted from December 2020 to April 2021, with the above mentioned representation of journalists.

• Buckley, N., Wack, M., Schafer, J., & Zhang, M. (2020). Inconsistencies in State-Controlled Media Labeling. University of Washington, Center for an Informed Public. net/policy-analysis/inconsistencies-in-state-controlled-media-labelinghttps://www.eipartnership.

LARS NORD MID SWEDEN UNIVERSITY

In most European countries, legacy media have been traditionally per ceived as reliable providers of accurate information. During the out break of the corona virus sars-cov-2 which exploded in Europe in Spring 2020, social media were socially accepted as sources of trustful infor mation. While there partisan viewpoints and rumours were fast spread, journalists covering the news received less credibility and found socioeconomic obstacles to develop their work. This panorama raises several questions that we analyse with a group of journalists, including corres pondents working from abroad and journalists from local, science and generalist media, based in Sweden, Spain and France.

WORK ENVIRONMENT IN JOURNALISM: A STUDY OF THREE COUNTRIES IN PANDEMIC

References

• Bradshaw, S., Elswah, M., & Perini, A. (in press). Look Who’s Watching: Platform Labels & User Engagement on State-Backed Media Outlets. 25.

One of the most basic questions when it comes to credibility is: How did journalists handle information overload and unverified information and rumours? This aligns with how information on social media was monito red. How did journalists avoid to spread fear in order to maintain trust?

• Nickinson, P. (2022, March 4). Dish and Sling TV also drop Russia Today channel. Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/sling-tv-dish-rt-america/

• Shaban, H. (2018b, February 9). How public media could become a casualty of YouTube’s war on propaganda. Washington Post. wp/2018/02/09/how-public-media-could-become-a-casualty-of-youtubes-war-on-propaganda/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/

This point affects the intercultural communication, e.g., we find that cor respondents offer meticulous practises to report from abroad, in contrast with their work conditions. A challenge for professional journalism is how to ensure its social validity, specially as we find in our data that journalists strongly support ethical codes, regardless their media system and news tradition.

• Darcy, O. (2022, March 1). RT sees its influence diminish as TV providers and tech companies take action against the Russia-backed outlet. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/media/rttv-carriers-facebook-tiktok-youtube/index.html

• Kofman, A. (n.d.). YouTube Promised to Label State-Sponsored Videos But Doesn’t Always Do So. ProPublica. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from WFIEvzno51cmzXfOkpromised-to-label-state-sponsored-videos-but-doesnt-always-do-so?token=Rc1p_VOf5VfZQHVhttps://www.propublica.org/article/youtube-

PLURALISM AS A POLICY GOAL. A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO PUBLIC MEDIA REGULATION ON VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY

This study focuses on the differences between journalists working for pu blic service media and journalists working for private media in under standing and following journalists’ code of ethics. In the context of South Korea, public media services have been criticized for their collusive links with political power. The governance of public service media has been a difficult, unresolved agenda under the system of the two-party politics throughout its history nearly for a century. As digital media, especially social media, providing personalized information with using algorithms, goad this society to be more contentious than ever, legislative battles over public service media are not getting defused. In this context, this study aims to examine the role of public service media in following ethi cal standards during news production in this contentious age. Using an online survey of broadcasting journalists in Korea, this study examined differences between public media journalists and private media journa lists in their perceiving and performing of journalism principles. Total 276 broadcasting journalists were recruited to answer questions, including how important they think 14 principles each for news gathering, and how well they follow those principles. Among all respondents, 230 who identi fied their affiliation precisely were chosen for final analysis. Using a mul tivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), as well as paired sample T-test and independent T- test, it found that journalists of public service media showed a higher standard in understanding and practicing ethical prin ciples compared to privately-owned media although they both showed a certain gap between perception and performance of following the rules in news gathering practices.

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MICHAEL PAKVIS IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

HAILEY HYUN-KYUNG OH SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY REPUBLIC OF KOREA

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

PERCEPTION AND PRACTICE OF JOURNALISM ETHICS IN THE CONTENTIOUS AGE

Existing frameworks in media scholarly work constructed to assess news diversity have pointed to a subset of diverse elements, amongst which viewpoint diversity (Hendrickx et al., 2020; Loecherbach et al., 2020). The need of media players to enable viewpoint diversity is pivotal for Public Service Media, for whom bringing a broad range of views to the broadest audience possible is part of their public remit.

TIM RAATS0 IMEC-SMIT, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL

In particular, it was found that public media journalists prioritize the principle of protecting human rights and welfare of the vulnerable and disadvantaged both in perception and practices. It was also notable that public media journalists perceived the watchdog role, specifically moni toring business activities, more important than private media journalists. Although no statistically significant difference was found in ethics edu cation and ethical absolutism between two groups, public service media journalists showed a little higher ethical efficacy than private media jour nalists.

In recent years, discussions on viewpoint diversity coincided with incre ased criticism on public service broadcasters for a lack of representing all – mostly political – views in society. This is common in criticism on a perceived over-emphasis on mostly progressive, urban, upper/middle class or politically correct themes and topics or, conversely, a lack of in clusion of viewpoints, themes, and lifeworld of ethnic-cultural audien ces in news offerings (Donders, 2019; Raats et al., 2021). Following the pressure of politically populist voices that openly attack mainstream me dia for underrepresenting viewpoint diversity, public media in Europe have also witnessed a more stringent articulation of values such as ‘plu ralism’, ‘neutrality’ or ‘impartiality’ in charters and management con tracts. The push for more ‘impartiality’ has been especially prominent in public debate around the appointment of the current BBC DirectorGeneral Tim Davie and his mission to make the BBC less ‘woke’ (Thorpe, 2020). Similar discussions on the importance and centrality of impartia lity have taken place, also in other countries, resulting in a renewed inte rest in new articulations of regulatory obligations. PSM scholars such as Cushion (2019), Barnett (2011), Tambini and Cowling (2002) and others have criticised this push for broadcasters to be ‘more impartial’ to be im peding on PSM’s editorial independence. This leads to a double faceted consideration as, on the one hand, a policy transposition of vague and multifaceted values is highly difficult (as current legal interpretations of impartiality, neutrality or objectivity also demonstrate) and arbitrary. On the other hand, questions arise on whether, how and who is overseeing these renewed requirements.

To further understand its role, the second theme is fundamental in iden tifying three types of relation with viewpoint diversity: an explicit relati on, an implicit relation, and a non-specified relation. The BBC, the VRT and the ORF belong to the first type of relation. This allows for a clear un derstanding of its specific role and importance in the context of presen ting a large variety of viewpoints. The RTBF, the RAI and the DR belong to the second type of relation. In these cases, either the explicit lack of viewpoint diversity as a concept or the weak presentation of impartiality hinders the understanding of the importance of impartiality and its role in presenting a large variety of opinions to as broad of an audience as possible. Finally, only the NPO belongs to the last type of relation, as impartiality is not part of the documents.

the mapping we identified three core themes detailing the relation bet ween core concepts of the analysis: impartiality between mention and definition; the relation between impartiality and viewpoint diversity and lastly, the role of pluralism in relation to viewpoint diversity.

The mapping of concepts and terminology points to four common facets across all case studies. First, the explicit presence of independence as the core notion for all PSM in delineating detachment from both politics and commercial interests. This is interlinked with the respect of funda mental (democratic) principles, distinguishing PSM from their commer cial counterparts. Second, in achieving this, the explicit importance of reflecting the diversity of the nation is crucial. In this case diversity is used to define the nation`s diversity in terms of ethnicity, religions, and at times, opinions. Therefore, unless opinions or viewpoints are expli citly stated, this type of diversity is analysed as fundamentally different from viewpoint diversity. Third, fair, accurate and balanced reporting is associated with high ‘quality’ and ‘up-to-standard’ journalism. However, the implication of what quality entails, remains unclear. Fourth, impar tiality is not mentioned explicitly throughout all case studies, showing how harmonisation presents an uphill struggle, even though all public broadcasters have agreed to fundamental shared principles. Based on

Regarding the first theme, our findings show that policy documents of ten refrain from providing concrete definitions of impartiality. In this case, the BBC and the NPO represent opposite approaches, with the BBC providing a detailed description and approach whilst the NPO comple tely avoids its mention. The RAI, the RTBF and ORF present impartiality amongst a long list of facets of reporting, which are difficult to separate from one other and therefore undermine the importance of impartiali ty as a core facet of reporting. The DR and RTE present it together with few other facets of reporting, allowing for the possibility to distinguish the three amongst each other. Finally, the VRT, although not presenting a concrete definition, ascribes a concrete role and goal to impartiality clarifying its necessity in countering filter bubbles and echo chambers, addressing it as a condition to present a great variety of opinions (VRT, 2022). These findings show how the approach to impartiality and therefo re its role and importance changes from case study to case study further complicating harmonisation attempts towards a shared understanding of the concept.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

This paper therefore conducts a comparative analysis of policy articula tions of impartiality, pluralism, and viewpoint diversity, mapping rele vant mentions and definitions in policy documents of PSM public remit asking the core question ‘How are impartiality, viewpoint diversity and pluralism interconnected in policy documents of PSM public remits?’ More specifically we question to what extent definitions of impartiality, pluralism and diversity across countries are similar or different and how these abstract notions are defined in management contracts and char ters.’ The research sets out from a most similar type case study (Levy, 2008), with cases selected on the basis of three prerequisites. First, pu blic broadcasters with pluralism stated directly or indirectly as a goal in their public remit. Second, cases where viewpoint diversity has been part of current public and policy debate. Third, public broadcasters who benefit from high audience trust, as based on the Digital News Re port 2021 (Newman et al., 2022). The public broadcasters individuated through these criteria are the VRT (Flanders, Belgium), RTBF (Wallonia, Belgium), BBC (UK), RAI (Italy), NPO (the Netherlands), RTE (Ireland), DR (Denmark), and ORF (Austria). The research focuses on two types of documents: government agreements/charters and media laws and relies on a thematic analysis of the concepts (Herzog et al., 2019). By genera ting knowledge on the (potential) value of their relation, the objective is twofold. On the one hand, to analyse the importance and role of impar tiality across public broadcasters (Donders, 2021). On the other hand, to introduce an approach that sets the basis to discuss the construction of viewpoint diversity from a regulatory point of view, with impartiality as one of its core dimensions.

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Finally, the third theme allowed to identify the different roles that plu ralism play in contextualising viewpoint diversity. To clarify these, plu ralism is approached through its four core facets presented in literature: Internal, external, deliberative, and representational (Klimkiewicz, 2019; Raeijmaekers & Maeseele, 2015). On the one hand, when view point diversity is not specified, the importance and goal of presenting opinions is unclear as pluralism is presented as a mixture of its internal

• Micova, S. B. (2019). Case Study Research. In H. Van den Bulck, M. Puppis, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove, The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research ((Eds.), pp. 71–84). Springer International Publishing.

References

• Raats, T., Picone, I., & Van Aelst, P. (2021). DE ONPARTIJDIGHEID VAN HET VRTAANBOD:Onderzoek van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en de Universiteit Antwerpen voor de Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT).

In conclusion, our thematic analysis has provided an overview of dif ferent approaches to the definition of concepts in policy documents. In identifying different types of relations with viewpoint diversity, it has fa cilitated an understanding how impartiality`s role changes depending on the clarity of their relation. At least in official policy remit definitions, a politically and rhetoric push for more ‘viewpoints’ thus far did not re sult in more stringent definitions that would hamper PSM independence. Moreover, the analysis shows that, in most cases, the core values mentioned are not operationalized, and therefore differ across different cases. Furthermore, pluralism is rarely linked to viewpoint diversity directly, but mostly to PSM’s universal mission, and thus – at least till date –more commonly employed as a concept that legitimizes PSM’s existence, rather than a term used to oblige PSM to act ‘more neutral’, ‘more impar tial’ or hold PSM more accountable. Although clarifying concepts adds to the transparency of PSM goals, their formulation should not be approa ched as a policy imposition. Rather, defining viewpoint diversity ought to be an initiative by PSM, maintaining the status of these concepts as qualities of reporting, necessary in strengthening their legitimacy.

• Donders, K. (2019). Public service media beyond the digital hype: Distribution strategies in a plat form era. Media, Culture & Society, 41(7), 1011–1028. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719857616

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• Raeijmaekers, D., & Maeseele, P. (2015). Media, pluralism and democracy: What’s in a name? Media, Culture & Society, 37(7), 1042–1059. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443715591670

• Hendrickx, J., Ballon, P., & Ranaivoson, H. (2020). Dissecting news diversity: An integrated con ceptual framework. Journalism, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920966881

• Herzog, C., Handke, C., & Hitters, E. (2019). Analyzing Talk and Text II: Thematic Analysis. In H. Van den Bulck, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove, The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research. Springer International Publishing.

• Donders, K. (2021). Public Service Media in Europe: Law, Theory and Practice (1st ed.). Rout ledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351105569

• Tambini, D., & Cowling, J. (2002). From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Commu nications. IPPR.

• VRT. (2021). Beheersovereenkomst 2021-2025. VRT.

• Klimkiewicz, B. (2019). Pluralism in a Hybrid Media Environment from the User Perspective [Re search Project Report].

• Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Robertson, C. T., Eddy, K., & Nielsen, R. K. (2022). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 (p. 164).

• Barnett, S. (2011). The Rise and Fall of television Journalism. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

• Cushion, S. (2019). Journalism under (ideological) threat: Safeguarding and enhan cing public service media into the 21st century. Journalism, 20(1), 69–72. https://doi. org/10.1177/1464884918807036

• Levy, J. S. (2008). Case Studies: Types, Designs, and Logics of Inference. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 25(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/07388940701860318

• Thorpe, V. (2020, September 6). Unbiased jokes at the BBC? We’ve heard that one before, direc tor general. The Guardian. at-the-bbc-weve-heard-that-one-before-director-generalhttps://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/sep/06/unbiased-jokes-

and external facets, detailing the importance of broad programming and genre diversity within the national media market. On the other hand, when viewpoint diversity is mentioned, pluralism is presented in its in ternal facet, detailing the necessity of the presentation of a large variety of views and opinions for pluralistic debate. Furthermore, as detailed in the initial mapping, pluralism is present in all case studies in its delibe rative and representative normative facets. Therefore, pluralism can also function as a normative goal for viewpoint diversity, contextualising its necessity in representing the diversity of opinions in the nation as well as the formation of informed citizenship, respecting the citizens` funda mental democratic rights.

• Loecherbach, F., Moeller, J., Trilling, D., & van Atteveldt, W. (2020). The Unified Framework of Media Diversity: A Systematic Literature Review. Digital Journalism, 8(5), 605–642. https://doi. org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1764374

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These companies face struggles and pitfalls in finding adequate ways to conserve their mission of producing innovative content that ser ves different age groups while benefiting from technology (Bardoel & d‘Haenens, 2008). Attempts to create cross-platform journalism call for a balance between the demand for innovation and conservation, susta ined by comparative advantages developed over decades of knowledge accumulated by public broadcasters.

We argue that when dealing with a multiplatform environment, public broadcasters appear to be stuck between conservation and innovation: While expected to reach people where they are, the delivery of content by PSM at third-party platforms such as social media poses ethical questi ons and might feed discussions about the obsolescence of public service media. The challenge is revitalising the long-existing demands for PSB to transform into PSM, while translating this into guidelines to secure “diversity and respect for pluralism, (...) providing quality news and information, cultivating cultures and supporting democratic process” (Bardoel & Lowe, 2007, p. 11).

DOMINIK SPECK TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

PSM (Public Service Media) organisations have adjusted to the introduc tion of digital technology and multiplatform opportunities over the past two decades. This process, which is conceptualised as the shift from PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) to PSM, intends to revitalise “the public service ethos” and “the public service mission for a multimedia and po lymedia environment” (Bardoel & Lowe, 2007, p. 9). Although a wider variety of formats might convey the expectation that more possibilities would arise, what the literature suggests is that local, investigative jour nalism and domestic content are struggling to survive in a media envi ronment where “the platformisation of media markets is adding to the pressure on public broadcasters” (Donders, 2021, p. 30).

BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND INNOVATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON GUIDELINES FOR PSM MULTIPLATFORM JOURNALISM

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All eleven broadcasters examined fulfil at least one indicator of docu mentation for multiplatform journalism; however, the detailedness of the recommendations varies considerably.

Also, none of the broadcasters analysed had a specific document for strategic planning on multiplatform journalism. Most documents dealt with multiplatform activities in general, while not delving deeper into questions of journalism. The absence of documents exclusively detailing guides for multiplatform journalism can represent an obstacle to fulfil ling the PSM mission. Different fronts can be summed up, including lo cating and selecting relevant information (Strömbäck et al., 2022) how to

DANILO ROTHBERG UNESP SÃO PAULO STATE UNIVERSITY

SIVALDO PEREIRA DA SILVA UNB UNIVERSITY OF BRASÍLIA

In this paper, we took a deeper look into the rules and values public broadcasters have given themselves for journalism and editorial practi ces in a multiplatform environment. We identified, through qualitative document analysis, which standards and editorial guidelines have been adopted for multiplatform journalism of 11 broadcasters: ABC (Austra lia); TV Cultura (São Paulo, Brazil); CBC (Canada); France Télévisions (France); ZDF (Germany); ARD (Germany); RTP (Portugal); SABC (South Africa); TVE (Spain); BBC (United Kingdom); PBS (United States). This comparative approach allowed us to understand the strategies in place comprehensively. Despite the centrality of theoretical guidelines and regulations, it is plausible to expect differences between providers. Ta king into account differences between the media systems under study, particularly with regard to the specific technological and multiplatform environments, we can expect even sharper contrasts. Three categories guided our analyses: Documentation, Content, and Interaction. In Do cumentation, we evaluated how multiplatform journalism achieves cen trality and prominence within the documents. The indicators of this ca tegory were General Principles, Strategic Planning, and Transparency. Regarding Content, we assessed the different formats and digital possi bilities recommended to be explored by multiplatform journalism. The indicators of this category were Content Available, Content Warnings, and Content Display. Interaction evaluated Digital Platform Interaction, Content Moderation, and Responsiveness Recommendations.

Concerning general requirements for Content, none of the analysed broadcasters published a document exclusively dedicated to multiplat form journalism. The recommendations appear in general documents about journalism, digital content, and third-party platform use. Only the two German organisations analysed have consolidated and detailed gui delines for multiplatform content, including journalism (ZDF and ARD), related to PSM content being offered on third-party platforms.

DANIELE FERREIRA SERIDÓRIOS TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

consolidation phase of digital technology, others might have reached the maturity phase already (see Donders, 2019, for a description of these phases). Additionally, digital news environments are rapidly reshaping, which means strategies may also change quickly. The lack of public avai lability of detailed information on many of the indicators under study for most broadcasters seems striking in light of the ongoing global dis cussions about accountability, transparency, data protection, and digital sovereignty in multi-platform environments.

In conclusion, our analysis indicates variations regarding the availabi lity of strategic documents outlining rules and concepts for PSM multi platform journalism. These tendencies may result from differences in the technological environments in which these broadcasters operate. While some organisations analysed might still operate in the experimental or

Many broadcasters have failed to transparently describe the „platform imaginaries” (Van Es & Poell, 2020) that underpin their digital activities. Public service has been significantly challenged by multiplatform envi ronments: A reconceptualisation of, for example, the universalism argu ment in public service media is required due to algorithms, personalised interfaces, social networks, and data infrastructures (Savage, Medina & Lowe, 2020; Sørensen, 2020). It is crucial for public service broadcasters to reconceptualise and redefine themselves if they are to provide a „pu blic open space” (Thomaß, 2020) or a „public service internet” (Fuchs & Unterberger, 2021) and understand the use of algorithms as instruments of the mediation process, which must incorporate and readapt the historical principles of public media. However, this will require transparency for citizens regarding the presuppositions, strategies, definitions, and rules that PSM apply in digital news environments, as we argue in this article.

There is an interesting connection between multiplatform journalism and the universalism concept for public broadcasters (Savage, Medina, & Lowe, 2020; Sørensen, 2020). Since most companies understand that audiences are moving towards other forms of media consumption (ABC, CBC, RTP, SABC, ARD, ZDF, France Télévisions), they claim that multi platform content is a way to achieve universality. On the other hand, TV Cultura claims that such practices may undermine universality. In the second category, we examined content guidelines for multiplatform journalism. The recommendations include producing and broadcasting content in streaming or on-demand formats via investment and integ rated platforms (such as ABC, CBC, RTP, ZDF, and ARD), or through an association with local stations (PBS) or a partnership with other com panies (SABC). According to seven organisations, online content should be available, but the degree of detailed varied. While in BBC they were consolidated, in RVE, RTP, and SABC the guidelines were relatively su perficial; in CBC, TV Cultura, and ABC the guidance was superficial.

The third category analysed was Interaction, which considered public ly available guidelines for ensuring responsiveness of online content. TV Cultura, from Brazil, did not fulfil any indicator of this category. The other nine corporations have guidelines for content moderation availa ble, whether consolidated (ABC, BBC, ARD, and France Télévisions), re latively superficial (RTP and RTVE) or very superficial (ZDF, CBC, and SABC). In the case of PBS, no published document discusses moderating user-generated content in PBS policies at the national level. Still, on a regional basis, members often mention it, usually as part of the Terms of Service. Moderation for third-party generated content is handled in three ways: (a) actively, deepening and detailing practical actions (ABC, RTP); (b) passively, prioritising removal in extreme cases, usually in case of discrimination (ARD, CBC, and SABC); or (c) not addressing the issue, generally providing only recommendations on good conduct (PBS).

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integrate different media outlets and formats (Castro et al., 2018), as well as the need to create content that binds together shared imaginations (Bos et al., 2016; Van Es & Poell, 2020; Sørensen, 2020). Another aspect is transparency regarding the content production and availability strate gies used (Sehl, Cornia & Nielsen, 2018).

RQ 2: Which sources of information run the risk of being informed incompletely or misinformed?

media market happened relatively late and there was no commercial Radio until 1998 and no commercial TV until 2002. The Austrian Public Service Media (ORF) is still in a strong position with its traditional me dia channels and also provides the biggest online news platform ORF.at Network with 5,6 million users and 69% of unique users in Austria (ÖWA 2021). The ORF is funded by license fees with an average amount of € 26.63 per month/household (GIS, 2022).

RQ3: To what extent has the attitude towards media or reporting changed as a result of the corruption scandal?

Referring to the conference theme, the paper deals with the contribution of Public Service Media (PSM) to society by providing trustworthy and un biased information for citizens – especially in times of a crisis. Political developments such as the so-called “Inseratenaffäre” (corruption scandal about advertisement bookings, faked political polls and benevolent re porting about the Austrian Conservative Party, ÖVP) have left damage on the Austrian media landscape (e.g. Reporters without Borders, 2021). After increasing trust particularly in PSM during the Corona crisis (e.g. Gadrin ger et al. 2021), this may lead to an increasing mistrust in media coverage and certain media institutions. To tackle this problem, the paper focuses on changes in news trust and relevance of certain media outlets in relati on to the corruption scandal. Seethaler (2015) defined three perspectives on media and its relevance for democracy: 1) market and editorial struc tures, 2) offerings and concrete communication performance and 3) usage and value for individual media repertoires. The focus in this case is on the third perspective and the relevance for young media users in Austria.

To understand the relevance of the referred corruption scandal, the poli tical incidents and consequences must be recalled: On 6th October 2021 house searches started at the office of the former Austrian Chancellor Se bastian Kurz and in the offices of the Ministry of Finance due to allegations of the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor‘s Office (WKStA). Since 2016 the Austrian Conservative Party (ÖVP) unlawfully used budget funds of the Austrian Ministry of Finance to influence media coverage. Falsified opinion polls were prepared and placed in ”Österreich”– a tabloid (on line) newspaper - together with positive reporting as countertrade to ad vertisement bookings. The aim was to influence public opinion and the in ternal ÖVP party opinion in in order to make Sebastian Kurz the next ÖVP Chairman and Austrian chancellor. On 9th October 2021 Sebastian Kurz resigned as chancellor due to the allegations and the start of further pro ceedings (e.g. Profil, 2022). The scandal aroused great international media interest and resulted in a decreased valuation in the Corruption Percep tions Index (CPI) in 2021 (e.g. Transparency International Austria, 2022).

MEDIA UNDER PRESSURETHE AUSTRIAN CORRUPTION SCANDAL AND THE TRUST IN MEDIA COVERAGE

RQ1: To what extent do the participants think politics have an influ ence on journalism in Austria?

Moreover, neighboring Germany influences the Austrian media lands cape. Having the same language and a similar culture, Austrian media outlets and productions face strong competition (Steinmaurer 2002). Compared to several European countries, the liberation of the Austrian

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

GISELA UNIVERSITÄTREITERWIEN

The study is based on 22 qualitative in-depth-interviews conducted with 18 to 30 year-old participants who differ in gender and level of education. During the field time in December 2021 and January 2022 the discussions about the corruption scandal and the political resignation of Sebastian Kurz were still at its peak. The analysis highlights individual daily routi nes, changes in habits and individual reasons for usage and non-usage of media offerings and digital platforms. The complex relations between socialization, current and special usage are exemplified und supported by quotes using computer assisted Analysis with Atlas.ti Software (e.g. Friese 2019).

Therefore the research questions concerning young user groups are:

In times of media convergence and the merging of previously separate media genres through the Internet, users are in constant contact with media offerings and access them regardless of time and place (e.g. Stark et al. 2020; Swat et al. 2017). Beyond that, expectations, valuations and usage of media in general and PSM in particular are influenced by socia lization within family and collective biographical media usage (e.g. Beck et al. 2016). Drivers behind this behavior are not only learned strategies of media choices but also social cohesion in a shared identity within so ciety (e.g. Theunert & Schorb 2010). This also affects the gathering of political information within the increasingly digitized media landscape and the differentiation of valuable sources (e.g. Muck 2018).

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Comingsource.”tothe

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Thereted.”

are three main findings closely linked to the research questions: 1) There is only a vague idea about political and financial mechanisms in the media sector. Political influence seems obvious and accepted but is believed to happen only to a certain extent. 2) There are no concrete differences mentioned between PSM and private media outlets, but the ORF is perceived as a more trustworthy source than other providers are. Media usage in general is described as learning process and incomplete reporting is mentioned as main problem for serious media outlets resp. PSM. 3) There are no fundamental changes in the media repertoire of the participants after the corruption scandal. In addition, there is only little awareness about the source and quality features of published surveys in general. The participants also claim that they receive not enough infor mation about corruption. One participant P4 (f|20|average) summarizes this: “I have never particularly oriented myself to such political polls. And I don‘t consume the newspapers that were affected either, so I‘m not going to change my media consumption because of the corruption scandal.”

The trustworthiness in polls seems to be influenced by the sort of me dia that publishes them. P17 (m/28/high) thinks, “Polls in tabloids are the problem. The poll results were published in the tabloid “Österreich”, which collaborated with the ÖVP. That‘s is striking.” and P3 (f/19/average) even tells us “Honestly, political polls like that, I‘ve never paid much at tention to them. And the newspapers that were affected by the scandal, I do not consume them…” Besides this unconcernedness, a general noncritical consumption of polls and results of quantitative surveys can be detected and P6 (m/22/average) confesses „I don‘t check them regularly now, mostly just before the election or then during the election, that‘s when I look at them more closely. And yes, I never really thought about the

Table 1: Sample; Level of education: low = compulsory education, ave rage = min. Matura, high = university degree; Field time: 8th Decem ber2021 - 12th January 2022.

Asked about the influence of politics on the media P5 (f/21/average) says, “I think they have a very strong influence... I think they are also two areas that somehow belong together…” Also P10 (f/22/average) believes that “politics has an influence on journalism. Politicians and journa lists know each other, which means there is certainly a friendship or so mething like acquaintance.” Still, there seems to be a limit and P7 (m/22/ average) quotes “But I do not believe that politics can really overrule. […] I don‘t think it ever gets to the point where they can no longer critically examine really critical things.”

changes in trust and usage a general tendency is recog nizable and summarized by P10 (f/22/average) with her quote „Actually, I don‘t know, it didn‘t affect me that much.” Participants with a funda mental skepticism tend to be more alert. P15 (m/26/average) tells us “I generally approach any information more skeptically now and also try to recheck things more often.” or P9 (m/25/low) even says, „I have always been very skeptical about many things, because you never know exactly what‘s true and what‘s not. Journalists are supposed to be objective, but I think our generation has already experienced that a lot of things are twisted in the media and that some media may also be politically orien

Asked about the source of fake information P18 (m/30/average) defines media knowledge as development and states, “I must appeal to common sense and everyone must form their own opinion. We have all read and believed false information before.” P1 (m/20/average) detects a problem in the incompleteness of information and tells us “I think incompleteness can happen anywhere. For example, when I look at the Standard online, I see how many spelling mistakes there are.” In addition to this P22 (f/30/ high) says, “I do not believe that media intentionally misreport, the se rious ones at least not. But I think that maybe sometimes not everything is reported. I think that a lot of information that could be reported but is not reported because it does not fit in or because it is controlled.”

URBANO REVIGLIO, UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO

In response to the emerging digitally-mediated and personalization media landscape development, the European Broadcasting Union held between 2016 and 2018 a series of workshops and conferences on how to adapt PSM to the logic of existing recommender systems, discussing problems such as: How to create an appetite for data-driven strategies across organizations? How to help staff buy into big data strategies? How to measure the success of a public service algorithm? How to balance serendipity with personalisation? How to define the Key Performance Indicators of the recommendation systems? The lists of topics one can find at the EBU conference websites reflect both a strong desire to ad apt data-driven praxises in the business of PSM, but also a technologydeterministic paradigm where PSM organizations are rendered as those lacking behind in the inevitable race towards datafication. The urgency of adopting personalisation leaves however a couple of questions unans wered: Should PSM organizations in their use of recommender systems follow the same attention optimization logic as other media organiza tions or should PSM core values be implemented in the algorithm? If so, then how to express these values in data and variables? How to ensure the core PSM value of transparency in the algorithmic processing of re commendations? In this paper we discuss these larger questions both in the light of the principles and ideals from which they emerge, and in the light of the practical challenges for PSM organizations in which the implementation of personalisation algorithms are located.

• Seethaler, J. (2015). Qualität des tagesaktuellen Informationsangebots in den österreichischen Medien. [Quality of the daily information offered in the Austrian media]. Band 1. Wien: Schrif tenreihe der RTR-GmbH.

• Muck, J. (2018). Vertrauen in Journalismus in Zeiten des digitalen Wandels – Eine Analyse aus journalistischer Perspektive. [Trust in Journalism in Times of Digital Transformation - An Analy sis from journalistic perspective]. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

• Attentional Integrity as a Mission for Public Service Media and Its Recommender Systems

• Reporters without Borders. (2021). 2021 World Press Freedom Index. https://rsf.org/en/austria (retrieved 27/07/2022).

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• Gadringer, S., Holzinger, R., Sparviero, S., Trappel, J., & Schwarz, C. (2021). Digital News Report 2021. Detailergebnisse für Österreich. [Detailed results for Austria]. FB Kommunikationswissen schaft, Universität Salzburg.

• Friese, S. (2019). Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica tions.

• GIS (2022). Übersicht Gebühren Info Service [Overview of Fees Info Service]. https://www.gis.at/ gebuehren (retrieved 27/07/2022).

References

• Transparency Interntaional Austria (2022). Punkteabzug im internationalen Korruptionsran king (CPI) [Points deducted from international corruption ranking (CPI)]. https://ti-austria. at/2022/01/25/korruptionsranking-cpi-skandale-schaden-oesterreich/# (retrieved 27/07/2022).

In light of the discussions regarding the role of PSM in the digital era and, in particular, the deployment of recommender systems, we argue that the role of attention and its preservation and management are para mount, though still somehow underestimated. Nowadays, in fact, main stream social media platforms, as well as most of the internet, is based on what is usually referred to as an ‘attention economy’ (Zuboff, 2015). Essentially, the attention of each user is considered a commodity that is eventually used to identify patterns of consumer behaviors, preferences, tendencies, etc. Beyond data, then, it is human attention the main re source from which digital services profit. Information abundance repre sents an epistemological paradigm shift, whereas digital technologies increasingly get better at distracting human attention. Even if mainly

JANNICK SORENSEN AALBORG UNIVERSITY

• Stark, B., Magin, M. & Geiß, S. (2020). Meinungsbildung in und mit sozialen Medien. [Opinion in and through social media]. In: Taddicken, M. & Schmidt, J. H. (Eds.), Handbuch Soziale Medien. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 61-74.

1. Introduction

• Swart, J., Peters, C. & Broersma, M. (2017). From news use to public connection. Audiences’ everyday experiences of digital journalism, civic engagement and social life. In: Schwanholz, J., Graham, T. & Stoll, P.T. (Eds.), Managing democracy in the digital age. Internet regulation, social media use, and online civic engagement. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, pp. 181-199.

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• Theunert, H., & Schorb, B. (2010). Sozialisation, Medienaneignung und Medienkompetenz in der mediatisierten Gesellschaft. [Socialisation, acquirement of media and media literacy in me diated societies]. In: Hartmann, M. & Hepp, A. (Eds.), Die Mediatisierung der Alltagswelt [Medi alization of daily routines]. Wiesbaden: VS, pp. 243-254.

• Beck, K., Büser, T. & Schubert, C. (2016). Mediengenerationen. Biografische und kollektivbiogra fische Muster des Medienhandelns [Mediagenerations. Biographical and collective biographical patterns of media usage]. Köln: Harlem.

• Profil (2022). ÖVP-Inseratenaffäre. [ÖVP advertising affair]. https://www.profil.at/oesterreich/ oevp-inseratenaffaere-die-beinschab-protokolle/401917921 (retrieved 27/07/2022).

used by economists and foreseen already decades ago (Simon, 1971), the notion of attention economy has also become an important object of critical analysis in recent years. Eventually, one of the main outcomes of this economy is distraction, also referred to as “digital distraction.”

Several scholars and commentators, indeed, argue that there is a crisis of shrinking attention spans that threatens autonomy, freedom, and po litical discourse (Williams, 2018; Hanin, 2021). Looking also at the crisis of PSM through the lens of attention, then, could shed more light on the opportunities for innovating PSM’s role in the digital era.

“Attentional integrity” refers to the endeavor to protect and promote in dividual attention. Of course, this concept is a multifaceted. Already va rious scholars have developed similar concepts and initiatives. Notably, Williams (2018) has developed the idea of “freedom of attention” and the Onlife Manifesto (2015) led by the influential philosopher Luciano Floridi has also declared that “societies must protect, cherish and nurture humans’ attentional capabilities” (Sect. 4.6). Other notable intitiatives include the project Time Well Spent of former Google employee Tristan Harris which produced, for example, the successful podcast Your Undi vided Attention. The perspectives from which attentional integrity could be developed and discussed are certainly manifold, and the questions

4. Operationalising PSM Attentional Integrity

With Syvertsen (1999) we acknowledge the many, and sometimes con tradicting definitions of public service. For our discussion of the appli cability of recommender systems in the PSM context we however need characteristics of PSM that are more firm than those presented e.g. by Syvertsen or Bolin (2004) . Many sources could be sought for, but we base our tentative evaluation of recommender systems on the UNESCO (2001) definition of PSB core principles: Universality, Diversity, Independence, Distinctiveness (ibid. 11-12). These high-level principles might be enacted differently depending on the PSM organization or even ignored; or they may even be as an expression of an outdated broadcasting era, but they can provide us with a benchmark for how well PSM’s problems with re commender systems can be addressed through research.

There is no model or actionable framework to protect and promote atten tional integrity yet. Despite its rather abstract nature, however, there are a number of fruitful approaches and ideas that reasonably align with ‘at tentional integrity’. Before describing and contextualizing these, we int roduce the main challenges and opportunities to develop recommender systems aligned with PSM principles. These algorithmic systems, in fact, power the personalization through which, we argue, attentional integri ty can be sustained more effectively. As our next question, we can ask to which extent it is possible to respect attentional integrity in the design of PSM recommender systems, and subsequently: which dilemmas do we

2. Paradigms of PSM and Recommender Systems

3. What do we mean by “Attentional Integrity”?

related to attention remain open-ended; is it information abundance re ally leading to information overload? Are human beings changing their ability to focus? Is it digital multitasking a positive or detrimental ad aptation? Eventually, how to protect and promote attentional integrity? Most importantly, however, we need to answer a fundamental question to begin the discussion: what do we mean by attentional integrity?

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

To begin, let us highlight a major distinction concerning attention and its meaning. Friedman (2014) has shown that attention can be construed as a positive function of selecting or as a negative distracting process in which stimuli are excluded in order to regulate mental overflow. So, if attention is to be conceived as a freedom, we could distinguish two main perspectives; on the one hand, (1) attention as a positive freedom, what we could refer to as “purposeful attention” and, on the other hand, (2) attention as a negative freedom, what we could refer to as “attention protection.” Such distinction allows us to highlight diverse objectives to promote attentional integrity. Attentional integrity implicitly stresses two main facts. On the one hand, attention is the fundamental resource of digital citizens, and its management is considered one of the most im portant skills for the 21st century, even replacing time management (Davenport and Beck, 2001). On the other hand, attention is to be currently conceived first and foremost as a negative freedom that needs special protection. As a matter of fact, and not speculation, it has emerged “an asymmetric matchup between our fallible mechanisms of self-restraint and armies of engineers, programmers, designers, and executives wor king to extract ever-smaller “slivers” of our focus in a highly competitive attention economy” (Hanin, 2021). In this sense, we conceive attention as an individual resource that needs to be protected. PSM could embrace this role, not only by protecting attentional integrity but also, generally speaking, by raising awareness and increasing agency to effectively ma nage attention.

Our starting point is an examination to which extent existing research in recommender systems can accommodate the requirements that we claim are special for public service media. This will test the uniqueness of the problem at hand, as well point to potential solutions. Although PSMs have particular requirements for recommender systems, general specifi cations for PSM-driven personalization systems do not exist.

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MARTA UNIVERSIDADERODRÍGUEZ-CASTRODESANTIAGODECOMPOSTELA

The current media environment, where the digital dynamics set the pace of news production, Public Service Media (PSM) organizations play a crucial role in sustaining the public sphere through quality, rigorous, independent, and valuable news services. However, in countries such as Spain and Portugal, public service broadcasters are struggling with significant decreases in their audience figures (European Audiovisual Observatory, 2021). Moreover, financial instability and political pressu res have contributed to the erosion of the legitimacy of the Spanish and the Portuguese PSM organizations.

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PROMOTING PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA THROUGH COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION

In order to address the loss of public trust, many European PSM orga nizations turned to public value strategies that reinforce participation and innovation within these corporations (Vysloužilová, 2019): from the pioneering work of the Austrian ORF’s trailblazing Public-Value-Kompe tenzzentrum to the most recent experiences of the Swiss SRG SSR or the German ARD. Even if not in such an explicit way, both the Spanish and the Portuguese public service broadcasters (Corporación de Radio y Tele visión Española, RTVE, and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, RTP) have im plemented different types of participation practices aimed at regaining citizens’ trust and institutional credibility.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

At a systemic level, there are a number of approaches that could support and promote attentional integrity; firstly, we believe that an emerging media paradigm in line with this endeavor is ‘Slow Media’ (Rauch, 2018; Fuchs 2021). Another related endeavor in this context is ”Digital well being” which describes the impact that technologies have on people’s mental, physical, and emotional health. Moving to a meso level, the fo cus is on recommender systems. Acknowledging PSM’s role, we should thus expect PSM-oriented recommender systems. These could challenge the typical objective behind a recommender system which is engage ment. Therefore, we could think a ”non- engagement RS” aimed to in crease and keep users’ attention. This could be developed in a way that can support “self-actualization.” Inspired by the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization is an emerging ideal for personalized systems that “embed the explicit goal to not just present users with the best possi ble items, but to support users in developing, exploring, and understan ding their own unique tastes and preferences” (Knijnenburg et al., 2016). At a more practical level, there are two main approaches to operationa lize attentional integrity: information asymmetries and individual agen cy. On the one hand, ”information asymmetries” generally refer to the substantial differences that exist between the information available to providers (e.g. platforms and engineers) versus that available to the con sumers themselves. The endeavor to reduce these asymmetries would be desirable to support attentional integrity in at least three different in tertwined areas: (1) algorithmic opacity, (2) automated profiling and (3) online manipulation. On the other hand, the agency of the user could be developed, especially to better align their preferences and avoid the deli very of irrelevant (or less relevant) information that might threaten their attention. One of the main ways in which agency could be supported is nudging (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). Despite this widespread approach is considered potentially lesive to autonomy, we discuss the potential of a new emerging paradigm: self-nudging (Reijula & Hertwig, 2022). Finally, we attempt to provide even more practical approaches and discuss their limits, in particular with regards to the previously outlines PSB/PSM principles: Universality, Diversity, Independence, Distinctiveness.

SARA UNIVERSIDADEPÉREZ-SEIJODESANTIAGODE COM POSTELA PAULO UNIVERSIDADEFAUSTINODOPORTO

The public value theory originally put forward by Mark Moore (1995) proposed a renovation of the public sector by assigning the public manager the tasks of meeting the needs of the stakeholders and of constantly see king to evolve through innovation. When Moore’s theory was transferred to the field of Public Service Media, public value was also understood as a holistic concept that was able to aggregate the different attributes traditio nally linked to public service (quality, independence, diversity, promotion of democracy, etc.), although in the above mentioned cases public value is also seen as a means to open PSM governance and decision-making pro cesses to stakeholder participation and as a compromise with innovation.

encounter in attempting to operationalise PSM attentional integrity? We think of it as a goal that could be generally pursued at a systemic level, a meso level, and to a more practical one.

2. To study the structural participation and stakeholder in volvement strategies developed by RTP and RTVE in order to become more democratic and collaborative corporations

The newness of this research relies on the fact that within the study of Public Service Media systems, South-European contexts do not attract the same attraction as other European environments. In this regard, the study of the participatory and innovative practices deployed by the Spa nish and the Portuguese PSM organizations can shed some light on how these public service broadcasters are implementing public value strate gies and, in a way, to what extent they are mirroring other European ex periences. Moreover, this paper exploration of the way two PSM organi zations approach participation strategies can be helpful to identify both strengths and weaknesses of these actions, so that both PSM practitio ners, academics and managers can draw lessons to their own contexts.

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It should be noted that within this research, we understand participation in two ways: 1) as structural participation, defined by Carpentier (2011) as the participation within the media organization’s decision-making structures; and 2) as collaboration with other stakeholders, both from the media sector and the civil society.

To define the map of values of each public service media organization, we departed from the model proposed by Cañedo et al. (2022). Based on the document analysis of the legislation and grey literature from 17 Eu ropean PSM organisations, this model identifies twelve dimensions of public value in the multiplatform ecosystem: social engagement, diver sity, innovation, independence, excellence, universality, citizen partici pation, media literacy, accountability, territorial cohesion, social justice and cooperation. During the document analysis of our research, we ana lysed the prominence of each of those 12 public value dimensions and established three levels of relevance, which are (from lowest to highest

Therefore, this research is built from these three objectives:

Our preliminary findings show certain differences in the way RTVE and RTP deployed participation strategies. For instance, while RTP’s public consultation is of a regulatory nature, RTVE’s “La gran consulta” is more related to a corporate communication strategy. Beyond these two spe cific practices, we have also identified the importance that RTP alloca tes to cooperation strategies with other public and private institutions both at the European Union level and with other Portuguese-speaking countries. In Spain, RTVE is learning from the experiences of other PMS organizations when applying public value strategies to better assess the public value they deliver.

1. To map the public value dimensions that guide the activities of RTP and RTVE

This paper will draw attention to how RTVE and RTP are implementing participatory and cooperation practices aimed at regaining public trust and legitimacy. As within public value theories the notions of public va lue, participation and innovation are strictly intertwined, we will explore the recent actions of RTVE and RTP in these fields in order to see whether they are coordinated or not.

3. To explore to what extent these participation practices con tribute to the innovation strategies of RTP and RTVE

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Once the map of values of RTP and RTVE had been defined, we analyzed a significant participatory practice for each of the case studies: RTVE’s camping “La gran consulta” (“The great consultation‘‘) and RTP’s public consultation on the renewal of its management contract. Aiming to over come the limitations of using a single method and thus to strengthen the research results (Wimmer and Dominick, 2013), semi-structured indepth interviews were conducted with professionals at RTP and RTVE.

presence): interesting values, important values and essential values. To carry out this hierarchical ranking, the number of times that each of the se dimensions of public value are referenced was calculated. Once the analysis and counting of the mentions of each dimension has been com pleted, these are distributed in each of the levels.

In order to reach these objectives, this paper presents two case studies that were developed applying a mixed-method design. First, a content analysis has been applied. The use of this technique enables the sys tematic and objective description of the manifest content of (Berelson, 1952), in this particular case, reports and strategic documents: in Por tugal, we studied the draft for the renewal of the management contract that is still being negotiated, and in Spain we analyzed the framework mandate of RTVE. It should be noted that despite the legal requirement to update this framework mandate every 9 years, the one currently in force dates from 2008.

Public discourse has moved online, enabled by internet intermediaries, in particular by social media platforms. Platforms have become an impor tant source of, an access point to and key distributor of information, in cluding media content. Public service media (PSM) – the ultimate trustee of media pluralism and diversity in the European tradition - is more and more reliant on platforms under the universality principle to reach out and interact with the broadest range of their audiences. However, the con trol over content dissemination and audience engagement is largely deter mined by the platforms via algorithmic content recommendation (content curation) systems, according to their terms and conditions (community standards). Thus, the realisation of PSM’s role as the ‘Fourth Estate’ of po wer in democratic societies is de facto defined, negotiated and provided by private interest ruled actors in the online environment. The public in terest objectives for diversity and pluralism, the cornerstones of European media governance, were not safeguarded under these conditions.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND PLATFORMS‘ GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF ONLINE PROMINENCE OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA CONTENT

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This paper is addressing the necessity and possibilities of a regulato ry framework for the legal and policy safeguards of PSM in the digital ecology. It aims at providing insights to the regulability of digital online communication platforms and the guarantees on PSM content delivery to audiences as a matter of media pluralism. Accountability, which is the backbone of governance, was studied in its interaction with platforms’ and PSM performance, and the critical junctures identified. Finally, the analyses on the resilience and the sustainability of the current accounta bility regimes laid out recommendations for future policy and interven tions for public-interest driven platforms’ governance.

• Carpentier, N. (2011). Media and Participation: A site of ideological-democratic struggle. In Fo cus (Vol. 260, Issue 781). Intellect Ltd. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_606390

• European Audiovisual Observatory (2021). Yearbook. Television, VOD, cinema and video in 40 European States: markets and players, services and usage. Strasbourg: European Audiovisual Observatory.

• Moore, M. H. (1995). Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. Harvard Uni versity Press.

References

1. Relevance to the conference theme

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KRISZTINA ROZGONYI SENIOR SCIENTIST, INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES (CMC)/AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

2. Newness or originality of the research (empirical) Algorithmic content recommendation systems filter large amounts of information online (content-based, collaborative or hybrid filtering). Meanwhile, content prioritisation processes and techniques are to posi tively discriminate and promote content by making it more discoverable

• Vysloužilová, K. (2019). Public service media versus digital media platforms: A threat or an op portunity? Communication Today, 10(2), 74–88.

• Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research, New York: The Free Press.

• Wimmer, R.D. & Dominick, J.R. (2013). Mass Media Research: An Introduction. Cengage Lear ning.

• Cañedo, A., Rodríguez-Castro, M., & López-Cepeda, A. M. (2022). Distilling the value of public service media: Towards a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework. European Jour nal of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231221090777

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5. Key findings and implications for theory

The paper investigates platforms’ accountability relevant to due promi nence of PSM content online, and the corresponding PSM accountabili ty measures. Methodologically, with a combined legal (Milosavljević & Poler, 2019) and policy analyses (Puppis & Van den Bulck, 2019), and a necessary interdisciplinary approach, pre-selected and most directly relevant statutory legal acts (national and European); European legal and policy standards; industrial standards and practices; and finally solo-regulatory, private orderings of online platforms and the Austrian PSM practice were studied, analysed and assessed according to the RQs. The analytical model covered the major pillars of accountability, name ly the propriateness.to(users),(Bovens,Forum-Actor-Legitimacy-Obligation-Compliance-Consequences2007).ThemodelconsideredtheperspectivesoftheaudiencesPSMproviders,theState(regulators)andtheplatforms,inorderscrutinisethecurrentaccountabilityschemesandevaluatetheirap

The role and responsibility of PSM are to contribute to the fundaments of a democratic society, to provide for safe, inclusive and open public debates, ultimately for social cohesion. These functions were challenged by syste mic attacks on editorial independence on a global scale (Dragomir & So derstrom, 2022) and by digital disruptions, and PSM has struggled to enga ge with audiences in a platform-driven context. Due prominence is on the

public policy agenda for some time, because the diversity of content, that is actually available to users, and easy access to public interest content is a fundamental concern of democratic publicity (Helberger et al., 2020). Scholars mapped and critically reflected on the various efforts at regula ting social media recommendation transparency in Europe, and argued for their potential added value for PSM due prominence (E. Mazzoli, 2021).

The findings aimed at informing current and upcoming policy debates on whether and how to regulate for due prominence of PSM content. The vulnerabilities of platforms’ and of PSM governance were detected and the critical accountability deficits analysed. Along the major pillars of accountability, it was revealed, that the legal and policy measures on platforms usually missed to consider the digital communicative eco-sys tem as a (potential) space of democratic discourse and of counteraction. The single-actor focused, siloed interventions were not reflective to plat forms’ opinion power; did not connect policy objectives on countering ‘online harms’ to the mediated context; and preferred sanction-based accountability over trust-based schemes. As a consequence, they were at best mitigating harms but failed to create systemic, sustainable and resilient countervailing powers across the different dimensions (Puppis, 2010) of platforms’ governance.

The backbone of such legal and regulatory frameworks are the underly ing accountability mechanisms by which online platforms are rendered to comply with. Similarly, PSM accountability is critical to audiences’ digital engagement (Sehl, 2020), and ensuring public trust (EBU, 2021).

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

4. Research methods and design

or prominent for digital audiences (due prominence). The recommender system is to determine how users’ data, profiles and interactions collec ted can be best utilised to reach pre-defined optimisation goals (Pirkova et al., 2021), which have become key content discovery features (Leers sen, 2020). PSM was meant to be in best position to ensure audiences’ exposure to diverse media content (Helberger, Karppinen & D’Acunto, 2018) and facilitate a pluralistic content offer.

3. Theorization and general importance

Online content curation and the related prioritisation decisions are not covered by any specific regulatory framework currently (CMPF et al., 2022). The democratic performance of PSM online is not guaranteed on digital communication platforms. Therefore, it was necessary to investigate the legislative and policy measures relevant to the universality and accessibility of PSM content online, the solo-regulatory actions of plat forms taking account for their conduct, and the corresponding practice of the Austrian PSM, the ORF. The Research Questions encompassed the complexity of accountable governance, and focused on (1) Which ele ments of platforms’ accountability regimes correspond to due promi nence of PSM content online?; (2) How do they resonate with PSM public accountability schemes?; and ultimately, (3) What should be the role of accountability in public-value driven platform governance?

Globally present internet intermediaries are the gatekeepers of informa tion enabled by their algorithmic-driven content curation and recom mendation techniques. They decide what-when-how-in-what-context we find and ‘see’ on digital media platforms. The decisions on controlling content and information are set by their private orderings, based on in ternal rules, considerations and assumptions, rather than democratic or public interest values. Digital intermediaries are vested with ‘systemic opinion power’ (Helberger, 2020), which created various layers of de pendence with a direct effect on democratic processes. The ‘unattended’ digital communicative space provided fertile ground in certain contexts for the proliferation of ethnic hatred, gender-based violence and several intersectional forms of hostility, and was not countered with appropriate safeguards nor checks&balances yet.

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PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA AND FUNDING OF THE FOURTH ESTATE: PERCEPTION OF THE AUDIENCE ON PAYING LICENCE FEE IN THREE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

ANNIKA SEHL UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN

Similarly, the PSM-relevant accountability measures fell short in reconceptualising PSM within open, accessible, inclusive and interactive governance schemes (Burri, 2015), enabling and encouraging democra tic participation. The top-down, administrative and overly burdensome accountability obligations of current practice rather hindered PSM in public value delivery, and were not-responsive to the possibilities of par ticipatory value creation and democratic control over PSM performance. These shortcomings could further the downwarding trends of public disengagement with PSM in general, and specifically in undemocratic settings.

Theonline.current

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Compared to private sector media, public service media (PSM) in Europe are in a privileged position with regard to funding, as they are prima rily funded by public revenues—mostly, licence fees. This is based on the argument that PSM are merit goods (e.g., Holtz-Bacha, 2015, p. 38). Such goods are not guided by market demand and supply because their produce is socially desirable and often expensive to produce, while not being sufficiently paid for by consumers (Ali, 2016). At the same time, funding through a licence fee model is meant to provide PSM with as much independence from the market and the state as possible (Mazzone, Consequently,2019).

6. Relevance for PSM management and practice

The policy impact of the paper is to offer PSM organisations – based on the findings - a range of legal and regulatory venues which need redress on accountability. Platforms’ have to be rendered to meaningful, enfor ceable and systemic account on their content prioritisation and curation policies and practices. The current legislations should be updated and new laws adopted accordingly. Furthermore, the PSM public value crea tion and legitimisation procedures, concepts and realisation demand different and discursively designed accountability frameworks. The Eu ropean standards and the national laws and regulations should lower the administrative accountability obligations on PSM, but enable and request systemic dialogic accountability. These are minimal but inevitable first steps towards the realisation of media pluralism and diversity

Against this background, this paper analyses—based on an internatio nal comparative sample from three European countries—how the idea of PSM as a merit good and paying for public service news relate to various factors, including paying for media services (without PSM), PSM media use and performance evaluation, political interest, interest in news and demographics. While there is, in general, a lack of scholarship on (the willingness of) paying for news (for exceptions, see Fletcher & Nielsen, 2017; Goyanes, 2020), there is especially little research published on this aspect for PSM (for exceptions, see Delaney & O’Toole, 2004; Fauth et al., 2006; Grammel & Gründel, 2018)—obviously because of their public mis sion and funding. However, these insights are relevant to understanding the factors that drive and hinder the willingness to pay (WTP) for this merit good on various levels.

legal, policy and practical incongruities could and should be addressed by the upcoming European and national legislative and regulatory actions, such as the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the implementation of the Digital Single Act (DSA) and PSM regulatory reforms across Europe. The accountability deficiencies unearthed in this research and the recommended arrangements could serve as the basis for PSM advocacy and for a coordinated approach on policy interven tions both on the European and the national level.

PSM need to worry less about their business models than private sector media. However, recent public debates in several European countries have shown that public funding for PSM is no longer being ta ken for granted by political parties but has become a topic of controversy (Holtz-Bacha, 2020; Sehl et al., 2020), as observed most recently in the case of the BBC in the United Kingdom (UK).

• Humprecht, E., Castro-Herrero, L., Blassnig, S., Brüggemann, M., & Engesser, S. (2022). Media systems in the digital age: An empirical comparison of 30 countries. Journal of Communication, 72(2), 145–164. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab054

are not only relevant to understanding the factors that drive and hinder the willingness to pay for this merit good at the indivi dual level, but they also provide early indications of the influence of the country in this context.

• Holtz-Bacha, C. (2015). The role of public service media in nation-building. In K. Arriaza Ibar ra, E. Nowak, & E. Kuhn (Eds.), Public service media in Europe: A comparative approach (pp. 27–40). Routledge.

• Mazzone, G. (2019). Public service broadcasting. In T. P. Vos, F. Hanusch, D. Dimitrakopoulou, M. Geertsema-Sligh & A. Sehl (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0141

This study is based on an online survey, representative of age and gen der, conducted in France, Germany and the UK (N = 3,000; 1,000 in each country) in September 2019. Each country represents a different Western media system with varying conditions (Humprecht et al., 2022; Hallin & Mancini, 2004). Also, while PSM in these three countries are funded by licence fees, the public revenue per capita varies considerably among them (EAO, 2016).

• European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO). (2016). Yearbook 2015: Television, VOD, cinema and video in 39 European states. Markets and players, services and usage. European Audiovisual Observatory.

• Delaney, L., & O’Toole, F. (2004). Irish public service broadcasting: A contingent valuation ana lysis. Economic and Social Review, 35(3), 321–350.

• Fauth, R., Horner, L., Mahdon, M., & Bevan, S. (2006). Willingness to pay for the BBC during the next charter period. Work Foundation.

• Goyanes, M. (2019). Why do citizens pay for online political news and public affairs? Sociopsychological antecedents of local news-paying behaviour. Journalism Studies, 21(4), 547–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1694429

• Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and poli tics. Cambridge University Press.

• Ali, C. (2016). The merits of merit goods: Local journalism and public policy in a time of aus terity. Journal of Information Policy, 6(1), 105–128. https://doi.org/10.5325/jinfopoli.6.2016.0105

The findings show that most respondents across the three countries sup port the idea of PSM and do not consider them dispensable. However, if respondents could determine the sum of the licence fee themselves, the amount would be clearly lesser than it currently is, underlining the argument of a merit good. Regression analyses showed a significant im pact of the following two factors on the support for PSM and the wil lingness to pay for it—PSM performance evaluation and respondents’ perception of whether the state or the government dictates what PSM should report, with the latter having a negative impact. Interestingly, the support for PSM and the willingness to pay for it were higher in Germany than in France or the UK. When asked about alternative funding options, most respondents across all countries rejected a tax-payment (like, e.g., in Finland) as viable. In Germany, pay-on-demand received the highest support among all other alternative forms of funding, while most res pondents in the UK and France preferred pure advertisement funding, similar to commercial players—both of which contradict the logic of a merit

• Holtz-Bacha, C. (2021). The kiss of death. Public service media under right-wing populist attack. European Journal of Communication, 36(3), 221–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323121991334

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• Fletcher, R., & Nielsen, R. K. (2016). Paying for online news: A comparative analysis of six coun tries. Digital Journalism, 5(9), 1173–1191. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1246373

Thesegood.insights

• Sehl, A., Simon, F. M., & Schroeder, R. (2022). The populist campaigns against European pu blic service media: Hot air or existential threat? International Communication Gazette, 84(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048520939868

• Grammel, M., & Gründl, J. (2018). Willingness to pay for public service media. In N. Gonser (Ed.), Der öffentliche (Mehr-)Wert von Medien (pp. 109-127). Springer.

References

Public service media (PSM) have a special public service mission, inclu ding universality of access, reach and content. While news personalisation might offer opportunities in this respect, it can also clearly conflict with universality (Sørensen & Hutchinson, 2018; van den Bulck & Moe, 2018). This duality has led to an ongoing debate about advantages and, especially, risks of rational, algorithmic personalisation of news (for an overview see, e.g., Stark et al., 2020). This study contributes to the debate on this specific innovation with a special focus on PSM and their fourth estate role from the audience perspective – a combination that has been neglected so far.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

This study adopts the widely used definition by Thurman and Schiffe res (2012), which describes news personalisation as ‘[a] form of user-tosystem interactivity that uses a set of technological features to adapt the content, delivery, and arrangement of a communication to individual users’ explicitly registered and/or implicitly determined preferences’ (p. 776). Thus, explicit personalisation entails users setting up their pre ferred types of content, for example, by selecting keywords or a location. Implicit personalisation, in contrast, ‘infers preferences from data coll ected [. . .] via the use of software that monitors activity’ (Thurman, 2011, p. 397), for example, through algorithmic recommender systems.

3. Findings

The findings of the study show that users of public service news in Ger many and the UK – in comparison to non-users of these services – value a shared publics’ sphere to a higher degree, prefer more strongly a news selection primarily by professional news editors and perceive more risks, like to miss certain topics or viewpoints than non-users. In France, in contrast, the differences between users and non-users of public service news are mostly not significant, which is interpreted against the back ground of the different media systems and the role of PSM within them. Furthermore, respondents in Germany and the UK fear not only the pos sibility of existing opinions being reinforced among the population and potentially resulting in societal polarisation – as the concept of the fil ter bubble suggests – but also that news personalisation could lead to a style of “soft news” that incorporates more elements of sensationalism and prioritises trivial matters. Public service media users in Germany are also sceptical whether news personalisation on the internet stimu lates balanced public debate, while in the UK, PSM users worried more

Various stakeholders involved in news processes can benefit from news personalisation: ‘the media to serve users. For users to receive information. For public policy to contribute to informed citizens, and diverse informa tion choices’ (Helberger, 2016, p. 198). News personalisation can empower users (Zuiderveen Borgesius et al., 2016, p. 5), while creating opportunities for them to ‘encounter different opinions, self-reflect on their own view points […], enhance social and cultural inclusion […], tolerance […], incre ase one’s familiarity with views oppositional to one’s own’ […] and to more accurately perceive public opinion […]’ (Bodó et al., 2019, p. 208).

FOURTH ESTATE AND INNOVATION: NEWS PERSONALISATION AS A CHALLENGE AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA

1. Literature review

Despite the opportunities, the literature discusses a number of risks on different levels of the media system: 1) on the macro level, a polarisation of the public sphere (Couldry & Turow, 2014; Sunstein, 2007) and the (relatively modest) risk of filter bubbles (see, e.g., Flaxman et al., 2016, p. 318; Geiß et al., 2021; Haim et al., 2018); 2) on the meso level of the media organisation, a loss of control over its own brand and contents (Thurman, 2011) and 3) on the micro level of the individual user, concerns about privacy (Bastian et al., 2020) and ‘algorithmic accountability’ (Dia kopoulos & Koliska, 2017). Studies by Helberger (2018, 2019) suggest that to tackle these risks, news diversity should be seen as an integral part of news recommender systems. These public service algorithms present personalised news not only based on a pre-defined set of presumed or actual interest but also on the presumption regarding what might be in teresting and therefore promoting more diverse news.

ANNIKA SEHL UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN

2. Research question & Method

MAXIMILIAN EDER UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR MÜNCHEN

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This study focuses on attitudes towards as well as perceived opportu nities and risks of news personalisation from an audience perspective, especially from the point of view of the two groups of users and nonusers of PSM news on various platforms. It is based on an online survey conducted in France, Germany and the UK, utilising strategic sampling. Each of the countries represents a different Western media system (Hal lin & Mancini, 2004; Humprecht et al., 2022). In each country, 1,010 ci tizens, representative of gender and age, were sampled and surveyed in January 2021 via an ISO-certified online access panel provider.

• Helberger, N., Karppinen, K., & D’Acunto, L. (2018). Exposure diversity as a design principle for recommender systems. Information, Communication & Society, 21(2), 191–207. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/1369118X.2016.1271900

• Sunstein, C. R. (2007). Republic.com 2.0. Princton University Press.

• Groot Kormelink, T., & Costera Meijer, I. (2014). Tailor-made news: Meeting the demands of news users on mobile and social media. Journalism Studies, 15(5), 632–641. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 1461670X.2014.894367

• Bastian, M., Makhortykh, M., Harambam, J., & van Drunen, M. (2020). Explanations of news personalisation across countries and media types. Internet Policy Review, 9(4). https://doi. org/10.14763/2020.4.1504

than non-users whether news personalisation on the internet can still provide comprehensive information. Across all three countries, users of public service news in general consider the overall level of possible per sonalisation to be “just right” but at the same time state that they rarely use personalisation options on websites/apps, social media platforms or search engines, especially compared to non-users.

• Couldry, N., & Turow, J. (2014). Advertising, big data, and the clearance of the public realm: Marketers’ new approaches to the content subsidy. International Journal of Communication, 8, 1710–1726.

• Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and poli tics (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790867

• Helberger, N. (2016). Policy implications from algorithmic profiling and the changing relation ship between newsreaders and the media. Javnost - The Public, 23(2), 188–203. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/13183222.2016.1162989

• Sørensen, J. K., & Hutchinson, J. (2018). Algorithms and public service media. In G. F. Lowe, H. Van den Bulck, & K. Donders (Ed.), Public service media in the networked society (pp. 91–106). Nordicom.

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• Diakopoulos, N., & Koliska, M. (2017). Algorithmic Transparency in the News Media. Digital Journalism, 5(7), 809–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1208053

• Helberger, N. (2019). On the democratic role of news recommenders. Digital Journalism, 7(8), 993–1012. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1623700

• https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443717734407

• Thurman, N., & Schifferes, S. (2012). The future of personalization at news websites: Lessons from a longitudinal study. Journalism Studies, 13(5–6), 775–790. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616 70X.2012.664341

• Bodó, B., Helberger, N., Eskens, S., & Möller, J. (2019). Interested in diversity: The role of user attitudes, algorithmic feedback loops, and policy in news personalization. Digital Journalism, 7(2), 206–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1521292

• Haim, M., Graefe, A., & Brosius, H.-B. (2018). Burst of the filter bubble? Effects of personalizati on on the diversity of Google news. Digital Journalism, 6(3), 330–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/2 1670811.2017.1338145

• Humprecht, E., Castro Herrero, L., Blassnig, S., Brüggemann, M., & Engesser, S. (2022). Media systems in the digital age: An empirical comparison of 30 countries. Journal of Communication, 72(2), 145–164. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab054

The findings add to the research on personalisation of news by focusing not on the content itself but on what the audience of public service news expects from PSM, also against their role of fourth estate, to straddle the difficult balance between personalisation and universality. This study also confirms the finding of Groot Kormelink and Costera Meijer (2014) that there is limited public interest in explicit news personalisation. As such, PSM news services not only must understand how the audience perceives their personalisation when developing such options but also ensure transparency in how the used recommender systems specifically work to build up audience trust.

• Stark, B., Stegemann, D., Magin, M., & Jürgens, P. (2020). Are algorithms a threat to democra cy? The rise of intermediaries: A challenge for public discourse. Algorithm Watch. Stark-May-2020-AlgorithmWatch.pdfrithmwatch.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Governing-Platforms-communications-study-https://algo

• Zuiderveen Borgesius, F. J., Trilling, D., Möller, J., Bodó, B., de Vreese, C. H., & Helberger, N. (2016). Should we worry about filter bubbles? Internet Policy Review, 5(1). https://doi. org/10.14763/2016.1.401

• Flaxman, S., Goel, S., & Rao, J. M. (2016). Filter bubbles, echo chambers, and online news con sumption. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80(S1), 298–320. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfw006

References

POWER

• Geiß, S., Magin, M., Jürgens, P., & Stark, B. (2021). Loopholes in the echo chambers: How the echo chamber metaphor oversimplifies the effects of information gateways on opinion expressi on. Digital Journalism, 9(5), 660–686. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1873811

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• Thurman, N. (2011). Making „The daily me“: Technology, economics and habit in the mainstream assimilation of personalized news. Journalism, 12(4), 395–415. https://doi. org/10.1177/1464884910388228

• https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/download/2166/1161

• van den Bulck, H., & Moe, H. (2018). Public service media, universality and personalisation through algorithms: Mapping strategies and exploring dilemmas. Media, Culture & Society, 40(6), 875–892.

DESTROYING PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES IN AN EU MEMBER STATE: THE CASE OF HUNGARY

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So, according to the media law Duna is the public service media provi der and it is more or less appropriately subject to external control me chanisms, but in reality, the oversight is merely a façade since it has no resources for the actual performance of these functions. And then there is the Fund, which disposes taxpayer funds without being subject to any meaningful outside control.

The spending of the Fund is not transparent, although since 2019 at least an annual report has been published on the website. In any case, it is unclear how much the Fund has spent on certain public service purposes. In addition, the Fund publishes contracts over 5 million HUF, but it should be added that this is a poor quality scanned pdf in a nonsearchable format.

With the new Media Act voted in 2010 the previously distinct public service media providers were merged into the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (hereinafter Fund). The law states that this Fund exercises the ownership rights and responsibilities of public service media assets, and – among other things – it is also in charge of producing or supporting the production of public service broadcas ting items. At the head of the Fund is a CEO who can be appointed and recalled by the president of the Media Council without providing rea sons for the dismissal, and whose work is not subject to review by any public body. At that time public media services were provided by four closely held corporations, but public media service providers had no production capacities of their own, so their latitude is limited to orde ring shows from the Fund. These four private limited companies were Magyar Televízió Zrt. (Hungarian Television), Duna Televízió Zrt. (Duna Television), Magyar Rádió Zrt. (Hungarian Radio), and the Magyar Távi rati Iroda Zrt. (Hungarian News Agency).

Fund is subject to the review of a single organisation: the Media Coun cil. Media Council members were delegated by the ruling party, so there is no independent control over the Fund.

The propagandistic editorial practice of the Hungarian public media is well documented. There are a lot of examples for propaganda and lies. Even OSCE criticized the biased editorial practice during the 2018 and 2022 election campaigns.

While the operations of the Duna are subject to the outside review of se veral public bodies specified in the media law (Board of Public Service Foundation, Public Service Fiscal Council, Public Service Council) the

GÁBOR POLYÁK MERTEK MEDIA MONITOR, EÖTVÖS LÓRÁND UNIVERSITY ÁGNES URBÁN MERTEK MEDIA MONITOR, CORVINUS UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

An amendment to the law primarily aimed at the transformation of the institutional framework of public media services. As a result of this amendment, Duna Media Service Nonprofit Ltd. (hereinafter Duna) was established as the legal successor of the prior companies. Duna became the provider of all public service television, radio and online content services, as well as public service news agent’s activities from July 2015.

Before 2010 it was often alleged that the public service media in Hun gary were loyal to whoever was in power at a given time. Although this manifested itself in greater or lesser degrees of bias towards the govern ment, it never turned to uncritical propaganda. One of the first measu res adopted by the new government that entered into power in 2010 was to transform the public service media, as well as to implement a total takeover of the media authority and of the public service media.

It became obvious in February 2022 that PSM coverage is strongly re miniscent of the Soviet style propaganda. After Russia started invasi on in Ukraine, several shocking comments uttered by prominent progovernment commentators in the public media shows. These so-called analysts blamed Ukraine and NATO for the war, they described Zelensky as an incompetent leader and responsibility of Russia or Putin himself was never mentioned. The public service media reporters do not even attempted to soften or to add nuance to the commentators’ claims.

The function and financial system of the national news agency (MTI) was also changed in 2011, it became integrated to the public service me dia system. This occurred in parallel with the centralization process of the public service media. MTI‘s responsibilities were expanded to pro duce news programs for other public media service providers. MTI’s fees were abolished, it offers its news services free to all media providers. It destroyed the news agency market in Hungary. There was no one in the market who could compete with free services and, one by one, MTI’s commercial competitors went out of business leaving the state-owned provider as a monopolist in the market.

HILDE VAN DEN BULCK DREXEL UNIVERSITY HOROWITZ MINNA UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI MARKOUNIVERSITYMILOSAVLJEVIĆOFLJUBLJANA

The paper describes the operation of the public service media in Hunga ry. We prove that organizational and funding frameworks have a direct impact on media content, and that the current organizational frame work of the Hungarian public service media completely precludes the performance of public service functions. The political culture cannot be compared to well-established democracies and even the audience has low awareness in their expectation. For many media consumers PSM is accepted as a politically dependent organization where the editorial practices follow the government’s communication strategy. It is impor tant to define the framework of a future PSM system in Hungary and also to describe how the European Commission should intervene if the public media are turn to propaganda machine in Member States.

Machine learning, algorithms, automation, and other forms of “artificial intelligence” (AI) permeate all sectors of contemporary societies, inclu ding various media. Just as the implementation of AI in other sectors raises considerable (re)considerations of the role of specific professi on, sectors or segments of societies, so does it raise particular issues in media create specific concerns. The use of AI and big data reconfigures some of media’s most fundamental, even epistemic, principles, from those governing journalism to questions regarding human-machine in terplay. Like previous technological innovations, the implementation of AI in media is a gradual, incremental, and diverse process, leading to the “cumulative transformation” (Boczkowski, 2004) we are currently witnessing. This takes place in a globally digitized media landscape and affects the media regardless of type, funding, distribution platform, or societal position.

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Taking the case of Finish public service media (hereafter PSM) insti tution Yle as a pilot case, this contribution tests the applicability of a three-dimensional framework to empirically assess the advantages and threats of AI for PSM organizations, developed previous by the authors (see, Horowitz, Milosavljević. & Van den Bulck, forthcoming) The model encompassing inter-dependent contextual, organizational, and genrespecific dimensions that allows for more nuanced and contextualized analyses of PSM and AI, as well as inform strategic decisions of the or ganizations themselves.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

These issues are most pronounced in public service media that, his torically and politically, represent central segments of media sector in many parts of the world and that remain the cornerstones of most con temporary media ecosystems from an economic, journalistic, ethical, political, and technological perspective. Set up explicitly to serve the entire nation and to enhance the educational and cultural capital of its

FOR ALL OF US, FOR EACH OF US YLE AND THE USE OF AI BY PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA: TESTING A THREE-LAYERED MODEL

1. Understanding PSM and AI in a Digitized Society

We argue that the opportunities and threats that AI pose for PSM and its core values must be understood at three levels: the wider media context in which PSM operate, their organizational structure and principles, in cluding views on innovation, and the level of specific types of content and audiences (Horowitz, Milosavljević. & Van den Bulck, forthcoming). A better grasp of these three layers, we argue, will allow PSM to interact with AI and big data in a way that respects their core values and prin ciples while remaining relevant in a digitized media world. As such, we argue, PSM institutions can play a prominent role in fighting the esta blishment of a so-called “algocracy”, societal governance based on al gorithms, thus safeguarding human agency in maintaining democratic societies.

citizens-audience through universal access and content provision, AI implementations go to the heart of PSM’s mission, principles and res ponsibilities, as we will show. As a result, how PSM decide to deploy AI and its opportunities has a real impact on their role in society as socalled “fourth estate,” “fourth branch of power,” “watchdogs” of demo cracies, protecting the interests of citizens and controlling the political, economic, and societal sources of power.

As a case in point, we apply the three-level model to the Finnish Broad casting Corporation Yle. Yle’s insights were gathered through 5 qualitati ve interviews with people in central positions at Yle that could be consi dered as experts either in digital strategy in general or digital strategy in news in particular. Interviews were conducted in March-June 2022. The interviews were designed as open-ended, reflecting the journalistic or strategic (digital/technological strategies, audiences/clients strategies) expertise of the interviewees. Evens so each interview discussed the con textual and organizational questions, as well as views on innovation re garding content and audiences.

This contribution discusses the potential, reality, and problems that im plementing AI, specifically algorithmic systems, brings to PSM and their contribution to society. Here, “algorithmic systems” are understood as defined by the Council of Europe: applications that perform one or more tasks, such as gathering, combining, cleaning, sorting, classifying, and inferring data, as well as the selection, prioritization, the making of re commendations, and decision making ([CM/Rec, 2020]) on the human rights impacts of algorithmic systems. For example, in the case of news, media use algorithmic systems in production (to gather structured and machine-readable data, assemble information in different formats, and produce and modify content) and distribution (to enable efficient search and utilization of content by users and specific prioritization and recom mendation) (Milosavljević & Vobič, 2021).

Established in 1926, Yle has managed to maintain a central role in the Finnish media ecology and Finish society even though Finland, like other European countries, has witnessed a proliferation of first commer cial and later online media. Yle has been something of a forerunner in embracing new technologies and digitization. It was among the first PSM institutions to switch to digital broadcasting (Hellman, 2010) and inves ted significantly and successfully in digital innovations, most notably its streaming service, Yle Areena. Its current strategy is summarized in the slogan: For all of us, for each of us. This reflects a two-pronged strategy to reach audiences: in certain instances, the emphasis is on “national public universalism” ensuring that every citizen comes into contact with the same content and, at the same time, each audience member can be served individually, something that Sørensen (2020) refers to as “perso nalized universalism.” As in other EU countries, the success of Yle does not sit well with private media companies that assert that Yle has an unfair competitive advantage. Sanoma Media Finland, the largest Fin nish commercial cross-media company with journalistic and educatio nal branches, has asked the EU Commission to investigate whether Yle’s own streaming service Areena and Yle’s e-learning content violate EU state aid rules. What is more, in 2022, RadioMedia, the umbrella orga nization for commercial radios, requested an assessment of Yle’s online audio content.

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PSM organizations are in this context not just relevant as a particularly significant stakeholder in different national media systems but bare a heavy burden as they attempt to exist in contexts that are global–natio nal and hyper-competitive. These contexts call for drastic changes in the ways these organizations operate and require content and services that serve society at large and its many communities, groups, and individu als. Unlike its commercial competitors, PSM institutions need to be vigi lant and transparent in their use of data and technological innovations.

Our study of Yle’s AI ideas, strategies and implementation suggests, first, that the institution is very much aware of its position and of the oppor tunities and pitfalls of embracing AI. Yle appears fully aware of the me dia environment it operates in and of the issues this creates for its own innovation in the face of critical competition in its own media market as much as collaborative fellow-PSM in other countries. Within these con tours, second, Yle embraces and steers a positive view and strategy of innovation that is inquisitive, forward thinking but also aims to respect

2. Yle as a case in point

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

The main aim of this paper is to analyse PSM as a creative industry. It concerns the problems of TVP’s management from the perspective of em ployees, particularly journalists. The main thesis of this analysis is that creative workers of TVP work for a highly bureaucratic and politically dependent organisation. Moreover, the organisational culture of TVP SA influences their journalists. They are limited by the frame of their organi sation— TVP— in their efficiency and in their creative work.

The analysis that was carried out and the knowledge from the media market allows the putting forward of the thesis that journalists of TVP work in an uncertain and unstable institution. Moreover, work conditions and management methods affect their creativity and ultimately, media content. To test this hypothesis, I formulated the following re search questions:

3. Do journalists feel autonomy at the stage of planning and produc tion in their media work?

4. How is TVP, as an employer, involved in gender equality issues?

2. Do journalists identify with the TVP brand and its management direction?

the specifics of its position as a PSM institution. Combining centralized planning with decentralized application according to genres and target audiences, third, Yle aims to provide better PSM rather than just better services to its diverse audiences, with a strong emphasis on its informati on function. While not optimistic about the potential of a PSM algorithm to counter commercial forces, a view of ethical innovation focused on PSM values seems to permeate all three layers, suggesting much potenti al for extensive yet ethical use of AI.

The issues that Yle is dealing with are of concern to all PSM institutions and fit in with wider societal concerns about the role and impact of AI. Some promising steps forward have been made. The UNESCO Recom mendation on the Ethics of AI (2021), signed by all member states, sets the first global normative framework for states to apply. It points to the challenges that AI poses to cultures, social cohesion, inclusivity, and the availability of mediated information. Similarly, the European Union’s 2021 Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence (EU, n.d.) provides gui delines for the successful utilization of AI, including the principles of sustainability, security, inclusivity, and trustworthiness, as well as in novations and practices that are human driven, not technology driven. We believe that, as a digital-forward and – in a European comparative context - well-resourced PSM, (our analysis of) the Yle’s case provides a vintage point to see how decisions regarding AI at the three levels take place and contribute or threaten its key normative roles and functions.

1. How has the management of TVP, structural changes and work safety translated into the situation of employed journalists?

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THE SITUATION OF JOURNALISTS IN POLISH PUBLIC TELEVISION (TVP) — THE MANAGEMENT OF A PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTION

AGNIESZKA WĘGLIŃSKA UNIVERSITY OF LOWER SILESIA

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

This paper considers the increasingly visible trends affecting Poland’s public media, pointing especially to the employment situation of journa lists and TVP’s management style.

In academic and professional debates about PSM, an important issue of ef ficient management of public media has emerged (Klimkiewicz,2015; Tam bini,2015). The economical perspective of PSM research is very important. There are researchers who focus on PSM as an example of public enterpri se. However, in academic research, this aspect is a little neglected.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

To provide answers, 20 in-depth interviews with those involved in journalism at TVP from various milieu, including those whose work is broadcasted throughout Poland, were conducted. This range of inter view subjects was chosen purposefully and thoughtfully. The researcher attempted to choose interviewees of different ages who have worked for the network for different periods of time. The sample was representative of different genders and generations. Half of theintervieweeswere wo men(10), and half of them were men (10).In this paper, generations are defined as the following: the young generation (20–35 y.o.), the middle generation (35–50 y.o.), and the elderly generation(50+ y.o.). The inter views were conducted in the summer of 2019. If the respondent agreed, the interview questions were recorded with audio. If the participant did not wish to be recorded, the same set of questions were asked off-record, and the answers were recorded on paper. Only four participants did not agree to be recorded with audio. The interviewees were coded in a spe cific order, using the following format: gender/age/central or regional station/job seniority.

This research contributes to the discussion of public media manage ment and points to the difficult situations of creative workers in public institutions in some EU countries like Poland. The other purpose of the research is to investigate the level of creativity and innovation at the le vel of management at TVP. This aspect is profoundly important from the perspective of journalists’ and creative workers’ autonomy. Moreover, it is crucial for teams to be cooperative vertically and horizontally(Awbrey, 2007;Gardner et al., 2009).

This study has shown that the perspective of internal pluralism (Hallin&Macini, 2004;2013) and social and political diversity can be not reflected properly in TVP’s content. The reason for this is due to TVP’s employment structure and, consequently, the integrity of the work they commission. The journalists with families, women with children and ol der generations are sometimes excluded from obtaining work. Employ ment at TVP is an attractive option for young and single people, but it is not for parents or elder generations. However, in PSM, it is profoundly important to hire people from various milieus. Doing so builds an atmos phere of diversity and pluralism in the newsroom (Węglińska, 2018). TVP SA does not provide high-pluralism standards.

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In the course of analysis, six thematic categories were distinguished: 5. forms of employment, 6. work safety, 7. work-life balance, 8. relations with management, 9. brand identification, and 10. the gender equality within TVP

media content. What is more, TVP’s dependence on the political system results in a lack of a coherent, future strategy for the station and unclear expectations for journalists.

The interviewees pointed out often that the form of employment was a crucial problem for TVP’s journalists; they were very rarely employed under permanent contracts. Although they were relatively well paid in comparison to the other professions in Poland, contractual employment can be problematic, particularly for those from young generations who are willing to have families. The problem results in, for instance, issues with credit evaluations and a lack of insurance and maternity leave. In 2014, the journalists were forced to change their forms of employment. They indicated this year to be a milestone in their collaboration with TVP. The research participants listed the following as forms of their employ ment: a contract for an indefinite period of time, a fixed-term contract, a contract for the completion of specific work, self-employment and out sourcing. From the point of view of an employee in Poland, a contract for an indefinite period of time is the safest option. From the perspective of an employer, such a contract means the acceptance of a complex system of rights, guarantees and privileges that an employee is entitled to: mini mum wage, paid holidays, working hour regulations, regulations related to maternity leave and particular procedures of terminating the contract. At TVP, the contract for an indefinite period of time is very rare. At TVP, in 2018, 284 journalists worked for indefinite-period and fixed-term con tracts. The majority of TVP’s journalists were hired under the other types of contracts. TVP has not published how many(TVP, 2018). The majori ty of the interviewees admitted that they were employed by an external company, or they worked under contracts for specific work. These kinds of contracts were referred to as ‘junk contracts’ in slang. Such a contract is profitable for the employer. It is equally beneficial for an employer if a potential employee is self-employed. The environment in which the TVP

The aim of the presented research was to examine the situation of creati ve workers at TVP. The environment in which TVP SA journalists work is variable and unstable. TVP is subject to constant tensions of a political, personal, economical and structural nature. The lack of job security and the overloading of tasks onto journalists translates into compromised journalistic practice. Journalists avoid professional challenges and to pics that authorities are uncomfortable with. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that TVP’s organisational culture affects

journalists work is variable and unstable. TVP is subject to constant ten sions of a political, personal, economical and structural nature. The lack of job security and the overloading of tasks onto journalists translates into compromised journalistic practice. Journalists avoid professional challenges and topics that authorities are uncomfortable with.

The results of this investigation show that the type of employment and the task overload of journalists affect the organisational culture at TVP. This study has identified the most important problem of TVP from the perspective of creative workers. Interviewees clearly indicated the list of pathologies in the organisational culture at TVP:

• Awbrey, S. M. (2007). The Dynamics of Vertical and Horizontal Diversity in Organization and Society. Human Resource Development Review, 6(1), 7–32. doi:10.1177/1534484306295638

• Hallin, D. C., and P. Mancini (2004). Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

• a lack of a coherent strategy,

• the marginalisation of regions,

In the last years, two very serious group layoffs have taken place at TVP. The first wave took place in 2014. The authorities at the time decided to introduce a radical management takeover operation that entailed the transfer of a large portion of employees to an external company. This type of activity is outsourcing. In 2013, the Leasing Team (LT) was se lected in the tender. This way, the company, which was in a bad finan cial situation, made savings. Moreover, it was a way to bypass the legal path of a group layoff and was a way to transfer obligations to emplo yees to another company. Finally, 411 of TVP’s workers were relocated to LT(Węglińska, 2018). They received a minimum salary. Nonetheless, the employment cost was too high for LT. The former TVP journalists were encouraged, or sometimes forced, to start their own companies. These outsourcing operations have had the most negative impact on regional reporters, not the TVP’s journalists – stars.

• management orienting only around Warsaw’s centre

• a very competitive working environment,

• problems with gender equality,

This paper provides a deeper insight into the organisational culture at TVP. This is the first comprehensive investigation of TVP SA journalists in the area of relations between management and journalists. The findings of this study have a number of practical implications for PSM in Poland. The most important are as follows: firstly, the state government should improve on license fee payments; secondly, the political and economic

influence on PSM in Poland should be limited by legislators; finally, the structure of employment at TVP should be transformed in the context of employee rights, reducing bureaucracy and respecting gender equality.

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• authorities and management with strong political affiliations,

• bureaucracy,

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

• a lack of financial aid,

• changeable management,

• Gardner, W. L., Reithel, B. J., Foley, R. T., Cogliser, C. C., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2009). Attrac tion to Organizational Culture Profiles. Management Communication Quarterly, 22(3), 437–472. doi:10.1177/0893318908327006

• Węglińska, A. (2018), Journalists of TVP SA in Poland – between ramit, political pressure and market, Wrocław: DSW.

References

• Gross, P., & Jakubowicz, K. (2013). Media transformations in the post-communist world: Eastern Europe‘s tortured path to change. Lanham: Lexington Books.

this opportunity as reporters for various fan media. They kept the press conferences going with their sometimes naïve, sometimes particularly thoroughly researched questions, suggesting a strong media interest for the participating artists where there actually was none. Web 2.0 finally gave fan journalists the opportunity to engage in journalism in a varie ty of ways through blogs and websites. Fan coverage became increasin gly professionalised, bringing about new formats such as podcasts and livestreams that were not used by traditional media in the context of the

On the other hand, the opening of press accreditation has given many fan or amateur journalists the opportunity to professionalise their work and make money out of it when newspapers and magazines that did not send their own staff to the ESC bought on-site coverage from these fan or amateur journalists at reduced rates. However, this did not create a real competitive situation, as the interest of professional journalists in co vering the contest was predominantly low. In some areas, however, a cutthroat competition arose that had negative effects on the actors involved. The large number of fan photographers, who were active on site with increasingly expensive equipment, drastically limited the possibilities of professional photographers. Eventually, even the EBU resorted to the services of fan photographers, whose pictures were made available free of charge, thus depriving the professional photographers of their busi ness model. In the meantime, the EBU is taking countermeasures and trying to create a more favourable working environment for professional

DR. IRVING WOLTHER CULTURAL SCIENTIST

level, too, a paradigm shift has taken place since the ear ly 2000s. While in the first 30 years of its existence, participation in the ESC was mainly reserved for professional musicians who had become successful in the traditional way, the emergence of casting shows meant that more and more musical amateurs were sent to the competition in order to capitalise on the hype surrounding their casting victory, also with regard to the ESC‘s audience figures. In many cases, however, the se artists were not up to the demands and the pressure connected with

In the early years of the Eurovision Song Contest, interested amateurs played a decisive role in the composition of the juries, in which professi onal players from the music industry were expressly not accepted in or der to prevent record companies and music publishers from influencing the results. The juries, instead, should represent a cross-section of the society of the respective countries. At times there were also specifications regarding the gender and age of the jury members in order to balance the composition of the juries. Later, up to half of the jury members were allowed to have a professional background. The jurors did not receive a fee for their participation, although their participation was crucial for the show. Nowadays, the juries consist only of (more or less) prominent representatives of the music industry who receive a fee for their partici pation or are rewarded by media presence.

Onphotographers.themusical

PARTY FOR PROFESSIONALISEDPROFESSIONALISMEVERYBODY?VS.AMATEURS IN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

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The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is the biggest television entertain ment show in the world and one of the most important flagships of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its international television programme exchange Eurovision. While the statutory aim of the event is to produce and broadcast a „state-of-the-art, world-class television production of a music competition between songs representing diffe rent countries of the Members of the EBU” (EBU, 2015), from the very beginning of the event there have been amateurs alongside professional actors accompanying and supporting the programme in essential areas with voluntary commitment. The article sheds light on the cooperation of media laymen and professionals at the Eurovision Song Contest and raises questions about the consequences of this cooperation for the ac tors involved.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

However,ESC.

the growing number of accredited fans also created problems as delegations faced a rising demand for free promo materials and es calating costs for receptions without an actual return on investment in terms of media output. In recent years, the EBU has therefore taken steps to reduce the number of accredited fans or to channel the fans‘ interest in up-close contact with the artists in other ways, such as through the Red-Carpet event.

In the late 1980s, media interest in the ESC waned in many countries and the participating broadcasters faced difficulties finding enough in terested journalists who wanted to report on the competition and had themselves accredited for this purpose. The vacant places were therefore increasingly filled by ESC fans who enthusiastically took advantage of

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the „state-of-the-art, world-class television production of a music com petition” and failed due to their lack of experience, which in some cases had serious consequences for their further careers. Last but not least, the EBU and the locally organising broadcasters are making increasing use of volunteers who offer their labour free of charge to look after dele gations and carry out a variety of supporting activities. This practice is also highly controversial within the member broadcasters of the EBU, as it contradicts the principles of public value.

The developments outlined raise many questions regarding the relation ship between professional and non-professional actors in PSB television productions. In general, the approach of opening up a competition such as the ESC to non-professional interested parties is in line with the ba sic democratic principles of PSB, as it is allowing for participation and involvement in terms of public value. On the other hand, the question arises as to whether and when this opening may or must be reversed in order not to jeopardise the professionalism of the program – an aspect that is of decisive importance especially against the background of me dia convergence, since the tasks of PSB will have to shift to the online area in the near future. So, are the EBU‘s efforts currently part of a kind of ESC Reconquista? What can PSBs learn from their experience with nonprofessional actors? And how will this affect their work in the future? The ESC provides valuable clues that should be taken into account in future programming considerations.

In this paper, we examine the relationships of 1) freedom of the press, 2) polarization, 3) news use, and 4) sociodemographic variables with trust scores for PSM news. PSM trust scores are calculated from data in the Digital News Report (DNR) of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Jour nalism (RISJ) at the University of Oxford for 40 countries. Our analysis shows that the Press Freedom Index (PFI), Effective Number of Elective Parties (ENEP), and left-right difference in PSM use significantly predic ted trust in PSM news at the country level. We found that trust in PSM news is lower in countries where the level of press freedom is lower, the left-right difference in PSM use is larger, and the ENEP is lower.

Trust in news has become an increasingly significant global issue in the contemporary media landscape, which is largely digital, platform-domi nated, and mobile, with social media, search engines, and messaging applications playing key roles in the discovery of, exposure to, and ac cess to news (Toff et al., 2021). The means and habits through which peo ple find, access, and consume news have changed dramatically with the digital media environment. This may have also affected the relationship between trust in news and news use, as trust in different media chan nels such as TV, online, print, and radio also varies. At the same time, the freedom of the press has been worsening around the world over the last decades. In recent years, trust in news has been widely examined in terms of related factors such as sociodemographic variables, news consumption, political attitudes, and levels of media freedom. However, trust in public service media (PSM) news has received less attention.

We also discovered that news use preferences significantly predicted trust in PSM news at the individual level. PSM use for news, use of TV for news, and interest in news were all found to be positively correlated with trust in PSM news, whereas the use of social media for news, use of digital-born media for news, social media as the main source of news, digital-born media as the main source of news, and left-right partisan ship were negatively correlated with trust in PSM news.

ATTE JÄÄSKELÄINEN LUT UNIVERSITY, FINLAND

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA, NEWS USE, POLARIZATION, AND MEDIA FREEDOM

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

SERVET YANATMA THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (LSE).

3.MeasurementsDependentVariable

likely due to the lack of comparative datasets, trust in PSM news has received limited attention. The possible correlation between trust in PSM news and the political environment, such as freedom of press, polarisation, partisanship, and level of democracy, has not been statistically tested. This research addressed that gap by analysing factors related to trust in PSM news at both individual and country levels by using a unique dataset provided by the 2021 DNR. Carrying out multilevel analysis, it explored sociodemographic variables, news consump

RQ6: To what extent is the effective number of elective parties in a country correlated with trust in PSM news?

RQ2: How are news consumption preferences related to trust in PSM news?

RQ5: To what extent is the freedom of the press associated with trust in PSM news at the country level?

Data and Method

tion preferences, and left-right partisanship at the individual level and media freedom and polarisation at the country level. The main research question was: What are the factors related to trust in PSM news? The fol lowing sub-questions were formulated to identify those factors:

Previous research investigated the association between news use and the level of trust in news. Tsfati and Ariely (2014) found that levels of po litical interest, interpersonal trust, and exposure to television news and newspapers are positively associated with trust in media. Fletcher and Park (2017) indicated that individuals with low levels of trust tend to pre fer non-mainstream news sources. Similarly, Kalogeropoulos et al. (2019) found that using social media as a main source of news is correlated with lower levels of trust in news whereas systemic factors such as freedom of the press or PSM use in a country are not significantly correlated with trust in news. Suiter and Fletcher (2020) focused on the polarization and key drivers of distrust.

2. PSM Research

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

RQ1: What sociodemographic factors at the individual level are correlated with trust in PSM news?

Trust in PSM News: We derived our dependent variable from the fol lowing question in the 2021 DNR: ‘How trustworthy would you say news from the following brands is?’ As one of the 15 brands included in the survey was PSM, we used the PSM score for each country on a scale of

RQ4: To what extent is the left-right difference in PSM use at the country level (the absolute difference between the share of PSM news users among right- and left-leaning audiences) correlated with trust in PSM news?

The main data for this research were obtained from the 2021 DNR (Ne wman et al., 2021), which was based on an online survey of over 92,000 news consumers across 46 markets on six continents. The survey was conducted by YouGov and RISJ using an online questionnaire in early 2021. Approximately 2000 respondents participated in each country. We included 40 countries/markets (N = 80,961) as the other six were either not nationally representative or their trust scores were not available. The DNR data are unique and have significant strengths together with some limitations (Nielsen & Schrøder, 2014). The same questions were asked in each country during the same period. The data from each country are thus consistent, allowing for comparative analysis. However, parti cipants were invited to respond and data were collected via an online panel survey. Thus, only people with internet access were able to parti cipate and the results may not necessarily be generalizable to the whole population of each country.

1. Trust in News

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PSM in the new digital media ecosystem has been studied from different angles. Schulz et al. (2019) found that the audience for PSM is older, edu cated, and politically diverse in European countries. They showed how average trust levels in PSM news varied by political leaning and populist attitudes. Saurwein et al. (2019) showed that PSM broadcasters with hig her levels of public funding receive higher market shares and larger sha res of the audiences who use PSM as their main sources of offline news. Neff and Pickard (2021) discovered that ‘high levels of secure funding for public media systems and strong structural protections for the political and economic independence of those systems are consistently and posi tively correlated with healthy democracies’ (p. 1).

Newman et al. (2018) and Sehl et al. (2022) suggested that trust in PSM news depends on the political circumstances under which those news organisations operate and the audience’s perception of their indepen dence. Newman et al. (2018: 18) indicated that ‘public broadcasters score best in countries where they are seen to be independent of government’ whereas trust in PSM news is comparatively lower in countries where broadcasters are in line with the government, such as in Hungary (Sehl et al., However,2022).most

RQ3: To what extent is left-right partisanship at the individual le vel correlated with trust in PSM news?

Effective Number of Parties: We were interested in political polarizati on at the country level. While previous studies have focused on diffe rent aspects of polarisation, there was no measure available for many of the countries in our large sample. We thus followed Suiter and Fletcher (2020) and used ENEP, developed by Laakso and Taagepera (1979) as a measure of party system fragmentation.

Left-right difference in PSM use: We calculated the shares of PSM au dience (both online or offline) in both right- and left-wing respondents, and finally their absolute difference. Political leaning was based on the results from a question in which respondents were asked to place them selves on a seven-point scale ranging from very left-wing (1) through the centre (4) to very right-wing (7) with a ‘don’t know’ -option included.

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0 to 10, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and 10 is ‘completely trust worthy’, with 5 meaning ‘neither trustworthy or untrustworthy’. We used this trust score for PSM news as the dependent variable at the individual level and the mean trust score at the country level.

5. Results

We were interested in the role of the political environment, including considerations such as polarization, democratic systems and media free dom, and economic performance. We, therefore, initially included a set of independent variables categorised into these three groups, such as left-right partisanship (Suiter & Fletcher, 2020), news consumption preferences, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, the Cor ruption Perceptions Index, gross domestic product per capita, and rele vant Worldwide Governance Indicators (Kaufmann & Kraay, 2020).

At the individual level, taking trust in PSM news as the dependent vari able, we examined news consumption preferences, left-right partisan ship, interest in news, and sociodemographic variables. Analysis of the second model indicated that PSM use for news, use of TV for news, and interest in news were all positively correlated with trust in PSM news, with PSM use for news having the strongest association. It also showed that use of social media for news, use of digital-born media for news, social media as the main source of news, digital-born media as the main source of news, and left-right partisanship were all negatively correlated with trust in PSM news, with digital-born media as the main source of news having the strongest association.

Due to issues with normality and strong multicollinearity of several va riables, in the final analysis, we only used the PFI score, ENEP, the leftright difference in PSM use, and left-right partisanship. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses to test the predictive power of the different indicators at an individual level and country level. We exami

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

ned the predictors that had significance in predicting trust in PSM news. The analysis of the first model at the country level showed that PFI, leftright difference in PSM use, and ENEP significantly predicted trust in PSM news. These three variables explained a high level of variance in the dependent variable. We found that trust in PSM news was lower in countries with lower freedom of the press, larger left-right differences in PSM use, and lower ENEP.

4. Independent Variables

Several independent variables were included in the analyses as follows: Press Freedom Index: The World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Wit hout Borders (RSF) is an annual report assessing the degree of ‘freedom available to journalists…based on an evaluation of pluralism, indepen dence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of jour nalists in each country’ (RSF, 2016). Higher scores represent higher levels of freedom of the press.

2. The European level

3. The intermediary level

1. Introduction

When analyzing the gatekeeper structure at the intermediary level, the tension between commerce and culture or platform economy and public information mandate can be seen very well. Professional journalists no longer exlusively determine which topics appear on the agenda by selec ting them for their relevance, checking them and disseminating them in the mostly traditional, relevant channels; they are profit-oriented com panies that direct information to a mostly younger target group on the basis of automated decision-making systems (algorithms). Journalistic due diligence or the fulfillment of democratic principles such as diversity of opinion and information do not play a central role here. There is no professional moderation of the content. In this context, information is designed to address news factors such as sensationalism, simplification, and personal identification (Östgaard, 1965). Together with an attractive combination of auditory, visual, and textual elements, increased traf fic or desired interaction (shares, likes, comments, etc.) occurs, which in turn increases the platform‘s profit. For the first time, the European Commission is now using the term „gatekeeper” specifically not only for traditional media, but also for large, market-dominating platforms that are active in several EU countries over an extended period of time (European Commission, n.d., see also European Commission, 2020a, chap ter II, Art.3). Reporters Without Borders goes one step further and refers to gatekeepers as information intermediaries of the basic informational supply with a legal claim also from the users´ point of view (Reporters Without Borders, 2018, p.9, p.30). On the respective intermediary or orga nizational meso level, these developments characterize areas of tension between quality journalism or democracy-driven, public mandate (forth force) and a strengthening gatekeeper platform economy, which can al ready be classified as an informational basic provider (fifth force).

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

At the suprantional level it can be stated that the development of Euro pean media policy is characterized by several phases. It is initially cha racterized by economic-liberal, technological motives (‚politics follow technology‘) in the 1980s, is then supplemented by culture-preserving aspects (‚cultural needs follow commercial growth‘) in the 1990s, and finally reacts to developments in digitization and the platform econo my (‚democratic requirements follow digital platform expansion‘) since the beginning of the millennium (European Parliament (n.d.). With the ‚Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union‘ as well as the ‚Digital Markets Act‘ (DMA) and the ‚Digital Services Act‘ (DSA) (Euro pean Commission, 2020a,b), regulatory measures were taken to protect

DR. NATASCHA ZEITEL-BANK UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK

media freedom and media plurality and to counteract the excesses of problematic and unchecked information production at the meso and mi cro levels. In the future, market-dominating platforms must for instance curb disinformation, allow checks of their algorithmic systems, or disc lose the rules for moderating content. In the near future, users will also have the option to reject recommendations based on profiling (European Commission, 2020b, n.d.). In view of the increase in attacks on journa lists in EU countries, the intimidation of media professionals through repeated lawsuits and the associated danger to critical and independent reporting in a democratic system, the European Commission is planning a European legal act on media freedom for the end of 2022, based on the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) (Official Journal of the European Union, 2010 and 2018).

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN EUROPE IN A FIELD OF TENSION BETWEEN PUBLIC MANDATE AND PLATFORM ECONOMY

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Developments in the global media sphere have not only led to an enor mous increase in the mediation power and speed of information, the penetration of all areas of society, and an increased attention economy. They have also contributed to shocks and changes in the democratic sys tem within the European Union. Due to the level of complexity and mul tidimensional interconnections, the challenges no longer concern only the national and regional environment, but primarily require European regulations for all EU member states. The article therefore methodolo gically examines the challenges of public service media with a focus on the digital environment in the form of a multi-level analysis, whereby the macro, meso and micro levels are not subject to any sharp demarcation, but rather interpenetrate and influence each other. This includes firstly the level of the European Union (and thus also its member states) with corresponding flanking legislation (macro level), secondly the level of organizations/companies and media as intermediaries (meso level), and thirdly the individual or user level (micro level). What shifts and challen ges can be observed? Can we still speak of a ´fourth force´ of the traditi onal media or have profit-oriented platforms, with their digital playout channels already taken over as a ´fifth force´ in the area of information supply and opinion formation?

6. Discussion and Outlook

Nevertheless, the latest figures on the media behavior of the younger target group continue to clearly show that economically oriented plat forms have become an integral part of the basic informational supply when it comes to media consumption and are established as a kind of ´fifth force´. According to a Council of Europe report (Cabrera Blázquez et. al, 2022, p. 131) on the governance and independence of public service media, digital intermediaries (social media, search engines, algorithm aggregators) are increasingly strengthening their influence, especially in the audiovisual market, and are thus competing very successfully for consumer attention and advertising dollars. This reduces advertising re venues, especially for public service media, and leads to increased de pendence on political and financial decisions and greater susceptibility to external political pressure. Thus, in its latest Rule of Law Report on developments in the EU, the EU Commission states that there is still a need for action in four key areas: judicial systems, the anti-corruption framework, media freedom and pluralism, and other institutional issues related to the separation of powers. „Systemic concerns” remain in some member states (European Commission, 13.07.2022). Recommendations in the area of media freedom and pluralism include transparent and fair awarding of state advertising contracts, independent management of public service media, and measures to improve the safety of journalists. Covering the financial needs is certainly one of the key challenges in this context, which generates much need for discussion at all levels. This is linked not only to questions of safeguarding the existence of quality me dia, but also to aspects of actual program quality, especially in order not to lose the young target group even more to the platforms. In Austria, there was a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court on July 18, 2022. The court ruled that free streaming of ORF programs will no longer be possible in the future without paying a broadcasting fee. According to the supreme court judge, it violates the Federal Constitutional Law on Safeguarding the Independence of Broadcasting „that persons who lis ten to or watch ORF programs exclusively via the Internet do not have to pay a program fee”(Constitutional Court of Austria, 2022).

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5. Basic information provision between the forth and fifth force Traditional quality media as the forth force in a democratic state still en joy great trust, especially in times of crisis (Gadringer et al., 2022, p. 103).

4. User level

Another development at the sender and receiver relationship has emer ged at the individual user level. The so-called ‚prosumers‘ (producing and consuming information) now often set the agendas themselves also with the help of „algorithmically personalized news channels” (Schwei ger et al., 2019, p.23). It is a kind of ´creative issue management´, which might be also find the way directly to the news room of professional jour nalists, also due to time and peer pressure (keyword: pack journalism). Influencers and social bots can also influence the opinion environment (in automated form). Online platforms are thus potentially „threats to political information and opinion formation through personalized and one-sided opinion-consonant news contacts” (cited in Meyer, n.d.). But also the prosumer is responsible for those kind of developments by sup porting it through personalised news production, which is promoted in the sense of many-to-many communication. These phenomena have contributed to uncertainty and an erosion of the credibility of (traditio nal) media at the individual user level. The authority of traditional de cision and opinion makers is increasingly undermined and called into doubt by the ease of use of social media and a new form of ´attention economy´ (see for the term Franck, 1998). This again underscores the growing importance of profit-oriented platforms as a fifth force in the media landscape. The traditional gatekeeper monopoly of quality media is now being broken up by both the meso and micro levels. This is ac companied by a constant shift of the younger target group away from the traditional media to the gatekeeper platforms (Gadringer et al., 2022). In response, more and more content from the quality media is also appearing on the commercially oriented platforms, which makes them even stronger. However, the surveys in the latest News Report Network Austria Digital also show that young adults (18-24 years) do consume or combine online and offline news. When asked ‚in which of the following ways do you share or actively participate in news coverage in an average week, if any‘, more than one in three (35.9%) seek a direct face-to-face exchange about a news topic. This illustrates the phenomenon of a reflected crossmedia information check in the sense of double-checking. Schmidt et al. (2017, p 6) also see the thoroughly differentiated media behavior of young people: „For opinion formation in the narrower sense, i.e., for forming their own attitudes and opinions, respondents consider inter mediaries to be less important than traditional journalistic sources and face-to-face exchanges”.

At the beginning of this article, the question was posed as to what extent one can still speak of the ´fourth force´ of the traditional information me dia or whether the economically-oriented platforms with their numerous digital playout channels and their ability to reach a primarily younger target group can already be classified as the ´fifth force´. These aspects and associated problems were analyzed in the context of a multi-level analysis, whereby the macro, meso and micro levels are not subject to any sharp demarcation, but rather interpenetrate and influence each

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other. In summary, the development of European media policy on the macro level is characterized by several phases ranging from economic liberal and cultural preservation to democratic challenges with regard to the platform economy. With the ´Digital Markets Act´ and the ´Digital Services Act´ regulatory measures were taken to protect media freedom and media diversity and to curb the power of large platforms. Furthermo re, the European Commission is planning a European legal act on media freedom for the end of 2022. On the respective intermediary or organi zational meso level, these developments characterize areas of tension between quality journalism or democracy-driven, public mandate and a strengthening gatekeeper platform economy, which can already be clas sified as an informational basic provider and thus as a potential ´fifth force´ in the media landscape. At the individual micro level, technical and economically driven motives influence the behavior of the prosumer.

References

• Cabrera Blázquez Francisco Javier, Cappello Maja, Talavera Milla Julio, Valais Sophie (2022), Governance und Unabhängigkeit öffentlich-rechtlicher Medien, IRIS Plus, Europäische Audio visuelle

• Informationsstelle (Europarat), Straßburg, und-unabhaengigkeit-oeffentlich-rechtlic/1680a6d63ahttps://rm.coe.int/iris-plus-2022-de1-governance-(05.08.2022)

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• Official Journal of the European Union (2018), Richtlinie (EU) 2018/1808 des Europäischen Par laments und des Rates vom 14. November 2018 zur Änderung der Richtlinie 2010/13/EU zur Koordinierung bestimmter Rechts- und Verwaltungsvorschriften der Mitgliedstaaten über die Bereitstellung audiovisueller Mediendienste (Richtlinie über Audiovisuelle Mediendienste) im Hinblick auf sich verändernde Marktgegebenheiten, 28.11.2018 L 303/69, https://eur-lex.europa. eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Aam0005 (05.08.2022)

• European Commission (13.07.2022), Pressemitteilung, Bericht über die Rechtsstaatlichkeit 2022: Kommission richtet spezifische Empfehlungen an die Mitgliedstaaten, 13. Juli 2022 Luxemburg, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/IP_22_4467 (05.08.2022)

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• Schmidt, Jan-Hinrik; Merten, Lisa; Hasebrink, Uwe; Petrich, Isabelle; Rolfs, Amelie (2017), Zur Relevanz von Online-Intermediären für die Meinungsbildung. Hamburg: Verlag Hans-BredowInstitut, März 64e92e34539343a8c77a0215bd96b35823.pdf2017.https://hans-bredow-institut.de/uploads/media/default/cms/media/672567(05.08.2022)

• European Commission (n.d.) priorities 2019-2024. Digital Markets Act. ment_eneurope-fit-digital-age/digital-services-act-ensuring-safe-and-accountable-online-environdigital-markets_enstrategy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-and-open-https://ec.europa.eu/info/(05.08.2022andhttps://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/(05.08.2022)

• Constitutional Court of Austria (2022), Gebührenfreier Empfang von ORF-Programmen über In ternet ist verfassungswidrig. Urteil vom 18.07.2022. https://www.vfgh.gv.at/medien/ORF_Strea ming.php (06.08.2022)

• Reporter ohne Grenzen (2018), Langfassung, Regulierung 2.0 Warum soziale Netzwerke, Such maschinen & Co. ein Teil der informationellen Grundversorgung geworden sind – und wie sie reguliert werden sollten, um die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit zu schützen, Empfehlungen von Reporter ohne Grenzen Deutschland an die deutsche Bundesregierung und den Deutschen Bundestag, Stand: 12. Juni 2018, pdfDokumente/Internetfreiheit/Reporter-ohne-Grenzen_Regulierung-2.0-Langfassung-Juni2018.https://www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/(05.08.2022)

• Gadringer, Stefan; Holzinger, Roland; Sparviero, Sergio; Trappel, Josef; Kuzmanov, Karin (2022), Digital News Report 2022, Detailergebnisse für Österreich, Universität Salzburg, www.digital newsreport.at (05.08.2022)

• European Commission (2020a), Vorschlag für eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates über bestreitbare und faire Märkte im digitalen Sektor (Gesetz über digitale Märk te) COM(2020) 842 final 2020/0374 (COD), 15.12.2020, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ DE/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020PC0842&from=EN) (05.08.2022)

• Östgaard, Einar (1965), Factors influencing the Flows of News. In: Journals of Peace Research, 2(1): 39-63.

• Franck, Georg (1998), Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit, München: Carl Hanser Verlag

• Schweiger, Wolfgang; Weber, Patrick; Prochazka, Fabian; Brückner, Lara (2019), Algorithmisch personalisierte Nachrichtenkanäle: Begriffe, Nutzung, Wirkung, Springer VS: Wiesbaden

• Official Journal of the European Union (2010), Richtlinie 2010/13/EU des Europäischen Parla ments und des Rates vom 10. März 2010 zur Koordinierung bestimmter Rechts- und Verwal tungsvorschriften der Mitgliedstaaten über die Bereitstellung audiovisueller Mediendienste (Richtlinie über audiovisuelle Mediendienste), L 95/1S. 1-21, 15.04.2010, https://eur-lex.europa. eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010L0013&from=DE (05.08.2022)

This poses a further challenge to the traditional quality media in the pre vious gatekeeper monopoly, which is now being broken up by both the meso and micro levels (sandwich position). In addition, there is a steady shift of the younger target group away from the traditional media to the gatekeeper platforms, whereby the filter bubble problem only applies to a limited extent among young adults due to cross- or double-checking behavior. The multi-level analysis in this article has made it clear that, in addition to the important regulatory measures already in place, the re must be further adaptations at all levels: A clear commitment at the supranational level to hold platforms accountable for violations of the law quickly and transparently. At the meso level, public service broad casters in particular must be able to rely on an independent regulatory authority, media governance must be free of harmful political influence and there must be broad representation of all social groups in the super visory bodies, as well as a fair and transparent financing system for qua lity media. Trust must be regained accordingly and the needs of young adults must also be taken into account in the diversity of programming offline and, above all, online. To this end, existing laws must be used or created, if necessary again with flanking regulatory support from the EU level. Only then can traditional quality media defend their position as the fourth force and compete with the private and profit-oriented plat form economy or complement each other accordingly.

• European Parliament (n.d.), Factsheet Audiovisuelle Politik und Medienpolitik, (05.08.2022)www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/de/sheet/138/audiovisuelle-politik-und-medienpolitikhttps://

• Meyer, Eric (o.J.), Politische Kommunikation: Die Rolle der Social-Media-Plattformen im USWahlkampf 2020, kation-die-rolle-der-social-media-plattformen-im-us-wahlkampf-2020/https://www.bpb.de/themen/nordamerika/usa/314787/politische-kommuni(05.08.2022)

• European Commission (2020b): Vorschlag für eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates über einen Binnenmarkt für digitale Dienste (Gesetz über digitale Dienste) und zur Änderung der Richtlinie 2000/31/EG-COM/2020/825 final. 23.04.2020, https://eur-lex.euro pa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A825%3AFIN (05.08.2022)

opportunities - and challenges to match. Choosing the right influencers has become a textbook topic in the marketing curricula (Rosenthal et al 2020) and new algorithmic influencer management tools emerge (Bishop 2021). One of such tools, Influencity, provides a database of European Accordinginfluencers4.to Influencity, Italy has the highest number of influencers, over two percent of the country‘s population5. Influencer agencies po sition themselves as matchmakers between influencers and advertisers (Lobato 2016). In three Nordic countries the influencer market size has been estimated based on influencer agency turnover estimates, see Table 1

Nordic estimates of influencer agency market size

TUIJA ALTO TAMPERE UNIVERSITY

This article is structured as follows: After the literature overview, I will present my research approach which consists of the theoretical frame work of platformised cultural production by Poell et al (2021) with which I will analyse the empirical data, a set of semi structured theme inter views with key industry players, by administering a tentative platform dependency analysis of the Finnish media industry. In closing I will dis cuss the preliminary findings in light of previous research and suggest some topics for future research.

This paper examines the relationships between the traditional media in dustry companies and new kinds of platform intermediary companies, the so-called multi-channel networks (MCN:s) and influencer agencies, forming the emerging influencer industry (Abidin et al 2020) in Finland. Platform strategies of public service broadcasters have already been researched (Martin 2021, Stollfuss 2021, Hokka 2017; Nikunen & Hokka 2020, Niemi et al 2021), but the strategies and business models of the new platform intermediary companies and the media companies found ed by the biggest influencers, have not been studied yet. My dissertation work will attempt to fill this gap in our knowledge of the emerging media

1. Introduction

The Influencer industry (Abidin et al 2020) emerged globally (Poell et al 2019) during the second decade of the millennia, enabled by social me dia platform affordances. A new type of social media advertising (OECD 2019), influencer advertising is currently scrutinised by the EU1 for the purpose of reducing harm to consumers. In 2020 the influencer marketing spend in Europe was estimated at 1,3billion euros 2, just under two per cent of the entire digital ad spend of 70,5 billion euro in Europe in 2020. In the UK, a spring 2022 House of Commons report brought forth serious labour issues concerning diversity, pay disparities, lack of employment support and protection, as well as lack of protection of children both as consumers of influencer content as well as influencers themselves.3 The influencer industry presents advertisers with unprecedented advertising

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Tablebelow.1.

THE PLATFORMIZATION OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION, THE CASE OF FINLAND

Empiricallandscape.data

is generated with semistructured interviews among influ encer industry and traditional media managers. Situated in a junction of three fields, the crossing point of media platformization, infrastructure studies and the strategic renewal of public service broadcasters, it is me ant to contribute to the study of platformization of cultural production (Poell et al 2021) by presenting a country study of Finland. This paper updates the understanding of the Finnish media landscape and provides preliminary insights into what is the role of influencers and influencer industry companies in public service provision.

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This patchwork of data goes to show that the influencer industry is in an early stage, but growing. The preliminary findings of my research would seem to suggest that influencer agencies need to keep reinventing their business model to accommodate the influencers’ changing needs and that they possess the kind of expertise in the influencer industry and pro ficiency in the use of influencer management tools that traditional media lacks and that there is potential in the influencer industry to produce the kind of content that a public broadcaster seeks to commission for its video on demand (VOD) and audio on demand (AOD) services.

The strategic management of algorithmic visibility (2019), influencer management tools (2021) and algorithmic lore (2020) have been studied by social media scholar Sophie Bishop, who also was special advisor to the UK parliamentary committee report on Influencer culture (2022). The concept of aspirational labour was introduced by social media and soci ety scholar Brooke Erin Duffy (2017).

academic fields, software studies, business studies, critical political economy, and cultural studies, Thomas Poell, David Nieborg and José van Dijck (2019) theorised that the institutional di mensions of platformisation—data infrastructures, markets, and gover nance — needed to be studied in correspondence with shifting cultural practices. Poell et al (2021) propose that the phenomenon of platformi zation, and its institutional dimensions and shifting cultural practices, be studied holistically and Poell et al (2022) further develop the platform dependency analysis framework by suggesting the concept of platform power “negotiation spaces” in the news industry.

Strategic communications scholar Karen Freberg’s (2021) textbook defi nition on an influencer states that “an influencer is someone who has built an audience, naturally and over time, and who is viewed as an au thority on a certain subject, practice, or perspective in online spaces.”

Co-author of the holistic framework for studying cultural production on platforms with Thomas Poell & David Nieborg, Duffy co-edited the spe cial issue of Social Media & Society on platform practices in the cultural industries (Duffy et al 2019) and has continued exploring the precarity of cultural work on platforms (Duffy et al 2021).

The concept of platformisation was first introduced by Anne Helmond (2015) as a material–technical perspective on platforms, after the dis cursive notion of a platform had been questioned by media scholars at the end of the aughts. The positioning of the platforms in the internet’s structure have been described in terms of layers (Flew 2019, Flensburg and Lai 2020) and visualised as a tree (Van Dijck 2021). Lisa Parks and Nicole Starosielski (2015) observed that people remain blind to the inf rastructures that support the conveniences of modern consumer techno logies. Shoshana Zuboff (2019) raised awareness of platform practices of data

2. Literature on influencers, intermediaries and PSM in the context of platforms

Drawingextraction.fromfour

A terminological clarification: When this paper discusses intermediari es, the term does not refer to the platforms themselves the way Rasmus Kleis Nielsen et al (2018), or Chris Bilton (2019) use it, but to various com panies operating on the platforms, as platform complementors (Gawer 2021). Those various companies operate in the platform-enabled mar ket, benefiting from the platform infrastructure, subject to the platform governance (Lobato 2016, Cunningham and Craig 2019 pages 115-147).

Scholarship on influencers seems most established in the field of stra tegic communication (Reinikainen, 2022; Pöyry 2022). The terms creator and influencer are sometimes used alternately. Cunningham and Craig (2019) use the term creator. “Most creators have started out as amateur enthusiasts who, through the network affordances of the dominant social media platforms, have built sustainable, and sometimes stellar, careers (ibid.). Raymond Boyle (2018) studied the co-existence and connections of social media video production and television production in the UK. He shows that those creating and publishing video on social platforms have developed a distinctive commercial culture.

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The essence of influencers influence is their ethos of authenticity and credibility (Wellman et al 2021, Pöyry et al 2019, Abidin & Ots 2016, Abi din 2016b). Ethnographer of internet cultures Crystal Abidin has explo red internet celebrity (2018), influencers’ practises including visibility la bour (Abidin 2016a), as well as their in-visible below-the-radar-practises (2021). Aside from authenticity, a central concept in influencer studies is that of parasocial relationships (Reinikainen et al 2020, Miisa RotolaPukkila 2020, Rotola-Pukkila & Isotalus 2021), and intimacy-generating practices (Abidin 2015). Suvi Uski (2015) introduced the concept profile work, maintaining a social network service (SNS) user profile. Nancy Baym suggested the concept of “relational labour” (2015.) Marika Paaso studied journalists’ impression management on social media and SallaRosa Leinonen (2022) explored the opportunities of what ‘influencer sty le journalism’ could bring to a newsroom.

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The Influencer industry (Abidin et al 2020) is just emerging but has deep roots. The appreciation of infrastructures of communication stems from Harold Innis (1952) of the Toronto school of communication theory. Cul tural intermediaries can be traced back to Pierre Bourdieu (1984), and platform studies has been arrived at through the well-trodd-terrains of network society (Castells 1996) and information society (McQuail and Deuze 2020; Castells and Himanen 2002). While scholarship in the realm of new media and mass communication has produced research relevant to this study’s objectives (ie. Napoli 2011, Baym 2012, Papacharissi 2011, 2014), what follows is however, quite an interdisciplinary tour.

Public service broadcasting, an institution with a centennial heritage, arguably functions as a counterbalance against the global platform ecosystem. Public service legal scholar Karen Donders (2021) sees the need for PSB organisations to profoundly adapt to changing circumstan ces - at the level of policies, organisation and practises (ibid., p 13-14). Research on providing public service on the platforms covers fictional content as well as news. Vilde Schanke Sundet (2020) studied producing content targeted to young audiences in Norway, focusing especially on NRK’s youth series SKAM and its follower, blank (Sundet 2021). In Ger many, Sven Stollfuß (2021), contributed to the body of research with an analysis of the german SKAM-remake, druck. In Finland, Jenni Hokka’s (2017) case study subject was Yle’s daily drama series Uusi Päivä. Jonathon Hutchinson (2017) argued that public broadcasting organisations should collaborate with micro influencers, to facilitate a two-way-flow of information from young audiences and, indeed, influencers, towards the broadcaster, as well as from the broadcaster, towards those online communities that the micro influencers have authority over. His examp le case was the participatory scripted comedy series #7dayslater by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC.

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RQ2: What are the strategies and business models of the new platform intermediary companies and the media companies founded by the big gest influencers?

Theoretic approach

media industry on a nation‘s media landscape level, with a focus on in fluencer industry. It should make visible how the emerging influencer industry relates to existing media companies and how the different in dustry actors articulate each other. This paper is also a contribution to the accumulating body of research into public service renewal in the age of platforms.

Poell et al (2021) propose that the phenomenon of platformization, and its institutional dimensions and shifting cultural practices, be studied holistically. The holistic framework by Poell et al (ibid.) consisting of three institutional and three practical dimensions is summarised in Ta ble 2, highlighting the issues relevant to assessing the platform depen dency of influencer and traditional media industries. Key underlying concepts in the framework are platform power and platform dependen cy. Platform power is relational, and it is dynamic. There is institutional and productive platform power. The institutional platform power can be discussed in terms of openness and control, while the practise-ori ented productive power is articulated in the lived reality of the platformdependent cultural production. (ibid., pages 182-187). I do not strive to develop the theoretical framework further in the scope of this study, but

Koivula et al (2022) found that publishing on social media platforms made journalists focus on “how to do social media right” instead of in novating freely. In the Nordic PSM organisation studied, ideation and content production were often prompted by platforms releasing new fea tures, and confirmation of success came from data and analytics, rende ring the observed practices as platform-centric and technically-oriented. Platform power was not found to be coercive, instead the relationship was more complex. Yle editors’ considerations on the tensions and dangers concerning public value provision on platforms have been re searched by Niemi et al (2021). Annika Sehl et al (2016) found that “In no other area is the language of opportunities and risks more appropriate or more frequently invoked than when it comes to the relationship between public service media and third-party platforms like social media. Ras mus Kleis Nielsen and Sarah Anne Ganter (2017) analysed a large public service organisation and found a tension between short term operative goals and long term strategic goals in dealing with news distribution on social media platforms. Erik Nikolaus Martin (2021) researched public service broadcasting companies’ survival strategies in competition with “Silicon Valley”, meaning platforms, the US and the UK, by interviewing managers. Recent students’ theses (Kuivas 2017, Lahtinen 2019, Paldani us 2021 and Riitakorpi 2021) highlight the importance of interaction with the audiences. My contribution to the scholarship of platformization of cultural production is to provide an up-to-date snapshot picture of the

Key outcome of my research will thus be the updated picture of the Fin nish media landscape, aware of the public value development potential in influencers and influencer agencies in it.

3. Aim, objectives and approach

My aim is to support the domestic media industries in Europe to the well being of society and the ultimate benefit of democracy. I strive to achie ve this by alerting the traditional media companies to the possibilities of benefiting from the competence developed by influencers and by in fluencer agencies. I will make the media industry players - influencers, influencer agencies, and traditional media companies - visible to each other by analysing and then making conclusions of their perceptions of the changing media landscape. This paper poses, and strives to answer, three research questions:

RQ1: What is the new Finnish media landscape like?

RQ3 What is the role of influencers and social video platform-enabled companies in public service provision in the Finnish media landscape?

All kinds of media companies are platform-dependent in the platformbased social media entertainment industry. Contingent to their busi ness model innovation capacity, however, all of them could enter other industries.

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were with social media video platforms, and what kinds of relationships they had observed having formed between the legacy media companies and the new influencer companies. Perceptions of future risks and busi ness growth opportunities were also discussed. Specific additional ques tions were asked to the two influencer informants, to find out how they perceived platform governance: how platforms enabled their content creation and monetization, how the platforms supported or limited their freedom of expression and creativity and whether they saw the limita tions set by platforms justified.

Method

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Poell et al (2021) propose to begin using the holistic framework by consi dering the particular industry segment’s historical platform-dependen cy. Has the segment historically been platform-dependent (as is the case for social media) or platform-independent (as is the case for news)? The theoretical framework for the platform dependency analysis is presented in Table 2 above. Furthermore, in each stage of cultural production the platform dependency poses different challenges. Research could focus on a specific stage of cultural production from creation, distribution, or marketing and monetization. Finally, Poell et al (ibid.) urge scholars to consider the specificity of their case study as they know from their extensive inquiry that observations from specific instances of platformization cannot be generalised. I use the framework to analyse the Finnish me dia industry actors’ experiences and perceptions (Table 4). Before that, though, I will discuss the findings as they fold out in selected media in dustries (Table 3).

Situated in the junction of media platformization, infrastructure studies and the strategic renewal of public service broadcasters, following a call by Poell et al (2021), my contribution is meant as a case study in a nati onal context of the Finnish media landscape. Key underlying concepts in the framework crafted by Poell et al (ibid.) are platform power and platform dependency. They yield an analytic tool that I call a “Platform dependency analysis” which I will tentatively apply in Table 3.

4. Tentative Platform dependency analysis of the Finnish media landscape

will concentrate on the application of it, training the theoretical eye on the emerging influencer industry in Finland.

I will conduct a total of 25-30 semi structured interviews with key ac tors in the media landscape. As a pilot, six interviews were conducted in spring 2022. The subject matter of the interviews with key media industry managers were the perceptions of the media landscape around them had changed, how they saw social media video platforms’ impact on the Finnish media market, what their (companies’ or employers’) relationship

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**) Similarly, as discussed in the case of VOD, an influencer receiving revenues from podcast content licensing could also reduce their platform dependency.

Tabel 3. Tentative Platform dependency analysis, case of Finland

Social media entertainment (SME) video is by nature a platform-depen dent activity for any business participating in it, historically as well as currently, as the audiences’ media consumption habits compel busines ses to enter these platforms in pursuit of visibility and relatability.

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a non platform-dependent business, where the news companies produced and distributed news to audiences. Neither influen cers nor influencer agencies operate in the news business. The commer cial as well as public service media are partially platform-dependent, trying to reach and relate to younger audiences on platforms. It is impor

Broadcasters operating their own VOD-services were not platform de pendent historically, when the services were only delivered and accessed on top of the open internet, but, today broadcasters are arguably plat form-dependent as VOD providers when it comes to the smart TV and smartphone app distribution of these services to end users.

Table 3 above summarises my tentative platform dependency analysis of the Finnish media landscape based on interviews, previous research literature and desktop study. I have omitted broadcast tv and radio from the table to save space. Taking a business sector at a time, the analysis is as follows. In the video-on demand (VOD) business based on the sales of IPR and offering content either advertising-supported AVOD, subscripti on based SVOD or broadcaster -originated offer BVOD, influencers and influencer agencies are not historically involved. To mark that, there is “n/a” as in “not applicable” in the table. Some YouTube-originated video producers are entering the IPR-based VOD business, making them argua bly less dependent on platforms in terms of revenue.

*) It can be argued that an influencer who could rely on revenues from VOD licensing, could subs tantially reduce their platform dependency.

After its inception in the mid aughts, podcasting went mainstream when the consumer electronics company Apple made it convenient to subscri be to podcasts (Lindeberg, 2019). Originally the iTunes aggregating sys tem required the podcast feeds to be openly available, thus forcing the business model of advertising (or free availability) on content producers and publishers (Poell et al 2021, p. 71). New market entrants build their own podcast distribution apps and paid subscriptions, while traditio nal media companies have their own AOD apps. Again, as the apps are accessed by consumers in the platforms’ app stores, arguably at least partial platform dependence is witnessed. Furthermore, the Finnish PSM company makes some of its podcast titles available on platforms, bene fiting from the additional audience reach. It could be argued that public service media are at least partially platform-dependent in the business of Newspodcasting.ishistorically

tant to consider that as news consumption is mobile, the mobile device operating systems and their applications stores are, again, gatekeepers to news Developingaudiences.theiranalytical

I will continue the analysis next by framework dimensions (Table 4).

Going through the analysis one framework dimension at a time, and star ting from the Markets dimension. [1] In my empirical data, an informant discussed the ability of certain influencers to “move” or “transfer” au diences to another place online, a VOD service, or offline, a movie theat re. This has two implications.

In Finland, the media business is centralised and the biggest media com panies operate in several business areas: tv, news, and radio as well as VOD, SME and podcasting. For instance, Sanoma Media Finland today operates in all of the businesses listed above, however it is the learning business that is seen bringing the future growth.9 When Lindén et al (2022) explored future scenarios for Nordic media companies, no viab le future for small independent media companies was identified while the biggest players, such as Bonnier News, JP/Politikens Hus, Amedia, Schibsted and Sanoma had been able to develop long-term strategies (ibid., p. 36).

Firstly I would like to introduce the concept of relational capital and how it relates to the core asset in the creative industries, intellectual property, IPR. In building on the research by Baym (2015) on relational labour, I would argue that the time spent by influencers fostering their communi ties on the platforms have resulted in them having accumulated relatio nal capital. Related concepts appear in research literature: Reinikainen (2022) talks about influencer capital and Freberg et al (2011) about SMI (social media influencer) capital. I prefer the term relational capital be cause it opens up bridges across industries (see ie. Kohtamäki et al 2013). Arguably, possessing relational capital, an influencer aiming to grow their business may be able to do so by providing business customers

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framework of platform power and platform dependency in the news industry, Poell et al (2022) identify three key variables that shape the “spaces of negotiation” of news organisations vis-a-vis platforms: those of platform evolution, stage of production, and type of news organisation. Together they are meant to provide a more nuanced lens to examine “when and why news organisations align their operations with platforms or alternatively pursue more independent strategies” (ibid.). Finally, in the business of advertising, influencers and influencer agencies are platform-dependent, while commercial media ar guably are not. In Finland, the PSM does not operate in the ad business, thus: not applicable. The tentative analysis in Table 3 will be updated in a future version of this paper, pending accumulation of empirical data.

with diverse strategic advisory services. It was in fact one informant’s prospect to seek a board member placement in a suitable startup com pany, thereby growing their income and impact. Another informant’s company’s current customers included business-to-business brands, who needed help in employer branding and developing thought leader ship in their sector. The informant saw this as a growing business area for their Secondly,company.iftheassumption holds that the emerging independent con tent producers emerging from platforms are able to bring their platform audiences with them, if they licence their content to broadcaster VOD services, it would support their moving from the platform dependent business of social media entertainment to the non-platform dependent, IPR-based business of independent television production. The indepen dent television production industry is favoured by media policy in many European countries in the name of supporting national and regional tv production as well as diversity. For the case ok UK, see Doyle (2019).

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

In the same vein, seeing that algorithmic visibility is the means to an end; the monetization of content, an influencer’s overall experience re garding the governance by Meta was that [5] they were on a leash by the Movingcompany.on

Regarding the value of relational capital to operate in the IPR-based VOD business, I want to add that while intellectual property owners do pos sess brand capital (see ie. discussion on news brands in Haavisto 2021, p. 549), brands do have to work to build their relational capital on so cial media. Such relational labour may be included in the social media marketing teams’ tasks for instance. Finally, in saying that IPR holders hardly have any relational capital to begin with, I do not mean that IPR content doesn’t have passionate fan communities, for surely fan commu nities have connected online even before social networks of today (Baym wrote about Usenet fan culture 1999). Organisations sometimes employ community managers or similar professionals to connect with the custo mers and to foster their online communities.

Under the Governance dimension in Table 4 it is necessary to observe [4] the centrality of the platform governance and the concept of advertising friendliness of content to the monetization of content. If YouTube‘s auto mated, machine learning -enabled, content analysis system, for examp le, deems an influencer’s content not appropriate for advertising, it will remove ads, thus extinguishing the source of livelihood of the influencer and revenue for the agency. One informant observed that responsibility of content was shared between the MCN and the influencer.

in Table 4 to the Platform Practices, and the framework di mension of Labour, the next preliminary finding is evoked by two topics in the interviews. An observation by an informant on how [6] artists to day “try to create trends on TikTok or to be relevant on Instagram‘‘, con firms what Nancy Baym (2018 p. 196) has written on relational work per formed by music artists, who find themselves doing new kinds of tasks to “connect” with the audience. It is this relational work, having been done for years, that has afforded platform creators their strong audience relationships discussed in finding [1].

In the Infrastructure dimension I want to remark that [3] it is the influ encer agencies that have developed the expertise to utilise the influencer marketing data tools to serve their various customers’ needs.

Moving on to the next topic, Influencers’ taking the opportunity to ap pear on TV shows [7] was brought up by three informants. To one in fluencer informant the reason for seeking opportunities to appear on broadcast TV was to be able to raise their prices, as they believed that the advertising buyers are more likely to accept a higher price quote for the influencer’s campaign if they know their face from broadcast TV. As a preliminary conclusion answering RQ3, securing visibility in the broad cast medium would be a way for influencers to reduce their platformdependency. This finding further suggests that an influencer needs to be fluent in operating in both traditional broadcast media logic10, as well as in the social media logics (van Dijck & Poell 2013), or the “platform logic” (Poell et al 2021 p. 116).

In the framework’s Creativity dimension it is necessary to note that [8] the platform affordance of openness, the removal of the barriers to entry into the social media entertainment business (ibid, p. vi and p. 70) ena bles practically anyone to test their ideas in front of an online audience. If the producer succeeds, they may be able to monetize their creativity in the IPR-based VOD business, where the commercial practice is to licence

Another preliminary finding in the Market dimension of the framework in Table 4 is [2] the Finnish influencer agencies have experienced a major strategy pivot in that they have given up the exclusive representation of influencers, according to two informants. It leads to the tentative conclu sion that in the rapidly changing environment, they are the ones most pressured to keep innovating business models.

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It’s the capability to renew. To understand, say, TikTok which took a couple of years to specialise in. To smell, what the new thing is. [Informant 1 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

the content for distribution. As a preliminary conclusion to RQ3, public service media has an opportunity to raise a new generation of indepen dent production companies from the social media entertainment produ cers, emerging on the platforms. There are already examples of this, for example the case of Yle procuring a VOD series for the BVOD service Yle Areena from the Justimus group. This too is relevant to answering the RQ3.

The Specifics of the Finnish media landscape (RQ1) Specificity of case Finland is considered in the following. Finland is con sidered part of democratic corporatist media system (Hallin & Mancini 2004), Northern cluster (Brüggemann 2014), Scandinavian (Peruško et al 2015), or even a Nordic Welfare state (Enli & Syvertsen 2014) however ar guably on its way to “the competition state model” faster than the other Nordic countries (Ala-Fossi 2020). Adding to the Finnish media lands cape descriptions by Reunanen (2022) and Vanhala (2020), it is useful in the context of this paper to note that the commercial media actors are using several “legal instruments” (Donders 2021) to limit the Public service media company Yle’s digital activities: Prohibition of press-like services, constraining on-demand offer of audiovisual content and pub lic value tests.11

our partner. We have exclusive rights to sell certain kinds of ad packages on the channels. We have YouTube’s own courses. We have a responsibility of the content on the influencer’s channel, that is, if there are some kind of copyright infringements or some problems with the content, we are in shared of that with the influ encer. -- We are the only network like this in Finland at the moment. [Informant 2 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

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Indeed, newspapers in Finland have extensive online and innovative di gital services and activities. (Vanhala 2020). While the platforms have negatively affected the media landscape by sucking out advertising eu ros (Haavisto 2021, p. 24), they have also offered a ground for an under growth of new media market actors: the influencer entrepreneurs, influ encer agencies, media production services, and various other influencer industry service providers. The preliminary findings from the empirical analysis show that influencers are an interesting resource to businesses as gatekeepers to the coveted young audiences. While competing for advertising budgets and audience attention, the media industry parties have also been able to find mutually beneficial collaboration opportuni ties. The biggest influencers would seem to have a relatively strong ne gotiation position, while the role of influencer agencies is perceived as demanding an extraordinary capacity for innovation and renewal. New expertise translates into new businesses, and person brands, past, pre sent and future, are a central focal point. I will present some of the issues emerging from the interviews, with brief interview context. For gender neutrality, the pronoun “they” is used to refer to each informant. After this tour of themes, I will summarise the findings in the final, discussion section of this paper.

At the core of the new platform-bred media businesses there were MCN’s, multi-channel-networks. Being asked to describe the Finnish media landscape, informant 2 offers a pyramid description of how the ad bud gets get distributed in the industry, positioning their own business in the middle

The biggest influencers are able to take substantive fees for their servi ces. For middlemen, the space is narrow and calls for continuous rene wal of a company‘s services.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

In the framework’s Democracy dimension, [9] it was readily accepted by the influencer informants that the platforms would exercise moderati on during for instance the recent COVID-19 pandemic, in the purpose of reducing harms caused by the spreading of misinformation. This senti ment prevailed for one influencer informant in spite of the fact that it had caused several of their videos concerning the subject being demonetised.

New expertise translates into new businesses (RQ2)

Finally, an informant observed that [10] the anonymous chat app Jodel had heightened influencers‘ awareness of their reputation. It makes me think that the availability of platform affordances, for instance the channel administration tools, may have led influencers to have a false sense of control of their public image, having the powers to moderate their comment fields, removing any unpleasantries at will. But with the introduction of Jodel, a platform familiar to their most important stake holders, influencers found that their ability to subdue criticism had dis appeared. This would be a sign of platform independence on the part of those critical to influencers, a hopeful signal of activism finding its fora despite the perceived power of the platforms. I propose that it also serves as an example of the evolution of the hybrid media system described by Andrew Chadwick (2017). Having now analysed the interview findings using the holistic framework by Poell et al (2021), I will present some observations regarding the Finnish media environment as a whole.

One feature of the new platform-enabled media landscape is the emer gence of collectives, loose networks of creators working together. Two following quotes illustrate different perceptions of that development. In the first one, industry practice expectations are not met in the situation described. The informant weighs a program pitch, different from that of traditional production companies they have accustomed to doing busi ness with. There are several reasons for the informant to doubt the pro fessional capabilities of the team presenting the pitch.

Now we are at a point where content producers, who have to this day concentrated in their own channel and content creation, are founding collectives and own companies, which specialise in editing or content production. In a way a new generation, practi sing expertise of their own.

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The Nordic Influencer agencies were born in 2014. For the first few years, it was an industry practice that they represented talents exclusively, but the strategies were later revised and since a couple of years ago, Finnish influencers are free to make commercial deals with the brands they want and with the agencies they want. For influencer agencies, this involved strategic repositioning. At the same time, traditional media companies can be observed building their own influencers.

It isn’t a terribly big market, and then there is that, it’s very much the influencers’ market, if you think of the value chain, there can’t be that many middlemen, not at least with any reasonable margins, -- Although it is a different type of benchmark, but a little like in sports rights, the biggest value, in the end, goes to the really valu able player who is paid these unfathomable sums, and the others in the value chain have very small margins -- so the same way in influencer marketing it is often the influencer, who is able to make a sensible business, but if you think of these different influencer agencies .. companies that have more actors under their umbrella .. it is not awfully … if you take a small slice of the campaigns .. What do you sell if you are, for instance, a manager? There aren’t great margins and there is no space for many middlemen there. [Informant 5 Director, commercial media company]

SuomiPop and other channels have been utilised commercially, they have social media channels and they do brand collaborations and on the Nelonen side actually they have started monetizing their TV and radio stars -- and they do commercial collaborations on their channels as well. New kinds of activities for them surely. [Informant 1 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

-- There is this kind of spirit that I would like those contents to show, but I’m not sure if I can buy anything from them, like, will they ever deliver? And have the insurances been taken care of, and so on. [Informant 6 Commissioner, public service broadcaster]

Reflecting the preliminary findings against the Poell et al’s (2021) theory of platformised cultural production (Table 2), and the tentative platform dependency analysis discussed in the findings (Table 3) my conclusion is that while far from an institutionalised part of the media industry, in fluencers are intertwined with traditional media markets in many ways.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

Having built an audience on a social media platform has enabled some to licence their content for BVOD (broadcast video on demand), or for movieJustimusdistribution.created

Our radio hosts and personalities, several of whom are also our tv presenters, so certainly they are social media influencers in their own right, and they, again, are involved in our customer campaigns every now and then. [Informant 5 Director, commercial media com pany]

There are these new collectives emerging.-- I am considering one [such collective] at the moment. They would like to do music docu mentaries and they know all people and they are clearly insiders, but I have a hard time understanding if there is someone getting paid to do this or not. -- Because the budgets are not very professio nally done, so -- I can’t buy something, if half of the group are there as free interns or just hanging around as buddies.

[Informant 2 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

Person brands, past, present and future (RQ3)

for YouTube for a long time. Now they produce a tv series for Yle. So this kind of production company side of .. at the same time they are media. Justimus directs and writes, Solar is involved as a tv production company .. It has huge value, the brand slash media, what they [Justimus] have created on social media. They are able to move that same audience -One more example is Biisonimafia. They have created a film that is out now, a good example of having built their own audience rela tionship on social media and YouTube and are able to transfer the audience to paid channels. [Informant 1 C-level manager, Influen cer agency]

YouTube has changed to a more tv-like, more produced direction from what it used to be. There still is lifestyle content, but if you now wanted, as a new YouTuber, to start creating content from your everyday life, say, it is quite a lot harder than ten or five years ago. [Informant 4 Influencer, entrepreneur]

Those who started using social media ten years ago, are now young adults, or even more mature. On the other hand, traditional media’s influencers have found their way here. It is interesting to follow how artists and entertainment stars who used to keep a distance to social media, it is now everyday business for them to try and create trends on TikTok or to be relevant on Instagram.

Involving influencers in TV productions in hopes of benefiting from their social media audiences’ attention is standard practice for a commercial broadcaster.

We also want to reach younger audiences with our entertainment programs, so we cast a lot of influencers in the tv programs these days. So the casting process involves a lot of influencers. And the influencers also do want to appear in tv programs. Although they are natives in the influencer world, the thing is, to be recognised at the cashiers’ queue by 25+, 35+ year-olds, it requires that you show up in Survivors or so on. I’d say it’s the clearest case of collaborati on [between influencers and traditional tv companies], it benefits both parties. Influencers are really interested in these opportuni ties. And then of course they like to tell their followers about the program they are in, that they should watch. So it’s a win win. [Informant 5 Director, commercial media company]

One interesting change, that concerns us, has been this building of a star stable. Being fairly channel-bound when it comes to taking a star in your roster, this quite a manager-oriented thinking, growing influencers and artists systematically as your own stable’s star. This has been an issue that has had the most effect on me and my work. Interesting to see how a traditional media actor has begun doing this in a kind of big way.

decreasing campaign impression results, if they kept up with their old pictures-and-text -based content production.

[Informant 2, C-level manager, Influencer agency]

The risk in practice for an influencer like me is that I am on the leash of Meta, the company. In principle everything they do, my in come depends on it. What updates they do and if the audience likes them and how the algorithms surface or do not surface my content on the [Informantchannel.3Influencer, entrepreneur]

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“Before Jodel, any critique of the influencer took place in their own comment box, in their blog or Instagram, or even as a pri vate message.” -- “There had been discussion forums before, the likes of suomi24 or vauva.fi or demi.fi, but they were considered inconsequential. But when Jodel came, it was the academic people who used it. So for example I know that many customers use it to follow what influencers are talked about. It has happened that an influencer has lost a campaign because of gaining a bad reputati on, resulting in customers not wanting to do business with certain influencers.”

Since the blooming of YouTuber subculture in Finland in 201512, early YouTubers have grown up and the content quality on the platform has levelled up as well.

[Informant 1 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

If I think of, say, Roni Back, I think of everything his business invol ves, like, how much really -- this too has to do with the kind of star thinking, and building american artists -- how big the machinery there is, really. It has been the greatest revelation to me that these are not kids who shoot with one camera just like that and get mo ney for it. It is a big machinery and affects the entire business, this [Informantmarket. 2 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

To have become an influencer, it has typically required systematic au dience building for several years. Informant 3 was active in the life style blogging scene in the early second decade of the millennia. They hopped on Instagram and SnapChat, learning the new platforms as they went. At the time of the interview in June 2022, Instagram had recently made an update to the app layout, giving more prominence to Reels content. The informant found themselves facing the prospect of

Influencers as person brands need to consider their reputation. An in fluencer informant recounted how the entrance of Jodel, the anonymous chat app, got influencers worrying much more than before. Anonymous discussions of the industry’s unsustainable travel practices also brought about real change.

5. Discussion and Conclusion

into one view? How do you manage the communication alone, by email, because it takes an awful lot of time. These kinds of problems arise. It is like, in the same way as pro grammatic ad buying, some kind of digital advertising systems, or content management systems. So similar tools have emerged in in fluencer [Informantmarketing.1C-level manager, Influencer agency]

Considering RQ1: Within the scope of this paper I have been able to present qualitative findings from the influencer industry actors opportunities and challenges, but to be able to quantify the significance of influencer indus

[Informant 2, C-level manager, Influencer agency]

-- “At the point when the flight shaming began, it stopped the PR agencies from organising overnight trips for influencers to Kuopio to familiarise themselves with northern cosmetics raw materials.”

I wanted to update the Finnish media landscape (RQ1). I set out to map the strategies and business models of the new platform intermediary companies and the media companies founded by the biggest influencers (RQ2) and I wanted to understand the role of influencers and social video platform-enabled companies in public service provision in the Finnish media landscape (RQ3).

What if there is a big bubble left outside the other bubbles, it is a kind of fear of somewhere being a lot of people following that one, and we have no relationship with them -- it gets so tricky that pro bably there should be some influencer expert somehow watching them -- you can always ask the experts but it’s not terribly syste matic. I think that such a more systematic following of influencers would be a good thing.

[Informant 4 Influencer, entrepreneur]

YouTube takes good care of content producers and pays well for ad vertisements. They are clear in their communications and they are really helpful -- of course you have to have some amount of subscri bers .. They do support you. YouTube gives you this manager -- I just got got this message a moment ago that a Google employee is there for me for sparring these issues -- so YouTube is really good but then again for TikTok, which is ri sing among young people, the situation there is the opposite, they do not treat content producers very well or consistently.

To operate successfully in the influencer environment requires either the use of external data tools, provided in the market, or access to influen cers’ platform data.

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[Informant 6 Commissioner, public service broadcaster]

Working really closely with influencers, no external data tool saves that if you don’t really know the influencer and the content. There are always some kinds of errors. Certain areas of data can only be ac cessed by the influencer on their own channels. External platforms do not get that kind of data like we can, when we have 70 channels in our network and we work really closely with the ten biggest.

As research literature suggests (Bishop 2019, 2020), the value of person brands is articulated in the platform analytics, both data made availa ble though the platform to users themselves, as well as the data which is available publicly in the user interface. Platform affordances include data infrastructures such as API’s, which enable data intermediaries to offer various analytics tools (Bishop 2021). Platforms themselves have the largest data troves concerning the activities on the platform at their disposal (Zuboff 2019). It is in their interest to keep their most valuable content producers active on the platform and they have created special creator programs to accomplish that. The practices of platforms in ma naging their creators are not, however, transparent. Based on the infor mants’ perceptions the practices are not publicly stated by the platforms and can thus only be known by being included in the partnership pro

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

Providing public service media in the algorithmically shaped digital platform environment evokes imaginaries of new kinds of data tools. As a preliminary finding, one can recognize that there is a recognized mar ket need (systematic influencer market analysis) and there are skilled service providers (influencer agencies) with tools (social media data in termediaries) available in the market.

[Informant 3 Influencer, entrepreneur]

grams.TikTok has their own star stable too, apparently managed directly by the platform, the biggest stars, but not everyone gets on those lists. [Informant 1 C-level manager, Influencer agency]

Maybe it is the biggest change that if you earlier collaborated with that one Youtuber as a brand, what do you do when you have 20 micro influencers? One does Instagram, one TikTok, someone does YouTube. So how do you collect all that data somehow collectively

This has been an initial effort to draw the contours of a new media land scape, as changed by platformization. There is a lot to do in terms of future research. Is a new kind of media system evolving - if yes, what is new about it? Does the rise of the influencer industry play out differently in different media systems? These are some of the questions that future research might choose to explore.

• Aro, J. (2016) The Cyberspace War: Propaganda and Trolling as Warfare Tools. European view. [Online] 15 (1), 121–132.

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• Baym, N.K. (2015) Connect With Your Audience! The Relational Labor of Connection, The Com munication Review, 18:1, 14-22, DOI: 10.1080/10714421.2015.996401

• https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/107190/html/

Media and advertising industries need to constantly assess the platform power and logics when developing their digital strategy and innovating new business models. Media-, cultural-, economic- and employment po licy makers need to understand the role of the platform logics moulding the composition of the creative economy workforce. Consumer protec tion authorities need up-to-date information concerning the enforce ment of the regulation of advertising, and finally, the national security authorities need to monitor the information environment in order to de tect interferences to the democratic processes. (Aro 2016)

• Baym, N.K. & boyd,, d (2012) Socially Mediated Publicness: An Introduction, Journal of Broad casting & Electronic Media, 56:3, 320-329, DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2012.705200

• Abidin, C. et al. (2020) A Review of Formal and Informal Regulations in the Nordic Influencer Industry. Nordic journal of media studies. [Online] 2 (1), 71–83.

• Abidin, C., 2015. Communicative Intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness.

• Boyd. d (2010). „Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Impli cations.” In Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (ed. Zizi Papacharissi), pp. 39-58.

Regarding RQ2 the preliminary findings suggest that the influencer agen cies have expertise and insight into the dynamics of the emerging indus try which would be quite valuable for the traditional media companies and which they currently lack. Furthermore, the influencer agencies are pressured to adjust their business model as the influencers’ needs change, and willing to do so, to grow, as they discover new business op portunities both within the media industry or in other industries.

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tions tool (Pöyry et al 2022) What if the government took a more autho ritarian turn? (see also Dragomir & Aslama 2021). Besides, in the face of hybrid information warfare, shouldn’t we find a way to protect influ encers from pressure attempts by hostile operators, possibly disguised as harmless campaign buyer organisations? I would warmly recommend that the Union of journalists in Finland extend an invitation for those willing to adhere to the good journalistic practices and ethics, and wel come them as members. Membership would lend them professional sup port and legal advice, now out of reach for all aspiring influencers and possibly many of the established influencers as well.

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PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

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PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

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Modelled after the BBC, GBC from its inception as Station ZOY, a small relay radio station set up by the Colonial authorities in 1935 in the then Gold Coast, as Ghana was known before her independence, was imbued with cultural, educational and social imperatives that accords with Reit hian notions of public broadcasting. It had grown into a national broad caster by the time of independence in 1957, and currently has 16 regional FM stations and six digital television channels and an online presence. Programming since its inception emphasised the educational and infor mational needs of the society. Similar to other national broadcasters in sub-Saharan Africa post-independence, GBC was envisaged in policy and legislation as a public broadcaster, however its actual operations over the years is better described as state or government broadcaster. The immediate post-independence era saw the added programming empha sis of nation building, since national unity among diverse ethnic com munities became paramount, and developmental requirements. Thus, programming concentrated on providing developmental information on education, health and agriculture. That period also saw the intensifica tion of centralisation processes in broadcasting under the direct control of government and GBC became heavily associated with government propaganda, especially in the context of no private ownership of broad cast media. Policy shifted with the return to Constitutional rule in 1992 and the liberalisation of the media sector that led to private ownership

• Yesiloglu, S., & Costello, J. (Eds.). (2020). Influencer Marketing: Building Brand Communities and Engagement (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429322501

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), represents the best possi bility for realising public broadcasting in Ghana. However, over eighty years of conceptual confusion and policy inadequacy has led to distor tion and confusion in GBC’s practice of public broadcasting. This paper argues for a conceptual, policy and practical rehabilitation of GBC and its public service broadcasting values for the Internet and digital era. The paper examines how the historical context in Ghana’s broadcasting sector, particularly the events leading to and immediately after the coun try gained her independence from Britain laid the foundation and conti nues to influence broadcasting policy with a concomitant impact on the operation of GBC over the years, as media liberalisation, digitalisation and the Internet also transform Ghana’s broadcasting sector.

• Vanhala, H (2020) Finland. The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.

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GHANA

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UK/GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM GHANA

OFCORPORATIONBROADCASTINGANDTHEFUTUREPUBLICSERVICEJOURNALISM

• van Dijck, J. et al. (2018) The platform society : public values in a connective world. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

3. Research methods and design

This paper revisits Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) media systems in order to test the feasibility of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques for the study of media systems and its potential to be adapted to include new variables depending on different research interests. Understanding the different variables that shape a particular media system can lead to improve the identification of communication needs that are being neg lected. This could then serve to reinforce the role of PSM organizations in that direction. Moreover, the role of PSM and its independence have been important variables in the construction of media systems. In this regard, this paper could be relevant for the working group “Policy developments affecting news and journalism for PSM organizations”.

This paper revisits Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) media system proposal by applying multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, a robust method that allows for 1) the incorporation of qualitative and linguistic variables in the model, 2) the comparison, ordering and incorporation of criteria of different nature (and measured with different units) and 3) the use of variables in which the optimum or ideal can be reached at the

CONSTRUCTING ADAPTIVE INDICATORS TO CLASSIFY MEDIA SYSTEMS TYPOLOGIES

2. Theorization and general importance

The establishment of media systems typologies has been an ambitious project that many scholars contributed to from different analytical frameworks and applying a wide array of methods. The need to empiri cally prove whether the media systems proposed by Hallin and Mancini were accurate and in connection to the realty prompted the development of further research, reviewed by Hallin and Mancini themselves (2017), and using a wide array of methods: statistical methods, European-wi de surveys, journalist surveys and surveys with other types of experts. For the purpose of these paper, however, the two most important me thods applied to Hallin and Mancini’s media systems are cluster analysis (Brüggemann et al. 2014) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Büchel et al. 2016).

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of broadcast media for the first time in the country’s history. However unlike efforts in some African countries to place national broadcasting systems on more secure structures in response to globalisation and neoliberal paradigms, Ghana’s experience was one of incoherent and inade quate broadcasting policy for GBC and its public broadcasting mandate in a commercialised broadcasting market. There has been no policy de finition about what public journalism should be and GBC’s mandate and funding source in the new broadcasting context, even though the broad caster is still touted as a public service broadcaster.

In the event, GBC has been forced to adopt market mechanisms to survi ve in competition with commercial rivals. While the educational, infor mational and developmental programming policy of broadcasting has been regularly trumpeted as defining GBC’s public service broadcasting requirements, GBC is still burdened by its long association with govern ment propaganda in the new context of competition with commercial rivals. Operating as a state broadcaster, with the burden of years of as sociation with government propaganda, and mimicking commercial ri vals to survive have all naturally influenced the kind of journalism the broadcaster has offered, a clear consequence of the inadequate policy about its remit and mandate in a commercialised broadcasting market. Recent digitalisation in the television sector with multichannel televisi on and the growth in Internet use have only exposed further the effect of the persistent policy inadequacy on GBC, and raises questions about the future of public service journalism in Ghana’s increasingly commercial and digitalised broadcasting sector. This paper draws on interview and documentary data, and analysis using an historical institutionalism and structuration framework. The paper examines the impact of the weak conceptualisation and distorted practice of public broadcasting over many years in Ghana’s history which has led to GBC’s practical failings and how this continues to challenge the realisation of an effective public service media journalism in Ghana’s current context of a commercialised and digital broadcasting landscape.

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1. Relevance to the conference theme and fit with one of the working group topics

VICENTE LIERN UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA MARTAUNIVERSITYRODRIGUEZ-CASTROOFVALENCIA

To demonstrate its validity, the method was applied to Western European countries and the United States using data from Büchel et al. (2016). The media systems in our sample (n=17) were assessed based on the six di mensions established by Brüggemann et al. (2014) after the original work of Hallin and Mancini (2004): inclusiveness of the press market, political parallelism, journalistic professionalism, public service broadcasting, media ownership regulation and press subsidies. Each dimension has its own objective (which may conflict with the ones pursued in other di mensions) that has to be considered when normalizing each criterion.

• Büchel, F., Humprecht, E., Castro-Herrero, L., Engesser, S. & Brüggemann, M. (2016). Building empirical typologies with QCA: Toward a classification of media systems. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 21(2), 209-232.

maximum, the minimum or intermediate values. Our two-phase method ranks and clusters different media systems based on the similarities they show in different dimensions determined by previous studies.

References

4. Key findings and implications for theory

Inregulation.addition,

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The findings corroborated the effectiveness of the method proposed in this work, since our proposal is consistent with the clustering into three theoretical models put forward by Hallin and Mancini (2004). Newness or originality of the research (empirical) or essay (philosophical)

a new indicator was developed. This indicator allowed us to calculate the proximity of the resulting indicator to the maximum value that each country could reach. Therefore, it could help institutions in their decision making, thus becoming a key performance indicator.

• Hallin, D. C. & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and poli tics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Hallin, D. C. & Mancini, P. (2017). Ten years after comparing media systems: What have we lear ned? Political Communication, 34(2), 155-171.

In the first phase, the media systems are ranked according to a multicri teria optimization technique that calculates an index of proximity to an ideal solution. In the second phase, the dispersion of this index is used to objectively cluster this media systems. In addition, a sensitivity analy sis of our clustering is performed, and a new indicator is constructed to analyse the stability of the results.

• Brüggemann, M., Engesser, S., Büchel, F., Humprecht, E. & Castro, L. (2014). Hallin and Manci ni revisited: Four empirical types of western media systems. Journal of communication, 64(6), 1037-1065.

This study proved that the use of multicriteria techniques than can integ rate qualitative and linguistic variables, as well as the application of the indicator, can be useful resources for the determination and definition of media systems typologies. These techniques allow the researchers to aggregate variables that behave differently and that reach their ideal in intermediate values, providing an interesting analytical framework for the inclusion of new dimensions within existing media system models.

5. Relevance for PSM management and practice

The study of media systems can be useful for media policy makers, as they provide strategic information on “patterns of how journalism cul tures, media policy, media markets and media use are connected in a given society” (Brüggeman et al., 2014). The adaptability of this MCMD method also means that new variables can be integrated in the design of media systems. This could be useful to inform policies affecting PSM

The results of the application of the method, in which the countries are classified according to their relative proximity to the ideal solution, clearly shows three clusters depending on the dispersion of the values. The first cluster includes Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, the US, Ireland and Great Britain belong to the second cluster. Lastly, the third cluster includes Austria, France, Spain, Italy and Greece.

The third part of this research is done through a comparative study on similar issues between Austria and Taiwan. The far-right party of Aust ria, FPÖ, criticized the ORF (Osterreichischer Rundfunk, Austrian Broad casting Corporation) as left-wing bias in 2018. Followed by depicting as disseminator of fake news, ORF engaged with FPÖ in several rebuttals. The confrontation is mixed with different ideologies and information disorder campaigned by politician. The two cases should be divided by following sub-topics in comparison: type of topics been questioned, the positioning of engaged political actors, and the political maneuvers against PSM and its reacted.

Historically review is another task of this research. To draw the back ground analysis behind this parliamentary resolution, one must refer

HAMILTON CHENG FUJEN UNIVERSITY

And the controversy political statements without check by the past collaboration is another major issue. Policing anti-fake news by Cen tral Government, the collaboration between public and private sectors is highly promoted since 2020 facing the COVID-19 Pandemic. Govern ment Spokespersons are cheerleader for thriving fact-checkers in antifake news action. The KMT accused the lack of choosing spokesperson’s statements to check is entangled with current freedom of expression and safety of public health in the age of social media reform. However, re cently, KMT recommended the leading figures of Center to be incoming Governor of PTS in May. This move complicated the future way of factcheckers affiliated into the outlet of PSM.

back to the origin of fact check enterprise in Taiwan and its collaboration with PSM. This research traced the pioneer of introducing fact-check mo vement in findings its partisan and activism for social reform. The search for fact-check was intensified again with politics happened in Presiden tial Election 2020. A News Lab run by PSM is accused for it politicalizing fact-check in one verdict. The stereotype of fact-checker is reflected onto the U.S. example as “Fact checkers are often accused of being partisan, usually in favor of Democrats.” (Graves, 2017) Conservative party in Tai wan lacked trust with this initiative for democratizing social media.

On the surface, the conservative and right-wing party, Nationalist re quested to frozen the appropriation for CTS before reviewing its report regarding the past collaboration with Taiwan FactCheck Centre. Another key dispute between CTS and Nationalist Party is the past record of the organization above in programming its news channel. Nationalist party filed the complaint for the Centre not checking several “statements” dis seminated by Central Government and Presidential Office Spokesperson. Without reply and further investigation, Centre has been labelled as lea ding the bias of ruling Green Camp. For respecting the political impar tiality and editorial independence of PSM, Nationalist Party requested CTS should not continually establish any cooperation with Centre on the task of combating fake news. Mr. Chuang rebuked against this motion by claiming the project belong to the affair of autonomy of PSM news staff.

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Taiwan FactCheck Center established in 2018 by former PSM’s Executive Office and Governor with many academics. It is a second wave of factchecker movement in Taiwan by institutionalizing the work and inter nationally accrediting the performance. However, the Nationalist Party caucus’s resolution for general budget bill of PSM is attacking again the collaboration between Center and CTS. Under the political negotiation and screening, TFC and Ministry of Culture address this issue by reply ing its accreditation with IFCN and the termination of past collaboration. The fact check belongs to editorial independence or not left without se rious discussion.

THE POLITICS OF TAIWAN PSM COLLABORATING WITH CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION IN FACT-CHECKING -

On 21 Jan. 2022, one of the commercial arm in Taiwan Broadcasting Sys tem Group (TBS) is hit by a political controversy. Mr. Leon Chuang, the Director-General of Chinese Television System (CTS) is resigned from the post after the Board of Director approved his move. This incident caused by his remark and protest in the parliamentary session for reaching a compromise between parties for annual appropriation for PSM.

This research paper, based on the above-mentioned incident, proposed a study on the ethics of PSM collaborating multi-stakeholders in the fact checking issue in Taiwan. It is the first time documented a questioning policy toward PSM working with non-profit or citizen group in fact check. The climax of those-liked controversies is marching to clarification on the relationship between PSM and fact check initiative by civilian sec tors. The research paper will investigate into the motion of Nationalist Party and the reply of FactCheck Centre by interviewing with representa tives or stakeholders of those two entities.

At a time when the objectivity and impartiality of public service media has been called into question (Cushion, 2018) and various entities are calling for its further downsizing, public media services is called upon to demonstrate its important role in society and in fulfilling the necessa ry conditions for the healthy functioning of the public sphere (Ramsey, 2010). A role that becomes even more crucial when the political contro versies are more acute and at the same time, the private media is experi encing a deep economic and value crisis, something that characterizes the domestic television landscape (Pleios, 2013).

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MASTERING METRICS: PRACTICES AND VALUES OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS PRODUCTION

The above can be achieved by using a very important technology tool, that of internet data analysis. Social Media Analytics (SMA) is practically Web Analytics that deal with social networking sites. The term SMA (Social Media Data Analysis) is defined as „a growing interdisciplinary field of research aimed at combining, extending, and adopting methods for analyzing Internet data derived from Social Media” (Zeng et al. , 2017). They are essentially about „measuring, collecting, analyzing and cont rolling internet data in order to understand and visualize the use of the Internet” (Järvinen, & Karjaluoto, 2015). The process of analyzing inter net data includes three basic steps, collection, storage and evaluation. More specifically, it determines which data should be collected, how they will be stored (internal or external storage) and which metrics will be selected for their analysis and evaluation. Scholars have shown tradi tional newsroom positions are put under pressure as audience-oriented editors aim to help journalists negotiate between the information obtai

Tentatively concluded this research article, a final remark suggested that the PSM is basically entangled with left-wing accusation into the fact check report before the stakeholders reach out a consensus for all parties should be equally involved into this task force beyond only a civil society group initiative.

ORF is tackling with populism and far-right forces dated back its past political lesson. CTS is served the mission of debunk misinformation and info the truth of public health issue. However, the public figures in this circle addressed the satire article in private post on Facebook caused the demise of their leadership. The editorial independence of ORF is underpinned by its long-term public value project. Although its leader ship finally replaced by the current government appointment, the refi ned public value on trust still be documented an ongoing advantageous perspective negated the far-right ideology. In Taiwan, the new-born PSM is not ready to provide the foundation thoughts on fact-checker and its ethical consideration. CEO of CTS stepped down on the surface for fai ling to claim its legitimacy to rough up parliamentary politics. But this younger PSM is liberated its buildup by easily assimilated the new social media service into its core following much speedy path than the incum bent PSM such as ORF.

MARIAUNIVERSITYCONSTANTINOUOFNIKOSIA

The Council of Europe sees the development of technology as a unique opportunity to fulfill the mission of public media service (Nissen, 2006). New technologies can intensify two-way communication with citizens to enhance accountability and transparency in news coverage, marketing and programming, and the medium-term goals and priorities of public media. In addition, public service media serves the task of protecting cultural history by preserving and enriching radio and television records.

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The quantification that has been done had the following logic. First, the in terviews grouped based on the axes of analysis. The axes of analysis have been constructed based on the research questions and for each research question a relevant answer has been given through the analysis of results. Through the survey, journalists described the factors that influence them in shaping the content they produce, the way they evaluate their content, their professional motivations, and the degree of understanding of how they are motivated to succeed at the organizational level of the hierarchy of influences. The results indicate that journalists use a wide variety of factors to understand the value of the content they create, and these fac tors—including community impact, online metrics, and recognition by journalist peers—also span multiple levels of the influence hierarchy.

As it became clear, RIK employees share the organization‘s commitment and values. They know the operation of the public service and the so cial impact of their work, its importance and usefulness both to other staff and to the wider public Through the survey, journalists described the factors that influence them in shaping the content they produce, the way they evaluate their content, their professional motivations, and the degree of understanding of how they are motivated to succeed at the or ganizational level of the hierarchy of influences. The results indicate that journalists use a wide variety of factors to understand the value of the content they create, and these factors—including community impact, online metrics, and recognition by journalist peers—also span multiple levels of the influence hierarchy.

Qualitative research has been followed in this study. The selection was based on the difficulty of the topic, so it was important to collect compre hensive and qualitative responses to meet the needs of the topic. Qualitative research is considered to have a natural flow and through interviews, which are the most important tool of this method, the researcher is given the opportunity to penetrate the personality of the subjects and understand the social influences that the subjects have accepted (Chandler et al ., 2014).

ned by their metrics and their journalistic intuition to make editorial de cisions (Ferrer-Conill and Tandoc 2018) and how news editors consider the use of metrics to conflict with professional norms in editorial deci sions (Welbers et al. 2016) Metrics allow newsrooms to get continuous ly informed about how well their stories are performing (Tandoc 2019), and various scholars had previously shown that, in attempting to attract more readers to their stories, editors and journalists have been changing the way they write headlines for their articles, by using words, phrases, and stylistic techniques that are known to perform well and attract more clicks (Kuiken et al. 2017). Lamot and Van Aelst (2020) says that “the initial scepticism among scholars and practitioners about the impact of audience metrics on journalism seems to have shifted toward a more nuanced and sometimes, even optimistic view”. Studies looking into the relevance of specific user metrics have found that the number of clicks was the most dominant metric present in newsrooms (SlacekBrlek 2018). Although most news organizations today work with a range of metrics and clicks, pageviews and unique users are “the most developed met rics” (Cherubini and Kleis Nielsen 2016)

This paper attempts to investigate whether the use of technology through metrics affects the practices and values of news production in the public media. It also attempts to explore what this means for journalism, how editors measure their output, and how these means of measurement cor respond to journalists‘ knowledge and perception of their publications‘ digital strategies. Case study is the Cyprus Public Channel – CyBC, Cyp rus Broadcasting Corporation.

The research has been done with semi-structured interviews which will be recorded in order to be able to describe and interpret the phenomena. The qualitative method was chosen in this research because it is consi dered the most appropriate in terms of gathering information and ele ments of the „daily life” of the journalists and managers of CYBC, their knowledge of the impact of measurements on journalism, of the role of social networks about whether they are ready to face the new data and if they need some means that will act as a counterweight to the problem.. The sample has been framed by 25 journalists and managers of different ages. The population of respondents is small, since few have knowledge of the subject and can participate in the research (Chandler et al., 2014). Given the specificity and difficulty of the research questions, the quali tative research was chosen because it will provide specific material that will meet the needs of the present questions, which will help to under stand them and to safely draw conclusions. The sample that has been used in the conducted qualitative research is a non-probability sample and more specifically a purpose sample (purposive sampling).

In particular this study analyzes the use and perception of metrics in the newsroom of a Public Media in relation to the quality of its produ ced journalistic text. Although Cyprus is a small country, it is estimated that the conclusions drawn from the research are extremely interesting as CyBC (RIK) – which is the public media of the island, operates like the rest of the public media around the world.

Ireland represents an intriguing case study in this regard. Its analytical value is exemplified on one hand by the profundity of its local challen ges, in particular those catalysed by its particularly acute exposure to the reverberations and aftershocks of the global financial crisis. The local impacts of the crisis included a loss of national economic sovereignty which accompanied the country’s acceptance of a bailout package, sub sequent contentious economic austerity as well as a shattering of public confidence in a variety of institutions (O’Riain, 2014: 261-262).

Some relate to the deteriorating competitive position of PSM institutions, with both their relevance and economic sustainability threatened by an intensifying fragmentation of audiences whose attentions have been in creasingly monopolised – and monetised – by the global giants of plat form capitalism (Bonini Baldini et al., 2021). They also include normative threats, including those to the social legitimation of PSM and its journa lism arising in part from diverse forms of contemporary social and poli tical dislocations and their interaction with modern online information ecologies (Holtz-Bacha, 2021). Both sets of challenges hold clear poten tial to complicate the translation and realisation of paradigmatic (but already ambiguous) public service values such as that of universalism into the near post-broadcast future to come, risking a dynamic of a selfreinforcing spiral of decline.

Given the heterogeneity of the PSM institutional landscape and the loca lised nature of the conjunctural circumstances and opportunity structu res which delimit their room for manoeuvre and adaptation, such a task must be vitally informed by analysis of the contextual dynamics shaping the fortunes of PSM’s national instantiations. This includes paying due empirical attention to adaptations already made by PSM organisations in response to buffeting political, socio-cultural and economic headwinds.

The significance of the Irish case is further underlined by its status as a powerful exemplar of PSM’s ideal-typical role in democratic life. For sixty years its main English-language public service media organisation Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) has maintained an enviable position at the centre of the national public sphere, functioning as political mediator, cultural guardian and national integrator – with each aspect recently seen to powerful effect during the coronavirus pandemic – and by pre vailing measures has and continues to enjoy comparatively high levels of audience share and public esteem (RTÉ, 2021, Reuters, 2022).

Ireland’s status as a particularly stable, moderate and liberal democratic polity which has not experienced the kind of illiberal turn seen elsewhe re seemingly offers positive correlative evidence at least of the co-inci dence of strong public media and resilient democracies (EBU, 2016, 2021) as well as the potential contribution of PSM as a key protective factor mitigating against the proliferation of contemporary ‘information disor ders’ (Wardle and Derakhshan, 2017) including those arising from the viral spread of misinformation and disinformation.

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Yet, after more than a decade of severe economic instability at RTÉ, an enduring political failure to reform its deteriorating legacy funding mo del and the persistence of some of Europe’s highest rates of licence fee evasion and avoidance (RTÉ, 2022a), the broadcaster has sounded the alarm of multiple existential threats to its future. It has warned that re sourcing constraints are now significantly impeding its ability to deliver against its broad remit (ibid). It has also identified the growth of popu lism and antagonists to truth and reason as socio-cultural forces increa singly imperilling its future (Doherty, 2022).

MARKTUCULLINANEDUBLIN

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This paper seeks to contribute to such an endeavour with reference to the national setting of the Republic of Ireland and the experiences of Irish PSM in responding institutionally and journalistically to its own distinct variations of the wider challenges facing PSM.

This time it’s different. Having weathered – to varying but often signifi cant degrees – successive waves of profound structural, technological and legal-regulatory changes, today public service media (PSM) as a broad paradigm stands assailed by an array of complex and intersecting threats which may yet become existential in nature.

THE MOST TRUSTED OF THE LEAST TRUSTED: IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA BETWEEN SECURITY AND PRECARITY

The nature and magnitude of such threats imply that securing the future of PSM will necessitate renegotiation and renewal of its mandates and overall offer. But renewal on what basis – and to what ends?

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It finds that prevailing conceptualisations and operationalisations of trust in Irish PSM reflect institutional and professional imperatives of legitimacy management in thrall to economically rationalist and con sumerist rather than appropriately democratic visions of the public. As such, they are poorly attuned to the essential task of the ongoing genera tion of legitimacy for PSM, even representing a counter-productive basis on which to ground a renewal of the PSM enterprise in general as well as its journalistic functions in particular.

The wider resonances of these findings for other PSM organisations see king to secure their institutional futures in times of profound change and uncertainty are subsequently explored in closing. Here, it is suggested that greater critical attention to how trust is theorised, measured (and for what reasons) is warranted as part of a wider recognition of the im peratives of durable and broad legitimacy building as a predicate for the renewal of the very PSM enterprise itself – a recognition with profound and inescapable implications for PSM’s overall vision of and relation ships with its public as well as those of its journalism.

This paper inquires into the apparent paradoxes of Irish PSM as domi nant yet beleaguered, and as a pillar of democratic vitality yet simultane ously standing on a precipice. It argues that such contradictions can be fruitfully examined through exploration of the ambiguous terrain of RTÉ journalism’s contemporary societal standing, described by its own ac count as representing ‘the most trusted of the least trusted’ among Irish institutions (Reporters Without Borders, 2021).

“Trust” has long served as a fundamental and seemingly reliable pillar supporting the continued relevance and legitimacy of the public service broadcasting enterprise in Ireland as it has elsewhere, as well as repre senting the bedrock of the relationship between professional journalism and its audience. As concerns grow about the fragility of professional and institutional trust in an age of digital pluralism, this paper inquires into the meanings, mobilisations and outcomes of trust as a source and measure of institutional and professional legitimacy in Irish PSM in the years since the global financial crisis.

Following an account of how PSM’s economic sustainability and social legitimation in Ireland has became consequentially entangled within a backlash against the perceived and actual inequities of fiscal retrench ment and an attendant growth of a ‘politics of suspicion’ (Gilroy-Ware, 2020), the paper tracks the increasing salience, trajectories, and evolving technologies of measurement of public trust in RTÉ before considering the theoretical and practical limitations of such approaches.

With reference to a series of recent institutional and editorial initiatives including a large-scale public consultation on the future of RTÉ and a co-ordinated effort to position its journalism as a bulwark against the spread of information disorders, the paper illustrates how such under standings and deployments of trust can legitimate maladaptive respon ses which ultimately impede public service media’s ability to effectively adapt to its changing environments and with material consequences for its future.

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In response, PSM have adopted a digital-first strategy as they intensify ef forts to come up with new innovative content offers and steer audiences towards their own services and applications. Recently, national govern ments and international organisations (e.g. the EU) have started con sidering regulatory interventions to address the dominance of big tech platforms in a variety of economic, political and social spheres. This is a welcome move, though arguably it does not go as far as to address the underlying structural issues which concern the ongoing commercialisa tion of our media (see for example Fuchs and Unterberger 2021).

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The work-in-progress presented in this paper examines the delivery of public service news through third-party online platforms, focusing on the case of a long standing PSM organisation, the BBC. Existing evidence points to the growing platformisation of news consumption and the con sequent structural dependence of news content providers on notably the big digital platforms to reach their audiences. In the wider context of sustained and, arguably increasing, political and financial pressures on PSM and the rise of mis- and dis-information, the future of public inte rest news as a foundation for the democratic functioning of societies is at stake. PSM are in an unenviable catch-22 situation whereby, on the one hand, they have to work with third-party platforms to reach their audien ces and sustain their legitimacy while, on the other hand, this means that they are drawn deeper into the broader commercial online media context that works against their public service values. a disaggregated news environment can threaten PSM brand recognition while PSM risk losing the direct connection with their audiences which is crucial to their responsiveness to society needs and accountability to the public at large. At the same time, the market power of big digital platforms threatens the financial sustainability of public service news, an issue that Australia’s News Bargaining Code aims to address.

The way people access and consume news continues to change. Survey research shows that around the world “access to news continues to be come more distributed” (Newman et al. 2022: 11). TV, radio and print are no longer as important a gateway to news as they used to be. More and more people, especially in the younger age groups, consume news on line via smartphones, laptops and other digital devices. Instead of going direct to the websites and apps of online news providers, they increa singly rely on social media, search engines, social messaging apps and news aggregation services as their first point of access. This is the pheno menon that the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 describes as access to news via “side-door routes”.

Among “legacy news providers”, public service media (PSM) organisa tions are confronted with especially stark choices. Both universality and non-commercialism are foundational principles for PSM and yet appear to push them in opposite direction. On the one hand, social media can be instrumental in PSM fulfilling their universal service mandate as media use is increasingly fragmented and social media become the destination

PLATFORM DEPENDENCY AND PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS DELIVERY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

As digital platforms have come to play an increasingly central role in the information ecosystem, traditional news organisations are confronted with a strategic dilemma: to what extent should they rely on third-party platforms as channels through which they deliver news? Social media, in particular, are potentially a valuable form of distribution, enabling news organisations to reach audience groups, especially younger audiences, they struggle to reach through their own platforms (websites, video stre aming services and mobile apps). However, overreliance on third-party platforms as a gateway to reach audiences entails loss of control over distribution in a way that can make news organisations vulnerable, for instance, to changes in the algorithmic-driven recommender systems of platforms, which determine the visibility of news content for social me dia users. This is the risk of “platform dependency” (Meese and Hurcom be 2020). A related problem is the fact that typically for-profit third-party platforms feel they own the ‘consumer’ relationship and do not share data, which drives their business model, with news organisations.

ALESSANDRO D’ARMA UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

of choice for many, especially young people. On the other hand, relying on social media platforms for distribution means that PSM news provi sion becomes increasingly embedded within large corporations, whose commercial agenda and profit-driven business models are potentially at odds with the public service mission and ethos of PSM (Martin 2016). The question for PSM then is how to develop a distinct public service approach in dealing with social media and digital platforms as news distributors.

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2. The Iranian post-revolutionary media centralization

Whilst the Iranian Public Service Broadcaster (IRIB) has long enjoyed from a constitutional advantage, the revolutionary emergence of online media platforms in last decade has fundamentally challenged such an exclusive media dominance. Besides transnational digital giants, there are a plethora of domestic media platforms which enjoy not only from technical advancements and competitive advantages over a bureaucratic public corporation, they also have intelligently capitalized on political divergence between successive governments and IRIB to safeguard their commercial interests. This study aims to provide an understanding of the socio-political context and regulatory framework that has paved the way of such an explosive proliferation of private domestic media platforms in Iran, notwithstanding an international predominance of glo bal media giants. It also explains a set of business strategies that those platforms adopted to tackle the traditional incumbency of IRIB over the Iranian media market. As such it points to their shift from exclusive con tent strategy to original content production as well as their vertical integ ration strategy by widening up their ownership beyond media platforms upwards to content production and downwards towards connection in frastructure as Internet Service Providers (ISP) or mobile operators. On the other hand, the paper sheds light on the IRIB’s development policy package from multi-platformization of its channels to capitalization of its huge original content pool and archive advantage through promoting its Herculean platform “Telewebion”. It also has been politically active to secure a set of exclusive priority access for its own news agency through proposing a new draft of legislation to the Parliament. The last but not least, the Iranian PSM has recently provided a set of business proposals to facilitate cooperation with commercial platforms in exchange of secu ring its prominence over those platforms. Altogether, the paper provides a deep understanding of the predominantly understudied Iranian mo dern media context and the challenging policy sphere that the national PSM is currently dealing with.

1. Introduction: towards a challenging media landscape

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SEYED MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN KHALILI SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

later and during the constitutional amendment in 1989, the IRIB governance model was conceived to shift towards a more politically neutral and institutionally independent model under the overall direc tion of the Supreme Leader’s office. However, there was still a Supervi sion Council in charge of representing the Government as well as the Parliament and Judiciary, albeit with no authority to intervene into the organization’s daily administration. The constitution also re-solidified the IRIB’s monopolistic role as the only national organization permitted to provide audiovisual media services (). As a result, such a constituti onal shift led to a form of administrative performance and managerial flexibility at the expense of a more institutional centralization as well as less bureaucratic transparency ().

The emergence of a wide range of media service platforms in digital era, by moving beyond infrastructure scarcity of terrestrial or satellite and cablebased television and radio stations, has fundamentally shifted the com position and the diversity of domestic and international media industry. Such a revolutionary landscape has challenged the market and the pre dominancy of traditional media outlets particularly Public Service Media (PSMs). Taking into account their institutional principles including but not limited to universality, diversity, and originality (UNESCO,2001 & Au thority of the House of Lords,2019), it has substantially questioned their prospect in an increasingly diverse and competitive media landscape. However, keeping PSMs prominent has been always central for almost all media regulatory authorities (Ofcom,2019). Thay have been long discus sing how to regulate and also facilitate the increasingly internationalized media market in the way that PSMs contents and services could still stay adequately visible, accessible, discoverable and prominent ().

THE RISE OF IRANIAN PRIVATE MEDIA PLATFORMS AND CHALLENGING THE IRIB’S CONSTITUTIONALMONOPOLISTICPOSITION

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcast (IRIB) was perceived by the constitution as a very national organization run by a supreme council consisting of the representatives of the Government, the Parliament and the Judiciary power. Such an inclu sive, but somehow divergent, governance model raised several administ rative challenges in the way of running a very centralized and heavily bu reaucratic institution, particularly in a post-revolutionary socio-political

ARIAN EBRAHIMINEJAD SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SADEGH EMAMIAN SEYED MOHAMAD SHARIF UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

In contrast, the proliferation of media outlets derived by explosive di gitalization in early 2010s reached such a level of popularity that has revolutionized the Iranian media landscape just during last few years. Moving beyond satellite channels’ technical and institutional obstacles, the digitalization process was stimulated not only by the government communication development strategy, it was also reinforced by an ambi tious political plan of the 11th and 12th Iranian Governments.

Whether or not the IRIB’s proclaimed political neutrality has ever been violated is no longer at the scope of this paper investigation. However the study sheds light on the long list of different policy tools that succes sive governments have been exploited not only to challenge the predo minant position of IRIB by constraining its resources and institutional capacity, but also to promote their own potentially rival media outlets, like the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) as a merely governmental media channel (Sadeghi, 2013). Notwithstanding those policy initiatives, given the constitutional monopoly of IRIB over the broadcasting infra structure, it had successfully kept its relatively prominent position as the most visible and the first source of media usage for the whole national population ().

Whilst the IRIB’s monopolistic access to broadcast infrastructure was started to be challenged by the emergence of non-domestic satellite TV channels in early 2000s, they were unable to gain adequate coverage to challenge the IRIB’s prominence. Their illegality, technical complexity, costliness, political opposition, uncompetitive quality, cultural diver gence, and non-originality are of some characteristics that prevented them from gaining competitive popularity and coverage ().

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Apart from such a so-called “shortsighted perspective” to downgrade a PSM to the PR machinery of a specific government, they also have often criticized the IRIB as not being politically neutral in reality and using its monopolistic media position to contain the political power of the current governments (). In some severe cases, particularly in reformist govern ments, the IRIB also has been accused by political parties for a form of electoral intervention and “engineering” ().

3. The IRIB’s apolitical approach and the successive governments’ constant challenge:

5. The IRIB’s two-sided strategy to guarantee its media prominence

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Challenging the IRIB’s media predominance soon became at the heart of political will of two Rohani’s successive so-called “moderate” govern ments. Building upon a security-based regulatory framework dated back to late 2000s in banning access to transnational mainly US-based media platforms like Facebook, Netflix and YouTube, the Rouhani’s Govern ments tried to capitalize on the emergence of a domestic OTT-based new media landscape consisting of Iranian VoDs, IPTVs and VSPs. In the one hand, the ICT ministry was asked to enhance the internet bandwidth up to eight times during the first term between 2013-2017 (Vaezi, 2016). At the same time, the President’s Deputy for Technology and Innovation was expected to financially support the Iranian private startups including, but by no means limited to, new media platforms. Altogether, they led to the creation of a private-based new audiovisual media landscape in which there was a prospect of challenging the IRIB’s media prominence.

The first part of such a two-sided strategy was mainly driven by the de velopment of a traditionally BVoD platform called TELEWEBION towards a “media complex” by adding up a set of complementary services inclu ding a commercial VoD service, producing original and exclusive con tent, developing a series of public linear channels, entering the market of online gaming, expanding towards a user-generated content service, as well as providing its own exclusive device (IRNA). By this strategy, IRIB has chosen to proactively compete with the emerging private-based me dia landscape by capitalizing on its own advantages like a huge original content pool as well as its competitive exemption and public resources.

The IRIB’s political distance from political parties and governments in power has long been challenged by them throughout budgeting and le gislative constrains. Understandably all governments, regardless of their political approach either conservative or reformists, they have been loo king for a more open hand over the IRIB, not only to promote their own political ideas over their opponents, but also to facilitate their parties re-election by promoting their government’s policy success and admi nistrative performance.

In response to the new socio-political and technological context, the IRIB gradually started to move beyond traditional broadcasting approach to wards not only investing upon its own online platforms, but also develo ping a regulatory framework that guarantees the prominence of PSM as well as protecting the media sovereignty throughout keeping domestic media landscape alive against the aggressive expansion of transnational media platforms into the Iranian media market.

4. The rise of digital era and the demise of the IRIB’s media prominence

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In response to a changing market environment and changing media usa ge, public service media (PSM) institutions in Europe have increasingly started to distribute their content through their own digital platforms or third-party platforms such as social media or video platforms (Donders, 2021; van Es & Poell, 2020). Many scholars have already pointed out that the increasing importance of platforms for cultural production requires a fundamental rethink of the public service mission (e.g. Burri, 2015; Lowe et al., 2018; van Dijck & Poell, 2015). Today, there is a long list of concepts, each with a slightly different focus, that attempt to outline a new or changed identity for public media institutions in the digital era. Typical examples of this kind are: ‘Public Open Spaces’ (e.g. Dobusch, 2019). ‘Commons’ (e.g. Murdock, 2005; Schweizer, 2019), ‘Public Service Navigator’ (e.g. Burri, 2015). As pointed out by Donders (2021) and also van Es and Poell (2020) this frameworks or grand visions, while inspi ring, do not deal extensively with practices in PSM institutions. Against this background, the contribution will explore how this process of plat formization – “the integration of digital platforms” (van Es & Poell, 2020, p. 1) – changes the assumptions or ‘imaginaries’ about the audiences of PSM, how these ‘imaginaries’ affect PSM’s strategies and goals and thus ultimately have an effect on the public service remit of promoting key public values (e.g. independence, diversity, universality). In particular, following van Es & Poell (2021), it explores how the Swiss PSM institution SRG SSR, with its four regional corporations in different language regi ons, imagines audiences and how these conceptions affect the overall strategy for its digital services. In this contribution, as in van Es and Poell (2021), the term „imaginary” refers to the way social actors understand, envision, and orient themselves toward a particular phenomenon. Me thodically, this case study is based on a document analysis in combi nation with 40 half-standardized expert interviews with representatives of the management, producers, journalists and former employees of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). Specifically, we interviewed primarily individuals involved in either the digital format development process or the digital strategy development process in the different regi onal corporations (SRF, RTS, RSI) of Swiss PSM.

• YJC(2022). Internet-e Telewebion Dar Tamami Operatorha Ra ga Shod [Telewebion Internet Traffic Use Has Become Free for All Internet Service Providers]. Retrieved from https://www.yjc. news/00XxUX

• -(2019). Eshterak-e Filimo Baraye Karbaran-e Irancell Rayegan Shod [Filimo’s Subscription Fee Became Free for Irancell Users]. Retrieved from https://peivast.com/p/63426

‘IMAGINED PLATFORM AUDIENCES’ BY SWISS PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA

• Authority of the House of Lords(2019). Public Service Broadcasting: As Vital As Ever. Britain: House of Lords

• Ofcom(2019). Review of Prominence for Public Service Broadcasting; Recommendations to Government for a New Framework to Keep PSB TV Prominent in an Online World. London: Of com

• -(2016). Gozaresh-e Vaezi az Roshd 8 Barabari Pahnaye Band-e Internet dar Dowlat-e Yazdahom [Iranian ICT Minister Reports on the Development of Bandwidth]. Retrieved from https://irna. ir/xjftBS

• Barahmand, A. Mahmoudi, M., (2022). Ijad-e Doghotbi-e Farhang -Eghtesad Kar-e Ghalati Ast [Making a Culture- Economy Dipole Is Wrong]. Peivast, 99, pp. 31-35

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6. Methodology and findings

• -(2021). Moroor-e Rabeteye Dowlatha ba Seda va Sima [Review of IRIB & Iran Governments Rela tionship ]. Retrieved from https://www.isna.ir/news/1400031711545/

• -(2017). Roshd-e Cheshmgir-e Sherkathaye Danesh Bonyan dar Dowlat-e Yazdahom [Significant Growth of Knowledge-based Firms in the 11th Cabinet] Retrieved from https://irna.ir/xjmvFr

• Sadeghi, F,. (2013/1392). Shekast-e Enhesa : Naghs-e Ra -e Tasis-e Radio va Television-e Kho sosi [Monopoly Failure: Private Radio & Television Establishment Roadmap]. Tehran: Entesha a -e Moasese Iran.

WHO’S THERE? PUBLICS, CITIZENS, CONSUMERS OR USERS?

References

• Irna(2022). Roonama ee az Manzoomeh-ye Resa e-ee Telewebion [Telewebion’s Media Ecosys tem Unveiled]. Retrieved from https://irna.ir/xjHLjx

• Karppinen, K., & Moe, H. (2018). Texts as Data I: Document Analysis. In H. Vna den Bluck, M. Puppis, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove, The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research (pp. 249-262). London: SAGE Publications.

Based upon a historical document analysis and a set of fifteen semistructured interviews, this paper provides an overview of the evolution of the Iranian media landscape in post-revolutionary years. By this, the study sheds lights on the legal and constitutional frameworks that has safeguarded the Iranian PSB prior to the digital revolution in early 2010s. It then shows how a nexus of socio-political context and technological advancements led to the emergence of a potentially rival media lands cape. It then explain how the IRIB’s strategy from a PSB to a PSM has provided it such an institutional and technical capacity to fight for pro tecting its media prominence.

• Broughton Micova, S. (2019). Case Study Research. In H. Van den Bulck, M. Puppis, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove, The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research (pp. 71-85). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

FIONA FEHLMANN ZÜRCHER HOCHSCHULE FÜR ANGEWANDTE WISSENSCHAFTEN

• Murdock, G. (2005). Building the digital commons: Public broadcasting in the age of the in ternet. In G. F. Lowe & P. Jauert (Hrsg.), Cultural dilemmas in public service broadcasting (p. 213–230). NORDICOM, Göteborg University.

• van Es, K., & Poell, T. (2020). Platform Imaginaries and Dutch Public Service Media. Social Me dia + Society, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120933289

• Burri, M. (2015). Contemplating a’Public Service Navigator’: In Search of New (and Better) Func tioning Public Service Media. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1314–1359. https:// dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2364951

• Dobusch, L. (2019). Public Open Spaces. Von Sendern zu öffentlich-rechtlichen Plattformen. In J. Krone & A. Gebesmair (Hrsg.), Zur Ökonomie gemeinwohlorientierter Medien: Massenkom munikation in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (1. Auflage). Nomos.

• Lowe, G. F., Van den Bulck, H., & Donders, K. (2018). Public Service Media in the Networked Society. What Society? What Network? What Role? In G. F. Lowe, H. Van den Bulck, & K. Donders (Hrsg.), Public service media in the networked society: RIPE@2017 (p. 11–26). Nordicom.

• Sturgess, G. L. (2018). Public service commissioning: Origins, influences, and characteristics. Policy Design and Practice, 1(3), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2018.1473100

On the other hand, results also show that the digital strategies in the various business units of the Swiss PSM are partly based on different assumptions and approaches regarding PSM’s ‘imagined audiences’ and that the various corporations in the different language regions proceed differently. While, for example, overarching digital brands for young audiences were created a few years ago in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, until recently the corporation in German-speaking Switzer land (SRF) pursued a strategy of building on existing station brands that are already known from radio or TV, for example. So, while in some regi ons the strategy tends to be to create new, digital, youth-oriented brands, in German-speaking Switzerland, until recently, there was more of an attempt to rejuvenate existing legacy brands.

Overall, the results indicate that within the Swiss Public Broadcasting Corporation - like in many other European PSM institutions - there is a strong “friction between public service awareness and commercial prag matism” (Donders, 2021, p. 223) when it comes to ‘audience imaginaries’ of PSM in the digital age. While audience measurement data is seen by the majority of the interviewees for this study as a key element in delive ring better digital PSM offerings, it should be remembered that audience measurement data are not as straightforward as the discourse surroun ding them in PSM institutions suggests. “Instead, these data continue to leave ample room for interpretation, and the interpretations vary from one journalist to the next” (Nelson, 2021, p. 67). While some interviewees refer to PSM audiences as ‘users’, others talk about ‘customers’ and only a few interviews extensively talk about audiences as ‘citizens’.

• van Dijck, J., & Poell, T. (2015). Making public television social? Public service broadcasting and the challenges of social media. Television & New Media, 16(2), 148–164.

Within the Swiss PSM institution, the so called „SRF 2024” project aims to promote the digital transformation within the organization. Among many other transformations, the former operating process, for examp le, is being changed to a so-called ‘Commissioning Process’. While the term commissioning is typically used when a client instructs an artist to create a work for a specific purpose or place (e.g. Sturgess, 2018), in the context of the Swiss PSM the question remains as to what (public) purpose this commissioning process is designed to serve. For example, is it primarily about gaining the largest possible reach, the highest trust or both? What are the ‘imagined audiences’ (Nelson, 2021) behind new platform strategies within the Swiss PSM institution?

References

• Schweizer, C. (2019). Öffentliche Rundfunkorganisationen als Media Commons?: Vorschlag eines neuen Leitbegriffs und vergleichende Analyse in 16 Ländern. Nomos. https://doi. org/10.5771/9783748901471

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• Donders, K. (2021). Public Service Media in Europe: Law, Theory and Practice (1. Aufl.). Rout ledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351105569

To conclude, there seems to be a certain lack of awareness within the Swiss PSM institution that audience involvement cannot be ensured only by accumulating more and more audience measurement data with a fo cus on the audiences as ‘users’ or ‘customers’, but that PSM institutions must also try to think about other ways to serve its audiences in their role as citizens outside of digital platforms.

On the one hand, results indicate that in this ‘Commissioning Process’, the various editorial teams within SRF, which were once mainly organized according to topics (e.g. news, sports, culture, entertainment), have now less freedom to make decisions about the development of their offerings; instead, the idea is that the so-called ‚Audience Department‘ controls and mandates this process. Whereas until recently the starting point of a format development at SRG was primarily oriented either toward a speci fic broadcasting slot or toward one of various so-called ‘vectors’ (radio, TV, online), target group-specific interests are now clearly paramount. Accordingly, the focus on audience measurement data as well as the de velopment of soft and hard KPIs is becoming increasingly strong. At SRF, for example, the ‚legitimacy of an offer‘ will in future be determined by a calculated index from panel data, in which the respondents are asked: 1) How often do they use a specific offer? 2) Whether they would miss the offer if it was no longer available? 3) Whether they like the offer? In light of this information, the question may arise from a scientific perspective as to what other possible ‚legitimacy indices‘ could also be calculated or discussed that are more oriented toward public values.

PUBLIC VALUE RIPE: BETWEEN THE FOURTH ESTATE AND THE FIFTH POWER

• Nelson, J. L. (2021). Imagined audiences: How journalists perceive and pursue the public. Ox ford University Press.

PUBLIC VALUE 170

We are all Greeks Univ.-Prof. in Dr. in Katharine Sarikakis, Texte 9

Eurovision and the „new” Europe Univ.-Prof. in Dr. in Karen Fricker, Texte 14

Identität und Medien Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Vocelka, Texte 3

The four horsemen of the post-broadcast era Univ.-Prof. Dr.Marko Ala-Fossi, Texte 13

Pluralism and public service media Petros Iosifidis, Texte 13

Der Auftrag: Demokratie u. a. von Prof. Dr. Bernd Holznagel (Universität Münster) Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christian Fuchs (University of Westminster) Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephen Cushion (Cardiff University)

Auf dem Weg zum Publikum Dr. Florian Oberhuber, Texte 8

Zum Systemrisiko der Demokratie Univ.-Prof. Dr. Kurt Imhof, Texte 3 Zwischen Auftrag und Kommerzialisierung Univ.-Prof. Dr. Minas Dimitriou, Texte 11

Generation What Mag. Daniel Schönherr, SORA

Public Social Value

Der Auftrag: Bildung im digitalen Zeitalter u. a. Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa, Universität Jena Dr. in Maren Beaufort, ÖAW Univ.-Prof. in Dr.in Katharine Sarikakis, Universität Wien Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pörksen, Universität Tübingen

Unterhaltung als öffentlich-rechtlicher Auftrag Gabriele Siegert, M. Bjorn von Rimscha, Christoph Sommer (Universität Zürich)

Univ.-Prof. Mag. DDr. Matthias Karmasin, Texte 6

Die komplexe Welt erklären Dir. Uwe Kammann, Texte 4 Kultur im Fernsehen Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hannes Haas, Texte 10

Medien-Unterhaltung als Service Public Univ.-Prof. em. Dr. Louis Bosshart, Texte 12

Public Value

Public Network Value

Die volkswirtschaftlichen Effekte des ORFMatthiasFernsehensFirgo, Oliver Fritz (WIFO), Gerhard Streicher (Joanneum Research)

Quelle vertrauenswürdiger Informationen Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dieter Segert, Texte 1

Public Value als Wertschöpfungsbegriff?

Crisis or dismantlement?

Den öffentlichen Rundfunk entfesseln Dr. Vinzenz Wyss, Texte 13

u. a. Univ.-Prof. in Dr. in Sonja Kretzschmar (Universität München) Prof. Graham Murdock (Loughborough University) Univ.Prof. Dr. Jens Lucht, Univ.Prof. Dr. Mark Eisenegger (Universität Zürich)

Die Zukunft des Fernsehens Dr. Alexander Wrabetz, Texte 8

PUBLIC VALUE TEXTE

Thomas Steinmaurer, Corinna Wenzel (Universität Salzburg)

PUBLIC VALUE STUDIE

Channelling diversity

Das Naserümpfen der Eliten Mag. a Dr. in Karin Pühringer, Texte 11

PUBLIC VALUE DOKUMENTE

TEXTE, DOKUMENTE UND STUDIEN ZUM ÖFFENTLICH-RECHTLICHEN QUALITÄTSDISKURS (U.A.):

Österreichwert oder mehr Wert Dr. Georg Spitaler, Texte 11

DDr. in Julia Wippersberg, Texte 2

Univ.-Prof. in Dr. in Gunilla Hultén, Texte 13

Univ.-Prof. in Dr. in Isabel Fernández-Alonso und Dr. Marc Espin, Texte 13

Die Rolle öffentlich-rechtlicher Medien im VictorInternetMayer-Schönberger (Oxford University)

Nur was wirkt, hat Wert Dir. Prof. Dr. Helmut Scherer, Texte 5

Welche Diversität für welchen Public Value? Mag. a Dr. in Petra Herczeg, Texte 7

zukunft.ORF.at