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April 2018, Week 3

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Subject:
From:
Evelien Wolda <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 13 Apr 2018 12:10:30 +0200
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VIEW Journal Call for Papers on "Public Service Broadcasting In The Digital
Age"

This special issue proposes a reexamination of public service broadcasting
(PSB) in the light of the most recent technological, political and economic
developments. Traditional public service broadcasters, ideally designed to
serve citizens rather than consumers to inform the national conversations
in well-informed democracies, face the double challenge of
commercialization (since the 1980s) and digitization (since the 1990s). The
question of their survival in this context has been posed again and again.
The need for a redefinition seems inevitable.

However, the theme of the crisis of PSB is already forty years old. From
the 1980s its “decline,” “fall,” and “survival” have been endlessly
discussed. Yet this crisis may seem more acute today, as it is also a
crisis of general interest channels (commercial as well): PSBs face not
only their longstanding commercial competitors and cable, but increasingly
web-based platforms as well. From a political point of view budget cuts and
political interventions are on the agenda. Production processes are
transitioning more rapidly than ever. The foundation of the traditional
public service concept indeed might be crumbling. Public service ideals
must be redefined, and so must be the agents which can best serve them, and
their mode of financing and relation to the state. Such platforms are
increasingly transmedia, and the word “broadcasting” in PSB is now no less
problematic than “public service”.

Histories of PSB are usually organized around the BBC as the early,
inspirational model: the three missions: “Inform, educate and entertain”
(1926), the license fee, and the historical, inspiring leader (John Reith).
Indeed, Western European PSB after World War II have all defined themselves
in relation to the BBC. However, the BBC is but one case among many of a
state wondering how best to organize, regulate, tax, censor, govern,
repress, or encourage various new communications media (starting with
radio, which provided the terms of reference for television). These designs
in practice would come to reflect different political systems (communist,
fascist, capitalist) and other factors, including geography, economic
status, and linguistic and cultural traditions.

That said, PSB as a whole is reorganizing its structures and re-inventing
its content. New ways to reach audiences are being explored. New
definitions of PSB are being put forward. PSB is looking ahead to survive.
Authors are encouraged to submit pieces that address this transition. The
following questions are central to this issue:

* Can the conservation and the diffusion of archives be a new central
mission of PSB? Could the future of PSB lie in the past? (Bill Thompson
(BBC) has recently redefined the BBC as a huge archive with some
broadcasting activity, while a former chair of Arte wrote that the
channel’s documentary activity was as much about providing an archive for
the future than about broadcasting for the present).
* Can the first mission of Reith’s tryptich, information, remain central?
The recent debate of fake news seems to be but the latest chapter in a long
history of threats to “quality information”, almost from the start of
journalism: commercialisation, sensationalism, infotainment, talk shows.
Can the crisis around “fake news” be exploited to rejuvenate public service
broadcasting or platform as guarantor of quality news? Are certain
categories of journalism more appropriate for public service (e.g.
investigative journalism, citizen journalism)?
* Which new platforms and/or new organizations can be seen as best “serving
the public”, regardless of their link to the state? How should traditional
PSBroadcasters be present on the web? Should television no longer be
considered as central to PSB? Should news website (still based on verbal
language), and even the resisting still play a major part as public service
media?
* How should public service organizations respond to increased audience
participation? Should they seek young audiences in a proactive way, while
traditional broadcasters have seen their audiences get older?
* What is the relevance of public service traditional
institutions/resilient ideals, at a time where liberal democracy is
threatened by the rise of populism and nationalism?
* Why have academics written about PSB mostly in a positive, supportive
way? Should PSB be considered still as an ideal originating in Western
(Northern) Europe, while recent histories of the developing and former
socialist world have shown us that other countries have relied on PSB
especially for popular, national education, much like Western European
broadcasters?
* What is the present relevance of transnational media encounters
(Nordicom, EBU) to PBS?

---Practical---

Contributions are encouraged from authors with different kinds of expertise
and interests in media studies, television and media history.

Paper proposals (max. 500 words) are due on May 1st, 2018. Submissions
should be sent to the managing editor of the journal, Dana Mustata (
[log in to unmask]). A notice of acceptance will be sent to authors by
early June 2018.

Articles (3 – 6,000 words) will be due on November 1st, 2018. Longer
articles are welcome, given that they comply with the journal’s author
guidelines (http://viewjournal.eu/author-guidelines/).

For further information or questions about the issue, please contact its
co-editors Mette Charis Buchman ([log in to unmask]), Jérôme Bourdon (
[log in to unmask]), and Peter B. Kaufman ([log in to unmask]).

---About VIEW Journal---

See www.viewjournal.eu for the current and back issues. VIEW is supported
by the EUscreen Network (http://blog.euscreen.eu/) and published by the
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in collaboration with Utrecht
University, Royal Holloway University of London, and University of
Luxembourg. VIEW is proud to be an open access journal. All articles are
indexed through the Directory of Open Access Journals, the EBSCO Film and
Television Index, Paperity and NARCIS.

---------------------------------------------
Kind regards,

Evelien Wolda
Project assistant R&D
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision

----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

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