Frieda Saeys

Enforcing performance: new approaches to govern public service broadcasting

The latest buzzword in the world of public service broadcasting is ‘performance’. Following national and international pressures on public broadcasters’ system of public funding, PSB is being urged to ‘perform’, to provide value for money, to meet targets or suffer the consequences. To this end, a new governance system has been or is being implemented in several European countries containing all or some of the following elements: public-service contracts, performance criteria and performance analyses. This new policy approach touches upon issues such as the independence, the accountability and the distinctiveness of public service broadcasting and creates clear opportunities and threats for the future of PSB.

Belgium Two Communities with Diverging Views on How to Manage Media Diversity

Although Belgiums broadcasting history can be considered a perfect example of the overall situation in Western Europe, the countrys specific cultural makeup and political shifts are also reflected in its media environment. The media system is characterized by a fairly high degree of cross-ownership, while major differences can be found in the degree of cultural protection. This article examines the stances being taken in the French- and Flemish-Speaking Communities: contextually, in terms of cross-ownership regulation; institutionally, as to the mission of the public broadcaster (pur sang or broader); and content-wise, with respect to home-grown, high identity value productions, as opposed to transnational productions from foreign players.Although Belgiums broadcasting history can be considered a perfect example of the overall situation in Western Europe, the countrys specific cultural makeup and political shifts are also reflected in its media environment. The media system is characterized by a fairly high degree of cross-ownership, while major differences can be found in the degree of cultural protection. This article examines the stances being taken in the French- and Flemish-Speaking Communities: contextually, in terms of cross-ownership regulation; institutionally, as to the mission of the public broadcaster (pur sang or broader); and content-wise, with respect to home-grown, high identity value productions, as opposed to transnational productions from foreign players.

Restricted Opportunities for Community Broadcasting in Belgium

Apart from being an image of developments in Europe, the broadcasting history of Belgium also reflects the country’s specifically local social relations and political evolution (Antoine, d’Haenens, and Saeys, 2001). It provides a clear indication of Belgium’s political and ideological divides as well as of those of language and region, and portrays the evolution from a unitary to a federal state.

‘And the winner is?’ Researching the relationship between gender and literary awards in Flanders, 1981–20001

This article focuses on the correlation between the gender of authors and the winners of literary awards in Flanders in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The hypothesis is that the chances of winning such an award are different for male and female writers. The article will investigate the reasons for this imbalance. The authors look at the impact the gender of the authors seems to have and at the gender of the judges. The article will answer questions such as: Are female authors treated unfairly by the Flemish literary system? Does an all-male jury favour male candidates? Do men write ‘better’ books? Yet the article will also consider the professionalism of female authors: are they somehow to blame for the imbalance? Do they enter competitions as fervently as male authors? Are they willing to promote themselves and create the necessary networks? Finally, the article will investigate whether there is a difference between the literary genres: are female writers of childrens books more likely to win an award than their female colleagues writing for adults?