Tim Raats

Analysing national practices after European state aid control: are multi-stakeholder negotiations beneficial for public service broadcasting?

This article analyses the increasing emphasis on multi-stakeholder approaches in the development of public broadcasting policies. The European Commission, in particular, reinforces this trend, having pointed to the necessity of ‘third parties’ being involved in procedures that allow public broadcasters to expand activities to new media markets. The article’s research question is twofold. First, what type of multi-stakeholder approach has been advocated for by the Commission? Second, are multi-stakeholder approaches, implemented by Member States after an encounter with the Commission, adding to more democratic (understood as more inclusive) decision-making on public service broadcasting or, rather, simply providing an additional forum for private sector interests? Evidence derives from two case studies in the Netherlands and Flanders, where some form of ex ante evaluation has been developed and a multi-stakeholder consultation has been set up in preparation for management contract renewals. Findings show that the newly developed multi-stakeholder policy practices are far from inclusive and fail to meet several aspects of deliberative democracy. Essentially, they have been created in response to market pressures (and, hence, over-focus on market questions) and rarely take as their starting point the improvement of public service broadcasting as a democratic policy project.

From Public Service Media Organisations to De-centralised Public Service for the Media Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Opportunities and Disadvantages

Ideas on plurality and competition in public broadcasting delivery have re-surfaced in discussions on the future of public surface media (PSM) on regular occasions in different geographical settings since the 1980s. This article analyses several of the debates on distributed public service, critically evaluating whether governments across Europe would indeed be “better off” should they choose a distributed and de-centralised model of public service media. The article, firstly, investigates which arguments have been made in order to make the case for a distributed PSM model. On the basis of these insights, a typology of different forms of distributed public service delivery is then developed. Setting out from this typology, policy plans and actual practices of de-centralised PSM are being analysed. Findings in the four case studies (the United Kingdom, Flanders, the Netherlands, and New Zealand) are based on a combination of secondary literature, a qualitative document analysis, desk research and semi-structured expert interviews. The article concludes that distributed public service is as much a normative idea as the centralised public broadcasting project, that distributed public service as a policy solution lacks a clearly defined policy problem and, moreover, that there is, given the variety of media systems, not one distributed model that would fit all.

Business model innovation in news media organisations – 2018 special issue of the European Media Management Association (emma)

Business models have received significant attention from practitioners and academics alike. Since the dot.com crisis, which was caused, at least in part, by an overemphasis on the disruptive potent...

Cultural Diversity and State Aid to Public Service Media

Many values characterise the policy project of public service media (PSM). Universality, quality, distinctiveness, innovation, identity, diversity and pluralism are among the most common. Identity and diversity might be considered to be somewhat antagonistic. Indeed, whereas the identity building aspect of PSM largely refers to a process of unification around a nation, language and/or culture, the diversity aspect is centrally concerned with the task of reflecting the ever increasing fragmentation within nation states on the one hand and the diversity of cultures globally on the other.

Best Frienemies Forever?” Public and Private Broadcasting Partnerships in Flanders

Relationships between public and private broadcasters have traditionally been considered highly competitive and more often than not, conflicting. However, at the same time, private and public broadcaster relationships have been symbiotic as well. Since the liberalisation of media markets and the advent of commercial television in the 1980s, public broadcasters have increasingly reoriented themselves to compete with private broadcasters. They have been embracing commercial broadcasting strategies consecutively leading toward a convergence of content and services (Saeys and Coppens, 2003; Tracey, 1998). In addition, public broadcasters’ legitimacy today partly rests on setting a “standard” in terms of quality and innovativeness. In other words: it should lead private players by example (Donders and Van den Bulck, 2012). In recent years, policymakers have increasingly picked up on an “ecosystem” approach, encouraging different types of collaboration between public and private media broadcasters. This, so they hope, will ease arguments on alleged anti-competitive behaviour of public broadcasters and potentially help public and private broadcasters to face new competitors and related challenges in a more convincing way. Such a more pragmatic approach to deal with the dual broadcasting system that is dominant in Europe (Harcourt, 2005) has especially been followed in smaller media markets like Flanders (i.e. the northern part of Belgium).

Flanders: Increasing Transparency of Public Service Media through Stakeholder Involvement in Policy-Making?

With increased debate on the public broadcasters’ role in society (and the market) comes a boosted importance of accountability. To whom and how are public broadcasters held accountable for their performance in the public interest? This chapter analyses how transparency of the public broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) in Flanders is enforced, and whether PSM policy-making itself can be considered transparent. After briefly explaining the ins and outs of public broadcasting in Flanders, it provides an overview of the most important transparency instruments, rules and bodies. Subsequently, it addresses the ways in which PSM policies are being increasingly developed on the basis of multi-stakeholder-based processes and whether these contribute to more transparent policy-making in this area. Finally, the chapter develops some policy suggestions of how to increase VRT transparency.

Supporting Film Distribution in Europe: Why Is Overcoming National Barriers so Difficult?

MEDIA and Eurimages are well-known supranational programs of the European Commission and the Council of Europe which aim at promoting the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering cooperation between professionals. National film funds, however, still remain the most important mechanisms for supporting film in Europe. Typically, these funds prioritize support to film production over distribution in a national context. This chapter investigates the extent to which national support schemes have included measures to enable cross-border distribution, to what extent these support measures take the form of direct or indirect forms of support, and how differences in support mechanisms applied have been accentuated over time in the European Union. We find clear improvements of smaller nations in developing support mechanisms that target both domestic and cross-border distribution. Nevertheless, domestic production remains the dominant support focus of national film funds, with distribution support being restricted to promotion and marketing rather than substantial support for theaters, retailing, and online.

The politics of pleasing: a critical analysis of multistakeholderism in Public Service Media policies in Flanders

This article focuses on contributions and pitfalls of multistakeholder approaches to Public Service Media policymaking. It asks whether the inclusion of stakeholders effectively leads to more coherent and sustainable policies or whether it mainly serves as window dressing and as additional inroad for the private sector to lobby against Public Service Media. First, we discuss multistakeholderism on the basis of deliberative democracy research and scholarly insights on the inclusion of stakeholders in media policy. Subsequently, we present results from Public Service Media policymaking in Flanders since 2010, examining seven instances of multistakeholder policymaking. Findings show that the reality of multistakeholderism is not necessarily inclusive, seems concerned predominantly with the interests of legacy media and does not prevent continued informal lobbying from commercial media. Even when the process is led by academics, politicians instrumentalize results and rarely with a view to improve Public Service Media as democratic policy project.

Digitisation, internationalisation, and changing business models in local media markets: an analysis of commercial media’s perceptions on challenges ahead

ABSTRACT Most research on the changes affecting commercial media focuses on big markets and, except in some instances, fails to incorporate media managers’ views. By investigating perceptions of private media managers in two small markets, this article fills that void. It analyses how mainly legacy media managers view the impact of market and societal dynamics such as digitisation, internationalisation, and changing business models, and discusses the strategies and priorities they envisage to handle current challenges. Data collection rests on 20 expert interviews with high-level management in Flanders and Norway. The analysis builds on the main challenges identified in the literature, with a focus on the robustness versus fragility of small media markets. The main finding is that respondents do not go along with a doom scenario of their market, recognising though that the extent to which their companies and media ecosystems used to be shielded away from international trends and competition is over. Connecting with audiences is considered to be of pivotal importance in developing new business models.