Funferal

Crisis time for public service media in Europe?

The European Federation of Journalists are “sounding the alarm” on public service media in Europe, with crisis situations in several countries. Many people will have seen the recent reports of plans by the BBC for substantial (further) lay-offs, but the EFJ also lists problems in Portugal, Switzerland and Slovenia. In addition I’ve been following (minimally) the strike at Radio France. Troubling times for public service media.
I should note also that I’m becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future viability of broadcasting in anything like its current form. A recent clipping, forwarded to me by my mother, was an opinion piece by an Irish commercial radio executive whose proposal (digital radio to include only a small number of stations and to be receivable primarily through (TV-)set-top boxes) seemed to highlight a tremendous mis-understanding of both the technologies how people use radio – come on, set-top boxes? – and indicate why digital radio is likely to kill radio as a medium. Couple it with mp3 player technology – I’m really digging my iPod shuffle (thanks!) but it causes me to question if (and why) people will continue to listen to traditional radio. The mission of public service broadcasting (provide quality content that serves to pull society together) becomes increasingly difficult to sustain in a society where so many people are able to create their own personalized soundtracks – not only of music but (thanks to podcast-style technologies) reportage and timely content.