1. WELFARE AND COMMUNICATIONS: A
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC
KNOWLEDGE, PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
AND DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES
Dr. Carolina Matos
LSE Fellow in Political Communications
Media and Communications Department of the London School
of Economics and Political Science

2. Plato on expressing an opinion
 “I say that to speak is to
express an opinion, and that
opinion consists of an explicitly
pronounced discourse”
Plato (c427-47BC)

3. Key Points - The public versus private dichotomy
and its relationship to the media
 The private versus public dilemma
 Press freedom and free speech: from Mill to contemporary debates
 The role of newspapers and the public interest : historical and
theoretical perspectives
 Media systems in comparative perspective: the case of UK/US,
Southern Europe and Latin America
 Public service ethos and the public media revisited (Splichal, 2007:
Keane, 1998; Matos, 2008)
 Public service media in the UK, US, Denmark and Finland (Curran,
Iyengar, Brink Lund and Salovaara-Moring, 2008)
 Some conclusions and current/future challenges – seminar questions

4. Free speech and democracy: historical and modern
perspectives
 Freedom of speech today and a free press: a continuous struggle
or a past fight of the 18th/19th century?
 Press struggles marked history of development of European press
 Press in the 19th century was an important medium to communicate
ideas – i.e. Press is considered the most important “organ” of public
opinion...... (Splichal, 2007)
 “Modern debates on the media appear to conceptualise democratic
media and their significance for public engagement and participation
by stressing their political independence and the inviolability of the
private property right....” (Splichal, 2007, 238)
 “While historically the press developed as an instrument of liberal
thought, it was soon corrupted by private interests and capital....”
(Splichal, 2007)

5. Free speech, the public sphere and the public
interest
 Current concern: a) distortion of the traditional (liberal)
democratic functions of the media towards market interests
 B) preoccupations with the public interest
 The Habermasian critique and the decline of the public sphere
amid growing media commercialisation in the 20th century
 Key liberal assumptions around free speech and the
democratic role of the media:
 1) the achievement of “truth” through unrestricted discussion;
 2) free press...to protect the autonomy of civil society from
despotism;
 3) necessary to provide information and enable free debate
(Scammell; 2000).

6. Classic liberal media theory
 What are some of the duties demanded of the media?:
1) Act as a watchdog and scrutinise governments
2) To provide accurate, correct and intelligent information of daily
events
3) Reflect the spectrum of public opinion and diverse groups
4) Serve as a forum for the exchange of comments/criticisms
 Classic text: Four Theories of the Press (Siebert, Peterson and
Schramm, 1956)
 The public/private dichotomy – i.e. can private commercial
broadcasting serve well the public? (Splichal, 2007)

7. Limits due to commercialisation
 Criticism is that the political media have become more
commercialized….and the negative impact of new
technologies …is that news is faster than ever but not
necessarily more informative
 Lichtenberg makes distinctions between individual rights of
free expression and institutional freedom of media
organisations
 Worries that giant media organisations exploit the 19th
principle to avoid accountability (i.e. State “interference”)
 O’Neill – “freedom of the press does not require a licence to
deceive. Free press can and should be accountable”

8. Restrictions on free speech
 Lichtenberg (1990,104) states 3 factors which function as
constraints on free speech in the media:
 1) News organisations belong to large corporations where
interests influence what gets said;
 2) News organisations are pressured to reach large
audiences...avoiding demanding coverage;
 3) Close ties between media and governmental officials;
 4) Characteristics of the media and functioning (i.e. news
routines) can result in the “narrow display of ideas”

9. Three Models of Media Systems
(Hallin and Mancini)
Mediterranean Democratic Liberal
(Southern Corporatist (North America)
Europe) (Northern
Europe)
Newspaper Low circulation; High circulation Medium
elite-oriented
Political High parallelism; External Neutral
parallelism external pluralism; pluralism; party commercial press;
politics/broadcast press; PSB internal pluralism
autonomy
Professionalization Weak;journalism Strong Strong
political activism professionalization; professionalization;
not differentiated institutionalised self- non-institutionalised
regulation
Role of the State Strong state Strong state Market dominated;
intervention intervention; strong weak PSB
PSB

10. Comparing media systems continued
 Anglo-American or Liberal media is taken as the norm
against which other media systems are measured
 Characteristics of democratic media: 1) degree of
independence from the state; 2) pluralism versus
diversity of views and 3) protection of press freedom.
 Journalistic professionalism is widely used to compare
media systems (i.e. Issues of autonomy and codes of
practice)
 UK system – “hybrid” – newspapers are seen as more
partisan than commercial; strong PSB in contrast
again to the US
 Multiple media systems – no real uniform model for
democratic media in any part of the world

11. Comparing media systems: Southern Europe and
Latin America
 Historical perspectives: State intervention in South America has
reinforced governmental power (Waisbord, 2000)
 But - Market liberalisation and political democratisation have
assigned new roles for state (more democratic participatory) and
market (liberating versus oppressive of debate)
 Similarities between Latin American media systems and Southern
European (Hallin and Papathanassopoulos (2002, 3):
 1) the low circulation of newspapers;
2) tradition of advocacy reporting;
3) instrumentalization (political use) of privately-owned media;
4) politicization of broadcasting and regulation;
5) limited development of journalism autonomy.

12. Unesco’s definitions of PSB
“PSB is broadcasting made for the public and financed
and controlled by the public. It is neither commercial
nor state-owned. It is free from political interference
and pressure from commercial forces. Through PSB,
citizens are informed, educated and also entertained.
When guaranteed with pluralism, programming
diversity, editorial independence, appropriate funding,
accountability and transparency, public service
broadcasting can serve as a cornerstone of democracy.”
(in Splichal, 2007, 250-251)


13. Purposes and characteristics of public
service broadcasting (Ofcom, 2008)
 Purposes: 1) Informing our understanding of the world through
news and analysis;
 2) Stimulating knowledge and learning through content that is
accessible;
 3) Reflecting UK cultural identity and
 4) Representing diversity and alternative viewpoints through
programmes that reflect the lives of other people within the UK and
elsewhere.
 Characteristics: 1) High quality; 2) Original new UK content; 3)
Innovative; 4) Challenging; 5) Engaging and 6) Widely available
 “These purposes.....encapsulate the reasons audiences believe
public service content to be important.”

14. PSB tradition and citizens’ wider knowledge of
politics (Semetko and Scammell, 2005)
 “Public service broadcasting was empirically conceived in
early 20th Europe as a paternal nation building “service” or as
a system with a cultural mission....in order to defend it against
commercial pressures.... Despite the efforts,
commercialisation and fragmentation first occurred in the
newspapers in the 19th century.....soon prevailed also in
broadcasting.....”(Splichal, 2007, 255)
 However, studies (i.e. Curran, 2007; Scammell and Semetko,
2005) have shown how certain countries with a strong PSB
tradition - like Britain with its dual system and the
Scandinavian nations, where the state subsides minority
media outlets - citizens have more knowledge of politics and
international affairs than countries with commercial system (in
Matos, 2008)

15. Media System, Public Knowledge and Democracy: A
Comparative Perspective (Curran and Iyengar, 2008,
4)
 American model – Market forces with minimal state
interference; social responsibility journalistic ethos
 British dual system – in-between the pure market (US) and
public service (Denmark and Finland)
 Finland and Denmark - traditional public service model
Viewing figures:
* In Finland, the two main public TV channels had a 44% share
of viewing time in 2005 (Sauri, 2006); in Denmark, their
equivalent had a higher share of 64% in 2006 (TNS/Gallup,
2007) and in the UK, two BBCs and C4 had 43% of viewing
time in 2006 (BARB, 2007)
* The American PSB accounts for less than 2% of audience
share (Iyengar and McGrady, 2007)
Methods: content analysis of two main TV channels and daily
newspapers of each country combined with survey

16. Newspaper patterns and comparisons between the
four countries (in Curran and Iyengar, 2008)
 Mainly unregulated and commercial entreprises
 In the US, newspaper circulation has been in decline for several
years (i.e. New York Times).
 Similar pattern in Britain, where 10 national dailies compete – five
serve small affluent markets; the other five are directed towards a
mass market and are entertainment-driven (i.e. Daily Telegraph, Daily
Mail and The Sun)
 Denmark has three competing national dailies (i.e. The national
broadsheet Jyllands-Posten, the tabloid Ekstra Bladet and the free
sheet Nyhedsavisen).
 Finland – regional papers included the national broadsheet
Helsington Sanomat, regional daily Aamulehti, the national tabloid Ilta-
Sanomat and the free sheet Metro.

17. Table 1: Distribution of News Content(1)
 TELEVISION US UK FIN DK
 Hard/Soft News
 Hard News 63 60 83 71
 Soft News 37 40 17 29
 Domestic/International News
 Domestic 80 71 71 73
 International 20 29 29 27
 NEWSPAPERS
 US UK FIN DK
 Hard/Soft News
 Hard News 77 40 54 44.5
 Soft News 23 60 46 55.5
 Domestic/International News
 Domestic 66 83 62 71
 International 34 17 38 29
 Sample: 19.641 newspaper articles and 2.751 television news

18. US versus European broadcasting: the expansion of
commercial television and some consequences
“ The world view of British and American television is significantly
different from that of the two Scandinavian countries. Both Finnish and
Danish television distribute their coverage of foreign news very evenly
between three categories: their continent (Europe), their wider geo-
political zone (in the case of Denmark, this is US, Iraq and Afghanistan)
and the rest of the world. By contrast, both American and British
television channels devote a much smaller proportion of their foreign
news time (respectively 5% and 8%) to other countries in their continent:
and in Britain’s case much less attention to the rest of the world. Their
main focus.....is overwhelmingly on their geo-political attachments, in
which Iraq and Afghanistan loom large.”
(Curran, J., Iyengar, Shanto, Brink Lund, Anker and Salovaara-Moring,
Inka, 2008, 12)

19. Table 2: Percentage of correct answers
to international hard news questions
 International/Hard News Items
 US UK FIN DEN
 Kyoto 37 60 84 81
 Taliban 58 75 76 68
 Darfur 46 57 41 68
 Srilanka 24 61 46 42
 Maliki 30 21 13 20
 Annan 49 82 95 91
 Sarkozy 33 58 73 79
 Milosevic 33 58 72 78

20. Table 3: Percentage of correct answers to hard and soft news
questions in domestic and international domains
 US UK FIN DK Total
 International hard news 40 59 62 67 58
 Domestic hard news 57 67 78 78 70
 International soft news 54 79 70 68 68
 Domestic soft news 80 82 91 85 84


21. Media visibility, public knowledge and
social inclusion (in Curran and Iyengar,
2008)
 Knowledge gap between social groups is greater in America than in
the other European countries
 National TV in European countries is more successful in reaching
disadvantaged groups – i.e. PSB in Finland, Denmark and Britain
 The greater degree of economic inequality in the US, compared
with Europe, is probably the main cause of the large knowledge
disparity in the US
 Importance of PSB to democracy and as an educational
tool - PSB gives greater attention to public affairs and international
news, and thus fosters greater knowledge in these areas, than the
market model, contributing to a diminution of the knowledge gap
between the advantaged and disadvantaged, contributing to a more
equitable pattern of citizenship

22. PSB and the public interest : some historical
and theoretical perspectives
 Criticising academics (i.e. Curran, Scannell) and their understanding of
PSB grounded in the Habermasian notion of the public sphere, Keane
(1995; 57) has argued that the public service media in old European
democracies has slipped into an identity crisis
 Keane – PS as “outdated” and the public interest as a struggle of the 19th
century
 Implication is that the concerns with the public interest are not fully
grounded in our current “post-modern” context of ……global events
transmitted via 24hours news channels to global audiences……(Matos,
2008).
 “The type of “rational” publicness that developed with newspapers and the
reading publics cannot be compared with the kind of publicness that
emerged with TV and the viewing publics. It constructed a new type of
public, the general audience. The availability of broadcasting...widened the
notion of “public interest” via the deliberate inclusion of ordinary people
into the public domain” (Splichal, 2007, 253)

23. PSB at a crossroads: some key debates
 Paddy Scannell – UK PSB has had a significant role in widening
access to quality debate and information to all sectors of the public
independent of socio-economic status
 Arguments that question BBC’s necessity – “….media abundance
(Keane, 1995); the burden of the license fee tax on citizens; the
claims that the BBC discourages innovation, and that in its efforts to
retain the attention of fragmented audiences, it is “dumbing down”
and becoming more indistinguishable from commercial
broadcasters…” (Matos, 2008)
 More public participation in the production of
content - i.e. Beckett’s defence of networked journalism for PSB to
adapt and survive
 “…public service media must be a service of the public, by the public
and for the public…” (Splichal, 2007, 255)

24. Ofcom’s Second PSB Review (September-
December, 2008) – will the market deliver?
 “In a range of areas, the market..does not make much contribution
– current affairs, nations and regions programmes, challenging UK
drama.....and factual programming for children.
 “Viewers have access to a wider range of content than ever before,
on digital TV and online....But they provide very little original
programming in the genres under most pressure on commercial
public service channels...”
 “No matter how high the quality of Sky News, it does not yet
represent an alternative to ITV1 or BBC news...”
 “In the digital media, the potential exists for new commercial
provision of content which meets public service purposes, but
online business models remain uncertain”.
 “We need a more flexible model of intervention that focuses public
funding on areas in which the market cannot deliver....”


25. What contribution could digital platforms
make to the purposes of PSB? (Ofcom,
2008, 44-46)
 Changes in the media landscape will continue with:
 1) Pay-TV platform operators and online content providers;
 2) Internet enabling unparalleled access to niche content;
 3) Enhanced viewer choice through DVRs, on-demand services,
video on the Internet;
 4) new services on digital terrestrial television.
 The Internet is seen as already playing a role in achieving PS
purposes, however it is not substitute for high quality TV.
 62% of Internet users claimed they had used content matching PS.
Internet was used for finding information about health services
(23%) and government or local councils (23%)


26. Latin American broadcasting has adopted US model
 Commercial broadcasting has expanded in the light of
(authoritarian) State intervention
 Straubhaar (2001, 134) has highlighted the importance of the role
that the then strong state in the 70’s assumed in shaping national
TV systems in countries like Mexico and Brazil
 I.e. Development of Brazilian television by military planners in
the 60’s onwards contributed for the formation of what
Straubhaar (2001; 138) has defined as the “nationalizing vocation”,
and the creation of a consumer culture and wider engagement of
Brazilians in the market economy (Matos, 2008).

27. PSB in Brazil: a state or a public media?
 Historical traditions - commercial TV market dominance in Brazil
versus weak, starved-funded public media mainly controlled by
regional politicians and Church interests
 Recent developments: 1st National Forum of Public TVs (May of
2007), resulting in the Preliminary Suggestions for a Model of Public
Broadcasting... Aims: to give voice to minorities, universalise
information rights, excellence in quality and democratic ideals
 Launch of TV Brasil in December 2007, composed of TV Nacional de
Brasilia, TVE from RJ and TVE from Maranhao
 Current discussions – beyond suspicion of use of TV Brasil for
propaganda purposes
 Beyond phase of attacks from conservative sectors (i.e. “TV Lula”)

28. Facts and figures on PSB platform in Brazil
 Weak public media sector, with the respected but funded-starved
TV Cultura (SP) and TVE (RJ)
 50% of more than 2.000 community stations are linked to
politicians (Lima, 2007)
 30% of Brazilian senators and MPs have concessions of radio and
TV stations (Legislative year 2006-2009)
 Senate TV, community and university channels expanded in the
90’s due to deregulation
 EBC (Empresa Brasileira de Comunicacao) now is little over a year
old. Further development is vital, if key aim is for PSB in Brazil to
expand debate on economic inequality, gender bias and social
exclusion of segments of the population

29. Some conclusions and further challenges
 PSB is still vital for democratic deliberation and for cultural and
educational emancipation, both for advanced and emerging
democracies
 “...in the future public service purposes should be delivered across
platforms as well as on linear TV” (Ofcom, 2008, 51)
 Some challenges:
1) Can media systems, be them public or private, be ever truly free
from either political and/or economic constraints
2) Can the private broadcasting serve the public interest?
3) How can the public service media overcome its identity crisis,
avoiding accusations of paternalism and elitism?
4) “PSB must become more public, made by the public for the public in
order to survive the digital age and its multiple publics”

30. Seminar activities 1
 1. Discuss the role that the state has had in public communications
in Denmark:
a) What have some of the benefits been for public knowledge?
b) What are some of the challenges that the public media system
currently faces today? What solutions would you propose?
c) How is it different from the private media?
d) Can the state still have a role in stimulating plurality of
viewpoints in the media and boost diversity?

31. Seminar activities and questions 2
I
. Discuss the private versus public dichotomy in the media and its
effect on public knowledge and citizenship.
II. Examine the public media in the UK, US and Finland and
Denmark in a comparative perspective:
a) Taking the example of each country, what have some of the
benefits for public knowledge been?
b) What are the key challenges that PSB is facing today in
European countries?
c) What role can it have in developing countries?