[ecrea] CfP VIEW Journal on "Public Service Broadcasting In The Digital Age"

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 
((journal /at/ euscreen.eu) <mailto:(journal /at/ euscreen.eu)>). 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 ((mch /at/ dr.dk) <mailto:(mch /at/ dr.dk)>), Jérôme 
Bourdon ((jeromeb /at/ post.tau.ac.il) <mailto:(jeromeb /at/ post.tau.ac.il)>), and 
Peter B. Kaufman ((pbk /at/ intelligenttv.com) <mailto:(pbk /at/ intelligenttv.com)>).

---About VIEW Journal---

See www.viewjournal.eu <http://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.


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