Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:28:25.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The crisis of public service broadcasting reconsidered: Commercialization and digitalization in Scandinavia

from PART I - THE CRISIS NARRATIVE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2016

Håkon Larsen
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
Jeffrey C. Alexander
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Elizabeth Butler Breese
Affiliation:
Panorama Education
Marîa Luengo
Affiliation:
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Get access

Summary

In any liberal democracy, independent journalism is understood as the normative ground for which a well-functioning media system is to operate. One institution of independent journalism with a particularly interesting history is public service broadcasting (PSB). After the BBC was founded in 1922, it came to serve as a model for how to regulate radio as a mass medium, and broadcasters regulated by public authorities emerged in several European countries, all avowed with a mission to inform, educate and entertain. As the PSB companies are not dependent on commercial revenues, and are structured so as to keep at arm's length from the government, PSB composes an important part of the infrastructure of a relatively autonomous public sphere.

Several scholars (e.g. Garnham 1992, Scannell 1989) have linked the discussion of PSB to Jürgen Habermas's (1989, 1992, 1996, 2009, ch. 9) theories of the public sphere and deliberative democracy. Habermas's (1989, 27) initial definition of the public sphere is “the sphere of private people coming together as a public.” In his later writings he describes the public sphere in a media society as “an intermediate system of mass communication, situated between the formally organized deliberations and negotiations at the center and the arranged or informal conversations which take place in civil society at the periphery of the political system” (Habermas 2009, 159). Media scholars have argued that PSB possesses the potential to ensure such a unitary public sphere, as a place for rational argumentation on societal issues.

With a cultural sociological (Alexander 2003) approach to journalism another useful term is that of a civil sphere, which also refers to a sphere independent from the market and the state (Alexander 2006, Kreiss, this volume, Luengo 2012). Alexander defines the civil sphere as “a world of values and institutions that generates the capacity for social criticism and democratic integration at the same time. Such a sphere relies on solidarity, on feelings for others whom we do not know but whom we respect out of principle […]” (Alexander 2006, 4). PSB can be viewed as an institution that “generates the capacity for social criticism and democratic integration at the same time.”

Type
Chapter
Information
The Crisis of Journalism Reconsidered
Democratic Culture, Professional Codes, Digital Future
, pp. 43 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 2003. The Meanings of Social Life: A Cultural Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alexander, Jeffrey C. 2006. The Civil Sphere. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Bardoel, Jo, and d'Haenens, Leen. 2008. “Reinventing Public Service Broadcasting in Europe: Prospects, Promises and Problems.” Media, Culture & Society 30 (3): 337–355.Google Scholar
Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Berg, Christian Edelvold, and Lund, Anker Brink. 2012. “Financing Public Service Broadcasting: A Comparative Perspective.” Journal of Media Business Studies 9 (1):7–21.Google Scholar
Briggs, Asa. 1985. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dahl, Hans Fredrik. 1999. Hallo-hallo! Kringkasting i Norge 1920–1940. Oslo: J.W. Cappelens Forlag.
Dayan, Daniel, and Katz, Elihu. 1992. Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Edin, Anna. 2000. Den föreställda publiken; Programpolitik, publikbilder, och tiltalsformer i svensk public service-television. Stockholm: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposium.
Enli, Gunn. 2008. “Redefining Public Service Broadcasting: Multi-Platform Participation.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 14 (1):105–120.Google Scholar
Enli, Gunn, Moe, Hallvard, Sundet, Vilde Schanke, and Syvertsen, Trine. 2013. “From Fear of Television to Fear for Television.” Media History 19 (2):213–227.Google Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2010. “Svorge.” In I takt og utakt; Nye historier om Norge og Sverige, edited by Ruth, Arne and Lindahl, Björn, pp. 102–107. Oslo: Schibsted forlag.
Garnham, Nicholas. 1992. “The Media and the Public Sphere.” In Habermas and the Public Sphere, edited by Calhoun, Craig, pp. 359–376. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1992. “Further Reflections on the Public Sphere.” In Habermas and the Public Sphere, edited by Calhoun, Craig, pp. 421–461. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1996. Between Facts and Norms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 2009. Europe; The Faltering Project. Cambridge: Polity.
Hallin, Daniel C., and Mancini, Paolo. 2004. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hilliard, Robert L., and Keith, Michael C.. 1996. Global Broadcasting Systems. Boston, MA: Focal Press.
Hillman-Chartrand, Harry, and McCaughey, Claire. 1989. “The Arm's Length Principle and the Arts: An International Perspective – Past, Present and Future.” In Who's to Pay for the Arts? The International Search for Models of Arts Support, edited by Cummings, M. C. and Schuster, J. M. D.. New York, NY: American Council for the Arts.
Horkheimer, Max, and Adorno, Theodor W.. 2002 [1947]. Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Hujanen, Taisto, and Jauert, Per. 1998. “The New Competitive Environment of Radio Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries: A Short History of Deregulation and Analysis.” Journal of Radio Studies 5 (1):105–131.Google Scholar
Hujanen, Taisto, Weibull, Lennart, and Harrie, Eva. 2013. “The Challenge of Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries.” In Public Service Media from a Nordic Horizon. Politics, Markets, Programming and Users, edited by Carlsson, Ulla. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Innst. O nr. 2 (1990–1991). TV2: Lov om reklame i kringkasting.
Jauert, Per. 2003. “Policy Development in Danish Radio Broadcasting 1980–2002. Layers, Scenarios and the Public Service Remit.” In Broadcasting and Convergence: New Articulations of the Public Service Remit, edited by Lowe, Gregory Ferrell and Hujanen, Taisto, pp. 187–203. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Lamont, Michèle. 1995. “National Identity and National Boundary Patterns in France and the United States.” French Historical Studies 19 (2):349–365.Google Scholar
Lamont, Michèle, and Thévenot, Laurent. 2000. Rethinking Comparative Cultural Sociology: Repertoires of Evaluation in France and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Larsen, Håkon. 2008. “I demokratiets tjeneste: Offentlig debatt om allmennkringkasting i Norge og Sverige.” Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning 49 (3):313–342.Google Scholar
Larsen, Håkon. 2010. “Legitimation Strategies of Public Service Broadcasters: The Divergent Rhetoric in Norway and Sweden.” Media, Culture and Society 32 (2):267–283.Google Scholar
Larsen, Håkon. 2011a. “Legitimering av allmennkringkasting i Norge og Sverige.” PhD diss., University of Oslo.
Larsen, Håkon. 2011b. “Public Service Broadcasting as an Object for Cultural Policy in Norway and Sweden: A Policy Tool and an End in Itself.” Nordicom Review 32 (2):35–47.Google Scholar
Larsen, Håkon. 2014. “The Legitimacy of Public Service Broadcasting in the 21st Century: The case of Scandinavia.” Nordicom Review 35 (2): 65–76.Google Scholar
Larsen, Håkon. 2016. Performing Legitimacy: Studies in High Culture and the Public SphereNew York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Luengo, María. 2012. “Narrating Civil Society: A New Theoretical Persepctive on Journalistic Autonomy.” Communicación Sociedad XXV (2):29–56.Google Scholar
Lund, Anker Brink, Nord, Lars, and Roppen, Johann. 2009. Nye udfordringer for gamle medier. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Mangset, Per. 2013. “En armlengdes avstand eller statens forlengede arm? Om armlengdesprinsippet i norsk og internasjonal kulturpolitikk.” TF-rapport nr. 314. Bø i Telemark: Telemarksforsking.
Moe, Hallvard. 2007. “Gjør NRK helt reklamefritt.” Vox publica, July 17. http://voxpublica.no/2007/07/gj%C3%B8r-nrk-helt-reklamefritt/
Moe, Hallvard. 2008. “Public Broadcasters, the Internet, and Democracy. Comparing Policy and Exploring Public Service Media Online.” PhD diss., University of Bergen.
Moe, Hallvard. 2012. “How to Preserve the Broadcasting License Fee: The Case of Norway.” Journal of Media Business Studies 9 (1):55–69.Google Scholar
Moe, Hallvard, and Mjøs, Ole J.. 2013. “The Arm's Length Principle in Nordic Public Broadcasting Regulation.” In Public Service Media from a Nordic Horizon. Politics, Markets, Programming and Users, edited by Carlsson, Ulla, pp. 75–92. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Murdock, Graham. 2005. “Building the Digital Commons: Public Broadcasting in the Age of the Internet.” In Cultural Dilemmas in Public Service Broadcasting, edited by Lowe, Gregory Ferrell and Jauert, Per, pp. 213–230. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Nielsen, Poul Erik. 2010. “Danish Public Service Broadcasting in Transition: From Monopoly to a Digital Media Environment – a Shift in Paradigms.” Central European Journal of Communication 2010 (1):115–129.Google Scholar
Nord, Lars. 2012. “Losing the Battle, Winning the War: Public Service Media Debate in Scandinavia 2000–2010.” In Regaining the Initiative for Public Service Media, edited by Lowe, Gregory Ferrell and Steemers, Jeanette, pp. 45-61. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
NRK. 2007. Noe for alle. Alltid. Overordnet strategi for NRK 2007–2012. Oslo: NRK.
NRK. 2011. “NRKs profilundersøkelse 2011.” Oslo: NRK Analyse.
Ohlsson, Jonas. 2015. The Nordic Media Market. Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Østerud, Øyvind. 1987. “Nationalism och modernitet: Ett skandinavsikt perspektiv.” In Lycksalighetens halvö: Den svenske välfärdsmodellen och Europa, edited by Therborn, Göran. Stockholm: FRN-Framtidsstudier.
Østerud, Øyvind. 1994. Hva er nasjonalisme?Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Prop. 2012/13:164. Bildning och tillgänglighet – radio och tv i alllmänhetens tjänst 2014–2019. Stockholm: Kulturdepartementet.
Reith, John. 1924. Broadcast over Britain. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Rokkan, Stein. 1987. Stat, nasjon, klasse. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Roppen, Johann, Lund, Anker Brink, and Nord, Lars. 2010. “Multimedia Development of PSBs: A Challenge for the Nordic Media Systems.” Central European Journal of Communication 2010 (1):131–146.Google Scholar
Rossavik, Frank. 2007. Stikk i strid; Ein biografi om Einar Førde. Oslo: Spartacus.
Scannell, Paddy. 1989. “Public Service Broadcasting and Modern Public Life.” Media, Culture & Society 11 (2):135–166.Google Scholar
Sejersted, Francis. 2011. The Age of Social Democracy: Norway and Sweden in the Twentieth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Slaatta, Tore. 2010. “Norsk medieforskning i sosiologiens første år.” Sosiologi i dag 40 (4):5–31.Google Scholar
SVT. 2006. Fri television i världsklass; Strategi mot 2012. Stockholm: SVT.
Syvertsen, Trine. 1997. Den store TV-krigen: norsk allmennfjernsyn 1988–96. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×