Public Service Media in Europe
Law, Theory and Practice
Routledge Research in Media Law Series

Contributing to a rethink of Public Service Media, this book combines theoretical insights and legal frameworks with practice, examining theory and policy development in a bottom-up manner.

It explores the practices of Public Service Media across Europe, assessing the rules that govern Public Service Media at both the EU and the National Member State level, identifying common trends, initiated by both the European Commission and individual countries, illustrating the context-dependent development of Public Service Media and challenging the theories of Public Service Broadcasting which have developed an ideal-type public broadcaster based on the well-funded BBC in an atypical media market. Seeking to further explore the actual practices of Public Service Media and make recommendations for the development of more sustainable policies, this book offers case studies of rules and practices from across a variety of EU Member States to consider the extent to which public broadcasters are making the transition to public media organisations, and how public broadcasters and governments are shaping Public Service Media together.

This book is a must-read for all scholars who take an interest in Public Service Media, media policy and media systems literature at large. It will also be of interest to practitioners working in government, Public Service Media and commercial media.

1.Introduction: A mismatch between Public Service Media theory, law and practice Part I- Theory 2.Public Service Media in a digitized and international media market 3.From Public Service Broadcasting to public service anything: The gaps in Public Service Media theory 4.Public Service Media as a democracy- and citizenship-centric project 5.Making Public Service Media work through institutions Part II – The Law 6.Ideological divisions in national Public Service Media Policy 7.Weak European cultural versus strong economic policies 8.Applying State aid rules in an internationalized and converged media landscape 9.Regulating public broadcasters’ moving online 10.Laws and policy instruments dealing with funding 11.Governance: Optimising for societal value or political control Part III – Practice 12.Multi-platform strategies of public broadcasters in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Flanders and the Netherlands 13.A prominent market ànd cultural logic in Public Service Media policies in Flanders 14.State broadcasting in Poland 15.Conclusions: Explaining the (mis)match between theory, the law and practice

Karen Donders is Associate Professor of Media Policy, Media Markets and Political Economy of Journalism at the Communication Sciences Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is a member of research group imec-SMIT at the same university. Her expertise areas are Public Service Media, competition law and media, European media policy and platformisation.