Public Service Media Policies Working Group

The aim of this Working Group is to examine and make inventories of new performance practices and accountability mechanisms for public service media in different countries, inside and outside Europe and to investigate how they work and what can be learned from them.

Co-chair: Fiona Martin (University of Sydney, Australia) [Contact]
Co-chair: Anis Rahman (University of Washington, USA) [Contact]
Vice-chair: Yik-Chan Chin (Beijing Normal University, China) [Contact] 


See the list of all current members of the Public Service Media Policies Working Group


This Working Group is concerned with the performance practices and accountability mechanisms for public broadcasters and the extent to which governments need to intervene in the media market to correct market failures and to guarantee broadcasting as a public merit good. Its members are interested in whether there is a need for a new policy paradigm for public service broadcasting and alternative ways of assessing and measuring public service media’s value to the public.

To join the Public Service Media Policies Working Group, login to your account and select My Sections and Working Groups from the menu. A number of IAMCR sections and working groups send notices and other information exclusively to their members. IAMCR members can join up to three sections or working groups.

Interactions - Special issue

A special issue of Interactions Journal that originated from a post-conference held at the 2018 annual conference of IAMCR held in Eugene, Oregon is now available. The issue is guest-edited by Alessandro D’Arma and Yik Chan Chin (chairs of the PSM Working Group), and Minna Horowitz (International Network of PSM Experts).

2018 post conference report

The Public Service Media Policies Working Group organised an IAMCR post-conference, “Public Service Media in a Time of Global Reordering: Sustainability, Reinvention and Extension”, on 25 June 2018 at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The post-conference was organised in collaboration with the Global PSM Experts Network.

IAMCR 2014: Public Service Media Policies Working Group - CfP - Deadline 10 February

Public Service Media Polices Working Group - Call for Proposals -Redefining public media spaces: Regional frames, global challenges

Established public media provisions are under threat: both public service broadcasting and professional journalism are severely challenged by new technologies and increasing competition in market-based media ecologies. At the same time the new cyberspace promises unprecedented new informative and participatory opportunities for citizens and civil society, independent from the powers that be, although new corporate power positions are becoming more prominent. In addition to new technologies that break down the barriers of distance and time, changing global power relations and news flows are also challenging existing borders between nations and regions.

IAMCR 2013 – Public Service Media Policy Working Group - Call for Papers

altThe Public Service Media Policy Group invites submissions for its sessions at  IAMCR annual conference, to be held in Dublin, Ireland from 25-29 June 2013. The section seeks research that balances theory and practice, and aims at assessing the public value dimension in a global communications context. We welcome contributions exploring how public service media are coping with both the current economic crisis and technological transformations in the media landscape, by challenging, changing or re-affirming the ‘public interest’ or ‘public service’ roles and orientations of the media.

IAMCR 2012 - Public Service Media Policies Working Group Call for Papers

erythrina_caffraThe Working Group on Public Service Media Policies of the International Association for Media and Communication Research invites submissions for the IAMCR Conference to be held from July 15-19, 2012 at the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa.

The deadline for submissions is February 14, 2012.

Stockholm 2008 - Working Group on European Public Broadcasting Policies Call for Papers

EXTENDED DEADLINE: 15 FEBRUARY 2008!

Convenor: Jo Bardoel, ASCoR, University of Amsterdam / Radboud University Nijmegen

The Working Group on European Public Broadcasting Policies invites submissions
to the IAMCR 2008 Congress.  

Already for some time now public service broadcasters in Europe and elsewhere are prominently present in the domain of new media. This presence in the digital domain is usually considered as a logical extension of the public remit and is also related to a long-standing tradition of being leading in the introduction of new technologies. At the same time there are also serious restrictions.  Due to complaints of commercial competitors at a national and European policy level, public broadcasters are forced to show more explicitly the relation between their new activities in new media services and their contribution to the public value. Moreover, the lack of financial resources often limits the public presence in the digital domain.

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