Innovations in Public Service Media Policies

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In an era of social, political, and economic polarisation, the role of public service media (PSM) in safeguarding a robust and diverse public sphere is arguably more crucial than ever; yet PSM is battling severe challenges of dwindling resources, fragmenting audiences, distrust and disinformation, and, consequently, growing demands for accountability. The main goal of this research network is to develop a research agenda for the next phase of PSM development in order to address the gap in solution-oriented academic and applied research on innovations in PSM policies. The recent backlash against big Internet companies such as Facebook and Google, amidst mounting concerns over the spread of 'fake news' on social media platforms, the creation of online 'filter bubbles' and the rise of 'clickbait' journalism, has arguably opened up a window of opportunity for envisaging policy innovations in PSM. There is growing recognition of the fundamental role that PSM institutions (if adequately funded and underpinned by an enabling regulatory framework) can play in maintaining high standards of journalism, supporting indigenous forms of media and cultural production, and in general countering the increasingly glaring failures of a profit-driven digital eco-system controlled by a handful of very powerful and yet unaccountable Internet giants. This project thus addresses the urgent need for bringing together the academic research community with a wide range of PSM stakeholders to re-imagining the future of PSM in the context of today's major digital challenges. By facilitating research collaborations and knowledge exchange, and through discussion of case-studies illustrating innovation in PSM policy and strategy, this research networking project will develop an interdisciplinary research agenda and formulate policy recommendations.These objectives will be achieved through a series of four thematic workshops each addressing a major area of PSM policy and strategy: 1. Innovation in PSM funding models; 2. Innovation in PSM content and services; 3. Innovation in access and discoverability of PSM content; and 4. Innovation in participatory practices to promote greater PSM accountability.Each workshop will strive to be solution-oriented leading to policy recommendations, and will be organised around a number of case-studies of PSM policy to be presented by invited speakers - both academics from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds as well as representatives from the industry, civil society and regulators. The issues highlighted through the case-studies will lead to broader discussions and in the end enable to tackle some of the 'big' questions in relation to the general theme of each workshop. A Steering Group comprising 10 internationally recognised scholars and high-level representatives of key PSM stakeholder organisations, including the BBC and Ofcom, will guide and oversee the project. This group will meet for a full day at the inception of the project to set the agenda for each workshop and to select case-studies and invited speakers and for half-day at the end of the project to review the network's outputs and evaluate its achievements. The project is designed to facilitate networking among academics from different disciplinary backgrounds with a common interest in understanding how to support a robust communication ecosystem and to foster dialogue and collaborations between academia and key PSM stakeholder organisations. The collaborative, multi-stakeholder workshops themselves are a central pathway to impact. Other dissemination and impact activities will include a project website regularly updated with news and blogs about the project, four workshop reports with contributions by participants, and, finally, a policy briefing report published by the U. of Westminster Press as part of the CAMRI Policy Briefs series and distributed to PSM stakeholders and to news outlets covering media policy issues.