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Blurred Lines: Public Service Media and the State

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Global Media and National Policies

Part of the book series: Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business ((GMPB))

Abstract

The institution of public service broadcasting (PSB) and more recently public service media (PSM), offering new multiplatform services that go beyond radio and television, has always been connected with the constructed concept of nation (Williams, 1975; Gellner, 1983). This is particularly the case in its European heartland where PSB was initiated by the nation-state. As a policy project influenced as much by political and ideological interests as social imperatives, state intervention at a national level was justified by technological limitations, which in the early days of broadcasting underpinned powerful national PSB institutions, which mostly operated as monopolies. PSB then was a key policy instrument for nation-states. The nation-state used PSB as a positive intervention to achieve certain policy goals including the production of information, educational and entertainment content that was meant to contribute both to social cohesion and national identity.

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Authors
  1. Jeanette Steemers
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Australia

    Terry Flew

  2. City University London, UK

    Petros Iosifidis

  3. University of Westminster, UK

    Jeanette Steemers

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© 2016 Jeanette Steemers

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Steemers, J. (2016). Blurred Lines: Public Service Media and the State. In: Flew, T., Iosifidis, P., Steemers, J. (eds) Global Media and National Policies. Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137493958_9

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