Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Television & New Media
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jacka, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

"Democracy as Defeat"

The Impotence of Arguments for Public Service Broadcasting

Elizabeth Jacka

University of Technology, Sydney

In countries with a mature public broadcasting sector and where public broadcasting is being challenged by the multichannel and digital environment, there is a veritable avalanche of discourse aiming to ensure the future of the sector. Various key concepts are intoned like mantras-public service, public sphere, citizenship, democracy-as if by their very repetition they had the power to hold hostile forces at bay. The present article examines just one of these-democracy-and suggests that the invocation of the term in typical defenses is at best imprecise and at worse outdated. Furthermore, in its devaluation of various forms of popular media, the typical defense ends up championing a set of media practices that are increasingly irrelevant. The article concludes that a generalized defense of public service broadcasting is "impotent" and must be replaced by localized and specific analyses of where public broadcasting fits in various media ecologies.

Key Words: public service broadcasting • democracy • journalism • ethics • digital broadcasting • multichannel television

Television & New Media, Vol. 4, No. 2, 177-191 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1527476402250675
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
T. Flew
The citizen's voice: Albert Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty and its contribution to media citizenship debates
Media Culture Society, November 1, 2009; 31(6): 977 - 994.
[PDF]

Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
T. Dunleavy
New Zealand television and the struggle for `public service'
Media Culture Society, November 1, 2008; 30(6): 795 - 811.
[PDF]

Home page
 ConvergenceHome page
J. Bennett
Interfacing the Nation: Remediating Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Television Age
Convergence, August 1, 2008; 14(3): 277 - 294.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 JournalismHome page
S. Harrington
Popular news in the 21st century Time for a new critical approach?
Journalism, June 1, 2008; 9(3): 266 - 284.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
H. Moe
Dissemination and dialogue in the public sphere: a case for public service media online
Media Culture Society, May 1, 2008; 30(3): 319 - 336.
[PDF]

Home page
 Cultural SociologyHome page
P. Jones
Beyond the Semantic 'Big Bang': Cultural Sociology and an Aesthetic Public Sphere
Cultural Sociology, March 1, 2007; 1(1): 73 - 95.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Television New MediaHome page
T. Flew
The Social Contract and Beyond in Broadcast Media Policy
Television New Media, August 1, 2006; 7(3): 282 - 305.
[Abstract] [PDF]