Public broadcasting

Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive funding from public financing, license fees, individual contributions and donations, commercial advertising and corporate underwriting. A public service broadcaster should operate as a non-partisan entity, guided by a clear public interest mandate and avoid media bias or political bias. Public service broadcasters should be safeguarded from external interference—especially of a political or commercial nature—in matters related to governance, budgeting, and editorial decision-making, typically as a non-profit entity. The public service broadcasting model relies on an independent and transparent system of governance, encompassing key areas such as editorial policy, managerial appointments, and financial oversight. Common media include AM, FM, and shortwave radio; television; and the Internet. Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries a single organization runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exceptions of the United States, Mexico, and Brazil).

Definition The primary mission of public broadcasting is that of public service, speaking to and engaging as a citizen. The British model is often referenced in definitions. The model embodies the following principles:

Universal geographic accessibility Universal appeal Attention to minorities ("special provision for minorities") Contribution to national identity and sense of community Distance from vested interests Direct funding and universality of payment Encourage competition "in good programming rather than competition for numbers" Guidelines that liberate rather than restrict While the application of certain principles may be straightforward, as in the case of accessibility, some of the principles may be poorly defined or difficult to implement. In the context of a shifting national identity, the role of public broadcasting may be unclear. Likewise, the subjective nature of good programming may raise the question of individual or public taste. Within public broadcasting there are two different views regarding commercial activity. One is that public broadcasting is incompatible with commercial objectives. The other is that public broadcasting can and should compete in the marketplace with commercial broadcasters. This dichotomy is highlighted by the public service aspects of traditional commercial broadcasters. Public broadcasters in each jurisdiction may or may not be synonymous with government controlled broadcasters.

Cultural policy Additionally, public broadcasting may facilitate the implementation of a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture). Examples include:

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is legally required to 'encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia' and 'broadcasting programmes that contribute to a sense of national identity' with specific emphasis on regional and rural Australia'. Furthermore, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is intended to reflect the spirit and sense of multicultural richness and the unique international cultural values within Australian society.

Etymology Who exactly coined the term "public broadcasting" is disputed. Various sources credit Morris S. Novik, who served 20 years as station manager for New York City's WNYC, the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting, and the Rocky Mountain Radio Council.

Operating structures When television started out in many countries in the 1960's, the reliance on analogue terrestrial television severely limited the number of possible TV channels in a geographical area, and many countries only had 1 or 2 channels until well into the 1980's. As such, there were heavy differences between countries' approaches during that time on how to operate those channels, including:

1 channel operated by 1 company (NRK in Norway; previously RTÉ in Republic of Ireland until 1978). 2 channels operated by 1 company (BBC; SVT in Sweden). Regional public broadcasters co-operating to create national channels (Das Erste in Germany). Regional public broadcasters with no national co-operations (VRT and RTBF in Belgium, which later also included BRT). 1 or 2 channels with timeslots allocated to various broadcaster companies (NPO in The Netherlands; previously Yle in Finland). Local public broadcasters co-operating to create national channels (PBS in the United States). As digital satellite television and analogue (and later digital) cable television became broadly available in large parts of Europe and elsewhere in the 1980's, which both opened up more channel frequencies for existing public broadcasters and made foreign-based commercial channels like Sky Television available even in countries that didn't allow them at the time, the public broadcasters' operating structures became less strict, though many of their core structures remain in for instance Germany and The Netherlands as of 2025.

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