Public Service Media as a Political Issue: How Does the European Parliament Approach PSM and Communication Rights?

Abstract

Platform dominance, threats to media freedom and disinformation are some of the key phenomena that are shaping the current media environment in Europe and threatening citizens' communication rights. Within this context, Public Service Media (PSM) could have an important role to play, although explicit political support is needed. This article studies the main communication and PSM topics that have been discussed in the European Parliament during the past term (2014–2019) as well as the proposals drafted by political parties for the 2019 European election. The results show that the main proposals linked to PSM involve their independence and the need for increased collaboration, including the establishment of a European public service platform that would enhance the development of a European public sphere.

Capítulo 14. La construcción de una esfera pública europea a través de la colaboración y la innovación: A European Perspective, la redacción más grande de Europa

“…Sin embargo, a pesar de la necesidad de consolidar esta esfera pública europea, reconocida por parte de las instituciones y los partidos políticos europeos (Flew;Waisbord, 2015;Rodríguez-Castro;Campos-Freire;López-Cepeda, 2020), las políticas de comunicación de la UE no han conseguido superar la resistencia de las esferas públicas nacionales a los procesos de europeización. La falta de un espacio comunicativo europeo repercute en un déficit democrático del proyecto común, ya que «la esfera pública es una condición previa para la consecución de la soberanía popular, porque, en principio, autoriza a todo el mundo a hablar sin ningún límite sobre los temas, la participación, preguntas, tiempo o recursos» (Eriksen, 2007: 23).…”

Transparency Policies in European Public Broadcasters: Sustainability, Digitalisation and Fact-Checking

“…They also face the opposition of private operators; populist political parties, which call their existence into question; and the constant thirst for manipulation by the governments (Campos-Freire et al 2020). In fact, the political proposals at a European level are linked to the reinforcement of their journalistic independence and to the establishment of greater collaboration tools among EU members, including the creation of a European public broadcaster (Rodríguez-Castro et al 2020) in the new digital environment, driven by a process of active transparency and committed to such values as sustainability and the control of fake news.…”

European policy proposals to meet the challenge of public service media

“…This situation has caused pervasive news manipulations over the course of years (Goyanes, Vaz-Álvarez and Demeter, 2020); the response of the Spanish and Swedish governments in a context of economic crisis (Arriaza Ibarra and Nord, 2014); the austerity policies applied in the Spanish and Portuguese radio and television stations that exit the austerity era still enduring old fragilities at a time when they must face new changes (Costa e Silva and Díaz-González, 2020); the negotiations for the 2011 management contract of the Belgian radio and television station, that promoted the social responsibility perspective, reflected in the eventual 2012-2016 management contract (Van den Bulck and Donders, 2014); a historical overview of the evolution of television in Cyprus "in accordance to the specific historical artefacts that took place and generated a series of disadvantages still reflecting upon the Cypriot private broadcasting sector (Maniou, 2017); or the evolution of communication policies in Poland, with the hypothesis that in this country that media policy paints a nuanced picture of democratic backsliding (Surowiec, Kania-Lundholm and Winiarska-Brodowska, 2020). Media policies of parties in the context of the last European elections have also been under study (Rodríguez-Castro, Campos-Freire and López-Cepeda, 2020). However, to date, none of them have highlighted the attention that the PSM captured in the national elections of a wide variety of states.…”