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"Benedetta Brevini investigates the extent to which a Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) ethos has been extended to the online world in Europe. She examines the most significant policy initiatives carried out by PSBs in Europe on online platforms, and analyzes how the public service philosophy is being reinvented by policy makers (at both the national and European level), by PSB institutions and by their competitors. Brevini examines Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, where PSB has been the subjectof landmark reforms that have changed its legal and policy frameworks. Concurrently, at the European level, the debate about the redefinition and expansion of PSB in the new media has been vigorous. As such, Brevini elaborates on and discusses a normative democratic framework for PSB online in Europe, named 'PSB 2.0'. She concludes by arguing that, if the online world is to be infused with the same public service ethos which characterizes traditional broadcasting, European policy makers and institutions need to understand that a reconfiguration of public service values and principles - in other words, PSB 2.0 - is becoming crucial"--
List of contents
Contents List of tables 1. Introduction 2. The European and Global Policy Framework of Public Service Broadcasting 3. Theorizing Public Service Broadcasting Online 4. A Normative Framework for PSB Online: The Idea of PSB 2.0 5. Comparing Histories of PSB in Denmark, France, the UK, Spain and Italy 6. Historical, Political and Cultural Legacies: The Impact on PSB Online 7. European Union Influence on PSB Online 8. Commercial Pressure from Rival Competitors: The Impact on PSB Online 9. Conclusion Bibliography Endnotes
Report
'Public Service Broadcasting Online explains the rich and treasured legacies of, and current threats to, institutions that historically have been vital to a cultural and political sense of belonging and engagement among Europeans. By taking stock of and comparing a diverse range of European public service broadcasting (PSB) systems, Benedetta Brevini helps us understand the ongoing political stakes of the digital migration of PSB. More importantly, at a time when European governments of all kinds have fallen prey to the seductions and imperatives of neoliberal ideology and practice, the author offers invaluable guidance for preserving what is best about European public service media.' - Professor Andrew Calabrese, University of Colorado, USA
'Public service broadcasting was a visionary experiment that extended the social purpose of radio and television through the enabling role of the democratic state. Can the potential of the internet to serve the public be similarly extended through state intervention? What are the obstacles that lie in the way? For an innovative and scholarly answer, read this admirable book.'
- Professor James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
"In short, with this work Brevini adds to the considerable school of thought on PSM. She successfully ties the specifities of public broadcasters' online activities to their historical, political and cultural development. The comprehrensiveness of her theoretical and empirical endeavours, while sometimes perhaps somewhat frustrating to those media policy scholars that look for the 'nitty-gritty' details of legal arrangements, is impressive and shows us a bigger picture that merits more scientific attention in the future." - Karen Donders, International Journal of Digital Television,
