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Essay / Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) in Australia
Public Service Broadcasting can be seen as an agent for disseminating information and innovative ideas in a democratic society. Syvertsen (1999) mentioned three meanings of public service, first as a public function while the government provides services such as roads, public transport, etc., second as a public sphere in which people of a society involve themselves for the common good, and finally as broadcasting at the service of the listener or viewer. This essay attempts to argue for the need to support public service broadcasting, particularly in Australia. In Australia, there are two public service broadcasting institutions: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). ABC is modeled after the BBC and aims to provide general interest information and entertainment services and traditional public service content on television and radio; SBS aims to provide a more specialized service of multicultural and multilingual programming (reference). The SBS focused on meeting the media needs of Australia's culturally diverse population. Both broadcasters are public companies operating under charters approved by the Australian Federal Parliament (reference, Mendel). The charter specifically advises the ABC to produce its main programs of educational broadcasts. The ABC was also to showcase the multiculturalism of Australian society; provide a sense of national identity and information and entertainment by promoting music, theater and other performing arts in Australia (Mendel). While the Charter requires the SBS to produce multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain the people of Australia, and at the same time re...... middle of paper ...... restricted by channel capacity and it can address various audiences at once. Moreover, with the online Internet, everyone can gather all the information they need along with social networks so that people can interact in real time, even remotely, and discover a new perspective of democracy. From this point of view, the younger generation will even consider the difficulties that public service broadcasters will face. In conclusion, public service broadcasting is seen as a form of governance rather than an individual form of media institution. Indeed, the challenge for state-funded broadcasting is the emergence of cultural diversity and the complex development between the citizen and the national public interest. In order to assert its public value, its relevance as well as its public resources, the public service organization must manage them effectively..