Distilling the value of public service media: Towards a tenable conceptualization in the European framework

Abstract

This paper problematises the difficulty of defining the public value of public service media. Through a double qualitative methodology, a series of components are identified and assessed in order to propose a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework. First, a qualitative analysis of the main legislations in force (n=44) and the grey literature public service media organisations display on their websites (n=14) was developed to extract, on an exploratory basis, the common constituent components of public value. Based on this, we developed a guided focus group of experts (n=15) to help us build a conception of public service media’s value that can retain its validity for a long period of time in the multiplatform era. The results highlight the problems in proposing a single definition given the socio-political diversity of the spaces in which public service media operate and the uncertainty of a constantly changing audiovisual context.