34 - Why does Europe need public service media?
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Since the Second World War, public media in Europe have been regarded as a media infrastructure beyond state broadcasting and profit orientation. They are committed to the common good, producing public and not shareholder value. But their future is in danger. Journalists are under attack, politicians want to exert influence, commercial corporations are threatening their relevance. Why do we need public service media in Europe?
An article by Dr. Natascha Zeitel-Bank from the University of Innsbruck.
"A lie has already circled the globe three times before the truth puts on its shoes." This traditional quote from Mark Twain could not be more fitting for the challenges of finding, processing and communicating the truth in the digital communication space. The well-known saying "Many cooks spoil the broth" is also apt. Both are a good way to describe the enormous speed of information transfer with a new complexity of senders and recipients in the age of the platform economy. We find ourselves in an unprecedented "gatekeeper" diversity. The focus of interest is therefore on transparency and traceability in the process of information generation. This shows that public service broadcasting, such as ORF, can maintain its position as a traditional gatekeeper with its social orientation function and emerge stronger in the competition for attention, or will be able to do so in the future. This is crucial, especially when it comes to socially relevant decision-making processes such as elections at all political levels in the super year 2024. This development is flanked by European legislation.
Since 2023, the European Commission has also referred to the operators of very large online platforms and large search engine providers ("Very Large Online Platforms" - "VLOP" and "Very Large Online Search Engines" - "VLOSE") as gatekeepers for the first time. Attracting attention in social media channels via individually tailored content at the respective actor level over the longest possible periods of time ("rabbit hole effect") leads to a wide variety of forms and confusion on the recipient side. With "VLOPs" and "VLOSEs", content moderation does not focus on the quality of information, journalistic due diligence and the transparency of algorithm-generated content. This development goes hand in hand with the risk of careless consumption of effect-generating disinformation or strategic manipulation on the receiving end, which will be further intensified in future by the use of artificial intelligence, e.g. with "deep fake". This is particularly noteworthy in light of the fact that social media is the most important source of news for around two thirds (59%) of all young people in Europe between the ages of 15 and 24 ("Eurobarometer Media and News Survey 2023").
At an individual level, there is also a constant change of perspective between sender and receiver in the digital communication space: Digital content is not only consumed, but also produced unfiltered. The individual is thus becoming a "prosumer" and is the third "gatekeeper" after the traditional media and the very large platforms. These developments are accompanied by an increased abstinence from information, especially among young people, who have literally become tired of consuming news due to the variety and associated confusion in times of multiple crises or avoid it altogether due to its depressing effect. ("News Avoidance") (e.g. "Reuters Digital News Report 2023").
Gatekeeper diversity (combined with uncontrolled or unchecked playout, especially in the information sector) and tendencies towards news avoidance underline more than ever the central orientation function of a public broadcaster such as the ORF (e.g. "Reuters Digital News Report 2023, Eurobarometer surveys"). This important pillar of a society in terms of democratic policy is also repeatedly emphasized by EU legislation, most recently in the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Artificial Intelligence Act and Media Freedom Act.
The aforementioned developments therefore affect all levels of social and political content production and forms of interaction in the digital communication space:
the macro level in the form of socially binding control mechanisms within the framework of European legislation, the organizational meso level (traditional media and platforms) and the individual, actor-related level (micro level).
While very large platform and search engine operators as "gatekeepers" were obliged by the European Commission for the first time at the end of 2023 to disclose the type of "content moderation" determined by algorithms in a generally accessible transparency database and the "prosumer" as another "gatekeeper" is struggling with "information overload" and information fatigue, compliance with due diligence criteria in the generation of information is a central component of the journalistic self-image for quality media. For public broadcasters such as the ORF, this means the opportunity to be recognized as the most important gatekeeper in the now confusing digital communication space and to be seen as such in society in the long term.
It also remains to be seen how visible and effective the European Commission will be at the accompanying macro level in order to encourage the economically driven large platforms to combat disinformation and increase transparency in areas such as personal data processing. On March 4, the European Commission already imposed a fine of 1.8 billion euros on Apple for anti-competitive behavior (press release of March 4, 2024) and also asked nine major technology platforms to explain how their practices in the field of generative artificial intelligence are compatible with the Digital Services Act ("Bing", "Google Search", "Facebook", "Instagram", "Snapchat", "TikTok", "YouTube", "X", "LinkedIn") ("Daily News" of March 14, 2024).
In addition, new rules for transparency and the targeting of political advertising came into force on April 9, 2024. This will counteract information manipulation and foreign influence on elections. In future, political advertising must be clearly labeled and recognizable as such. It must contain information about who paid for it and how much, which elections, referendums or regulatory processes it is linked to and whether targeted advertising techniques were used. Political (advertising) messages aimed at influencing their political views and decisions are thus identifiable for the recipient on the Internet. The sponsorship of advertising by actors outside the EU will also be prohibited in the three months before the elections. The new rules will therefore already apply to the EU parliamentary elections on June 9, 2024, as part of the Commission's measures to protect the integrity of elections and promote open democratic debate (Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising of 13.03.2024).
The umbrella organization of European public service media, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is based in Geneva. Its website offers a wide range of information on public service media in Europe: https://www.ebu.ch.
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