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Konrad Mitschka
Public Value Report
One of the key distinguishing features of public media from commercial providers is their orientation toward the common good, their public value. Their goals are not the maximization of individual profits, but values that support the democratic, social and cultural cohesion of society. For the concept's originator, Mark Moore, public value is linked to the public nature of the institution generating public value. Moore described the public value concept in 1995 with the help of four essential questions:
→ How much do citizens trust an institution?
→ How does an institution improve society?
→ How is the value of the service assessed?
→ How efficient is the institution?
The BBC transformed the concept at the beginning of the noughties with regard to the media sector. The ORF followed suit a short time later. Since then, it has documented the fulfillment of its core mission annually in the Public Value Report, which is sent in printed form to the regulatory authority, politicians, academics, the media and other relevant stakeholders, and is published online in adapted form at zukunft.ORF.at.
The multiple award-winning Public Value Report is divided into five quality dimensions and 18 performance categories, which are derived from the regulations that are binding for ORF media production. For example, the mandate of objectivity ("ORF shall ensure the objective selection and communication of information in the form of news ...") results in the performance category "trust", the performance category "diversity" results from the diversity requirement mentioned several times in the law and program guidelines ("diversity of the interests of the entire audience"; "respect for diversity of opinion"), or the performance category "variety" results from various regulations on stimulating the creative industries ("As a commissioner and frequent first publisher of artistic works and scientific findings, ORF shall make a contribution to cultural events. ") the performance category "value creation," etc. The report summarizes the 18 performance categories in five dimensions. These express the "individual value" - i.e. the benefit of ORF for the individual citizen - as well as its value for society, for Austria, for European integration and - in the sense of Austrian broadcasting subscribers or households as clients - the "corporate value". The overall dimensions and categories are:
→ individual value (trust, service, responsibility, entertainment, knowledge)
→ Societal value (orientation, diversity, proximity to citizens, integration, culture) → Austrian value (identity, federalism, value creation)
→ International value (European integration, global perspective)
→ Corporate value (transparency, innovation, competence)
Alle Kategorien stellen auf die Unverwechselbarkeit des Inhalts und auf die in der Regel anspruchsvolle Gestaltung bzw. die hohe Qualität der Programme ab. Der Public Value-Bericht dokumentiert die ORF-Leistung möglichst umfangreich und sowohl quantitativ wie auch qualitativ. Jährlich wiederkehrend wird etwa die Anzahl der Sendestunden der TV-Information, die Anzahl der Radionachrichten und die Anzahl der Storys auf ORF.at in der Leistungskategorie "Vertrauen" publiziert. Die Kategorie "Verantwortung" stellt die Leistungen des ORF zu Barrierefreiheit mit Hilfe von Zahlen dar. Im Bereich "Wissen" wird ebenso wie in anderen Kategorien die Anzahl der Beiträge bzw. Sendungen zu einem bestimmten Stichwort veröffentlicht, die Kategorie "Wertschöpfung" weist z. B. Wettbewerbe aus, die, u. a. vom ORF ausgerichtet, die intellektuelle Wertschöpfung in Österreich anregen sollen etc. Neben Zahlen und einer Auswahl verschiedener anderer Daten, z. B. von ORF-Mitarbeiter:innen gewonnene Auszeichnungen, preisgekrönte Filme und Serien, Schulungen, die die Kompetenz der ORF-Mitarbeiter:innen stärken sollen, dokumentiert der ORF seine Auftragserfüllung auch qualitativ. Dazu lädt das Public Value-Kompetenzzentrum jedes Jahr insbesondere Vertreterinnen und Vertreter aus ORF-Bereichen ein, die hochwertige Produktionen, erkennbar etwa durch Auszeichnungen oder originelle bzw. innovative Erfüllung des öffentlich-rechtlichen Auftrags, gestaltet haben. Diese Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter des ORF, meist Redakteur:innen, oft Führungskräfte, erläutern ihre Qualitätsvorstellungen, um den Rezipient:innen Aufschluss über redaktionelle Anhebung zu ermöglichen. Die Auswahl der Autorinnen und Autoren liest sich wie ein Who is Who preisgekrönter Medienarbeit: Armin Wolf, Martin Thür, Dieter Bornemann, Zoran Dobric und Hanno Settele sind genauso dabei wie Sabine Weber, Elisabeth Scharang, Barbara Battisti oder Christa Hofmann und viele mehr.
But the Public Value Report also repeatedly publishes external voices. The scientific community was represented by Matthias Karmasin, Larissa Krainer, Thomas Steinmaurer and Corinna Wenzel from Austria as well as Graham Murdock, Gabriele Siegert, Werner Weidenfeld, Mark Eisenegger and Kurt Imhof from international research institutions. Numerous media representatives, such as VÖZ President Thomas Kralinger, Anna Maria Wallner ("Die Presse"), Armin Thurnher ("Falter"), Hubert Huber from the "Kurier" or Amy Goodman from the USA have contributed to the understanding of public service quality, as have prominent representatives of civil society, such as Cornelius Obonya, Benni Raich, Michael Landau or Martin Schenk. The list of authors who provide their normative or evaluative contribution to public service quality grows each year, reflecting the fact that questions of media quality are of increasing importance in a market subject to disruptive change. Ultimately, each contribution provides its own answer to the question of who in particular benefits from public service media and how, how trust in public service media can be ensured, how efficiently ORF acts, and finally: what are the values that benefit the democratic, social and cultural cohesion of society in various media-related ways - thus ensuring that the discourse on public service quality helps to secure the public value of tomorrow.
