Media Policy and Globalization - Blogs Unpad

BROADCASTING POLICY 91
countries. PSBs would have to choose and stick to a single form of funding
and programming, according to the guidelines issued by DG4. More
concretely, PSBs would have to choose either a single source of funding,
such as state support without the possibility of seeking outside revenue,
or would choose dual funding and therefore compete for revenues in the
market, while at the same time being obliged to fulfil their public service
mandate or depend for their funding from private organizations interested
in tendering for public services on public tenders. These options
offered few choices to states and PSBs for the meaningful development of
public service broadcasting systems in Europe in the twenty-first century.
The first option would have placed PSBs under the direct control of their
respective states, potentially further damaging the effort of journalists and
media workers generally of pursuing independent and progressive media
work. Even if nation-states avoided interference with broadcasting plans,
it is unlikely that the increased running costs of national PSBs would be
met by state finances, especially in an era of state withdrawal from the
funding of public institutions. The choice of competing in the free market
would have also proved to be unrealistic for PSBs, especially when they
are expected to fulfill non-commercial obligations. Finally, the choice of
funding through public tenders would have brought PSBs into a situation
comparable to the tenuous state of public broadcasting in the US, lacking
a steady stream of funding and therefore without stability and resources to
plan for long-term objectives. In response to these pressures, and through
the collaboration of PSBs, states and the European Parliament, EU policy
came to define the institution of public service broadcasting as a cornerstone
of European societies in the Amsterdam Treaty rationalizing its
mode of service vis-à-vis the market-driven private media. This response
has become an item of public debate as well, however, that will neither
be resolved nor disappear quicly from the agenda of state policy. 6
According to the Amsterdam Treaty:
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES
CONSIDERING that the system of public broadcasting in the Member
States is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs
of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism
HAVE AGREED upon the following interpretative provisions, which
shall be annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community:
The provisions of this Treaty shall be without prejudice to the competence
of Member States to provide for the funding of public service
broadcasting in so far as such funding is granted to broadcasting organizations
for the fulfilment of the public service remit as conferred,