Challenges and Developments in Public Service Journalism

Abstract

This book focuses on the roles, opportunities and challenges for the provision of public service journalism and news in today’s increasingly complex and competitive digital media environment. The eleven chapters comprising the anthology bring together scholarly research on theory development, for policy analysis, and with treatments of practical cases and implications. The volume is organised in three parts: Normative frameworks, Platform power and AI, and National and regional cases in Europe and beyond – especially Africa, Asia and India. The preface and the postface were authored by practitioners engaged with research and development in the applied context of public service media organisations. Journalism in the public interest has always been a core aspect of the remit for public service media (PSM) organisations. Technological, economic, and political pressures have undermined the integrity of information systems around the world and threaten this foundational pillar of PSM. This anthology contributes to scholarly discourse and practical deliberations about journalism in the public interest from diverse analytical and geographic perspectives. Contributors provide analysis and insight in countries associated with the Global South as well as legacy PSM organisations in Europe. The anthology is timely given urgent concerns about the health and future of journalism in its roles and functions as a vital aspect of democracy in practice. The book clarifies a range of formidable challenges for public service journalism in the digital media ecology and provides rich and insightful analyses based on empirical research with findings that have pertinence for policy interventions, developing organisational strategies, and for applied practice.