Public Service Broadcasting Online ― A Comparative European Policy Study of Psb 2.0

Benedetta Brevini investigates the extent to which a Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) ethos has been extended to the online world in Europe. She examines the most significant policy initiatives carried out by PSBs in Europe on online platforms, and analyzes how the public service philosophy is being reinvented by policy makers (at both the national and European level), by PSB institutions and by their competitors. Brevini examines Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, where PSB has been the subject of landmark reforms that have changed its legal and policy frameworks. Concurrently, at the European level, the debate about the redefinition and expansion of PSB in the new media has been vigorous. As such, Brevini elaborates on and discusses a normative democratic framework for PSB online in Europe, named 'PSB 2.0'. She concludes by arguing that, if the online world is to be infused with the same public service ethos which characterizes traditional broadcasting, European policy makers and institutions need to understand that a reconfiguration of public service values and principles – in other words, PSB 2.0 – is becoming crucial.

Benedetta Brevini is Lecturer in Media Policy in the Department of Journalism at City University, London, UK. Her research addresses a range of current issues in international media policy and the political economy of online media. Her work has appeared in international publications such as the European Journal of Communication, Interaction: Studies in Communication and Culture, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, Political Communication Polcom. Her co-edited book, Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism & Society, was published in March 2013. Before joining academia she worked as a journalist in Milan, New York and London, and she currently writes for The Guardian's Comment is Free.