Public Media - Week 7

My weary brain that had just finished an exam, not to mention my unenthusiastic post holiday approach to this particular Monday, tried really hard to absorb and engage with week 7’s lecture on Public Media. Four words… thank god for blackboard. So here I am after an 8am-8pm grind at uni, stomach rumbling and eyes drooping, explaining what I gathered about Public Media.

Public media is government funded and does not strive to make a profit. Within a democratic society, public media is media that is in support of public and democratic processes. Public media has to have public value; this basically means it must have a ‘Public Service’ ethos. Within the Australian media landscape, public media comprises of ABC and SBS. I learnt some fancy new terms that describe what public service broadcasting should provide. It has to have geographical universality, meaning everyone anywhere has access to broadcasts, and universality of appeal, meaning broadcast programs need to cater to the interests and taste of all demographics, which I think is next to impossible.  There should also be special provisions made for minority groups. To me, throughout the lecture it was reinforced that public media is all about nationalism, as it functions are:

-       Nation building

-       National heritage

-        National identity

-        National conversations

      This is obvious when you watch ABC, especially the program Australian Story.

It’s known that many people think ABC and SBS are only for the elderly who refuse to modernise or people who consider themselves superiorly intellectual. This reputation is most probably due to the news style of public media, which is

-       Serious

-       Broadsheet style

-       Importance over interest

-       Considered, not quick and unchecked.

I must admit I’m guilty of previously thinking this. It has only just dawned on my journalism student self how pathetic commercial media really is. I think it may have something to do with immense coverage of teenage girls fainting and damaging their vocal cords over the UK boy band “One Direction”. After viewing media watch on ABC, it occurred to me that ABC is a place for real, true and professional journalism. Robert Richter, an independent producer, summed up exactly how I feel towards public media….

“It is such a special vehicle for voices to be heard ... [for] visions and viewpoints ... ignored by commercial media.”