[csaa-forum] Convergence CFP: Special issue 14.3

[Jason Wilson]

(apologies for x-posting) 

European Public Service Media in the Digital Age:

Institutions and Practices

(Convergence Vol 14 no 3, August 2008)

Guest editors:  Leen d’Haenens, Helena Sousa, Werner A. Meier and Josef Trappel

 
This call invites submissions for a special issue on European Public Service Media in the Digital Age. Like other media, Public Service media are in turmoil. The dramatic acceleration of technological innovation and the radicalization of economic and political risk and uncertainty have brought to light both the erosion and the necessity of public interest oriented media, especially broadcasting. In Europe, Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) has been one of the pillars on which post-war democratic societies were built. However, its traditional role as a system regulator and as a guardian of public debate and quality programming is being undermined by the explosion of new media applications and platforms and by the interconnected commoditisation of content and services. The increasingly competitive environment PSB has had to face over the last two decades is indeed escalating (though not necessarily uniformly in all European countries) with the steady introduction of new
 digital platforms which provide additional means for distributing electronic media serving both individual and collective needs. In addition to more channels, digital technology provides opportunities for the public to create new forms of communication and participate in new forms of social interaction. In this new digital context, which allows greater public participation, public service media need to redefine their role as standard-setting institutions in increasingly volatile social and political contexts.
 
In this special issue we particularly welcome submissions (from different theoretical backgrounds) which explore the most crucial challenges European Public Media is facing today in the light of digital challenges created by the implications of the switch over from analogue to digital.  In this issue our intention is to re-equate and redefine the place and the role of public service institutions and media in a digital context.  We particularly welcome papers that address the following questions and issues in a comparative way:
 
·       How should public service media redefine their social and cultural role in the light of the proliferation of online content and service providers (both professional and user-generated)?

·       What are the consequences of the explosion of news sources and new production sites for conventional public service journalism? What does that mean for the maintenance of a European public sphere(s)?

·       In what meaningful ways can public service media companies arrange social responsibility and accountability with market pressures?

·       Given the reorganization of interests and the growth in the number of new media actors, what are the most efficient regulatory/governance frameworks?

·       What lessons can be learnt from preceding and present-day hetero-regulation, co-regulation and self-regulation mechanisms?

·       Can the distinctive core characteristics of European PSB be maintained in the face of extreme fragmentation of interests and audiences?

·       Can Public Service Media still manage to cater for the diversity of all sections of society (by gender, age, ethnic background, taste, etc)?

·       Will the BBC continue to play a leading role within Europe in re-designing public service philosophy and action or are others generating alternative models?

·       Is the erosion of PSB an inevitable consequence of digitalization? Or are these companies in a unique position to revitalize richer conceptions of public good and citizen participation? 

Authors should submit expressions of interest or papers to Leen d’Haenens (leen.dhaenens at soc.kuleuven.be).  Deadline for submission of research articles: 31st August 2007. 
Full submission details available at http://www.beds.ac.uk/Convergence/callforpapers/

All other inquiries should be sent to: convergence at beds.ac.uk

Jason Wilson

Reviews Editor/Editorial assistant - Convergence

Research Institute for Media, Art and Design
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 3JU
United Kingdom

T +44 (0)1582 489144
F +44 (0)1582 489212
M  07828482604
jason.wilson at beds.ac.uk








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