broadcasting intended to serve the public interest. Broadcasting is, by definition, a public service. Programmes transmitted within a given area are available to anyone in the area who has a receiver. At an early stage, however, the concept of "public service broadcasting" evolved as something distinct from broadcasting for purely commercial or propaganda reasons.
The basis of public service broadcasting is generally accepted to be an obligation to provide "information, education, and entertainment". This formula (though with the three elements listed in a different order) was first given currency by David Sarnoff, an American pioneer of broadcasting and later President of the Radio Corporation of America, who advocated the creation of a Public Service Broadcasting Company to operate on the basis of it. This did not happen, and the industry in the United States developed in a different direction.
The formula was adopted in the United Kingdom, however, by the first Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), John Reith, and written into the Royal Charter of the BBC when it was set up as a public corporation in 1927. These three strands of broadcasting are sometimes called "The Reithian trinity".
Opinion varies on the precise meaning of public service broadcasting. A narrow interpretation is that it represents only those programmes of minority or specialist interest which a purely commercial system cannot be guaranteed to provide. In the United Kingdom, where the broadcasting system is widely regarded as a model of public service, a broad interpretation has traditionally been applied. The following are some of the principles generally identified with public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
The primary purpose of broadcasting is to benefit the public, not any commercial, political, or sectional interest.
The service must be available to everyone and must be free at the point of delivery (that is, apart from investing in a receiving set and, in the case of television, paying a licence fee, the viewer or listener does not need special equipment and does not pay for the service). Satellite and cable channels, especially those available only on subscription, do not meet this requirement.
There should be an extensive range of programmes, of both wide appeal and minority interest, made to the highest possible production standards. The concept of public service broadcasting, however, relates not just to individual programmes; it concerns the way they are arranged in a schedule. Thus, whereas a television schedule dictated by commercial needs will be likely to concentrate on popular entertainment at peak viewing times, a public service schedule will offer a broader choice.
News and factual programmes must deal fairly and impartially with matters of controversy. This is only possible if the broadcaster is editorially independent of political, commercial, and other interests.
There are close links between the principles of public service broadcasting and the
funding and regulatory systems within which it operates. In the United Kingdom the main
public service broadcaster is the BBC, which is financed by licence fees and regulated by
an autonomous Board of Governors. It is a matter of debate whether, or for how long, the
BBC can retain its traditional status in the face of the increasing diversity of choice
available from satellite and commercial channels. The government has, however, agreed that
the BBC's Charter, from which stems its commitment to public service, should be renewed
for ten years from 1997.
Contributed by: Towyn Mason [1]
[1] "Public Service Broadcasting," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 96 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.