INFOCIVICA - EUROPEAN IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY - Study workshop n. 1. Social change, public service demand and mission in the society of information and knowledge.
Turin Prix Italia – 21st september 2010

THE EUROPEAN PANORAMA - POLAND

Beata Klimkiewicz

Jagellonian University of Kracow

Real-time summary:

Beata Klimkiewicz, was next to intervene, speaking about the situation in Poland and Eastern Europe. The speed of the reforms imposed on public service media since the early '90s and the pace with which events have taken place has created many problems (funding, lack of contacts, carrying out the mission of the public service), which it has been sought to address with rather fragmented policies, often disconnected from their relationship with the public, normative expectations and the surrounding media environment. The quality of the public service in Poland is very high and the objective of the Government in 2009 was to confer a very precise mission upon the public service. The rules included the demand for a quality product, greater attention towards previously unknown groups of users and particular attention to the values of Christianity. The advent of the cross-media era nat urally leads to the need for a radical renewal. A new draft law of 2010 emphasizes the cultural role of the media and suggests that it should be independent from politics, while recommending an enhancement of its connection with public opinion . One of the criticisms which have been made about Polish public television is that it is too detached from its audiences while, thanks to the web, a number of radio stations have been able to create a better connection with their listeners. At this point professor Klimkiewicz asked whether in fact the need to define the mission of the public service is an old question, which in time we have lost contact with.

Continuation of the real-time summary

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General content of Professor Beata Klimkiewicz 's speech:

The Polish regulatory situation. The mandate assigned to the public broadcasting service in Poland

The pace of the reforms imposed on Public Service Media in Poland since the beginning of the ‘90s and the ‘compression' of time led to many problems (financing, accountability, fulfilment of public service ‘mission'), that was sought to be addressed by rather fragmented policies, in many cases separated from their relations with audiences, normative expectations and the surrounding media environment. This is an important consideration for directing reflections regarding the remit and identity of Public Service Media towards new normative suggestions, especially in terms of regaining the prestige and image of Public Service Media and ensuring that the legislation would be relevant in the entire media context .

The implementation of the public service mission and the production of public service contents has been increasingly criticised in Poland as well as across the region of Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, the television has been seen as a medium that abandons its high-quality programming profile and employs a strategy of imitation of commercially popular programmes in order to defend and maintain its high market shares.

This presentation will focus on a definition of public service ‘mission' in the Polish broadcasting system. It will also discuss some aspects and prospects of its implementation. In particular, the following domains will be considered:

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See also:

2009 INFOCIVICA CONFERENCE
IS BUILDING AN EUROPEAN PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION POSSIBLE ?
After the Lisbon Treaty : problems and prospects

Audio 2009 INFOCIVICA CONFERENCE