The European Commission - Representation in Italy
Ugo Bordoni Foundation, Rome
Associazione Italiana della Comunicazione Pubblica e Istituzionale - AICPI

EUROPEAN IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY
EU integration in the cross-media Public Service perspective

Preparatory Workshop
promoted by Infocivica and Gruppo di Torino
for the European Conference on

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
IN THE INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

 

2011 - 63 nd edition

Sala di Rappresentanza 
RAI Auditorium Arturo Toscanini - TORINO Piazza Rossaro 1
Tuesday 19st September 2011 - 09:00-14.40

Towards the evolution of the
Protocol on the system of public broadcasting
annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997

An initiative by Infocivica and the European Turin Workgroup on
"Public service media in the society of information and knowledge"

We have now reached the third meeting of the European University Network, an initiative of Infocivica which will be meeting at Turin in the context of the Prix Italia. This time we will address the issue of the cross-media offer with "The Challenges of the Net for creating a new 'public space' at the local, national and European level", within the project of "European identity and diversity", in collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Italy , the Ugo Bordoni Foundation and the Italian Association of Public and Institutional Communication.

The objective is the preparation of a green paper on the cross-media public service in Europe by the "Workgroup of Turin". The document will be submitted for approval at the closing session of the European Conference due to be held in Turin in November 2012. The Green Paper will encourage the initiative of international institutions (the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the European Parliament) within the perspective of a joint action by the European member states to redefine the nature of public service media in the society of information and knowledge, with a view to a further evolution of the Protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Fourteen years on from the Protocol and ten years after the 2001 “Communication from the Commission on the application of State aid rules to public service broadcasting”, the scenario has changed radically. The digital media, carried by open networks, have become widespread at a global level, and various new models of communication and information have been introduced and developed. What was heralded in the 1990s as the "convergence" of the media has evolved into what is now defined as a "cross-media" environment, in which branches of the traditional media intersect and merge with the new media. A new protagonist has appeared on the scene: the audience themselves, who are no longer merely passive recipients of content, but active providers of information and critical opinions and insights.

In this context, the public service can no longer be seen as just "broadcasting". It must become a cross-media phenomenon, exploiting the full spectrum of the new forms of communication and essentially becoming "interactive", no longer one-directional, proceeding from the broadcasters to the public, and even going beyond the idea of two-directional communication. In fact the pattern and structure of the net, characterised by nodes, intersections and fragmentation, must now be adopted as a model also for the public service.

The Green Paper will therefore lead first of all to a vision of public services in European countries, and on an all-embracing European scale, which reflects the changes that have occurred not only in the area of technology but also in the new social structures that have become increasingly fragmented and mobile as regards the choice of channels of distribution and of contents that are offered by the channels themselves.

All of this involves an expansion of the "public service mission" with a corresponding broadening of the offer, which can no longer be limited to radio and television services according to the traditional broadcast model, but should cover the entire cross-media system with the aim of combating the phenomenon of social fragmentation.

Switching from a programming schedule based on the broadcast to a new cross-media offer means establishing a new organizational and editorial structure and this, of course, means finding different sources of funding.

A reflection is therefore necessary on the nature of the licensee - or licensees of the public service, as well as the rules of its governance and the verification of the performance of its duties, in a new chain of value that has the principle of subsidiarity as its standard of reference (the public service must also do everything that individuals cannot do or do not find it convenient to do).

The basis of this reflection should be the idea of overcoming the vision of a public service that was summarized in the three points of "inform - educate - entertain". The new challenges regard issues such as the exercise of citizenship, the diffusion of knowledge, the promotion of culture, universal access and sharing of spaces.

It is also necessary to answer the question whether the public service should be entrusted to a public entity or if one should try to establish a harmonious unity of intention between the various parties that are contributing towards making an offer which corresponds to people's needs according to the changes in society.

The alternative is potentially grave, because entrusting the public service to the private sector may well involve the significant reduction of the "mission" in favour of an approach influenced by commercial policies or an uncaring and "bureaucratic" way of conducting the service. On the other hand we are all very familiar with the political, organizational and financing problems that characterize the work of public broadcasters.

The pathway that leads to the drafting of the document involves a series of open meetings with various scholars and experts, as well as with observers representing the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the OECD, the International Telecommunication Union and UNESCO.

The task of preparing the guidelines of the document has been entrusted to a small and compact working group consisting of the Rapporteurs of the four Reports, coordinated by professor Enrique Bustamante Ramirez (in charge of drafting the conclusions and a Document of summary of the Green Paper). The group will be assisted by Infocivica in the persons of Gianni Bellisario , Manlio Cammarata, Giacomo Mazzone , Andrea Melodia and Gerardo Mombelli.

The result should be a new model, to be formalized in a para-constitutional document similar to the Amsterdam Protocol, which should affirm the indispensability of public service media in the society of information. In the short term it is unrealistic to imagine a replacement of the 1997 Protocol, but cooperation between EU member states and international, supranational or intergovernmental institutions is possible, in view of preparing a global initiative to be presented at the Expo of Milan in 2015.

 

(by Manlio Cammarata)