Future Public Media – Future of radio and television: A Manifesto

Public broadcasting organisations are facing radical changes. They were created more than half a century ago with the aim of reaching all population groups with a linear full programme. But today most public media houses have become an anachronism. Security and quality form the foundation and historically grown structures the pillars of such media companies. These and numerous other factors in public media companies prevent rapid decisions and ongoing adjustments to a complex, technology-oriented world.

The search for future legitimacy

Broad access to information, opportunities for free opinion-forming and offers for cultural cohesion, on the other hand, form the mission and the roof of these socially relevant institutions. More than ever, public media houses are dependent on adapting to digital reality in order to ensure their legitimacy in the future.

About futurepublic.media

futurepublic.media deals with the current challenges of public media companies, provides solutions in the form of a manifesto and should thus enable a future-oriented debate. All the more interesting is your opinion - here we can discuss.

The author of futurepublic.media is Konrad Weber, journalist and digital strategist at Swiss Radio and Television. He has made this platform possible with the support of numerous fellow thinkers as part of his Master's degree in Digital Management at Hyper Island.

Challenges

No digital image

Old-fashioned, (too) serious and not very innovative - this is how many public television and radio stations are perceived by the public. The fact that most of these institutions provide digital services and in some cases try out new ones is not highly appreciated by the existing image. For this reason, some media houses are trying to establish new digital brands outside their core offering in order to become more attractive to a younger audience. However, these efforts often contribute only marginally to the umbrella brand.

Quality and safety as an obstacle to innovation

With strict journalistic guidelines and established processes, public media houses have built up and developed quality and security over many years. While these factors are increasingly turning into unique selling points in the journalistic field, they are also hindering the agile and innovative further development of the existing offering. In order to keep pace with the rapid technological development, these factors must also be able to change without denying their origin.

Different levels of knowledge, lack of strategic goals

Employees are regarded as the most valuable and also most expensive resource of a media company. In a digital transformation phase, they should be all the more in the focus of attention, be it through expanded training opportunities, transparent communication in the change process and clear objectives. Due to partly contradictory political mandates and the claim to still want to cover all sections of the population with a full program, strategic goals in public media companies are often unclear and make it difficult for individual employees to contribute to these corporate goals with their work.

The number of internal and external challenges for public media companies is large and the market situation complex. Changes in media usage, a lack of digital image and technological debt in the development of new products and services are the most important and long-term challenges that need to be addressed urgently.

Seize the opportunity now

Jay Rosen, journalism professor at the New York University

The time has come to build on the remaining opportunities and possibilities and to initiate the urgently needed change in these media companies.

Or like journalism professor Jay Rosen concludes: "Public Service Media have to become as good at listening as they are at broadcasting."

Aus diesem Grund hat der Autor, Konrad Weber, zusammen mit Branchenexpertinnen, Medienschaffenden und Nutzern ein Manifest bestehend aus 15 Punkten zum Zweck, der Funktion und Organisation von öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien in einem digitalen Zeitalter entwickelt.

Manifesto

We as Public Service Media

promote democratic opinion-forming and cultural diversity, thereby fulfilling our constitutional mandate.
are aware of the responsibility we bear through public funding and ensure the greatest possible effectiveness.
are guided by the public interest when setting topics and can / must deal with topics that are neglected in the private media.
stand for reliable, fair and balanced journalism and focus our actions on impact and not on reach.
understand our offer as a service to society and our products as common property and thus fulfil another task than private publishers.
take our broad public and the different and changing needs seriously when choosing distribution channels, and thus ensure a high level of brand loyalty.
are constantly looking for new ways to reach as many people as possible and thus fulfil our mission to be there for the general public.
actively involve our audience and make use of the opportunities that participation offers.
understand improvement as a process that is never finished and can thus continuously increase the value of our offers and products.
measure and question existing offers and products quantitatively and qualitatively and thus ensure that deficits are discovered and remedied as quickly as possible.
are transparent, publish the metrics and the findings derived from them and make decisions comprehensible.
use technological developments in production and distribution and thus exploit the technological potential that can reduce costs and improve quality.
actively promote technological development in the media industry itself and thus make our own contribution to improving the supply of media content to the population.
ensure that appropriate organisational forms and processes are in place to ensure that resources are used as efficiently as possible and that information flows transparently inside and outside the organisation, thereby laying the foundation for informed decisions to be made and communicated.
are aware that media organisations can only be as good as their employees and therefore provide suitable conditions to make us an attractive employer.

Download the Manifesto as a PDF document.

Fellow thinkers

Wolfgang Blau, President of Condé Nast International.
Marcus Bösch, co-founder of the AR/VR studio @vragments.
Daniel Bröckerhoff, host of @heuteplus at German television ZDF.
Philip Bromwell, news video and mobile journalist at Irish television RTÉ.
Leonhard Dobusch, professor of organisation at the University of Innsbruck.
Martin Fehrensen, a former journalist at ZDF and social media researcher.
Daniel Fiene, digital strategist at Rheinische Post, host at Deutschlandfunk.
Sarah Genner, a researcher in digital media and digital transformation.
Richard Gutjahr, independent journalist, host at German television.
Tim Herbig, author and speaker about lateral leadership and agility.
Martin Hoffmann, online journalist and start-up founder.
Mirette Kangas, founder of the Lean-Agile Accelerator at Finnish YLE.
Thilo Kasper, head of video at ZEIT Online, former creative producer at Funk.
Alexander Knetig, head of digital at Arte.
Joël Krapf, personnel and organisational developer at Swiss Post.
Scott Lamb, head of international growth at BuzzFeed.
Lorenz Lorenz-Meyer, professor at University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt.
Marco Maas, data journalist, founder and managing director of OpenDataCity.
Anne-Paule Martin, head of digital at French-spoken Swiss Television RTS.
Philipp Meier, community developer at SWI swissinfo.ch.
Alex Nieschwietz, project manager digital change at German television WDR.
Julia Rehkopf, a journalist at German youth channel Funk.
Karsten Schmehl, a reporter at Buzzfeed Germany.
Nadja Schnetzler, founder and coach for corporate culture at Word-and-Deed.
Alexandra Stark, head of studies at the Swiss School of Journalism maz.
Damien Van Achter, co-founder of Pilote.Media, a former journalist at RTBF.
Dani Woytewicz, format developer and project manager at WDR/Funk.
Anita Zielina, früher Chief Product Officer bei der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung.