Public Service Media: Digital and Global Challenges

Car, V. (2012). Public Service Media: Digital and Global Challenges. Turčilo, L. and Buljubašić, B. (Ed.). Vjerodostojnost medija. Izazovi globalizacije i specifičnosti regiona, 39-58Sarajevo: University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Political Science.

Abstract: At the beginning of 1990s, public service media was defined as a broadcaster whose role is to inform, to educate and to entertain the public. Since that time, definitions of informing and entertaining have changed, as have the approaches and methods of education through media. In the pre-internet era, information was not available to the public without journalists as intermediaries. Today, journalists are no longer just intermediaries, since anyone can publish information, and many do. Journalists' new task is to evaluate, analyze, and put into a broader context the information and explore what remains hidden. In the digital and globalized media system, public service media in Europe have become very similar to each other when it comes to the principles of programming and programming formats. They differ only in the language they use, and substantially in their historical and socio-political discourse, or in values and perspectives they promote. Because of a highly developed entertainment industry and information overload, public service media has lost a race with other media in terms of speed and popularity. Still, public service media remained with its most important mission – enlightening. The aim of this paper is to examine what are the position and the opportunities of the Croatia’s public service radio and television (HRT) in this changing environment.