Detailed Information on Publication Record

SMEJKAL, Klára and Lukáš SLAVÍK. Competing Platform Imaginaries: Public Service Media at a Crossroad. In Redefining Televisuality: Programmes, Practices, Methods ECREA Television Section Conference, Potsdam, Germany. 2023.

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TY  - CONF
ID  - 2362019
AU  - Smejkal, Klára - Slavík, Lukáš
PY  - 2023
TI  - Competing Platform Imaginaries: Public Service Media at a Crossroad
N2  - In the last two decades, digitisation has seen a shift from public service broadcasting to public service media (Donders, 2012), i.e. a move towards the provision of public service across devices and through different technologies (Donders, 2019; Debrett, 2009), with an emphasis on audiences as an active and highly diversified source of demand, rather than just a homogenous broadcast target (Jakubowicz, 2007). This is part of the strategies of how public service media seek to justify and fulfil their role in a digitized media environment (Debrett, 2009). One of these strategies is the development of new digital platforms that are emerging in response to the rise of commercial VOD services (D'Arma, Raats, & Steemers, 2021). This is particularly prevalent in Western countries such as the UK (iPlayer BBC), Sweden (SVT Play), and Germany (Funk ARD and ZDF). The development of these platforms raises questions not only about the nature and functioning of the so-called public service algorithm (Sørensen & Hutchinson, 2018) but also about the nature of public service values in general (Lassen & Sørensen, 2023). This is because it is not only a technical innovation but always a social innovation that problematizes the established ways of internal and external functioning (Ehrhart et al., 2014) of media organizations. In our study, using an ethnographic approach combining 390 semi-structured interviews and a series of nonparticipant observations conducted between November 2020 and May 2023, we explore the platform imaginaries (van Es & Poell, 2020) held by Czech public service television employees during its development and implementation. We reveal their tacit knowledge and practices, the boundaries of their communities, their ideals (Thomsen, 2018) and, as a result, their imaginaries of the public service values that the medium should fulfil. We find two conflicting conceptions of platform imaginaries that we discuss. In doing so, we build on existing studies (Grainge & Johnson, 2018; van Es & Poell, 2020) but provide insights directly into the practice process of media professionals in Czech television and the neglected CEE region.
ER  -

Basic information
Original name	Competing Platform Imaginaries: Public Service Media at a Crossroad
Authors	SMEJKAL, Klára and Lukáš SLAVÍK.
Edition	Redefining Televisuality: Programmes, Practices, Methods ECREA Television Section Conference, Potsdam, Germany, 2023.

Other information
Type of outcome	Presentations at conferences
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
Organization unit	Faculty of Social Studies
Tags	International impact, Reviewed
Changed by	Changed by: Mgr. Blanka Farkašová, učo 97333. Changed: 19/4/2024 16:28.

Abstract
In the last two decades, digitisation has seen a shift from public service broadcasting to public service media (Donders, 2012), i.e. a move towards the provision of public service across devices and through different technologies (Donders, 2019; Debrett, 2009), with an emphasis on audiences as an active and highly diversified source of demand, rather than just a homogenous broadcast target (Jakubowicz, 2007). This is part of the strategies of how public service media seek to justify and fulfil their role in a digitized media environment (Debrett, 2009). One of these strategies is the development of new digital platforms that are emerging in response to the rise of commercial VOD services (D'Arma, Raats, & Steemers, 2021). This is particularly prevalent in Western countries such as the UK (iPlayer BBC), Sweden (SVT Play), and Germany (Funk ARD and ZDF). The development of these platforms raises questions not only about the nature and functioning of the so-called public service algorithm (Sørensen & Hutchinson, 2018) but also about the nature of public service values in general (Lassen & Sørensen, 2023). This is because it is not only a technical innovation but always a social innovation that problematizes the established ways of internal and external functioning (Ehrhart et al., 2014) of media organizations. In our study, using an ethnographic approach combining 390 semi-structured interviews and a series of nonparticipant observations conducted between November 2020 and May 2023, we explore the platform imaginaries (van Es & Poell, 2020) held by Czech public service television employees during its development and implementation. We reveal their tacit knowledge and practices, the boundaries of their communities, their ideals (Thomsen, 2018) and, as a result, their imaginaries of the public service values that the medium should fulfil. We find two conflicting conceptions of platform imaginaries that we discuss. In doing so, we build on existing studies (Grainge & Johnson, 2018; van Es & Poell, 2020) but provide insights directly into the practice process of media professionals in Czech television and the neglected CEE region.

Abstract

In the last two decades, digitisation has seen a shift from public service broadcasting to public service media (Donders, 2012), i.e. a move towards the provision of public service across devices and through different technologies (Donders, 2019; Debrett, 2009), with an emphasis on audiences as an active and highly diversified source of demand, rather than just a homogenous broadcast target (Jakubowicz, 2007). This is part of the strategies of how public service media seek to justify and fulfil their role in a digitized media environment (Debrett, 2009). One of these strategies is the development of new digital platforms that are emerging in response to the rise of commercial VOD services (D'Arma, Raats, & Steemers, 2021). This is particularly prevalent in Western countries such as the UK (iPlayer BBC), Sweden (SVT Play), and Germany (Funk ARD and ZDF). The development of these platforms raises questions not only about the nature and functioning of the so-called public service algorithm (Sørensen & Hutchinson, 2018) but also about the nature of public service values in general (Lassen & Sørensen, 2023). This is because it is not only a technical innovation but always a social innovation that problematizes the established ways of internal and external functioning (Ehrhart et al., 2014) of media organizations. In our study, using an ethnographic approach combining 390 semi-structured interviews and a series of nonparticipant observations conducted between November 2020 and May 2023, we explore the platform imaginaries (van Es & Poell, 2020) held by Czech public service television employees during its development and implementation. We reveal their tacit knowledge and practices, the boundaries of their communities, their ideals (Thomsen, 2018) and, as a result, their imaginaries of the public service values that the medium should fulfil. We find two conflicting conceptions of platform imaginaries that we discuss. In doing so, we build on existing studies (Grainge & Johnson, 2018; van Es & Poell, 2020) but provide insights directly into the practice process of media professionals in Czech television and the neglected CEE region.