Public Service News and Digital Media, a new report by the Reuters Institute

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford has published a new comparative report entitled "Public Service News and Digital Media" on 29 March 2016. The new report authored by Annika Sehl, Alessio Cornia and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen looks at key public service organisations in six countries (Italy, Poland, the UK, France, Germany and Finland) and documents how they are adapting their newsrooms and strategies to a fast-evolving digital media environment.

The analysis is based on interviews conducted between December 2015 and February 2016, primarily with senior managers and editors as well as on survey data from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

Some key findings of the reports include the following:

• PSM organisations have high reach for news offline (via television and radio) in all six countries, but only in Finland and the United Kingdom do they have high reach for news online.
   

• In all countries (except Finland and the UK), significantly more people get news online from social media than from PSM.
   

• In all 6 countries, PSM organisations face serious internal and external challenges to their ability to effectively deliver public service news online.
   

• There are key common traits between the conditions in which The British BBC and the Finnish Yle operate that contribute to their notable success. Externally, both operate in technologically advanced media markets, are comparatively well funded, are integrated and centrally organised across various platforms and have a degree of insulation from political influence, in comparison to other public service organisations.  Internally, they benefit from a pro-digital culture where new media are seen as opportunities as well as strong senior management and editorial leaders who are publically committed to driving change in line with a constantly evolving media landscape.
   

• The need for public service news provision to evolve will only increase as media environments continue to change and digital media become more and more important. Addressing the external conditions for the evolution of PSM is a matter for public discussion and political decision-making. Developing the internal conditions, however, is the responsibility of PSM themselves, and a precondition for their continued relevance in a rapidly changing media environment.

This report is the first of a series of annual reports that will focus specifically on how European public service media are adapting to the rise of digital media, a series of reports that will over time cover more countries and more issues than those discussed here.

• Public Service News and Digital Media (PDF)
• Public Service News and Digital Media (online version)

Source: Website of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford