The kiss of death. Public service media under right-wing populist attack

Abstract

With the surge of populism in Europe, public service broadcasting has come under increased pressure. The established media are considered part of the corrupt elite not serving the interests of the people. The public service media, for which pluralism is at the core of their remit, are a particular thorn in the side of the populists. Therefore, they attack the financial basis of public service, which is supposed to guarantee their independence. The populist attacks on the traditional broadcasting corporations meet with the interests of neoliberal politics and of those political actors who want to evade public scrutiny and democratic control and do no longer feel committed to democratic accountability. The assaults on the public service media are thus an assault on freedom of the media and further increase the pressure on the democratic system.

The media welfare state: A citizen perspective

“…The cluster of political attitude-variables almost doubled the explained variance in the regression model (Table 3), suggesting that the media welfare state of mind is embedded in contemporary ideological conflicts (as discussed by e.g. Edlund and Johansson Sevä, 2013;Holtz-Bacha, 2021;Hooghe et al, 2002).…”

“…During the last three to four decades, several of the institutions of the media welfare state have been challenged by political developments (Holtz-Bacha, 2021; Jakobsson et al, 2021). Thus, the media welfare state, which is celebrated internationally by media scholars (Benson et al, 2017) and supported locally by voters, is increasingly an “image in the rearview mirror” (Ala-Fossi, 2020: 146).…”

“…There are signs however that the “stealth mode” of media policy is coming to an end. The growth of the radical right and their fierce attacks on public service media (Holtz-Bacha, 2021), which have changed the stance on public service among the traditional right-wing parties (being increasingly critical), have moved issues of media policy into the eye of the public. Our data suggests, however, that while they are generally less positive, even citizens who favor the conservative parties are, on average, supportive of the media welfare state.…”

“…Taken together, contemporary challenges such as radical right-wing attacks on public service media (Holtz-Bacha, 2021), increasingly antagonistic relations between stakeholders in the media market, a more polarized media audience (Jakobsson et al, 2021) and the dominant role played by transnational platform companies in the media market, suggest that the media welfare state is turning into an “image in the rearview mirror” (Ala-Fossi, 2020, 146).…”

Normative foundations of media welfare: Perspectives from the Nordic countries

“…Media development and political developments in recent years beg the question of how new challenges to freedom and human dignity can be handled and met by media welfare state solutions. In many countries, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are threatened by right-wing populist political movements (Holtz-Bacha, 2021) that seek increased control over the media and communication environment. New media technologies also pose a threat to personal freedom, as they give both states and corporations the means to track people’s media practices and secretly guide their media use (Zuboff, 2019).…”