“Bold and swift” action needed to maintain public service media’s democratic role, panel says at Media Frontiers event

Industry experts, academics and students gathered at the School of Media and Communications this week to discuss the future of UK public service media at a critical moment for the sector.

Part of the School’s Media Frontiers series, What Next for Public Service Media? BBC Charter Review, Regulation and the Future of the UK Production Ecology brought together a range of perspectives, with media professionals and academics from across the country reflecting on the challenges facing the UK’s public service media following the close of the Government’s Charter Review consultation.

Hosted by Associate Professor David Lee and chaired by Professor Julie Firmstone, the panel featured contributions from Iain Bundred (Director of Policy & Public Affairs, BBC), Gareth Barr (Controller of Policy & Regulatory Strategy, ITV), Cat Lewis (CEO, Nine Lives Media), Gill Hind (Enders Analysis) and Professor Cathy Johnson (University of Leeds).

The Media Frontiers panel, including the University of Leeds' Professor Cathy Johnson (furthest right) takes questions from the audience

Discussions focused on the pressures posed by the rising impact of global platforms in the UK media ecosystem, with speakers reflecting on the implications for production and distribution across the UK media sector. Panellists noted the increasing difficulty public service media face in sustaining core principles such as universality, trust and diversity within a platform-led media environment.

Nevertheless, speakers and audience members also expressed broad agreement about the continuing democratic importance of public service media, particularly its role in supporting informed public debate and acting as a counterweight to disinformation. The discussion also highlighted the importance of maintaining a thriving production ecology beyond London and preserving a system that serves the national interest while offering an alternative to purely commercial media models.

A theme for the evening was the need for bold intervention from the Government in the forthcoming Charter Review. Panellists highlighted the importance of regulating global platforms, securing prominence for PSM content on video-sharing and third-party platforms, developing a progressive and independent funding model for the BBC, and protecting the organisation from the short-term political pressures of the rolling Charter review process to allow the broadcaster to develop a broader vision for delivering public value.

As another example of the School of Media and Communication’s interest in bringing industry and academic voices together, the panel demonstrated the need for ongoing public and industry debate about the kind of media system the UK wants to support in an increasingly platform-led environment.

Photo credits: Dr Dan Martin, Lecturer in Media and Communications at the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.