Lecture 7

When I was 6 years old, I was bullied, and teased, and ridiculed because I was “stupid”. Wanna know why I was called stupid? Because I hadn’t seen the latest Cinderella advertised on television. More importantly, I didn’t know what an ‘ad’ was. Yes, I am a public media baby. Sesame Street, Play School and Round the Twist all the way!

My dad wears this shirt to bed.

Just as Nigel Milan, the Former Director of SBS stated, "The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens"… or the difference between Barbie and climbing trees. Barbie will cost you; she’s tacky and trivial. Whereas climbing trees, is freeing; like a breath of fresh air.

Now to the important stuff:

As defined by public media powerhouse, WGBH, public media is,

"Media whose mission is to serve or engage a public."

The word, serve, is of noble meaning.

Elwyn Brooks White, the American writer, sent a letter to the Carnegie Commission, outlining his dream of public television.

"Non-commercial TV should address itself to the ideal of excellence, not the idea of acceptability -- which is what keeps commercial TV from climbing the staircase. I think TV should be providing the visual counterpart of the literary message, should arouse our dreams, satisfy our hunger for beauty, take us on journeys, enable us to participate in events, present great drama and music, explore the sea and the sky and the woods and the hills. It should restate and clarify the social dilemma and the political pickle. Once in a while it does, and you get a quick glimpse of its potential."

How very beautiful.

Similar to commercial media, public media has an important role in a democratic society. It must embed a public service ethos, and offer for public consultation. Simply, this can be referred to as “public value”.

The function of public media is to “inform, educate and entertain”, articulated by the first Director-General of the BBC, Lord Reith. This ethos is adopted by organizations such as the ABC and SBS.

The ABC’s charter underpins the rationale for public broadcasting via the following:

·      Universality

·      Localism

·      Australian Content

·      Program Diversity

·      Diversity of News and Information

·      Education 

·      Creative Risk

·      Quality

This expresses the function of pubic media in nation building, preserving heritage, creating and fostering a national identity, and well as providing national conversations.

Public media upholds a very noble aim. In order to do so, a particular style is utilized. Public media is serious, and often presented in a broadsheet style. Predominantly, it holds importance over interest, which is simply the reason why public media is made of diamonds.