Covid-19 and public service media

Impact of the pandemic on public television in Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID12623902
AuthorsJosé Miguel Túñez-López (0000-0002-5036-9143, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, corresponding author), Martín Vaz-Álvarez (0000-0002-4848-9795, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela), César Fieiras Ceide (0000-0001-5606-3236, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
Year2020
Publication date2020-10-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEl Profesional de la Informacion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1386-6710 • E-ISSN: 1699-2407
PublisherEdiciones Profesionales de la Informacion SL (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3145/epi.2020.sep.18
OpenAlexW3096231166
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited9

This article analyses the response of European Public Service Media to the crisis caused by Covid-19, especially the impact of the pandemic on Europe’s major public broadcasters, with a particular focus on technical and professional constraints, alterations in audience volume and habits, production strategies, type of broadcast content and journalists’ routines. The research is based on public information from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and 19 in-depth, structured interviews with a convenience sample of innovation and strategy managers from public broadcasters in Austria (ORF), Belgium (VRT and RTBF), Denmark (DR), Finland (YLE), France (France TV), Germany (ARD and ZDF), Great Britain (BBC), Ireland (RTÉ), Italy (RAI), Netherlands (NPO), Portugal (RTP), Spain (RTVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (RTS) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The results indicate that the corporate projection of PSM was increased by emphasising their role as essential services and their defence of the values that characterise them. The pandemic forced the adaptation of programme production from technical standards to an emotional approach, accelerating a formal hybridisation with native online contents. Dependence on software grew and newsmaking processes were altered towards ‘remote journalism’. Changes are drawn that may be maintained in the future

Advertising · Broadcasting (networking · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · European union · International trade · Journalism · Pandemic · Political science · Public broadcasting · Public relations · Public service · Service (business · Communication and COVID-19 Impact · Media Studies and Communication · Medicine · Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media · Marketing

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access