Abstract:
In countries with a mature public broadcasting sector and where public broadcasting is
being challenged by the multichannel and digital environment, there is a veritable avalanche
of discourse aiming to ensure the future of the sector. Various key concepts are intoned like
mantras-public service, public sphere, citizenship, democracy-as if by their very repetition
they had the power to hold hostile forces at bay. The present article examines just one of
these-democracy- and suggests that the invocation of the term in typical defenses is at best
imprecise and at worse outdated. Furthermore, in its devaluation of various forms of popular
media, the typical defense ends up championing a set of media practices that are increasingly
irrelevont. The article concludes that a generalized defense of public service broadcasting
is "impotent" and must be replaced by localized and specific analyses of where public
broadcasting fits in various media ecologies.
