Incoming Editors' Note

The authors considered a model of commercial television market with advertising with probabilistic viewer choice of channel, where private broadcasters may coexist with a public television broadcaster. The broadcasters influence the probability of getting viewer attention through the amount that they spend on programming, so that their advertising capacity depends on their own program outlays as well as on those of their competitors. A larger number of broadcasters will reduce overall capacity even when total program outlays are kept fixed, because the attention of viewers is split among a larger number of channels. The authors derive properties of equilibrium in an oligopolistic market with private broadcasters and show that the number of firms has a negative effect on overall advertising and viewer satisfaction. If there is a public channel that also sells advertisements but does not maximize profits, this will have a positive effect on advertiser and viewer satisfaction.     

European public service television and the cultural‐educational logic: A comparative analysis of children's and youth programming

One of the most recurrent themes in studies on European television trends, is that the policies of liberalization and deregulation have caused the industry to follow a more market‐oriented or crass commercial logic. New technologies and policies have led to an explosion in the number of commercial channels; new financial, organizational and programming strategies; increasing pressure from advertising and multinationals; and a decreasing role of the state in production and distribution.

This paper looks at how such pressures have affected the policies of European public service broadcasters (PSBs), by concentrating on their traditional commitment to education in an analysis of children's and youth programmes as an index of this change.     

New Challenges in the Coverage of Politics for UK Broadcasters and Regulators in the “Post-Truth” Environment

The last two years have been times of turbulence for the BBC, and other broadcasters, in terms of their coverage of UK politics. Their reporting of the general elections of 2015 and 2017, of the 2016 European Union Referendum and the 2015 election of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour Party have been much criticised (as has that of other mainstream media outlets). And despite the rise of social media, the BBC remains the most used and most trusted source of news in the UK and hence is a vital element in the UK public sphere. Consequently, these journalistic failures—when its political coverage failed to reflect what turned out to be the reality on the ground - are particularly problematic. This brings into focus the issue of “the truth” in election and referendum campaigns. The example quoted here—about the Labour Party and antisemitism—illustrates the difficulties in arriving at the “truth”, even in the less frenetic atmosphere between campaigns. It demonstrates how there can be many truths and this, in itself, raises urgent questions about the nature of political journalism which pose challenges for public broadcasting in Britain with implications that go much wider.     

No public value without a valued public

This study aims to enlighten the controversial discussion about the term public value in an innovative way. Instead of normative pronouncements and paternalistic posits, this study combines a theoretical, literature-based conception with an empirical quantitative approach. For this, the key term, public value, is split into its constituent parts of customer value and citizen value and is transformed into measurable attributes. By means of a choice-based conjoint analysis on panel data for Germany and the United Kingdom, we explore which performance attributes of public service broadcasters are the most important. Based on the results, we create a conception of public value from the perspective of the license fee payers as the main stakeholder of public service broadcasters. Our findings may unlock existing potential to increase our understanding of what is meant by the term public value.     

Public relations in educational television

This is the report of a limited inquiry into public relations activities of educational television stations, showing how educational broadcasters have at least one problem in common with their commercial brethren —namely, the need to publicize their efforts.     

Staging peace: Televised ceremonies of reconciliation

The visit of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem was the model for Dayan and Katz's conceptualization of the genre of media events, as live programs which have the power to transform history. Fifteen years later, a series of televised reconciliation ceremonies, which marked the stages of the peace process between Israel and its Arab neighbors (the Palestinians and the Jordanians), are used to re‐examine the model. We demonstrate (1) how the effectiveness of these ceremonies depends on the type of contract among the three participants—leaders, broadcasters and public—each of whom displays different kinds of reservations, and (2) how the aura of the ceremonies draws on the prior status of the participants (Hussein), but also confers status (Arafat).     

What Influences Advertising Price in Television Channels?: An Empirical Analysis on the Spanish Market

Advertising has an important role in the media industry. In a context where advertising generates a negative externality for viewers, this article analyzes the factors explaining ad prices in free TV empirically. This article also considers the participation of government-owned broadcasters in the Spanish market. This study finds that private ownership is associated with higher advertising prices. The results show a positive relation between audience size and ad price and a negative relation between ad price and advertising time. In addition, this study finds that higher prices are associated with the percentage of the population between 14 and 29 years old and the regional gross domestic product per capita in the broadcast area.     

Staging peace: Televised ceremonies of reconciliation

ABSTRACT

The visit of Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem was the model for Dayan and Katz’s conceptualization of the genre of media events, as live programs which have the power to transform history. Fifteen years later, a series of televised reconciliation ceremonies, which marked the stages of the peace process between Israel and its Arab neighbors (the Palestinians and the Jordanians), are used to re-examine the model. We demonstrate (1) how the effectiveness of these ceremonies depends on the type of contract among the three participants—leaders, broadcasters and public—each of whom displays different kinds of reservations, and (2) how the aura of the ceremonies draws on the prior status of the participants (Hussein), but also confers status (Arafat).     

Comparing Advertising Agencies’ Resources to Academic Libraries’ Collections

Abstract

Collection development analysis in academic libraries typically involves collection-centered and user-centered methods. These approaches focus on building collections that help students with their academic needs but may overlook resources that students need experience with when employed. To address this gap, the authors analyzed early-career advertising agency positions to identify a list of information resources that advertising agencies expect employees to use. This list was then compared against the library websites of 158 universities with advertising programs to see how sufficiently libraries are fulfilling these resource needs. The authors found that overall, university libraries only subscribe to a small number of resources used by advertising agencies.     

“Serving the masses,not the classes”: Station WHN,pioneer of commercial broadcasting of the 1920s

Historical accounts of how American radio developed into an advertising medium in the 1920s have focused almost exclusively on the broadcasting activities of large corporate concerns, especially AT&T. The contributory role of small broadcasters to this process has been overlooked, despite the fact that many of these were operating on a commercial basis when their larger corporate competitors were still eschewing direct advertising as an abuse of the medium. Drawing on contemporary publications and archival sources, this article details the controversial career of one such commercial pioneer, station WHN of New York, which played a crucial and hitherto overlooked role in opening up the airwaves to commercial use.     

Voter Registration Services at an Academic Library: A Non-Traditional Reference Service

Academic library reference services are ideally suited to register students to vote. Voter registration services may be more commonly associated with public library settings, but experiences in an academic library at Illinois State University in the autumn of 2004, 2008, and 2012 indicate that we provided a valuable service to our campus community—one that filled a need for the library’s primary clientele of undergraduate students, most ranging in age from 18 to 24 years and eligible to vote for the first time. Aspects of voter registration are similar in style to reference interviews. Providing a non-traditional service is also an effective avenue for outreach to students and community organizations, as well as to state and municipal agencies.     

The TV News Scheduling Game: When the Face of the Newscaster Matters

From the late 1920s, all radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom was undertaken by a public sector broadcaster—the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Television was also the exclusive preserve of the BBC until the mid-1950s, when advertiser-supported commercial stations came into existence. This form of competition for audiences, but not for finance, between two broadcasting sectors—called by some a 'comfortable duopoly'—persisted until the late 1980s when the government permitted competitive entry by cable and satellite operators, introduced competition for advertising revenue between terrestrial stations, and placed commercial television broadcasting on a more competitive footing by introducing tendering for franchises. As these changes have occurred, the BBC has maintained its traditional system of regulation and has continued to operate under a Royal Charter. Although the expiry of the current Charter at the end of 1996 has provoked a debate about the role of the BBC, the government has stated its intention to renew the Charter for another 10 years. It seems likely that, until the year 2002 at least, the current system of regulating and financing public Service broadcasting in the United Kingdom will remain intact. However, the proliferation of channels represents a threat to the BBC's audience base. There may also be difficulties in combining within the same organization a public service mission and highly commercial activities, undertaken in a very competitive world market.     

Journal of broadcasting,Topic and author index to volume I through volume VII (winter 1956–57 through fall 1963)

Following the Watts riots of 1965, and similar disturbances in the years that followed, many broadcasters sought to establish procedures that would enable them to properly cover any disturbances that might take place in their own city. The trade press and the publications of organizations concerned with broadcast journalism provided numerous “codes” and lists of suggestions for such coverage. Scholarly articles—such as some of those appearing in the Fall 1969 issue of the Journal—provided specific guidelines for covering and avoiding a civil disturbance. With no community of any size able to be absolutely certain that disorders would not strike, it would seem prudent for all broadcasters to establish contingency plans for operations in the event of an actual or potential riot or other major disturbance. Apparently such was not the case, at least among the stations sampled in the following study.

This project was partly supported by a Research Grant from the National Association of Broadcasters, but the author is solely responsible for the data and the implications drawn from them. Dr. Quarantelli is Professor of Sociology, and affiliated with the Disaster Research Center at the Ohio State University.     

Covering Democracy's Forum: Canadian Press Treatment of Public and Private Broadcasting

A content analysis of Canadian press coverage of public service and private broadcasting conducted by NewsWatch Canada, a media monitoring project at Simon Fraser University, shows that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation receives far more coverage than do private broadcasters. Moreover the institutional structures, mandates, and principles of private media networks tended to be excluded. These findings suggest that commercial media are viewed as private property and therefore outside the boundaries of legitimate political discussion. Both public and private broadcasters received more positive than negative coverage.     

Managing WWW in public administration: Uses and misuses

The Internet has emerged as one of the most prevalent forms of communication media in and among public organizations. The construction and management of the World Wide Web (Web) sites are becoming essential elements of modern public administration. This study is intended to provide an in-depth evaluation on the Web sites of Taiwan’s central government based on the Web performance indicators provided by Nielsen (2000). Based on the Nielsen’s indicators, the authors carefully studied and coded each individual Web site of Taiwan central governmental agencies. The coding results indicate that the government Web sites in general have made many of the mistakes as predicted by Nielsen. Most of the agencies need to improve the coordination between Web designers and the line mangers of the agencies. In light of these research findings, this article provides a number of strategies to improve the Web design practices of Taiwanese public organizations that may also apply to public organizations in general.     

Economic policy essay: Broadcasting industry response to new technologies

This essay explores how the broadcasting industry and its audiences have responded to the introduction of new broadcast technologies, including color TV, UHF TV, VCRs, AM stereo, and stereo TV, and asserts that broadcasters and audiences have complementary roles in determining what will be introduced and accepted. The authors argue that broadcasters and government—as the representative of community and audience interests—need to play roles in setting standards for new technology based on the principle of promoting efficiency.     

Managing WWW in public administration: Uses and misuses☆

The Internet has emerged as one of the most prevalent forms of communication media in and among public organizations. The construction and management of the World Wide Web (Web) sites are becoming essential elements of modern public administration. This study is intended to provide an in-depth evaluation on the Web sites of Taiwan’s central government based on the Web performance indicators provided by Nielsen (2000). Based on the Nielsen’s indicators, the authors carefully studied and coded each individual Web site of Taiwan central governmental agencies. The coding results indicate that the government Web sites in general have made many of the mistakes as predicted by Nielsen. Most of the agencies need to improve the coordination between Web designers and the line mangers of the agencies. In light of these research findings, this article provides a number of strategies to improve the Web design practices of Taiwanese public organizations that may also apply to public organizations in general.