Why is this Lying Bastard Lying to Me?

From one extreme to the other, we move from commercial media to public media.

Contrary to popular belief, public media isn't owned by the government, it's owned by the common people. I didn't know that until this week.

Used at the beginning of the lecture, I think this quote pretty much sums up everything:

'The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens.'

The point of public media is to support social and democratic processes. It does this through 'public value':

1. Embedding a 'public service ethos'
2. Value for license fee money
3. 'Weighing public value against market impact'
4. Public consultation

Even though we don't have licence fees in Australia, the point remains the same. Public media is meant to be value for money, by providing people with everything from entertainment, to interest to useful information.

The Australian public media is primarily made up of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS).

ABC and SBS are considered public media because they fit the criteria that has been set out for them:

• Geographic universality
• Universality of appeal
• Special provisions for minorities
• Special relationship with community and nation
• Liberate rather than restrict broadcasters
• Distanced from all vested interests
• Competition for good programming rather than competition for numbers

The function of public media is provide a forum for discussion and debate about topical cultural, social, political and economic issues. There is also scope for local and regional issue to be discussed with various branches of public media.

Even though ABC and SBS receive government subsidies, they do have a commercial aspect. However, in my opinion, this hasn't hindered their performance for delivering outstanding programs. They have separated their business interests from their social functions which doesn't damage their integrity or quality.

News and current affairs are an integral part of ABC and SBS. ABC provides local and national news at a very in depth level. While SBS covers national and international news at a very in depth level. Not only is the quality and content of their news better and more informative than that of commercial media's, but they have another advantage. ABC and SBS provide a forum for people to openly debate social and political issues where they can be respected. Q&A on ABC and Insight on SBS are the prime examples of this. These two clips illustrate their commitment to discussing key issues and topics.

These clips also illustrate the style and form of public media, which is: serious, importance over interest and considered (not quick and unchecked).

However, public media has been criticised for being boring, elitist, of limited interested and poorly presented.

I don't believe these criticisms as people these days just don't seem to care enough about real issues and won't give money to public media to provide this information.

Public media actively encourages people to make their voices and opinions heard, while commercial media just promotes its own agenda and even tries to force it upon people.

Public media also aims to promote political neutrality, while commercial media has a specific view that it will try to put forward. While both ABC and SBS have been criticised for being left wing, they still do give time for every opinion to be heard. And Bruce pointed out that no government has ever really supported either ABC or SBS due to this stance, even left wing governments...

Once a political party or government likes the ABC or SBS due to their portrayal of politics, then neutrality is gone. Politicians hating public media is actually a good thing. It shows that they are critical and will try to find answers to questions and point out the flaws of governments and political groups.

Jeremy Paxman from BBC Newsnight said this about interviewing politicians, regardless of their political stance:

'I always ask myself, "Why is this lying bastard lying to me?"'

This shows that public media treat every politician and group the same and will not try to put a particular agenda forward. Take for example of Q&A, every week they have someone from Labor and someone from the opposition as well as other analysts, commentators, journalists and policy makers of various political persuasions. On Insight they consult a range of people relevant to the topic at hand in order to gain the most comprehensive insight that they can into an issue (see what I did there?).

I love ABC and SBS. They have to be the best part of Australian media in my most humble opinion. Or maybe I'm just a commie for believing in all their left wing propaganda...