Theme: Society & Culture | Content Type: Journal article

A ‘Public Service Internet’—Reclaiming the Public Service Mission

Helen Jay

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JJ Ying

| 1 min read

This article looks forward, locating debates on public service broadcasting firmly within contemporary and future debates about technology regulation. Public service broadcasting has been a dominant theme in UK media policy since the creation of the BBC in 1922, aimed at delivering positive democratic and cultural outcomes. However, despite this rich heritage, and amidst widespread concerns about the social and democratic implications of ‘digital dominance’, the public service mission has failed fully to transcend its broadcasting origins and provide a model for a ‘public service internet’. The article reviews the relationship between the for-profit business models of the dominant technology platforms and potential civic and individual harms, past and failed attempts to reimagine ‘public service’ institutions in a digital age and identifies opportunities for scholars, activists and policy makers to reimagine public service alternatives for a platform society.

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    Helen Jay

    Helen Jay is an AHRC-funded doctoral candidate in the Media and Communications Department at the University of Westminster. Alongside her PhD, she acts as an external expert, lecturer and adviser on media and communications policy.

    Articles by Helen Jay
Volume 95, Issue 2

Latest Journal Issue

Volume 95, Issue 2

Includes a collection edited by James Hampshire on Immigration and Asylum Policy After Brexit, exploring how recent immigration and asylum policies reflect the ambivalent, unstable and unresolved meanings of Brexit itself. There are a wide range of other articles including 'A Hundred Years of Labour Governments' by Ben Jackson; and 'The Good, the Not so Good, and Liz Truss: MPs’ Evaluations of Postwar Prime Ministers' by Royal Holloway Group PR3710. Reports and Surveys include 'Addressing Barriers to Women's Representation in Party Candidate Selections' by Sofia Collignon. Finally, there is a selection of book reviews such as Nick Pearce's review of When Nothing Works: From Cost of Living to Foundational Liveability, by Luca Calafati, Julie Froud, Colin Haslam, Sukhdev Johal and Karel Williams; and Penelope J. Corfield's review of The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, by Yascha Mounk.

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