Public Service Broadcasting Review:Position Paper from Breakthrough Ltd.

Wing Tai LEUNG, General Secretary

Introduction of Organization

Breakthrough is serving close to one million youths of Hong Kong through her media services each year. She has been producing award-winning television series and weekly radio programs. Her partners include all major broadcasting networks in Hong Kong.

Role of Broadcasting for Youth and Hong Kong

Like most citizens, youths consume a lot of broadcast programs. Television serves as identity formation, cultural heritage and value framework for the youth. Radio is a friend for the youth in their growing up. However, does the broadcasting in Hong Kong serves to inform, educate and entertain the people, especially the young people?

Pyramid of Broadcasting Services

In Hong Kong, Japan, the US and Europe, most commercial broadcasting services give major air times to entertainment programs. Commercial broadcasters, for financial reasons, find it too costly to fulfill the mission to inform and educate the public.

Public service broadcasting, be it RTHK in Hong Kong, PBS in the US, BBC in the UK, or NHK in Japan, focuses to inform and educate the public. Social education is more than an ETV channel for schools or students in basic education. Information is more than news and current affairs. In Europe cultural programs are more common, with a high quality. Public broadcasting is also a platform for public discourse. In Canada, co-op stations or public channels (run and operated by diverse public and citizen groups) serve a diversity of purposes. Public broadcasting embraces ethnic and cultural diversity in these places. Hong Kong needs a wider public space in the media for citizen originated programming.

There is a place for narrowcast or elite services. Technology such as Cables can provide people with common interests to have their own programs and serves. It can be target oriented, such as for youth and women channels; or for special interests, such as sports and politics.

Contemporary and Future Trends

Communication is connected with development. As the Wilbur Schramm's report to the UN testified years ago. Communication pattern and form affect the social and political structures, as advocated by communication researchers Marshall McLuhan, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Harold Innis, and Walter Ong. We need a broad and diverse communication environment for HK to prosper.

Citizen participation and two-way or networking of communication will be more pronounced in the future. The rise of the Internet, digital multiplex, blog, and asynchronous broadcasting, is a precursor for the things to come. The quality of citizenship, globalization, diversification of interests, and the breadth of commerce and relationship, demand a public space in which public broadcasting can play an important part.

The World is moving away from political indoctrination, dictatorship, propaganda, and tight control of broadcasting. Public broadcasting needs a diversity of program origins, editorial autonomy, and ideological freedom (including politics and religion). The Oscar winning motion picture "Good Night and Good Luck" signified the demise of political control of broadcasting and the prophetic courage of Ed Murrow.

Furthermore, Hong Kong is a communication hub for South East Asia region. Youths are brought up in a media saturated environment. Public broadcasting can provide media education to cultivate the critical awareness of citizens in media consumption.

Financing of Public Service Broadcasting

Public service broadcasting is financed in many ways: percentage of revenue from commercial broadcasting by law in the UK, private donation in the US, government in France, any sponsors in Japan, and citizen groups in Canada. We suggest a percentage of commercial broadcasting revenues and public sponsorship can be used for this purpose.

Conclusion

As Hong Kong is moving into the 21st century and our youths will be the leaders of the next era, we need to provide a media ecology that is open and diverse, financially well supported but free from economic dominance, global and local, cultural and informational, dialogical and participatory, and inspiring for the young. Public service broadcasting not only can be a content provider, but also a platform for dialogue, media and information literacy cultivation, and nurturing qualities of citizenship.

Practical Suggestions

1. Create a public channel that is run and operated by diverse citizen groups in a co-op fashion. The Government can provide seed money for programming and commercial/public broadcast stations to provide certain studio times for production. Set up a special ordinance of program standards and legal responsibilities. The content providers will be responsible for the views expressed. Reference can be found in Australia and Canada.
2. Create community radio stations and point-to-point broadcast. Let the citizen bands emerge for community mutual services and enhance social capital. This will be important in social disasters and health hazards.
3. Set up an independent management board for RTHK and operate under a new public broadcast ordinance to serve as a broadcast platform for public discourse and social education. Encourage commissioning services for diversity of program origins. Programmers can have editorial autonomy in content treatments. The management board will consist of leaders from the cultural and educational public
4. Government information and social campaigns will be organized by Government Information Services, securing time from commercial and public broadcasting channels. This will ensure Government policies will be explained and promoted.
5. Utilize latest technologies in broadcasting, such as digital high definition television and distribution multiplex. This advance can increase the number of broadcast channels exponentially.
6. A percentage of the revenue from commercial broadcast can finance the public broadcast service such as RTHK, public channel for co-op services, community radio stations and other services. Encourage program sponsorship for non-commercial broadcast services. Social education programs can be financed by EMB.
7. Create assessment scheme for public service broadcasting: Diversity of views and programming, forum for social discourse, ventilation of social grievances, cultural enrichment, social and media education, and citizen program origins.