Digitisation Means Marginalisation of Public Service Media? Changes in the Functioning of the BBC
Digitisation Means Marginalisation of Public Service Media? Changes in the Functioning of the BBC

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse the formal, legal and structural-organisational changes concerning the British public service media, introduced in the light of technological developments, primarily related to the process of digitisation, resulting in the spread of online media, which translates into the gradual marginalisation of the so-called traditional media, including the socially important public service media. The main thesis is based on the assertion that public service media, using the example of the BBC in question, are subjected to increasing pressure from those in power, who see in the process of digitisation the rationale for limiting the activity of publicly funded public media. The choice of the British broadcaster as the subject of the study is dictated by the fact that for years the BBC and the British regulations concerning PSM were considered exemplary and often constituted a point of reference for actions taken by broadcasters and governments in other countries. In order to test the validity of the thesis, an analysis was carried out on the regulatory, structural, organisational and managerial solutions introduced in recent decades in the UK’s PSM, which entail changes in the services offered, taking into account their circumstances. The article provides an understanding, based on the example analysed, of what pressures the public media are currently under, what actions they have to take to convince the public and, above all, politicians and those in power of the legitimacy of their functioning. Above all, the article provides knowledge of the interplay between the activities and offer of PSM and the position of political elites, who often influence the shape and offer of media for their own interests, using technological or financial arguments.

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