
It's High Time for a European Broadcasting Service - open-source-ux
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/opinion-europe-should-launch-own-public-broadcasting-service-a-1130317.html
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dredmorbius
An excellent proposal, but one which should be _exceedingly_ mindful of the
failures (and successes) of public broadcasting efforts in the past.

Europe is no stranger to government broadcasting. In Italy and Germany, these
spread (and at times retarded) fascism. See "Radio and the Rise of the Nazis
in Prewar Germany""
[https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3D...](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3Dhttp://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/130/4/1885.abstract%26amp;sa%3DD%26amp;ust%3D1487107825688000%26amp;usg%3DAFQjCNEa8eJ2N1REJT8Mg4f7l3qTWJbDEg&sa=D&ust=1487107825805000&usg=AFQjCNE_U4x2rzRPws98rHeYjl6vptd8OA)

During and since World War II, broadcasts especially from the BBC, Voice of
America, and more recently Deutsche Welle and other national broadcasters,
have offered high-quality content, much in multiple languages. These have been
national though not European-wide initiatives.

The United States has seen the emergence of public broadcasting, in the form
of both PBS (television) and NPR (radio), as well as other public-broadcasting
networks (Pacifica, PRX, and several statewide and regional powerhouses).
Whilst there've been successes, there have also been failures. American public
broadcasting is frequently noted for being higher in quality than most private
for-profit networks (true), but also in having a distinctly closed "public
broadcasting" mindset (also, in my experience, true), with certain notable
voices markedly missing. Having been a viewer and listener for decades, my own
satisfaction with the network's merits have fallen greatly in the past two
decades.

Ralph Nader has suggested that a new, truly responsive, public media system be
created within the US, though he's been rather vague on specifics, or how he'd
avoid the pitfalls which have befallen the existing system. (Information via a
speech made Fall of 2016, I'd have to look up specfics.) His is among the
voices typically missing from public media, with Noam Chomsky among the other
notable absences.

Europe also has significant challenges in terms of language and culture --
there's no one language which will be understandable across the entire union.
There remains a fairly strong regionalism as well which will have to be
addressed.

