This paper problematises the difficulty of defining the public value of public service media. Through a double qualitative methodology, a series of components are identified and assessed in order to propose a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework. First, a qualitative analysis of the main legislations in force ( n = 44) and the grey literature public service media organisations display on their websites ( n = 14) was developed to extract, on an exploratory basis, the common constituent components of public value. Based on this, we developed a guided focus group of experts ( n = 15) to help us build a conception of public service media's value that can retain its validity for a long period of time in the multiplatform era. The results highlight the problems in proposing a single definition given the socio-political diversity of the spaces in which public service media operate and the uncertainty of a constantly changing audiovisual context.

The crisis affecting news organisations, along with their struggle to find a sustainable online business model, have challenged journalists’ professional autonomy, as economic and commercial pressures find their way into journalists’ daily practice. This research explores the perceived influence of commercial pressures on Spanish newsrooms, paying special attention to how journalists resolve and manage those conflicts within the limits of the media organisation. Through 50 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Spanish journalists and editors, the findings emphasise the usual, while normalised prevalence of commercial pressures. The study argues that the newspaper crisis has weakened news organisations’ independence from advertisers, as big corporations that concentrate most of the market share have very significant structural influence. The article identifies the most common typologies of commercial pressures according to the producing source (internal or external), and addresses their main effects for journalism practice, specifically for journalists’ autonomy and newspapers agenda setting. It concludes that in order to decrease advertisers’ bargaining power, a more diverse organisational news media landscape needs to be enhanced and therefore, policymakers should accommodate shifts towards subscription and ensure a viable future for entrepreneurial journalism start-ups.

The interactivity and participation of the public in the media is not a novelty, but has increased significantly with the adaptation to the digital convergence process. The possibility for audiences to share content through social platforms or generating its own is raising new ethical and legal issues. In this context, the public service audiovisual media must be pioneer both in the introduction of new participatory experiences and in the debate on the behaviour of the media regarding the interaction with its users. The objective of this article is twofold: on the one hand, to approach the current scenario of participatory mechanisms present in the European public service audiovisual media; on the other hand, to determine how this media is solving the new problems generated by the increase in user interaction. The research on participatory mechanisms offered by public service media shows that social networks, blogs, and comment sections are the main tools for discursive participation, while the field of creative participation requires the exploitation of new innovation strategies. The main challenge arising from this situation is how to control the legality of user-generated content and how to manage the ownership of copyright according to social values represented in public service media. La interactividad y participación del público en los medios de comunicación no supone una novedad, pero se ha incrementado notablemente con la adaptación al proceso de convergencia digital. La posibilidad de las audiencias de compartir a través de plataformas sociales o de generar contenido propio está planteando nuevas problemáticas éticas y jurídicas. En este contexto, los medios audiovisuales de servicio público deben ser pioneros tanto en la introducción de nuevas experiencias participativas como en el debate sobre el comportamiento de los medios en la relación con sus usuarios. El objetivo de este artículo es doble: por un lado, hacer una aproximación al panorama actual de los mecanismos de participación con los que cuenta el servicio audiovisual público europeo; por otro, conocer cómo estos medios están resolviendo las nuevas problemáticas generadas por el incremento en las relaciones con los usuarios. La exploración de los mecanismos de participación ofrecidos por los medios de comunicación públicos demuestra que las redes sociales, los blogs y las secciones de comentarios son los instrumentos de participación discursiva predominantes, mientras que en la esfera de la participación creativa es necesario explotar nuevas estrategias de innovación. Como principal reto a abordar, se plantea cómo controlar la legalidad del contenido generado por los usuarios y gestionar la titularidad de los derechos de autor conforme a los valores sociales representados en los medios públicos.

Conceived as institutions funded by the public purse and intended to exist devoid of political influence, the mandate of public service media (PSM) entities is to disseminate reliable news content and high-quality audiovisual productions to all demographic segments, inclusive of marginalized communities and audiences that are typically under-served. Over the previous ten years, the rise in prominence of global platforms in national media systems has precipitated many changes in the media sector, including unique challenges for PSM institutions guided by specific public service values. Using a holistic conceptual framework for assessing the implementation of these values, this article analyzes the impact of platformization on Europe’s PSM and discusses how the Union’s policy approaches affect related challenges to PSM. The analysis indicates that while the European Union (EU) has accorded a high priority to PSM within its media policy framework, the role that Brussels plays in protecting the independence and efficacy of PSM has been circumscribed, given that the onus of regulating PSM entities rests with national governments. This has engendered contrasting experiences wherein certain PSM outlets enjoy political independence and command significant public trust while others function as state-controlled propaganda vehicles, advancing the objectives and interests of governing bodies. The EU has addressed global platform power in recent attempts to safeguard its digital future, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). However, these acts do not adequately address PSM’s two central and often interconnected problems: funding challenges and political pressures.