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Ideas in Our Heads

Introduction of PSB as Part of Media System Change in Central and Eastern Europe

National Broadcasting Council of Poland, Skwer Kardynala Wyszynskiego 9, 01-015 Warsaw, Poland jkarol7{at}tlen.pl

The successful introduction of public service broadcasting (PSB) is so extraordinarily difficult to achieve that it could be regarded as a true test of post-Communist transformation in general – specifically in terms of the consolidation of democracy. Of the three media policy orientations developed in post-Communist Europe, ‘idealistic’, ‘mimetic’ and ‘atavistic’, one – the ‘idealistic’ – was immediately rejected throughout. Instead, the media policies pursued have combined elements of the two other orientations, with more of a mimetic orientation in ‘competitive democracies’ and successively more elements of the ‘atavistic orientation’ (harking back to the Communist days) in ‘concentrated’, ‘war-torn’ and ‘non-competitive’ regimes. The route taken depends upon a number of macrostructural factors, including political, economic and sociocultural ones. Political and sociocultural elements are of particular importance as far as prospects for the emergence of PSB in post-Communist countries are concerned. The introduction of PSB has either so far failed, or has produced very uncertain results, as PSB organizations lack social embeddedness and the right democratic context in which to operate. The belief that one can transplant institutions as part of a process of ‘imitative transformation’, especially in such a sensitive area as the mass media, has proved overoptimistic. It has always been accepted that a long time is needed for PSB organizations to come into their own. If, however, current trends in Western Europe, where PSB is actively being reassessed, lead to undermining this media institution, it will not be given time to mature and become entrenched in post-Communist countries.

Key Words: mimetic and atavistic media policies • post-Communist transformation • public service broadcasting • sociocultural aspects of post-Communism • westernization of media systems

European Journal of Communication, Vol. 19, No. 1, 53-74 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0267323104040694


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