We are looking forward to hosting our second Knowledge Exchange workshop in Warsaw from January 22-24, 2025. The workshop, titled Reinventing Public Service Media for the Age of Platforms: Organisation, Culture and Independence, is produced in collaboration with REBOOT and The University of Warsaw, with additional local co-organisation from Zachęta, TVP and Obywatelski Pakt na rzecz mediów publicznych. A detailed rationale for the event is as follows:
Introduction
Public service media (PSM) remains at the heart of European media systems. In the age of platforms typified by giant global media, misinformation, and socio-political polarisation, there is an overall urgency to strengthen public service media as a space for social innovation and democratic deliberations across generations and divided families, social groups and nations.
Scholars from the EU-funded CHANSE project, entitled “Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms” (PSM-AP) (2022–2025), in collaboration with members from the Horizon Europe project “Reviving, Boosting, Optimising and Transforming European Film Competitiveness” (2023–2026), will gather in Warsaw to jointly reinvent public service media. We invite public service media, media industries, media scholars, civil society, and NGOs to share their knowledge and exchange ideas on reinvention strategies and models to futureproof PSM for the platform age.
Our Theme: Reinventing PSM Organisations, Cultures and Independence
Following the PSM-AP Knowledge Exchange Workshop in Brussels (January 2024) on regulatory challenges for public service media algorithms, prominence and personalisation, Warsaw’s Knowledge Exchange Workshop turns its attention towards the organisational obstacles and challenges for PSM, which as established companies can be more resistant to change. Research suggests that siloed communication and internal power battles can limit the capacity for innovation and organisational change at all levels, including digital transition, cross-media teams, collaboration, and overall work cultures.
How do PSMs adapt their organisational cultures and structures for the platform age? What are the barriers, challenges and possibilities (internal and external) for PSMs to change their organisational cultures and working practices? What can be done to maintain (and foster) the organisational capabilities and behaviours of PSM for future media generations, such as developing coding/digital storytelling skills and talents?
These challenges are faced by all PSMs, but in contexts where PSMs struggle to secure independence from the state, they can be more acute. How is the need for organisational change impacted by media capture? In what ways can organisational change be harnessed to improve the relationship between the state, PSMs and citizens? And what is needed to secure the independence of PSM in the age of platforms?
Welcome to Warsaw
The Knowledge Exchange will take place at Zachęta Gallery (January 22 afternoon, 2025) and the University of Warsaw (January 24, 2025). The main event on Thursday (January 23, 2025) will take place at TVP (Telewizja Polska) Warsaw headquarters. The local organising team from the University of Warsaw will be joined by international researchers doing research and consultations in their countries and at the European level, including the Council of Europe and the European Broadcasting Union.
DAY 1 (January 22, 2025, 15:00-19:00), will be dedicated to Poland’s REBOOT national workshop with key state institutions, scholars, filmmakers and producers to support the audiovisual and film industries, all gathered to discuss the Public Good and European Competitiveness in the age of global media platforms. The REBOOT research, societal and policy-making contributions aim to explore Poland’s and European audiovisual heritage and access to pre-internet era archives once the production and distribution blend.
DAY 2 (January 23, 2025, 10:00-16:00) will begin with a keynote speech by Sasha Scott (Head of Transformation Services at the European Broadcasting Union) and presenting PSM-AP’s findings on public service media’s production and distribution cultures, based on qualitative research (semi-structured interviews) in five European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Two plenary sessions with European PSM practitioners and experts on 1) Breaking down the organisational silos and 2) Harnessing future-forward skills and talents will further set a scene for the afternoon open public debate on political media capture and its impact on cultural polarisation (The Civic Debate organised at the University of Warsaw Library, 18:00-21:00).
DAY 3 (January 24, 2025, 10:00-12:30) will provide a space for PSMs and academics to come together in a closed space (not open to public participation and under ‘Chatham House Rules’) to discuss the reinvention of PSM independence. The session will focus on the European Media Freedom Act and its provisions on governance and funding in the light of democratic citizen-state relationships. The workshop is open to academics and representatives from PSM organisations.
More information
Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms: https://psm-ap.com
Reviving, Boosting, Optimising and Transforming European Film Competitiveness: https://thereboot-project.eu/
Enquiries
Please use the contact form on this website if you wish to make an enquiry about the event.
Full Programme: