Seventh Lecture - Public Media

This lecture we learnt other form of media; public media. A short definition is that public media is a media whose mission is to serve or engage a public. Public media takes a number of different forms, it is not only on television but also on the radio. Shows such as; ABC and SBS are public media and Triple J, ABC Radio and CFM are all public media. We also learnt the values of public media include; embedding a ‘public service ethos’, value for license fee money, ‘weighing public value against market impact’ and public consultation. We were also taught that Nation Building (NBN, ABC), National Heritage (ANZAC Day), National Identity (what does it mean to be an Australian) and National Conversations (State of Origin) are all functions of public media.

Bob also gave us a few very interesting statistics about the ABC – each week 12.6 million Australians watch ABC television and 41% of Aussies get their news from the ABC. All of these statistics prove the idea that people watch the ABC because it’s a public media with no advertising and it is seen as much less bias then that of other news programs.