Content
Content remains at the heart of public service media. All content, whether aggregated, commissioned, acquired or produced, should be credible, distinctive, impartial and relevant.
To ensure relevance, a significant proportion of content should be originated nationally and regionally to reflect and preserve cultural identity. Content should reflect contemporary diversity within nations and be of the highest possible editorial and technical quality. Interactivity will increasingly be at the core of public media and the Public Media Alliance will focus on support for multiplatform storytelling. Innovative regional content-sharing mechanisms will be enabled and encouraged.
→ Read about an international PSB collaboration in 2015.
We break the pillar of ‘content’ into the following areas:
News & Investigative Journalism
The provision of clear, accurate, independent and impartial news on all platforms is accepted as being at the very heart of public media provision and critical to building trust. In an interactive media age news, stories may be sourced from citizen journalists as well as professional news providers – rigorous fact-checking is essential to avoid breach of trust. News and current affairs should interest and inform people of all backgrounds, ages and levels of knowledge, enabling them to engage with the major issues of today.
Children's content
Digital media means increased choice for everyone, so it has been heartening to find from research at the children’s media event we ran (below), that public service broadcasters remain at the forefront of producing relevant and engaging media for young people. As children everywhere become increasingly familiar with digital media, the Public Media Alliance is committed to working with partners who support finding and funding relevant local content as a core of children’s media.
→ Read the report from our workshop at the World Summit on Media for Children 2014
WorldView - providing context in a globalised world
The provision of relevant nationally and regionally originated content is central to making the output of a public service media organisation distinctive. So too is providing international context in today’s globalised world. WorldView is the content development project of the Public Media Alliance. The WorldView team will continue to support international digital storytelling and promote content-sharing mechanisms.
Science, Environment & Our Changing Climate
The ability of citizens to understand and evaluate risk in our changing world is often an underserved area of public media. We will work with partners to provide opportunities for member organisations to collaborate, develop and share new content on relevant themes such as ‘Water’.
→ See the global short film competition we have run with WaterAid
Health & Wellbeing
In order to engage audiences, content that explains and informs audiences about the life choices available to them needs to be creative and innovative. The Public Media Alliance will work with global partners to develop new ways of building audience interaction on health and wellbeing. We have been working with partners to support broadcasters in West Africa during the Ebola outbreak, and a film here is available to broadcast in multiple languages free of charge.
→ Learn more about ‘Ebola: A Poem for the Living’ films, and view different language versions