A New Expression of the Public Interest? The Case of the Public Service Publisher.

The concept of the public interest has played a major role in the development and implementation of media policies, regularly serving to justify policy initiatives and providing a yardstick against which these initiatives can be measured. Measures ranging from the US 1934 Communications Act to recent UK government proposals on the regulation of media ownership have been predicated on a commitment to protect the public interest. Yet the phrase itself contains multiple interpretations and contradictions, in particular between a populist, ratings-led conception of media responsibility and one distinguished by its determination to develop instruments to protect citizens from the domination of both state and corporate domains. This tension is evident in recent debates concerning the British media regulator Ofcom's proposal for a Public Service Publisher (PSP), an important new venture aimed at commissioning public service broadband content in the digital age. By taking advantage of the participative and decentralized features of 'social media', its proponents argue that the public interest can be safeguarded and nurtured in a media future. This paper examines these arguments, reflects on the changing definitions of the public interest, and considers the extent to which the PSP proposal expresses an especially individualized and privatized notion of mediated activity carried out in the public interest. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]