In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media ...

Public <strong>Service</strong> on Digital Mediain public service broadcasting capacities in <strong>the</strong> future: Publishing <strong>and</strong> educationalcapabilities can be developed on-line, with materials produced <strong>of</strong>f-line that canbe given more visibility <strong>and</strong> availability for teachers <strong>and</strong> for children on <strong>the</strong> lookoutfor special materials free <strong>of</strong> rights. This can be a public service answer tocommercial services that try to create total entertainment universes to keep <strong>the</strong>children in a state <strong>of</strong> net immersion.The PSP extension has <strong>the</strong> additional advantage <strong>of</strong> potentially functioning likea digital archive, which has been explored by a series <strong>of</strong> public entities, like NHKin Japan, CBC in Canada, <strong>and</strong> INA (<strong>In</strong>stitut national de l’audiovisuel) in France.The BBC has gone one step fur<strong>the</strong>r to make its material available to <strong>the</strong> Englishpublic. Through its Creative Archive project, it is testing <strong>the</strong> possibility <strong>of</strong> lettinglicense-paying Britons download radio <strong>and</strong> television materials, with s<strong>of</strong>twarecontrols to stop downloads outside national borders. This test, if successful, wouldconfirm that public value can remain territorialized, over-<strong>the</strong>-air as well as over<strong>the</strong>-net,public broadcasters contributing to map digital territory on real territory.Rediscovering radioRadio is <strong>the</strong> medium <strong>of</strong> choice for pre-teens <strong>and</strong> teens who appreciate its flexibility<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> relative lack <strong>of</strong> parental control <strong>of</strong> its consumption. The ubiquitouscapacity <strong>of</strong> radio has been streng<strong>the</strong>ned by <strong>In</strong>ternet <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r digital media,as it has become a multi-point medium using set top boxes <strong>and</strong> mobile phonesas well as o<strong>the</strong>r wireless devices. The listening situation benefits teenagers, whoare likely to connect at any time <strong>and</strong> any place, but mostly at night in <strong>the</strong> privacy<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir room. Arte, <strong>the</strong> Franco-German hybrid public service broadcaster, hasrecently created a site that deliberately plays on time <strong>and</strong> space lag, removingany hint <strong>of</strong> scheduling slots, . Besides, it has adopted aCreative Commons license, that allows for <strong>the</strong> exchange <strong>of</strong> files <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir multiplelistening while preserving intellectual property rights, with no commercialuse. This radio à la carte appeals to young browsers who tend to like <strong>the</strong> newsprograms about o<strong>the</strong>r young people <strong>and</strong> playful programs like Ourapo (Ouvroirde Radiophonie Potentielle). Contrary to <strong>the</strong> BBC, <strong>the</strong> trans-border media allowsfor worldwide listening, <strong>of</strong>fering a trans-border vision <strong>of</strong> public value.Radio Denmark <strong>and</strong> Radio Sweden have opted for yet o<strong>the</strong>r opportunities,allowing access to a lot <strong>of</strong> stock, with high definition quality sound, <strong>and</strong> facilitatinglocal broadcasting to help young people fight isolation <strong>and</strong> find identity(Banerjee <strong>and</strong> Seneviratne 2005). Digitization makes it possible for young peopleto have access to alternatives in sound <strong>and</strong> content, <strong>and</strong> to adjust <strong>the</strong>ir timingto <strong>the</strong>ir situation (Molgaard 2003, in Banerjee <strong>and</strong> Seneviratne 2005). It also allows<strong>the</strong> broadcasters to recycle <strong>and</strong> repackage valuable timeless content in avariety <strong>of</strong> formats <strong>and</strong> platforms.Public service radio on-line still lacks opportunities for call-in participatoryprograms live but a few examples are promising that show <strong>the</strong> complementarities15