"America is unique in its nearly complete reliance on commercial media to present comprehensive information about government and politics, to hold political and business elites to account through critical commentary and investigative reporting, and to provide a forum for a broad range of voices and viewpoints." (SaveTheNews.org)
A few days ago, I began working on a paper for a journalism course: Nordic Public Service Media in Global Comparison. But I soon realized that I was in need of some guidance. I remembered Marko Ala-Fossi, Lecturer in Radio at the University of Tampere, who gave a guest lecture about public service radio a few weeks ago. I decided to visit him in all my confusion about the public media system in the United States. The conversation inevitably turned to the Finnish media system. I left with clarity and focus, and with a lot more questions.
In Finland, there is a straightforward license fee of 295 euros per year that every household with a television pays. Twelve percent in Finland don't pay this fee. (In Italy, it's 25 percent.) "Free riding" is common especially among students, who don't want to incur extra costs. As a result, the current current Finnish government has made two big promises regarding the media system: it has promised to solve YLE's* funding system and it has promised to begin taxing newspapers. Newspapers receive substantial tax breaks and delivery subsidies. In 2008, YLE received 381 million euros. Indirectly, 313 euros went to support the newspaper industry.
The public media landscape in the United States is different. Americans pay 1.43 U.S. dollars per capita, and public broadcasting is relatively marginal. There have been many calls to eliminate all federal funding. Movements to save this funding are pointing to Finland and Germany, where people pay more to receive quality content. To this, Marko says that Finland is so small and with a small market. "People spend a lot of money per capita to make media vibrant."
*YLE is Finland's national broadcasting company.
To learn more about the Finnish public service media, visit:
No comments:
Post a Comment