Up in the Air?
The agenda for transition after the demise of communism in the Western Balkans made the conversion of state radio and television into public service broadcasters a priority, converting mouthpieces of the regime into public forums in which various interests and standpoints could be shared and deliberated. There is general agreement that this endeavor has not been a success. Formally, the countries adopted the legal and institutional requirements of public service media according to European standards. The ruling political elites, however, retained their control over the public media by various means.
Can this trend be reversed? Instead of being marginalized or totally manipulated, can public service media become vehicles of genuine democratization?
A comparison of public service media in seven countries (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) addresses these important questions.
List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Challenges and Prospects of Public Service Broadcasting in the Western Balkans
Laia Castro Herrero, Tarik Jusić, Davor Marko, and Manuel Puppis
PART I: WESTERN BALKAN MEDIA SYSTEMS
Chapter 2: Public Service Media in Albania: RTSH’s Reforming Struggles
Blerjana Bino
Chapter 3: The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nidžara Ahmetašević and Tea Hadžiristić
Chapter 4: The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Croatia
Davor Marko
Chapter 5: The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Kosovo
Naser Miftari
Chapter 6: The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Montenegro
Nataša Ružić
Chapter 7: Four Normative Principles for Participatory Public Service Model in North Macedonia
Snežana Trpevska and Igor Micevski
Chapter 8: The Future of Public Service Broadcasting in Serbia
Davor Marko
Part II: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Chapter 9: The Iron Law of Public Service Television
Péter Bajomi-Lázár
Chapter 10: Overcoming Path Dependencies in PBS Developments in Southeast Europe
Zrinjka Peruško
Chapter 11: Public Service Broadcasting in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans: Mission, Values, and Challenges
Gregory Ferrell Lowe
Chapter 12: Public Service Media in the Context of Adaptation and Change: A Call for Organizational Culture Analysis
Michał Głowacki
Chapter 13: Between The Hammer and the Anvil: Public Service Broadcasters in the Western Balkans Squeezed Between Commercialization and Politicization
Marko Milosavljević and Melita Poler Kovačič
Chapter 14: Digital Switchover and PSM in the Western Balkans
Sally Broughton Micova
Chapter 15: Prospects for Post Switchover Media Policy in the Western Balkan Countries
Kenneth Murphy
Chapter 16: State of the Art and the Future of PSM in the Western Balkans
Barbara Thomass
List of Contributors
Index