Section Head Election 2016 - Candidate statements

Public Service Media Policies Working Group

The IAMCR Working Group for Public Service Media Policies (PSMP) is looking for candidates to (co)chair its future activities. The working group has a tradition of decades, originally focused at the study, research and debate on public service broadcasting, often in a Western context. Due to technological convergence and liberalising media policies worldwide, its focus has widened to public media policies in a globalised context as a complement and an alternative for media that are dominated by either the state or the market. Complementary to its focus on academic research, the working group also cherishes relations with academics working in media policy and regulation in order to narrow the gap between theory and practice. At each IAMCR conference, the working group organises about four to five sessions with in total about 20 paper presentations from all over the world.

Candidates who are interested to take up this challenge, and to organise the yearly sessions of the working group, maintain a network with relevant scholars and institutions, and are requested to send  name, institutional position and a statement (maximum 500 words) to the current chair Leen d’Haenens <leen.dhaenens[at]soc.kuleuven.be> with a copy to IAMCR General Secretary Maria Michalis <M.Michalis[at]westminster.ac.uk> and to the IAMCR secretariat <membership[at]iamc.org>, by July 13, 2016.

Elections are held during the section or working group's business meeting. The rules governing the elections of Section and Working Group officers are published at http://iamcr.org/governance/swg-rules

The duration of all mandates is 4 years, and Section and WG Officers may be reelected at their position only once (8 years in a row is the maximum). It is possible to be elected chair after an 8 years mandate as a vice-chair or co-chair, and vice-versa.

Candidates and statements

For Chair

Statements

Karen Arriaza Ibarra

I joined the IAMCR ten years ago, and since then I have attended most conferences and my participated in it has increased over the years. To tell the truth, the more I get involved in it, the more I want to give this association the best of me. That is why I run for chair at the PSMP Working Group.  I would like this WG to keep on growing strong and relevant, in a digitalised world where public service media still remains as one of the main assets of the European media development. I would also like it to become an open platform so that PSMP from all over the world can participate as well. For this, I will always look as a reference at the excellent work that the previous chairs, Leen D’Haenens and Jo Bardoel, have done.

I am Professor in Media and Audiovisual Communication at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where I also coordinate the International Relations of my Department. During the last decade, I have participated in more than fifty international conferences, seminars and workshops all over the world. I have published extensively on media structure, media economy, political economy of the media, and the different digital scenarios in which media develops nowadays.

My research focuses on the different international scenarios for the Information Society, but has always focused on Public Service Media and how the challenges of an ever-growing commercial market have affected it. One of my recent publications is the book “Public Service Media in Europe: A Comparative Approach”, published in 2015 by Routledge and distributed to all European universities through ECREA. As a docent, I have also been guest professor at eight universities in Sweden, Germany, Italy and Belgium.

Besides from Spanish, I speak fluently English and French, and have a basic knowledge of Italian, Portuguese and German; also I am currently in the third year of learning Swedish.

Thank you for accepting my candidacy!

Alessandro D’Arma

I am delighted to run for co-Chair at this year’s election with Dr Yik-Chan Chin. I am a long-time member of IAMCR and I have a long-standing interest in public service media policies, and a strong publication record in this area.

I have published work engaging with both European Union and national-level issues in countries such as the UK, Italy and Spain. My work has appeared in leading academic journals such as Media Culture and Society, and the International Communication Gazette. I have worked on children’s media policy and regulation, a core but neglected and increasingly at-risk area public service provision. I am the author of Media and Politics in Italy (2015, Lexington) in which I have analyzed the recent history of public service media in Italy from an historical and contemporary perspective. 

If elected, Yik-Chan Chin and I will seek to promote greater internationalization of the working group and expand its membership, especially in countries and regions that are poorly represented. We also want to build closer connections with other IAMCR sections as well as with academic networks such as RIPE, which we are both members of. 

Our combined regional expertise, professional knowledge, and international networks will make a major contribution to these goals. Under our leadership, the working group will continue to be a platform for stimulating debate on public service media policies and for the presentation of the best scholarship on PSM from around the world – normative and empirical, national and supranational, single case and comparative, and contemporary and historical.

I have known Yik-Chan Chin for many years. We did our PhD at the same institution, the University of Westminster, one of the world leading research centers for the study of public service media. We have been colleagues as well as friends, so we will work effectively as a team. 

Yik-Chan Chin

I am delighted to run for co-Chairs at this year’s election.  I am a long-time member of IAMCR and have a long-standing interest and a strong publication record in public service media policies.

If elected, my main goal as co-chairs will be to promote greater internationalization of the working group and expand its membership, especially in countries and regions that are poorly represented. I also want to build closer connections with other IAMCR sections as well as with academic networks such as RIPE, which I am members of. 

Although the values and models of PSM are facing strong challenges in the Western European heartland, in societies in the East and other emerging markets, e.g. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, there is a growing interest, popularity and different operational models of PSM. Building international dialogue and collaboration is essential in order to deepen our understanding of the challenges and opportunities of PSM globally. 

To cultivate an international network of PSM scholarship will be my priority as co-chair. Under my leadership, the working group will continue to be a platform for stimulating debate on public service media policies from around the world and for the presentation of the best scholarship on PSM – both normative and empirical in orientation, and both national, supranational and comparative in nature.

I have pioneered the study of public service media in China. I am the author of Television Regulation and Media Policy in China (2016, Routledge), “Public Service Broadcasting, Public Interest and Individual Rights in China” (2012, Media Culture & Society), and “Public Service: New Paradigms of Policy, and Reform in China”. In. Gregory Ferrell Lowe and Jeanette Steemers (eds.) Regaining the Initiative for Public Service Media: RIPE@2011 Reader.

I have organised many international conferences and workshops with academics across the globe including the 2010 workshop with the Chinese Association of Global Communication, UNESCO, Tsinghua University, and the Foreign Studies University in Beijing. 

I have known Dr. Alessandro D’Arma for many years having completed our PhD at the same institution, the University of Westminster, one of the world leading research centers for the study of public service media. We have been colleagues as well as friends, so we will work effectively as a team. 

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