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Public Media in Europe: Fair and Balanced?

Posted By Mark Thompson On March 19, 2010 @ 12:20 pm In Europe,Media & Arts | 4 Comments

Seminars on public service media in Europe are neither rare nor always interesting, but last weekend's get-together in Oxford [1] was well worthwhile for several reasons.

Paolo Mancini [2], a world expert on this topic, mounted an unexpected defence of Italy’s much-reviled public service broadcaster, RAI. The BBC paradigm of 'impartiality' should not, he warned, be seen as universal or exclusive. Surveys show the British public wanting television news to be impartial, which is a statutory requirement in the UK anyway; but the Italian public expresses no such preference. On the contrary, Mancini said, the Italian public is intensely partial. Accordingly, RAI is right to offer 'a plurality of partialities' on its three terrestrial TV channels.

The trouble with this, as other participants pointed out, is that it leaves no room for impartial information; revealingly, Mancini had no reply to these objections. If a public service broadcaster cannot deliver honest reporting, how can it be justified at all? Tim Gardam [3] conceded that the BBC model of impartiality may lead to grey, consensus-seeking journalism at worst, but it also encourages "a curiosity about the other", where the approach blessed by Mancini fosters the expression of a-priori opinions.

A lecture by RAI president Paolo Garimberti [4] was just as disheartening. While he admitted that RAI had grown dangerously close to power, he also claimed that different news output on three channels amounts to pluralism. The quality of the news is, apparently, irrelevant. When a student asked about the image of women on RAI, clearly referring to the endless beaming ‘hostesses’ with hourglass figures and bleached teeth, Garimberti said simply that those women want to work for RAI.

Auksė Balčytienė [5], who sits on Lithuania’s national broadcasting council, said that "public service ethos" in her country means national values, purity of language, and the wealth of cultural inheritance. This definition sounds strange and even vaguely threatening beside the usual emphasis on cultural diversity and pluralism. Compare the BBC charter [6]: the first purpose of the BBC is to sustain citizenship and civil society.

But there is no real contradiction. Public service media have always been strongly national. Recently, my namesake at the BBC, director general Mark Thompson, said "People want guaranteed access to a reliable source of trustworthy news; quality … programming in the area of culture and knowledge … which [tells us] what it is to live in this country, to be British. ... The challenge is, what do you have to do now, given the way media is changing, to meet that public expectation?" (See Andy Beckett, “What do we want from the BBC? [7]”, The Guardian, 2 March 2010.)

The Open Society Institute 2008 report Television Across Europe: More Channels, Less Independence [8] found that public service media across Central and Eastern Europe are locked into a crisis that could prove to be terminal. Suffocating under political control, lacking funds, public trust, professional credibility and a vision for the future, it is hard to see how these institutions can be made ‘fit for purpose’ when even well-resourced public media in western Europe struggle to justify their privileged revenue streams, and audiences have access to so many other media platforms.

Over the years, OSI has done as much as any media donor – and, surely, more than any other US-based donor – for the cause of public service media. Yet the costly attempts to convert the old state broadcasters have not succeeded. It is high time for radical thinking on how quality public interest content, which commercial operators won’t provide, can be delivered to European audiences with little if any faith in established public service outlets.

MOVEMENT MISERY IS SIDE EFFECT

The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) April 25, 2000 | JOE GRAEDON and TERESA GRAEDON Q. I took Premarin, Provera and then Prempro for the past eight years as hormone replacement therapy. During this time I developed a movement disorder and saw 20 doctors at well-known clinics. Not one could help me. website nexium side effects [9]

I could not sit down, sleep in a bed, play the piano or go out to dinner. A month ago, an alternative-care therapist told me something was poisoning my body. I came home, read up on Prempro and discovered that uncontrollable body movements can be a side effect.

I have lived in hell for the past eight years. At times my husband had to feed me. I stopped taking Prempro, and I am now getting better.

My gynecologist was very upset that I would go off Prempro. She said I would get Alzheimer's, osteoporosis and heart problems. My 95- year-old aunt and 88-year-old mother live independently, still drive and have their wits about them, so I'm not worried. What do you think?

A. Chorea, a disorder characterized by jerky involuntary movements, is listed as a side effect of Premarin and Prempro. It is an uncommon complication of hormone replacement therapy.

There is no evidence that estrogen can prevent Alzheimer's disease or heart problems. The most recent study of HRT suggests that estrogen might slightly increase the risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.

A running problem Q. For many years I have been troubled with a runny nose during meals. My nose is not stuffed up, and the discharge is clear liquid, like water. I do not have a cold or an allergy. The only time this bothers me is when I am eating.

Years ago I read in a newspaper article that this was a condition with a special name. My doctors (cardiologist, endocrinologist) aren't aware of it. Do you know anything about this problem, and is there anything to control this annoying condition?

A. What you describe sounds like "gustatory rhinitis." Hot, spicy foods are especially likely to trigger this reaction.

Your doctor might wish to consider the prescription nasal spray Atrovent, which can often help symptoms of runny nose. Over-the- counter nose sprays might work, but using them for more than three days could lead to drug-induced congestion.

Vicks to the rescue Q. I have a scalp condition for which I have used Nizoral for years. It also affects my facial skin and eyebrows, causing scaling and itching. I used a prescription cortisone cream for this, but it's no longer very effective.

After reading about using Vicks for bad dandruff, I tried it on my face and had almost immediate results. The scales in the nose creases disappeared overnight.

The scaling on my forehead and in my eyebrows is also disappearing, but more slowly. I have to be careful to apply a very thin layer of Vicks so as not to cause eye problems. People might think that any ointment would clear this up, but I have tried lots of prescription creams, and they made no difference whatsoever. web site nexium side effects [10]

Vicks also seems to eliminate bad toenail fungus. What else can Vicks do?

A. We are astonished by the range of problems that people have successfully treated using Vicks VapoRub. This old-fashioned cold remedy contains eucalyptus oil, menthol, camphor, cedarleaf oil, nutmeg oil, thymol and turpentine oil. Some of these herbal ingredients have antifungal properties. Mixtures of such essential oils appear more potent than the individual ingredients.

The condition you describe sounds like seborrheic dermatitis. It is caused by a fungus, which is why your doctor prescribed the antifungal shampoo Nizoral. People tell us Vicks is good for dry, cracked fingertips, mosquito bites, paper cuts, nail fungus, tennis elbow and muscle soreness. It must be kept away from eyes or other delicate tissue.

If you have comments or questions, write to People's Pharmacy, c/ o King Features, 235 East 45th St., New York, N.Y. 10017; send e- mail to askpeoplespharmacy@HealthCentral.com, or see the Web site at www.peoplespharmacy.com.

JOE GRAEDON and TERESA GRAEDON

Article printed from Open Society Foundations: http://blog.soros.org

URL to article: http://blog.soros.org/2010/03/public-media-in-europe-fair-and-balanced/

URLs in this post:

[1] get-together in Oxford: http://mde.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/news-events/40-psb-seminar

[2] Paolo Mancini: http://www.paolomancini.it/

[3] Tim Gardam: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/steering_committee/timgardam.html

[4] Paolo Garimberti: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Garimberti

[5] Auksė Balčytienė: http://www.vdu.lt/senas/staff/TTPMI/Balcyt.htm

[6] BBC charter: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how_we_govern/charter.pdf

[7] What do we want from the BBC?: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/01/bbc

[8] Television Across Europe: More Channels, Less Independence: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/media/articles_publications/publications/television_20090313

[9] website nexium side effects: http://nexiumsideeffectsnow.net

[10] web site nexium side effects: http://nexiumsideeffectsnow.net/

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