Abstract
This paper contributes to the role of public service broadcasting in South Korea in the context of changing media landscape created by convergence. It explores two analytical issues which have attracted considerable scholarly attention. One concerns the interpretation of traditional rationale of public service broadcasting in a more democratised political landscape, as compared to the situation when authoritarian state dictated the definitions and conditions of broadcasting. The other concerns the emerging challenges public service broadcasting has faced in converged, multi-platform and multi-channel environment. Based on the examinations of the interests involved in key policy decisions, promoting or inhibiting traditional principles of public service broadcasting, and the level its commitment to meet technological challenges, this paper argues that the development of public service broadcasting in South Korea has been hampered largely because of the lack of policy that safeguards public service broadcasting from politicisation. In established democracies, public service broadcasting plays crucial roles in citizenship, culture and education. In South Korea, however, both economic and social rationale that public broadcasters have long pursued has been secondary to political interests.
Author Information
Ki-Sung Kwak, University of Sydney, Australia
Paper Information
Conference: MediAsia2014
Stream: Broadcast Media and Globalization
This paper is part of the MediAsia2014 Conference Proceedings (View)
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