The Influence Of Public Broadcasting In Canada

In the last couple of years the topic of public broadcasting has come to forefront of many conversations. For years now, especially here in Canada public broadcasting has failed to make a large impact on the media industry and carve out its Niche. With so much dependency on the government and a decrease in funding Canada’s Public Broadcaster CBC is struggling. This is not the case everywhere however, as there is different categories that public broadcasters to fall into depending on funding. Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany, UK are considered high funded public broadcasting countries, with large investments. These Public broadcasters have a strong tradition of independence from the government and commercial interests. Austria, France, Belgium,

In Sarah Armstrong’s article Magazines, Cultural Policy, and Globalization: The Forced Retreat of the State we are provided insightful information on how many factors are affecting cultural policy. This can directly be related back to the public broadcasting system and the problems it faces globally. Economic globalization is posing challenges in preserving cultural diversity. Developments in technology have made it possible to transmit products and at the same time by-pass Canada’s trade regulations; a great example of this is streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. The presence of these regulations free services affect public broadcasting numbers and viewership. Recent Nielsen ratings data showed that even U.S. commercial television viewership declined by 12 per cent in January, which is the eighth consecutive double-digit drop. This is a scary and threatening thing to see when digital online streaming services are increasing and traditional TV use is decreasing. There are two different models when it comes to cultural policy making and they are the Local Cultural Model and the Global Markets Model. The Local Cultural Model defines culture as a way of life (this is Canada’s Perspective) and The Global Markets Model defines culture as a commodity, which is the International Perspective, and specifically the U.S. They aim to create and export it in order to make money and treat it like a commodity. The

Technology is another determinant, how our world is always changing due to technology. Constant changing forms of media production, storage and distribution are a determinant in our world today. There are many forms of media and there are always new forms coming out that determine and affect all aspects of media. Economy is a media determinant as well. Ownerships and control of media technologies affects the influence over the content that is shown as well as the need and desire to make money and profit. Lastly, Society is another determinant that plays a huge role in shaping media. There are social controls that are present in media. People in power have control and always want to keep