Digital transformation, responsive collaborations, democratic responsibility: three challenges faced by public media platforms

Public media platforms can only be defended if they transform radically to adapt to the digital revolution that is underway and to the new practices it is generating. This is the deep-seated belief of Mathieu Gallet, Radio France’s current chairman. In this memo, he lists the key points of this transformation: putting users and their practices at the centre of what’s being offered, understanding and exploiting data, preparing for voice-activated technology and the Semantic Web, moving towards a cross-platform approach…This change within public broadcast media platforms is being achieved through new methods of management. But it also calls for new measures to be implemented by the public powers: one the one hand, establishing a more empowering regulatory environment for these new digital networks, and on the other, reforming the way public broadcast platforms are financed, not so much to support the existing model as to accompany a medium-term and long-term transition in order to implement a global strategy for public service media platforms. In presenting this proposal, Terra Nova is opening up the debate on the future of public media platforms and we welcome all contributions to this debate, as well as reactions or challenges to the initiative from stakeholders or union representatives.