Analysing national practices after European state aid control: are multi-stakeholder negotiations beneficial for public service broadcasting?

Abstract

This article analyses the increasing emphasis on multi-stakeholder approaches in the development of public broadcasting policies. The European Commission, in particular, reinforces this trend, having pointed to the necessity of ‘third parties’ being involved in procedures that allow public broadcasters to expand activities to new media markets. The article’s research question is twofold. First, what type of multi-stakeholder approach has been advocated for by the Commission? Second, are multi-stakeholder approaches, implemented by Member States after an encounter with the Commission, adding to more democratic (understood as more inclusive) decision-making on public service broadcasting or, rather, simply providing an additional forum for private sector interests? Evidence derives from two case studies in the Netherlands and Flanders, where some form of ex ante evaluation has been developed and a multi-stakeholder consultation has been set up in preparation for management contract renewals. Findings show that the newly developed multi-stakeholder policy practices are far from inclusive and fail to meet several aspects of deliberative democracy. Essentially, they have been created in response to market pressures (and, hence, over-focus on market questions) and rarely take as their starting point the improvement of public service broadcasting as a democratic policy project.