NPO, shape the public space online

For fear of not being attractive to young viewers who prefer internet movies over television, the public broadcaster prefers sorry television entertainment to journalistic depth. In recent weeks there has been a lot of commotion over the Dutch public broadcaster, which broadcasts TV programs like Other times at Checkout marginalize in favor of Showcolade. But it’s still about continuing to connect people to the media of television, and too little is being invested in safeguarding public space online. We need to talk about the role of public service broadcasting in the 21st century. Unfortunately, there is not yet a current vision of digitization in the public media system.

What information is in the public interest and where can it be found? How to organize the public debate without manipulating the algorithms leading to polarization? How are people of all ages involved? And when does the power of tech giants get too great in our democracy? These questions merge when we examine public service broadcasting in an increasingly digital world. There is no clear idea of ​​the need to contribute to the development of a secure digital public domain. If digitization continues to increase, without there being a clear perception of the public task of the NPO in this area, it would undermine the right to exist of the public broadcaster. This is why we are taking a step here for an active vision of the implementation of the public and democratic role in a digitizing world.

Public broadcasting is still too trapped in an outdated framework: making and distributing television and radio productions. It focuses on transmission and less on interaction. Meanwhile, there is hardly an online environment without commerce where attractive content is offered to young people. They find their salvation on TikTok and Snapchat, not only for watching videos, but also for creating and sharing them.

At the mercy of commercial platforms

The ‘new’ framework – now almost thirty years old – is that the internet makes it possible for everyone content can create, individuals, organizations and professionals: the so-called user generated content. Unfortunately, only the commercial parties built the platforms for this, which meant that people and their privacy were banned. Because public broadcasters have not taken the responsibility of contributing to a large online platform, nor encouraged by politicians, everyone is now at the mercy of commercial platforms. A nightmare scenario.

The public broadcaster must make the radical choice to help build and fill a public space online. Either way, it needs to stop facilitating the same privacy-violating surveillance technology that the Big Tech parties do. Visitors to the public broadcaster’s websites are tracked by cookies. Anyone who watches the news or a program online will find enthusiastic suggestions for sharing NOS news on Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp. Under every episode and every fragment on Uitzending Gemist (NPO Start), the internet user is encouraged to link on the giants of social media.

You will find videos on YouTube Sunday with Lubach on – these are some of the most viewed Dutch music videos. It makes sense that the programs created are also offered online. But by not doing this on a public online platform, the hijacking of the own audience is made easier, while no responsibility is taken to protect people from the data-intensive practices of social media giants. Precisely because young minors prefer to spend time on the Internet rather than watching television, the protection of their privacy and data is extremely delicate. It can and should be done differently.