The legitimisation of public service broadcasting

Media play an important role in the Dutch democratic society, with television being the most important supplier of content. The broadcasting landscape consists of a public broadcaster and commercial broadcasters. The start and first justification of Public Service Broadcasting originates from the time that there were a limited number of channels. In the current time there are numerous channels which means that the justification does not hold anymore. Governments nowadays justify Public Service Broadcasting on the grounds of market failures by commercial broadcasters. They argue that commercial broadcasters are not able to supply a pluralistic, independent, qualitative supply which is accessible for all. This thesis, which focuses on the news provision of the public broadcaster, studies this justification by using theoretical research and an empirical study. The empirical study in this thesis can be seen as a contribution to research in the field of Dutch broadcasting. The outcome of the empirical research does not support the justification for Public Service Broadcasting with respect to pluralism, independency and accessibility. Is does support the concern with respect to quality.