Reimagining Public Service Media Navigating Change and Exploring Public Consensus in the Czech Republic

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. Setting the Stage: Public Service Media and Its Mission in the Remaking (Marína Urbániková)

2. Public Service Media Through the Public’s Eyes: Expectations, Evaluations, and Satisfaction (Klára Smejkal and Marína Urbániková)

3. Political Perspectives: What Politicians and PSM Supervisory Board Members Think About Public Service Media and Its Regulation (Marína Urbániková)

4. Inside Public Service Media: Manager and Journalist Perspectives on the Present and Future of PSM (Iveta Jansová, Klára Smejkal and Lenka Waschková Císařová)

5. Conclusion: PSM Finding Its Way Through the 21st Century (Marína Urbániková)

References

Biography

Marína Urbániková is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Her research focuses on public service media and its regulation, journalistic autonomy, the safety and security of journalists, and gender in journalism. Beyond academia, she is a co-founder of the Czech NGO Women in Media, a platform dedicated to addressing the challenges faced by female journalists.

Klára Smejkal is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Her research focuses on trust in institutions, public service media, studies of audiences in the fragmented media environment, and production in the audiovisual industry. She has been participating in several research projects and has co-authored publications in journals such as International Journal of Press/Politics and Media, Culture & Society.

Iveta Jansová is the Head of the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. She holds a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies and has worked at multiple journalism departments in the country. Her research interests include audience studies, fan studies, cultural studies, and television studies, with a focus on the representation of marginalized identities and the portrayal of women in crime genre in TV.

Lenka Waschková Císařová is an Associate Professor at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Her teaching and research focus is on changes in journalistic work, local media, media ownership, emotions in journalism, and the transition of media markets. She is the author and editor of several journal articles, book chapters, and books on related topics.

This compelling and timely analysis of Czech public service media combines rigorous empirical evidence with conceptual clarity to uncover both consensus and cracks in the system. Essential reading for anyone interested in PSM’s democratic role, governance, and future in Europe and beyond.

- Professor Maria Michalis, University of Westminster, United Kingdom

 Aiming to give the public a voice in debates about public service media’s future and to find common ground between different stakeholder groups, ‘Reimagining Public Service Media’ offers a theoretically-grounded and systematic analysis that is highly relevant beyond the case at hand.

- Professor Manuel Puppis, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

A timely, powerful, and profoundly rich exploration of public service media through the lens of those it serves and those who shape it. Offering a Czech experience and global perspective, it provides an essential resource for anyone concerned with PSM in democratic societies.

- Professor Marko Milosavljević, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia