Governance of Public Service Media in Poland: The Role of the Public

This paper analyzes the role of the public in governance processes in public service media (PSM) in Poland in the post mass-media era, characterized by participatory culture and network practices. Referencing the findings of the “Democratization of media policy in the digital ecosystems” (2014–2015) research project, the study aims to map the effectiveness of existing tools, practices and attitudes toward opening-up Polish public media enterprises to the public. Examination of media regulation, grey literature (corporate documentation, strategies, reports) and civil society initiatives are likely to indicate the ways and extent to which members of the public might currently participate in the decision-making and control. On the basis of hypotheses that public media enterprises in Poland are not fully prepared for the multi-stakeholder and advanced model of PSM, the study takes into account potential systemic/regulatory, organizational and social barriers for change. The salient questions to be addressed are: What are the strategies and practices through which members of civil society might get involved? At what stages are the publics able to engage? How can PSM take advantage of the development of online tools offering space for interaction and collaboration? How is it possible to make the public more active and interested in governance and participation?