Research On "Public Service" Of Mass Media

With the increasing demand for the public service and the constant attention of the vital interests, establishing an efficient public service system of complete function, which is people-oriented and with reasonable distribution in urban and rural areas, has become an important task to build a harmonious society. As an important component of the public service system, the construction of the public cultural service system has attracted more and more attention. Under such circumstances, it is of great practical value to promote the study of the public service of media, which will strengthen the public cultural service system and promote the industrial development of the media with Chinese characteristics.However, compared with the strong demand in reality, the theoretical studies fail to keep pace with it. Owing to the differences of the media system, the overseas researches which are more mature, are not applicable in China, especially for those researches on application. In our country, the research in this field has just begun. There are still many conceptual misunderstandings of public services, especially the public service of media. Therefore, an in-depth study of this subject has significant theoretical value.1.Public Service and Public Service of MediaIn order to study the public service of media, above all, what is meant by"public service"should be made clear. However, scholars abroad and at home have been debating on the defining of"public service". They take three points of view: from the perspective of the object, that is, to define according to the characteristics of the items; from the perspective of the subject, that is, to define according to the characteristics of the government; from the perspective of the behavior, that is, to define according to the characteristics of services. Through the scrutiny of the three points of view above, the author defines public service as: the general or universal service provided by the government authorized by law as well as non-governmental organizations and relevant industrial and commercial enterprises, in the production and supply of the pure public goods, the mixed public goods as well as the personal belongings with the characteristics of weak competition in production and weak selection in consumption, for the purpose of meeting public demands. Public service is an important way to achieve the public interests, which helps promote the sustainable development of society.Although the media product differs from the services of post or transportation, ect. in the form, in essence, it has the same characteristics of weak competition in consumption and weak exclusion in benefit. It is also a type of public service. Specifically speaking, China's media services include not only basic public service and professional public service, but also the government-led public service and market-oriented public service.Under the impact of different political and economic systems, cultural traditions and the media systems all over the world, the ideas of public service also diversify. There are two representative values in the West: one is the public media tradition represented by the British; the other is the commercial media tradition represented by the United States. In China, the media system is in"the nature of the cause and enterprise management". Under such operating mode, it is necessary to understand the public service of media from its service functions, publicity and public interests.2.The Development of the Public Service of China's MediaAfter the founding of New China, China's media have taken propaganda as the first task for a long time. The media are mainly attributed to politics, with slightly social attributes. After the Third Plenary Session in 1978, China entered a new historical period of reform and opening up. The economic attributes of China's media began to appear, but they had little impact on its political and social attributes. In 1992, the party's 14th congress established a socialist market economic system, thus the media industrialization started. The balance between the three attributes, namely, the political, social and economic attributes were broken. The economic attributes became more and more important. Therefore, the development of the public service of media in China can be divided into two stage: the stage of those with politics-oriented attributes and social attributes; the stage of those with economic attributes as important properties. And the former can be divided into two phases: the stage before reform and opening up and the stage after it.3.China's contemporary status of the public service of mediaThrough the specific analysis of the status of the public service of media in China since 1990's, we can find out that our contemporary mass media have made some progress in public service. However, there is still limitation.Progress: As for the traditional media, they start from the talk shows characteristic of public participation. They develop to media that explore the livelihood of the public"on behalf of the public". Then they grow to public journalism which rebuilds the concept of"public service". The perspective of the media comes back to the concept of"public"."Public service"has been emphasized. As for the new media, the Government has set up web sites, which reflects the revival of the sense of public service. The rapid development of mobile newspaper has improved the efficiency of public service.The shortcomings of the public service of media in China can be divided into two types: one is"congenitally deficient", that is, affected by the country's political, economic and social institutions. China never has the pure"public media"which is completely independent of the government and the market, for the provision of public services, and to maximize the public interests. The other is"insufficiency after birth", that is, the media industries that are involved in the market, pursue one-sidedly economic interests while neglect the functions of public service. It can be shown in the aphasia on major public emergencies, the neglect of the disadvantaged social classes, the geographical differences of urban and rural areas, as well as the lack of public supervision under the position of public service.4.The Future of the public service of China's mediaFirst of all, in order to adjust the development of China's media and promote the concept of the public service of media, the plight of the existing system should be broken. China's media can be based on the supervision function of public interests and the separation of the functions of daily operations. Besides, we can explore boldly the feasibility of establishing the public frequency and channel in China. We should face the difficulties and cherish the favorable conditions.Secondly, facing the new opportunities of the digital of traditional media and new media, China's media should establish the concept of interactive services to provide a more comprehensive, professional, rapid and high-qualified public service.Thirdly, the media should redefine their responsibilities and stick to the concept of public service and audience-based thinking. They should divert their attention, which pursues one-sidedly the growth of substances and the accumulation of wealth, to that which focuses on safeguarding public interests, protecting the fundamental rights of the audience, especially the right of knowing, and satisfying the multiple demands of the audience.Finally, the media should adjust and develop the contents of public service. They should pay more attention to vulnerable groups and disadvantaged areas so as to meet the needs of individuals and provide the three-dimensional services. It is an urgency for China's media to rebuild the concept of public service and fulfill the functions of public service carefully. The establishment of the public service system is a huge project. In such a stage that the concept and the practice of China's public service have just started, how to draw on the useful experience of foreign countries and how to display their own creativity require not only an overall design with high wisdom, but also the theoretical support and reasonable practice. They are the purposes of this thesis and the desired results. We should believe that the public service system of media with Chinese characteristics will demonstrate its strong vitality and become a driving power of social progress and civilization.