About the PSM Forum
The PSM Forum is a coalition of British civil society organisations which believe that high quality media, and Public Service Broadcasting specifically, make a valuable contribution to UK democracy, society, culture and the wellbeing of its citizens.
Voice of the Listener & Viewer set up the Forum as a response to the disbanding of the Consumer Forum for Communications in 2018. Its closure has led to less representation, especially for vulnerable sectors of society. Our concern is that without sufficient intervention there is a risk of failure to regulate for the benefit of citizens.
The coalition of organisations with their range of expertise and diverse networks also enable us to better understand the needs of ALL citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable and marginalised in the debate.
Membership
Better Media
As a member-democratic and trade union-funded campaign, we at Better Media are big believers in the value of public service media for working people. We joined the PSM forum to help advocate for a media that leverages plurality, transparency and effective criticism in the public interest.
British Broadcasting Challenge
The British Broadcasting Challenge was formed four years ago to promote and strengthen the BBC and its public service values. The PSM Forum is an essential coalition in the fight to defend these values.
Campaign for the Arts
The Campaign for the Arts champions, defends and expands access to the arts for everyone. Strong public service media is vital in that mission, and for a flourishing culture. It broadens access to a diverse range of high-quality artistic content and helps to ensure that everybody can participate in a shared cultural conversation. The PSBs significantly increase the coverage and production of art (commissioning and making original programmes), engage, and grow audiences for art (utilising their reach locally, nationally and internationally) and develop the next generation of artistic talent (including through schemes like BBC Music Introducing, Writersroom and Young Musician). They play a pivotal role in our creative industries and in supporting artists to contribute meaningfully to our democracy and society.
Children’s Media Foundation
While children and young people are recognised in the Media Act as a designated component of public service broadcasting, other important genres are not. The Children’s Media Foundation considers it vital that a broad range of content – including arts, religion science and regional content – is maintained as an obligation for public service media providers. There is, after all, little purpose in ensuring the young audience is served a range of culturally relevant and pro-social content if that variety and depth are no longer available to them later in life.
Decentered Media
Decentered Media supports the PSM Forum because we believe in a pluralist, open and transparent media in the UK. We are committed to the principles of universal access to broadcast media and to working with our partners in the forum to secure democratically accountable media that serves the needs of citizens across the country.
We are concerned that the Media Act will have a negative impact on independent and community radio broadcasters. There is a growing apprehension among these broadcasters that the Act’s protectionist measures may significantly hinder their ability to enter and compete in the broadcast radio market. These provisions, intended to deregulate the sector, may inadvertently create barriers that favour established players over new entrants, thus limiting diversity and innovation within the broadcasting landscape.
IBT
The International Broadcasting Trust is charity working to protect and expand spaces for international stories within the media. IBT greatly benefits from its participation in the PSM Forum, which brings together organisations with diverse interests and objectives to collaborate around protecting and strengthening public service media. We value the opportunity the forum provides to pool expertise, share resources, debate ideas, and act together to improve PSM for current and future generations.
Media Reform Coalition
The Media Reform Coalition is a research and advocacy group that campaigns for an independent, accountable and democratic media. Public service media is essential to a healthy democracy, an inclusive society and a vibrant national culture. However the UK’s public service broadcasters have been weakened by decades of political interference, funding cuts, commercialisation and deregulation. We urgently need radical reforms to empower our valued broadcasting institutions in the emerging media landscape, enshrining universal provision as a public good and creating new democratic mechanisms for how our public media are governed, funded and regulated.
The Public Interest News Foundation
The Public Interest News Foundation is the UK’s first charity to support public interest news – ethical and impartial journalism that informs and empowers the public about the things that matter to all of us. We believe that everyone in the UK should benefit from public interest news that speaks to them, for them and with them. Our interest here is where PSM intersects with the smaller, independent – and often local – news providers who are typically our focus.
Sandford St Martin Trust
The Sandford St Martin Trust has long argued that broadcasting, because of its reach, is a valuable tool for promoting greater civic and cultural competency. This is true for religious literacy – our main area of interest – but also applies to the foci of our partners within the PSM Forum. Collaborating with them has provided us with the opportunity to share strategies and expertise, to find common ground and to cooperate in a shared endeavour that has public service and, ultimately, public benefit at its heart.
UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity
Since 2007 the UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity has brought together cultural organisations in support of the aims of UNESCO’s unique Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005. As founder members of the International Federation of Coalitions, IFCCD, we work both regionally and internationally to advocate inclusivity and local autonomy in cultural policy, including on AI, public service broadcasting, mobility of artists and the sustainability of performative arts.
Voice of the Listener & Viewer
The Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) works to represent the interests of citizens in all broadcasting issues. We are an independent, not for profit membership-based charity, free from political and sectarian affiliations. We support high quality broadcasting which maintains the democratic and cultural traditions of the UK. We support the independence and integrity of the BBC and encourage work which demonstrates commitment to the principles of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB).
For further information please contact:
Pip Eldridge pip.eldridge@vlv.org.uk
The Citizens’ PSM Forum Project is being funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
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