Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics

The report, based on four years of research, argues that multi-platform, participatory media will be central to democratic life in the years ahead. It also suggests that public broadcasting could play a central role if the medium is properly restructured and supported. Some key concepts about public media 2.0 include:

1) It will be crucial to an open, democratic society;

2) The core function is to generate publics around social issues;

3) It needs widely-shared standards and practices;

4) Impact measurements are crucial;

5) Public broadcasting could act as a national network, but only with restructuring; and

6) Public media 2.0 will need broad public mobilization for federal support.

"The people formerly known as the audience have reorganized themselves into networks," said Jessica Clark, director of the center's Future of Public Media Project. "That throws open the doors for what public media can be."

Clark coauthored the report with Pat Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media and professor at AU's School of Communication, which houses the Center. The report offers a glimpse of tomorrow by showing how experiments in public media 2.0 are emerging across sites and sectors—from political debates on Wikipedia, to environmental discussions in Second Life, to community-based media shared via mobile phones.

"Tomorrow's public media will be media made by, for, and with the public, but it won't happen by accident," said Aufderheide. "This report provides a map of opportunities and ways to make the most of them."