Three lessons for the future of public service broadcasting

Abstract

In the context of the war in Ukraine, and as significant social and political debates continue to rage inside the UK, the BBC has had to tread a fine line between its commitment to providing due impartiality on topics of political contention and the dangers of implying false equivalence between evidenced and non-evidenced viewpoints in the name of balance.4 However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought to the fore not only the importance of the constant striving towards impartial coverage, but also some of the broader reasons why this continues to matter. The war in Ukraine reveals three key issues about the future of public service broadcasting at times of global crisis.

Politicians and journalists are two of the least trusted professions in UK society.5 Although this reflects long-term social trends over time, the issue of trust has become even more marked online: across the globe, nearly 60 per cent of people are concerned about how to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake on the internet.6

Indeed, since the 1990s, Russia has gradually refined its approach to combining media and military operations.13 A catastrophic media free-for-all in the first Chechen campaign prompted restrictions on media access in the second. Foreign PR firms were employed during the Georgian war of 2018; blatant lies accompanied the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russian troops; and a myriad of conspiracy theories and disinformation were spread around the 2018 Skripal poisonings.14

Russia clearly intended to apply its lessons learned from years of information campaigns to this year's invasion of Ukraine too, but after being on the back foot in recent years, political and media institutions in the West have begun to push back. As Russian troops congregated around Ukraine's borders, US and UK intelligence agencies leaked information to the media, pre-emptively and repeatedly debunking Russian denials of an imminent invasion. Once Russia did invade Ukraine, few in the West were convinced that anyone other than Russia was to blame for the war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine comes at a time of widespread global smartphone and social media access. In this media ecology, a variety of news outlets, brands, individuals, influencers and institutions vie for our time on our personalised news feeds; it takes something special to go viral and grab our attention. Although Russian state-funded international broadcasters like RT and Sputnik had previously built up a reputation for being effective viral influencers, when Russia has most needed to convince foreign audiences that Putin's actions are legitimate, they have proven singularly ineffective – even before the various bans and blocks.

One of the key reasons for this has been the effectiveness of Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his communications team in touching people's hearts across the globe. As a former actor and comedian, Zelenskyy clearly understands how to engage different audiences. He has spoken directly to parliaments and peoples across the globe, incorporating personalised cultural references with a strong emotive pull. On social media his selfie videos direct to camera have captured the public imagination in ways that Russian state media never could – despite their cringeworthy attempts at influencing young people through comedy.18

After 100 years of broadcasting, the BBC has built an international reputation as a respected broadcaster even while, at home, conservatives attack it for being too progressive and progressives critique it for being too close to the establishment. For all of its failings, the BBC is still viewed internationally as the pinnacle of public service broadcasting.

The war in Ukraine has seen the BBC, and other well-respected state-funded international broadcasters like Germany's DW, come into their own by creating content that has resonated with audiences. According to the Meta-owned social analytics platform CrowdTangle, content published by both outlets falls within the top most interacted with Facebook posts about Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. Blocked in Russia following a dramatic crackdown on independent media, these outlets are seeking new ways to reach Russian audiences – including by shortwave radio. By contrast, Russian state broadcasters have not only failed to gain much serious interaction on social media in the West, but have also generated catastrophic blowback.