A Future for Public Service Television

The public service project is more, not less, essential in the digital twenty-first century, and this collection begins to undertake the work necessary for a renewing and reimagining of its possibilities and resources.

Charlotte Brunsdon, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick

This is an ideal text for those who wish to drill down into the diversity issues that beset our media.

Lenny Henry, writer, actor and comedian

If you want to know what is at stake for the future of television, this is the absolute go-to book. With chapters from an incredible lineup of commentators, it is highly engaging and challenging. It asks us to think in many different ways about what it means to be a public, to be a citizen, to live in an informed democracy. If we do not see television as a public good rather than a consumer choice, what are we left with?

Bev Skeggs, Director of the Atlantic Fellows programme, London School of Economics and Political Science

Anyone who cares about democracy, and about the vital place of media in it, should read this fantastic book. It provides a vividly engaged and engaging account of the principles, practices and problems of public service television.

John Street, Professor of Politics, University of East Anglia

Read this book to understand the value of public service television and why we should care about it. More than the usual pessimistic account of the 'challenges' facing its future, these illuminating voices around the Puttnam Inquiry dispense passionate pleas as well as concrete and brilliant ideas. Whilst it is clear that we are all still watching TV, the important question is whether the right people are truly listening to the debate. At a moment when public trust is faltering, this book matters now more than ever.

Helen Wood, Professor of Media and Communication, University of Leicester