COMMENT | What is the role of a public broadcaster?

COMMENT | Who does a public media organisation run by the state actually serve? As a comparison, let’s look at whose interest a private broadcaster or media organisation serve when it comes to their content.

In an ideal world, media should serve the public as they are supposed to be the watchdog for the people. But being private, they also need to make revenue or profit in order to pay for their resources.

So, as much as a media organisation tries to serve the public, at the end of the day, reality sets in and they probably have to serve their paymasters (i.e. their advertisers, sponsors or investors).

They can strive to be objective but the public still needs to be media savvy enough to realise that there is a chance that this can be compromised, whether intentionally or not...