Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2011, Mass Communication (Communication)
The study had three objectives. The first was to explore the potential for establishing a Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) system in developing countries using Cambodia as a case study. Four main factors – political circumstances, economic conditions, civil society and donors, and socio-cultural compatibility – were examined to determine their impact on prospects for a future PSB system. The second was to develop an organizational structure for a future PSB that would make it independent of political and corporate influences. And the third was to develop a funding scheme for PSB that would make it financially sustainable in the long run.
A qualitative method was used to conduct field research in Cambodia. In-depth interviews and focus groups were undertaken with 68 informants, including policymakers, media executives, media practitioners, civil society activists, and representatives of donor organizations as well as with ordinary citizens from different regions. Research data were also collected from primary materials.
The study reached two key conclusions. The first was that dependency media was created by the interactions of a dominant political party, a weak economy and civil society, and the absence of a participatory culture. Thus, the prerequisites for the establishment of a PSB system hardly exist in Cambodia at the time the study was conducted in 2008. This was due to the fact that the ruling party dominated the political scene and strictly controls the existing media system, from which it derived important political benefits; Cambodia's weak economic conditions and low living standards severely limited the prospects for sustainable funding of a PSB system; civil society and donors were neither sufficiently strong nor had an interest in exerting pressure on the government to reform the existing media system and to place the establishment of a PBS on its agenda; and Cambodian society lacked a participatory culture, which was one of the crucial requirements (open full item for complete abstract)
Committee: Drew McDaniel (Committee Chair); David Mould (Committee Member); Robert Stewart (Committee Member); Judith Millesen (Committee Member)
Subjects: Communication