Obsolescence as a pattern: an analysis of how public service media managers perceive and cope with resistance to change in the platformisation era

ABSTRACT

Platformisation has greatly affected the operations of the media industry, forcing media corporations to undergo major changes. Under such circumstances, public service media (PSM) corporations have found themselves engaged in a process of rethinking their economics, structures and ways of working. However, the latter is rarely established without resistance. Through 60 in-depth interviews with Spanish PSM managers, this study analyses how resistance to change operates in the ongoing platformisation process. The results confirm the existence of a problem of obsolescence in Spanish PSM, which is motivated by four elements: legislation, financial means, technological capacity, and workforce. Furthermore, three possible strategies to address this challenge are identified: communication, training, and renewal of professional profiles.

KEYWORDS:

• Public service media
• platformisation
• media management
• resistance to change
• Spanish PSM

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the research project “Public service media in the face of the platform ecosystem: public value management and evaluation models relevant for Spain (VALCOMM)” funded by the Spanish State Program of R+D+I oriented towards the Challenges of Society of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Government of Spain), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Furthermore, Azahara Cañedo receives funding from the research project “Audiovisual platformization: A propositional diagnosis of the platformization processes in the current Spanish media landscape” (2022-GRIN-34309), funded by the UCLM Research Grants Plan and the ERDF.

Notes on contributors

Azahara Cañedo

Azahara Cañedo (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Communication at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. She specialises in studying the structure of audiovisual cultural industries, especially public service media. Her recent works include publications in journals such as Journalism and the European Journal of Communication.

Mónica López-Golán

Mónica López-Golán (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Communication at Universidad da Coruña. Her primary research interests lie in management, funding and innovation in public service media. Her works have been published in journals such as Comunicar and Cuadernos Info.

Olga Blasco-Blasco

Olga Blasco-Blasco (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Economics at Universitat de València. She specialises in the development of quantitative indicators for the field of communication and culture studies. Her published works have proposed composite indicators to assess European public service media.