Catherine Tait, CEO of Canada's CBC is the Chair of the Global Task Force of the Public Media Alliance
The Global Task Force for Public Media (GTF) is a group of eight leaders of major public service media from around the world.
Established in 2020 and chaired by Catherine Tait, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, the GTF provides “an important opportunity to strengthen the great work each of us does for citizens in our countries. I look forward to working with other like-minded public media around the world.”
The Global Task Force exists to defend the values and the interests of Public Media.' (i.e. it is a lobbying group) Its members include:
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ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) / represented by: David Anderson, Managing Director, ABC
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BBC / represented by: Tony Hall, Director General, BBC
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CBC / Radio-Canada / represented by: Catherine Tait, President & CEO
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France Télévisions / represented by: Delphine Ernotte Cunci, President & CEO, France Télévisions
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KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) / represented by: Yang Sung-dong, President & CEO, KBS
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RNZ (Radio New Zealand) / represented by: Jim Mather, Chair of the Board, RNZ
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SVT (Sveriges Television - Sweden) / represented by: Hanna Stjärne, Director General, SVT
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ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen - Germany) / represented by: Thomas Bellut, Director General, ZDF
The Public Media Alliance (PMA) is the largest global association of public media organisations and focuses specifically on providing advocacy and support for public media worldwide.
Founded in 1945 as the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA), the organisation today has a global membership, offering members an equal opportunity to exchange ideas, views and best practice in public media. Our vision is a world where the public can continue to access free, independent, engaging and representative national and international media wherever they are.
The Public Media Alliance is a membership association of 102 TV and radio broadcasting organisations with a public service remit. We are a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, with a UK-based staff.
In July 2020, when FB announced that it had begun labelled content originating from state-controlled media organizations, PMA said these "attacks on public media are an attack on democracy".
In April 2020, the GTF indicated that the common duties of the public media is: inform, educate, entertain, and engage. The task force seeks to contribute to the public discourse on the issues and challenges facing public media such as financial pressure, competition for audience share in the digital market, and online disinformation. Seven values are listed in its mission statement: access, accuracy, accountability, creativity, impartiality, independence, and high standards of journalism.
The GTF cites examples of its work done by public media during the pandemic (i.e. fear porn):
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ABC:
→ Coronacast podcast, giving updates on COVID and answering listener's questions.
→ ABC Education: Launched a $5M fund to supercharge development of content geared towards children, linked to educational curriculum
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BBC:
→ Bitesize Daily, a broadcast and online education platform, linked to educational curriculum
→ Big Night In, celebrating acts of kindness, humour, and spirit of hope
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CBC:
→ Creative Relief Fund, funding $3M to initiatives in the creative industry
→ CBC Kids programming, a Q&A period with Trudeau and Theresa Tam on COVID
-France Televisions:
→ Lumni, an education platform for youth
→ #OnVousRépond, a Q&A initiative on the pandemic
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RNZ:
→ Coronavirus Podcast, Q&A and 'information' podcast
→ #StandAtDawn, A Remembrance Day initiative for Anzac Day
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SVT:
→ Data Visualization, data visualization platform for COVID
→ An evening together, Fundraiser for COVID and entertainment event with the Swedish musical elite
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ZDF:
→ Adaptation, Programming updates in light of the COVID pandemic
→ Children's content, COVID content for kids and topics for homeschooling
Prior work of this organization was an open letter in Financial Times in support of the British, Australian and Danish public broadcasters, which had experienced funding and staff cuts and, in the case of ABC, been served with search warrants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Task_Force_for_Public_Media
https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/global-task-force/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Tait