INPUT / … / … / Getting Started: A Pledge for Public Service Media

InPUT President Judy Tam and the Hosting Team of InPUT 2018 welcome the Delegates to brooklyn. Public service television is currently facing a great challenge all over the world. It is no longer a question of program critique or quality but a question of existence. When lNPUT first started in 1977 it was an exchange between the established European public television stations and the younger PbS in America. Since then InPUT - and public service media - have ‘toured’ the world. However, today political and economic forces are pledging to limit or even completely get rid of public service media. Even in its European cradle, where public broadcasting was part and parcel of re-building countries after the nightmare of World War ll, the concept is under fire. Most overtly so recently in Switzerland where the Swiss people were asked on 4 March 2018 to decide about the abolition of their public broadcaster SRG SSR (founded in 1931) in a democratic referendum. After this wake-up call we’ll proceed to InPUT’s central mission - screening innovative, funky, informative and entertaining public television from all over the world. Political satire and investigative journalism are intrinsic pillars of public broadcasting. See two productions from smaller but very innovative broadcasters, which clearly show: public service is state-of-the-art, witty and surprising. More is to come in the next four days: vibrant and diverse examples of innovative force and quality broadcasting from all over the world, providing resounding arguments for public service media.