Abstract | Growing concerns in recent years over threats to the foundations of democratic societies posed by misinformation, hate speech and other problems associated with digital communications have led to renewed calls for greater protection of epistemic rights within policy, advocacy and academic fora. Institutionally mandated to promote citizenship, public service media (PSM) organisations have an important role to play in supporting epistemic rights. We suggest four main conditions are required for PSM to fulfil this role. First, PSM are premised upon strong political commitment. At a time when this political commitment is dwindling, it is imperative that civil society, academia and international organisations continue to make the case for PSM strong. Second, we argue that PSM need to evolve with the times, and be allowed to use new transmission means, build new platforms and innovate. Third, we argue that PSM need to move beyond supporting epistemic rights, as they have traditionally been bestowed, and work to promote epistemic justice, by questioning the existing power structures of knowledge. Finally, PSM need to work together with other educational and cultural institutions towards the creation of an epistemic commons, countering the privatisation of communitive spaces and striving to make knowledge accessible to all. |
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