Posted by: Johann Gründl  Categories: News, Partners  Tags: Germany, Hardy Gundlach, International, Partners, Public value, Public value goes international  Posted date:  March 27, 2014  |  No comment

Hardy Gundlach is professor for information and media economy at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), Germany. Amongst others, he conducts a research project on the market effects of public service online media.

Hardy Gundlach in a quick interview

For me public value is …

… a term that indicates the interest in creating goods and services according to an expressed societal need. The public interest is that goods or services are to be provided outside of the market. There is an obligation for the economy or part of it to create certain goods and services. This obligation is present because the market supply is not considered sufficient.

The main challenges for research on public value

First of all, I wish to give a warning. Normally, concepts such as public value or public interest cannot be explained in a simple or concise manner. In addition, the concept cannot be explained in purely scientific terms; for example, the creation of public value cannot be explained by applying a single economic rule.

In order to clarify the public value of a good or service, one challenge is important to address: How can you link the microeconomic perspectives (e.g. of enterprises or management) together with the societal perspectives?

To answer the question how much public value or which value a given service has is a matter of examining the societal objectives. Although a service can make a contribution to public communication, a contribution alone is not sufficient to create public value. The societal objectives determine the specific quality that enables this contribution to be seen as providing public value. Hence, it is necessary to clarify what the societal objectives are.

However, societal objectives provide a further challenge for research on the topic of public value. That is because democratic policy usually pursues several objectives simultaneously. This can lead to conflicts between different objectives. For example: On the one hand, public service broadcasting should offer socioculturally valuable content, but on the other hand, they should also serve the media needs of the majority.

„My expectations toward the project “Public Value goes international” are …

… an European comparison between the institutions of public service broadcasting (PSB). The international comparison should be used to understand the role of PSB in the European societies. Moreover, it should also be used to discover European trends, more precisely trends with respect to the strategies and trends regarding the objectives of PSB. For example, what are the trends in financing public service broadcasting? The comparison should also be used to explain the future of PSB.

Vienna is …

1. Sigmund Freud
2. Ludwig Wittgenstein
3. Danube
4. Vienna Circle

Selected publications on public value

Gundlach, Hardy & Gennis, Martin (2013). Wandel und Zukunft des Public Service Broadcasting in der Digital- und Internetökonomie. In Seufert, Wolfgang & Sattelberger, Felix (Eds.), Langfristiger Wandel von Medienstrukturen: Theorie, Methoden, Befunde (pp. 259–280). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Gundlach, Hardy & Gennis, Martin (2013). Impact of Public Broadcaster’s Internet Services on Market. In Puppis, Manuel; Künzler, Matthias & Jarren, Otfried (Eds.), Media Structures and Media Performance: Medienstrukturen und Medienperformanz (pp. 233–256). Relation: Vol. 4. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Gundlach, Hardy & Seufert, Wolfgang (2012). Medienregulierung in Deutschland: Ziele, Konzepte, Maßnahmen. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Gundlach, Hardy (Ed.) (2011). Public Value in der Digital- und Internetökonomie. Köln: Herbert von Halem.

Gundlach, Hardy (2010). Ökonomische Analyse des Public Value öffentlich-rechtlicher Telemedien. In Medien Journal, 34 (2), 28–39.