“I am very pleased that the conference ‘Public Media – The Power of Arguments’ brought together people from all corners of the globe,” said Milen Mitev, Director General of BNR, in an interview with BNR.

“We had representatives from public media in Europe, Asia, North America, and even Africa. What struck me is that although we come from different parts of the world, work in different countries, operate on different scales — some of us in very small organizations, others very large — fundamentally the challenges we face are the same or very similar.

Most colleagues highlighted, apart from the ever-present problem of public media financing, our relationships with the major online platforms as one of the most significant challenges we currently face.

“BNR is hosting the Annual Conference of the International Public Media Association. This is simultaneously problematic and full of opportunity, because if we manage to leverage the possibilities these platforms offer in the best way, our programs can become even stronger and more accessible. At the same time, we are passing through a not-easy period in which we have to become accustomed to being a platform. In the early days, radio and television were platforms, even the platform — the primary way many people accessed information — but now many public media, even the largest ones like RAI, ARD, or the BBC, are quite small in terms of financial means and global impact compared to the big online platforms,” added the BNR Director General.

“The greatest strength of public media is, first and foremost, that we place the audience at the core of what we do, because public funding relieves us — to a large extent — from the necessity to chase market share,” Mitev emphasized.

“In making programming decisions, we can afford the luxury of being guided primarily by what the audience wants from us, as well as by what we believe would be most beneficial for our audience.”