A Key Resource for a Key Player? The Use of Interlingualism in Public Service Media

Thomas Petzold

ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Abstract

“It is an interesting paradox,” said Alastair Campbell in a speech at London College of Communication, “that though we have more media space than ever, complaint about the lack of healthy debate has never been louder, with fewer stories and issues being addressed in real depth in a way that engages large audiences.” Although Campbell’s statement must be understood from his background as former Press Secretary to the British Prime Minister and may in itself be contradictory, he certainly makes an important point, not at least in the context of public service media. However, the complex consequences of our novel kinds of interconnectedness are, in fact, more difficult to grasp than is commonly appreciated. This is why we need to understand whom public service media is speaking to.

In a German study, Mau et al. (2008: 3) found ‘transboundary interaction a mass phenomenon’ with almost half of all German citizens regularly communicating with a foreign country. Moreover, they corroborate the assertion that “there exists a strong causal path from transnational experience to cosmopolitan attitudes” (ibid. 17). However, transnational experience must not generally lead, as the authors suggest, to a cosmopolitan attitude as boundary crossings can also encourage disorienting experiences in a variety of ways. Thus, whether we are now indeed faced with a real massification of transnational/translingual citizens remains yet to be seen. What can be concluded nevertheless is that a lived experience of transboundary interaction is becoming more ordinary for an increasing amount of people. This, in turn, places emphasis on the significance of interlingualism as a key resource.

This is important to public service media because a “continued emphasis on the national mission prevents it from adjusting more fully to the more pluralistic, globalizing environment in which it now operates” (Curran 2002: 211). These ambivalences do not only become more blatant in times where audiences no longer mainly rely on singular sources for the translation and formulation of different perspectives and events. Moreover, diversity-complex societies and regions put public service media seriously to the test. It becomes clear thus that contemporary PSM, for all its sophistication, needs an answer to this highly complex issue. To intervene in this vital public issue, this paper will attempt to alleviate the problem, if ever so slightly, by discussing the potential for innovative and readable (i.e. engaging larger audiences) ways of interlingualism. In doing so it draws from a comparative study on Australian and European public service media and will look on practical consequences as well as strategies.

Paper not available.