Who needs public service media at a time when anyone who wants to can be a journalist? File sharing - good, bad or even worse? Who will pay for content in the future? At a media conference of the Nordic countries and Baltic States held at the Kumu art museum in Tallinn on 11 and 12 June 2009 we examined the crossovers between traditional media and new media and the developments these have led to and debated a number of issues.

Expressing their views on these topics were media experts and news and programme directors from Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Estonia. Adding further interest to the event was Professor Emeritus Roger Wallis from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, the headline-making witness in the infamous Pirate Bay court case.

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Here you will find a summary of what was discussed during the second day of the conference.

Erik KruseThe second day of the conference was launched by Erik Kruse, a senior adviser with information and communications technology company Ericsson, who through the differences between his own childhood and his pre-teen son's use of media highlighted the changing era every competitive company needs to take into account.

Media clamour and socialising are such a part of young people's lives that they want everything as quickly and as easily as they can get it. They need up to 49 hours in a day instead of the 24 they actually have. This is so tiring that young people are finding even harder to get up in the mornings when their alarms go off.

Kruse also sees a danger in the use of ever-expanding social networks, and the networks themselves, overheating. Companies also need to take this into account. Today's youth will clearly be very demanding and selective media users.
Emanuel Karlsten

How young people use social media and the Internet and how they can be involved in journalism were subjects showcased through the success story of Emanuel Karlsten, editor of Sweden's Christian newspaper Dagen. Everything comes down to talking, conversation, and the chance to share your thoughts and opinions. Karlsten says that young people want to be treated like adults and want their thoughts to be taken on board. To do this we need to make the move from the trade mark to the individual - make everything as personal as possible. Journalists must be visible; they should have their own blogs and chat with readers, Karlsten explained. Not that everything has to be entirely serious - it is just as important for funny stories to be written.

By doing all of this, media will win the trust of their readers, who will also start wanting to contribute.

On the second day of the conference the participants shared their views at another three workshops.

Workshop 1

First workshopFile sharing and the problems associated with it were discussed by Professor Roger Wallis and Per Helge Sørensen from the Public Relations Department of DR, the Danish public broadcasting. Wallis is well known in Sweden as the academic who appeared as a witness in the infamous Pirate Bay file sharing platform court case this spring, stating that file sharing goes on all over the Internet and that the film and music industry have gained more from it than they have lost.
Wallis reminded the participants of a little history: originally music companies didn't want radio station to play music. The same story is repeating now, only involving music (and films) being distributed over the Internet. He concluded that we have to adapt to new situations and write new rules.

Sørensen stated that there are three problem areas: copyright; competition (how competitors will react if we put everything online for use free of charge); and whether we truly want to be everywhere at once.

Exhaustive answers to these questions were not found during the workshop, since the problems are so current. Professor Wallis nevertheless expressed hope that solutions would be reached by 2011.

Workshop 2

Second workshopPublic service media needs new partners if it is to find new solutions. Who these partners might be and how they might work together were issues discussed by the participants at the second workshop. ‘Partnership' is a new word that means you have to work with people who have thus far been your competitors. However, this is necessary, since the point of media is to obtain the widest possible audience for its stories.

Workshop 3

Third workshopThe things public service media has attempted to do have met with both great success and dismal failure. Sharing his experiences in this matter was Swedish Television (SVT) producer Johan Grafström.
One example of a failure was the SVT soap opera ‘Andra Avenyn', which the station invested a lot of time and money in. At first the series was a success, but viewing figures then fell away dramatically. The producers thus decided to transfer the series to the Internet, where it has met with much greater success. Young people share their views on the storylines, discuss what has happened on the show in chat rooms and more.

One of SVT's greatest success stories has been a documentary series about a primary school class whose students, based on their test results, were among the worst in Sweden. They had very little chance of making anything of their lives. SVT set themselves the goal of improving these students' results to among the best in the country in just four months. To do this, the best teachers in Sweden were invited to take part. Over 13 episodes the audience witnessed everything from tears to standing ovations, and some amazing transformations. The producers achieved the goals they had set.

In planning the series and during its time on air SVT had to work very closely with private media in order to explain the background to the show. The producers also asked them to remember that those involved in the show were under-aged and that they should therefore be left alone.

The series sparked a political debate which led to politicians listening to the views of young people on education issues.