EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot chairs the 71st General Assembly

The EBU took a key step towards activating a peer review mechanism for European public service media from January 2014, when the Membership unanimously approved the concept at the 71st General Assembly, last week.

Under the voluntarily-entered scheme, select groups of media professionals will visit their fellow EBU Members to assess the way they apply the EBU-led Public Service Media Values.

The values under the microscope are:

• Universality
• Independence
• Excellence
• Diversity
• Accountability
• Innovation

The peer visits will form one arm of the so-called PSM Values Review, which also offers Members the option of self-assessment with EBU guidance.

Peers conducting the visits will be drawn from a bank of names tabled by participating EBU Members. They will be picked according to their prior knowledge of the Member under review and its specific circumstances and culture. They will be required to have no ties to the organization, and to carry out their task freely and independently.

Following a review, the peer group will report its findings and make recommendations to help strengthen the Member’s performance and position. Publication of the report will be at the discretion of the reviewed Member.

EBU Values Taskforce Chairman Hans Laroes said values were what set PSM apart from their privately-funded counterparts.

“If public service media are to survive and prosper we need to win the hearts and minds of our audiences and every stakeholder,” he said. “We can do this by demonstrating our legitimacy, our credibility and our distinctiveness. PSM Values Review will show that EBU Members are not afraid to expose themselves to scrutiny and to improve wherever necessary.”

Throughout the PSM Values Review process the EBU will provide practical support and any related data in its possession that may be of use.