Platform paradoxes and public service media legitimacy: a cross-national study

The intricate relationship between public service media (PSM) and social media platforms has emerged as a critical factor significantly impacting the legitimacy of the PSM institution. This study adopts a discursive institutionalism lens to examine how six PSM organizations across Europe, Australia and Canada communicate their relationship and ideas about social media platforms via their annual reports over a 10-year period (2013-2022). Annual reports provide valuable insight into PSM organizations' discursive processes that are aimed at generating (and justifying) public and political support. The analysis uncovers a complex and at times contradictory set of discourses revolving around audience attention and interaction, editorial integrity, and digital safety. While building platform presence is portrayed as crucial for sustained reach and relevance, PSM organizations also position themselves as counterweights to negative platform influences within the national media ecology. We observe a shift towards increasingly risk-oriented platform narratives over time, particularly concerning Facebook, resulting in a more deliberate social media strategy among some PSM organizations, and even disengagement with the platform.