The annual Public Broadcasters International conference [PBI] took place in Seoul last week, hosted by South Korean public broadcaster, KBS.

Public Broadcasters International is an annual forum for public service media executives from around the world to meet and create strategic vision for the future since 1990. It provides an opportunity to share experiences and ideas about how best to deal with challenges unique to public service broadcasting.

PBI was established by a group of broadcasters in Toronto in 1990 as a not-for-profit initiative in support of international Public Service Broadcasting (PSB), and held the first meeting in 1991. Initial participant broadcasters include BBC, CBC, DR, France Television, KBS, NHK, NRK, PBS, RTE, SABC, SVT, TV Ontario. Since then more than 80 public service broadcasters – representing all continents – have become members.

This year’s event opened with a special session to examine the role of public media in conflict zones, an issue of particular concern for KBS, with Seoul based close to the border with North Korea. 
Sessions focused on sharing and debating strategic initiatives for connected platforms.

President of NHK [Japan], Ryoichi Ueda, demonstrated how NHK is evolving from a public service broadcaster to a public service media organisation while other key presenters demonstrated new ways of promoting the value of public media in a connected age.

Aside from the key issues, the host, President and CEO of KBS Yang Song-dong, summed up the mood of the meeting when he observed: “Alliances and cooperation among public service media are more important than ever. Standing together, we can find better ways to serve our audiences with our mission and values”.

This was a sentiment endorsed by one of the event's keynote speakers. In his presentation, “The “No Billag” Saga, Public Service Media Face to Face with Universal Suffrage” Gilles Marchand, Director General of Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR, demonstrated both the importance of public media to democratic society and just how quickly a public media can face great challenges.