Today we believe that we all spontaneously understand the import of the term “public service.” The concept gives off clear signals. Translated into Swedish it has the essence of “something that the community/public is expected to provide.”

We think then for example of TV, radio, study circles and arenas for public debate. Personally, I associate spontaneously with the signature tune to the TV programme Anslagstavlan (“The Noticeboard”) which I heard almost every day in the 1970s when I was a child. You know, that innocent era when there were just two TV channels and everyone watched everything.

Since then the selection of media offerings has grown enormously. Public service has both broadened as a concept and become more problematic. The phenomenon has been praised but also questioned, even ridiculed. Today it is not difficult to find alternative arenas to discussion and alter...