Battleangel

It seems some people are not happy with the Public Service information network in Sweden. I just got wind that there is a proposal in the making that would make the Public Service fee mandatory. And coining a new term for it also, “Media Fee”. God this makes me sick. I will resist with every fibre of my being.

My main grief with a “Media Fee” is that places one more area of society under government control. Obviously Public Service is under government control as it is but the fee is applicable only if one owns a device capable of reception. I.e. something with a TV tuner. But as this household hasn’t payed any such fees for the last couple of decades I know from first hand experience that the law is completely and safely circumventable. And these days I even have a clear conscience as I hardly ever watch television anymore. The use of the internet has simply overshadowed the old forms of media.

Having witnessed the complete incompetence of the Public Service board of directors down to the selection of actual TV schedules I am of the staunch opinion that this is not something worth paying for. One could argue that there are a number of things that we as citizens finance thru taxes, that we never use. Child care, interstate roads and medical assistance for example. And that is all well. But one should think twice before bringing more functions to the state level. Especially if it involves a technology that is indeed showing the stress of being rendered obsolete. This situation is not so unlike with RIAA / MPAA and others fighting to retain the control over a certain aspect of society and culture, one that is being taken from them not so much by pimply teenagers and P2P but by the fact that the times are changing. A technology that can be made available selectively for those that want it via digitally encrypted transmissions. The strange thing here is obviously that digital TV _is_ on the move in Sweden. The analog grid has been scheduled for dismantling and digital settop boxes are sold at and increasing rate. So why this extra layer of control? One can’t help but be a little conspiratorial.

As pointed out above, TV as we know it is obsolete. It’s a one-sided transmission that lacks any type of useful interactivity, even with highly advanced digital techniques. It’s nothing like the Internet. And it will never be. Even if (and I stress if) technology would advance to the point where a modern broadband PC is today (which would be kind of redundant btw) there is still the issue of control and bias. The main strength of the Internet is not it’s interactivity but rather its limitless freedom of speech. I can write just about anything in this blog and no one can do anything about it. And if someone should still attempt to shut one site down there would be literally millions reporting its demise. And as much as American media is accused of leaning to the right, Swedish media is often accused of tilting to the left. In a way, modern media killed democracy (yeah I still hate the word, but for this context it serves its purpose). Would you want your forum debates to be moderated by American neoconservatives or Swedish neo-communists? Didn’t think so. But that is one of the main arguments for extending the reach of Public Service, namely that it’s in the interest of democracy. I fear however that these people aren’t mentally equipped to process the many aspects of such a complex term. They are after all politicians.

But maybe the loss of control is also the reasoning behind the new attitude. Governments fear the decline of the nation state concept. Indeed, it justifies their very existence. Strengthening Public Service at a time like this could be seen as an aggressive move against the more true and unbound forms of information exchange and debate that take place in the wired world.