The Brazilian public radio broadcasting service and the digital era: the case of the EBC

Abstract

Developments in digital technology and the continual increase of new online communication services have proven to be a challenge when it comes to maintaining radio broadcasting systems across the globe. This new context has given media the pressing need to rethink their strategies, diversify their operations and use new distribution platforms for content if they wish, in the medium term, to renew and keep their audiences. With a multitude of media on offer, public stations face considerable losses of audiences, something that could threaten the social legitimacy of public radio broadcasting and relegate it to a position of minor relevance in the eyes of the public. At the same time, and paradoxically speaking, digital platforms have the potential to spread content and become the mediums that stations could use to renew their interaction with the public. From this general premise, the Observatory of Public Broadcasting in Latin America examined the annual activity plans provided by the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC) for 2010 to 2015 in an attempt to identify if the company has a digital strategy in place and just how it is preparing to face the challenge of diversifying its operations and incorporating new digital platforms for distributing media content.