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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Media Governance and the Public Sphere
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1534133
This article is part of the Research Topic Understanding Media Policy in the 21st Century: Affirmation, Challenge, Re-constitution View all articles
Bridging Youth 'Media Egocentrism' and Journalistic Values: Strategies for Public Service Media
Provisionally accepted
Juanma Prieto-Arosa 1*
Leen d'Haenens 2*- 1 Novos Medios Research Group, Department of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- 2 Media Culture & Policy Lab, Faculty of Social Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Public service media (PSM) in Europe faces the ongoing challenge of redefining its role in a rapidly evolving media landscape, balancing quality and accessibility while striving to engage diverse audiences, including younger and marginalized groups, in an increasingly market-driven environment. This study explores how the Belgian public service media organization Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) addresses the challenge of connecting journalistic values with content aimed at a youth audience exhibiting strong ‘media egocentrism.’ Through non-participant observation and in-depth interviews with RTBF staff, the research investigates the internal processes and professional practices shaping youth-focused content. Findings indicate that RTBF incorporates journalistic principles from the initial stages of program development, balancing media appeal with news integrity. This strategy not only strengthens RTBF’s credibility among young audiences but also fosters critical and informed awareness within this demographic.
Keywords: Young audiences, RTBF, media egocentrism, Journalistic values, EBU
Received: 25 Nov 2024; Accepted: 17 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Prieto-Arosa and d'Haenens. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Juanma Prieto-Arosa, Novos Medios Research Group, Department of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Leen d'Haenens, Media Culture & Policy Lab, Faculty of Social Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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