1) European right targeting public service broadcasting. Current debate in Sweden & BBC under attack. If Europe wants glimpse of an informational world without public broadcasting, take a look at TV news in the US. It's an intellectual wasteland. But, it's much deeper than that.

2) Pubic broadcasting is about the synergy effect of combining entertainment, information, minority programming, children's programming. When you break one or two parts off from the rest, those parts lose significant value and impact gained from being part of a larger system.

3) The argument that public broadcasting should stick to "core" responsibilities (news, info, high culture, minority programs) and let "the market" stand for the rest de facto defines entertainment as unrelated to "the public interest." Nothing could be further from the truth.

4) Argument that public broadcasting should not do things "the market already does" ignores fact that you can "do" entertainment in very different ways. Also ignores fact that it is the MIX of entertainment and serious in a non-commercial environment that is the core PSB ethos.

5) "Streamlining" (read: "gutting") public broadcasting to only include output that "the market" won't produce will lead to the marginalization of public broadcasting as nothing more than "niche." This will weaken their position, setting the stage for its eventual disappearance.

6) Public broadcasting also about an ethos: that there should be spaces where people are addressed as citizens, not as consumers. These spaces increasingly rare. A vibrant non-commercial broadcasting system that entertains AND informs a vital part of a democratic media ecosystem.

7) Can't overstate how important it is to have a viable non-commercial alternative in broadcasting. Not niche output for a narrow elite, but popular alternatives w/quality programming in ALL genres. I'm from US where lack of viable public broadcasting has been utterly corrosive.

8) In terms of trust in general, people in Europe still have a high degree in public broadcasting. Those who wish to dismantle public broadcasting, incl. commercial competitors lobbying for its destruction, are very aware of this. That's why they want to get rid of it.

9) Is public broadcasting flawless? No. But to destroy it is to destroy a key balancing factor in media ecosystems. As in most ecosystems, given a chance predators will attempt to dominate. Most will have profit, not democracy, as their motive. It's dishonest to claim otherwise.

10) As a final point, consider how the presence of public service broadcasting, if done well, can act as a benchmark for, and counter-balance to, corporate competitors. The mere presence of high-quality non-commercial output is a steady reminder of what media can/should be.