PERSPECTIVE DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS LOSING ITS AURA? Public Service Broadcasting in the UK Des Freedman September 2020 Faced with increased compe­tition from commercial rivals and ongoing pressure from hostile governments, public service broadcasters have failed to adequately safeguard their future in an environment marked by constant techno­logical change and an increas­ingly distrustful audience. Vulnerabilities such as an ina­bility to capture digital mar­kets, a culture of elitism and outmoded standards of im­partiality threaten to strength­en the political pressure under which PSBs find themselves. PSBs should reinvent them­selves as public service content creators and distributors which are financially sustainable, rele­vant to younger audiences, in­sulated from vested interests, diverse in relation to staffing and output and sensitive to the changing political geo­graphy of the nation.