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	CDC public service announcement A PSA from the CDC regarding H1N1 prevention.
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There are many different definitions for a public service announcement (PSA) or public service ad, but the simplified version is PSAs are messages in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge, with the objective of raising awareness, changing public attitudes and behaviour towards a social issue.

History[link]

Advertisements which relate to public issues predate the commercial advertising sector. During the Civil War, the government sold bonds via free newspaper ads which were so effective that they resulted in the first national paid ad campaigns for baking powder, soap and railroad travel.^[1] The PSA in its current form was in many ways shaped by the Ad Council (initially called the War Advertising Council) during and after World War II.^[2]

The Ad Council made its mark by implementing on a massive scale the idea of using advertising to influence American society on a range of fronts. Their first campaigns focused on the country's needs during World War II. After the War, the Ad Council expanded its focus to address issues such as forest fires, blood donations and highway safety.^[3]

As the ads — particularly broadcast and HBO TV — became more influential and as various social problems grew in importance, public service advertising became a significant force in changing public attitudes on topics such as drinking and driving, crime abatement and various health/safety issues. While stations have never been mandated by the FCC to use a prescribed number of PSAs, they are required to prove they broadcast in the public interest and PSAs are one of the ways they meet that requirement as part of serving as a "public trustee."^[4]

Today PSA campaigns are created by hundreds of non-profit and government agencies and the National Association of Broadcasters have indicated that annually their member stations contribute an estimated $10 billion in free time for various public causes.

Characteristics[link]

The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety. A typical PSA is part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the public about an issue such as obesity or compulsive gambling. The range of possible topics has expanded over time.

From time to time a charitable organization enlists the support of a celebrity for a PSA; examples include actress Kathryn Erbe telling people to be green and Crips street gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams speaking from prison to urge youth not to join gangs. Some PSAs tell people to adopt animals instead of buying them. Protecting our Earth, also known as being green, is another example of a current PSA topic.

Some religious organizations produce PSAs on non-religious themes such as family values. Examples include the long-running homefront campaign^[5] from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and campaigns by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the United Methodist Church.

The military had also produced PSAs to recruit enlistees; however, in recent years, many of these PSAs became commercials, paid for by the military; this is especially so for the armed forces in the United States.

Some television shows featuring very special episodes made PSAs after the episodes. For example, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit talked about child abduction in one episode, so it had a PSA about child abduction. Another example is when the original Law & Order did an episode about drunk driving, which had a PSA about drunk driving.

During the 1980s, a large number of American cartoon shows contained PSA's at the end of their shows. These may or may not have been relevant to the episode itself. Three of the most widely known are the closing moral segments at the end of He Man and the Masters of the Universe, the "Knowing is Half the Battle" epilogues in GI Joe: A Real American Hero and the "Sonic Sez" segments from Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog.

Some television PSAs have topics such as on not watching so much television, or not taking fictional shows literally; or about television, movie, or video game ratings.

See also[link]

• Propaganda
• Public affairs (broadcasting)
• Public relations
• Public information film

References[link]

External links[link]

• PSA Research Center
• Ad Council
• A History of PSAs
• Military PSA campaigns
• A Huffington Post article featuring nine PSAs

A public service is a service which is provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income. Even where public services are neither publicly provided nor publicly financed, for social and political reasons they are usually subject to regulation going beyond that applying to most economic sectors. Public service is also a course that can be studied at a college and/or university.

Sectors[link]

Public services tend to be those considered as so essential to modern life that for moral reasons their universal provision should be guaranteed. They may be associated with fundamental human rights (such as the right to water). An example of a service which is not generally considered an essential public service is hairdressing. The Volunteer Fire Dept. and Ambulance Corps. are institutions with the mission of servicing the community. A service is helping others with a specific need or want. Here, service ranges from a doctor curing an illness, to a repair person, to a food pantry. All of these services are essential to people's lives.

In modern, developed countries, the term public services often includes:

Characteristics[link]

A public service may sometimes have the characteristics of a public good (being non-rivalrous and non-excludable), but most are merit goods, that is, services which may (according to prevailing social norms) be under-provided by the market. In most cases public services are services, i.e. they do not involve manufacturing of goods such as nuts and bolts. They may be provided by local or national monopolies, especially in sectors which are natural monopolies.

They may involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort and/or hard to measure in terms of key characteristics such as quality. They often require high levels of training and education. They may attract people with a public service ethos who wish to give something to the wider public or community through their work.

History[link]

Historically, the widespread provision of public services in developed countries usually began in the late nineteenth century, often with the municipal development of gas and water services. Later, other services such as electricity and healthcare began to be provided by governments. In most developed countries such services are still provided by local or national government, the biggest exceptions being the U.S. and the UK, where private provision is more significant. Nonetheless, such privately-provided public services are often strongly regulated, for example (in the US) by Public Utility Commissions.

In developing countries public services tend to be much less well developed. Water services, for example, may only be available to the wealthy middle class. For political reasons the service is often subsidised, which reduces the finance available for expansion to poorer communities.

Nationalization[link]

Nationalization really took off following the World Wars of the first half of the twentieth century. Across Europe, because of the extreme demands on industries and the economy, central planning was required to ensure that the maximum degree of efficient production was obtained. Many public services, especially electricity, gas and public transport were products of this era. Following the second world war, many countries also began to implement universal health care and expanded education under the funding and guidance of the state.

Privatization[link]

A group of Chilean 'Damas de Rojo', volunteers on their local hospital.

There are several ways to privatise public services. A free-market corporation may be established and sold to private investors, relinquishing government control altogether. This essentially ends the public service and makes it a private service. Another option, used in the Nordic countries, is to establish a corporation, but keep ownership or voting power essentially in the hands of the government. For example, the Finnish state owned 49% of Kemira, the rest being owned by private investors. A 49% share doesn't make it a "government enterprise", but it means that all other investors together would have to oppose the state's opinion in order to overturn the state's decisions in the shareholder's meeting. Regulated corporation can also acquire permits on the agreement that they fulfill certain public service duties. When a private corporation runs a natural monopoly, then the corporation is typically heavily regulated, to prevent abuse of monopoly power. Lastly, the government can buy the service on the free market. In many countries, medication is provided in this manner: the government reimburses part of the price of the medication. Also, bus traffic, electricity, healthcare and waste management are privatized in this way. One recent innovation, used in the UK increasingly as well as Australia and Canada is public-private partnerships. This involves giving a long lease to private consortia in return for partly funding infrastructure.

Public services versus Services of General Interest[link]

At the European level, some countries use the name service of general interest, while other prefer public services. It has been a discussion, for instance during the writing of the european constitution (the word services of general interest has been used).

ETUC named its petition "for high quality public services" but explains "Public services are known as Services of general interest (SGI) and Services of general economic interest (SGEIs) in European Union terminology."

See also[link]

• Public value – the equivalent of shareholder value in public management
• Public good – a good whose availability is not reduced (non-rivaled) due to the consumption by others; and that no one can be effectively excluded (non-excludable) from using
• Right to Public Services legislation
• CEEP European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest
• Customer service
• European Union competition law
• Infrastructure
• New Public Management
• Privatization
• Public administration
• Public ownership
• Public policy
• Public service broadcasting
• Public utility - a means of providing infrastructure for a public service
• Service
• VÖWG Austrian Association for Public and Social Economy
• Welfare state

External links[link]

• Municipal Services Project
• Public Services International
• Public Services International Research Unit
• publicservice.co.uk – Public Service News
• Daniel Chavez (ed), Beyond the Market: The Future of Public Services, TNI Public Services Yearbook 2005/6, Transnational Institute / Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), February 2006
• European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest

Jeff Bridges
Bridges at the Berlin Film Festival in 2011
Born	Jeffrey Leon Bridges (1949-12-04) December 4, 1949 (age 62) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer, producer, composer
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	Susan Geston (m. 1977) «start: (1977)»"Marriage: Susan Geston to Jeff Bridges" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jeff_Bridges)

Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor, musician, producer, photographer, cartoonist, storyteller, and occasional vintner. He comes from a well-known acting family and began his first televised acting in 1958 as child with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother Beau on television's Sea Hunt. Some of his best-known major motion films include: Tron (and its sequel) , Fearless, Iron Man, Contender, TheThe Contender, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Jagged Edge, Against All Odds, Fisher King, TheThe Fisher King, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seabiscuit, and The Big Lebowski. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart and earned his sixth Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's True Grit.

Early life[link]

Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California on December 4, 1949. He is son of showbiz parents, actor Lloyd Bridges.^[1][2] and actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson). His older brother, Beau Bridges, is also an actor. He has a younger sister, Lucinda, and had another brother, Garrett, who died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948. Growing up, Bridges shared a close relationship with his brother Beau, who acted as a surrogate father when their father was working.^[3] Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.^[4] He graduated from University High School (Los Angeles, California) in 1967. At age fourteen, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz.

After graduating from high school, Bridges journeyed to New York City where he studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio. Also, after turning 18, Bridges joined the United States Coast Guard Reserve, where he served for eight years.^[5]

Career[link]

Film[link]

Bridges in 2002

Bridges made his first screen appearance at the age of four months in The Company She Keeps in 1950. In his youth, Bridges and brother Beau made occasional appearances on their father's show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963). His first major role came in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[6] He co-starred in the 1972 critically acclaimed neo-noir boxing film Fat City, directed by legendary director, John Huston. He was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.^[6] In 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange. This film was a commercial success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget, and also winning an Academy Award for special effects.

One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science fiction cult classic Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer (a role he reprised in late 2010 with the sequel Tron: Legacy). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984, for playing the alien in Starman.^[6] He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds (1984) and the crime drama Jagged Edge (1985). His role in Fearless (1993) is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances.^[7] One critic dubbed it a masterpiece;^[8] Pauline Kael wrote that he "may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived".^[9] In 1998, he starred as what is arguably his most famous role, "The Dude", in the Coen Brothers' cult-classic film The Big Lebowski.^[6] He has said that he relates to "The Dude" more than any of his other roles.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, he received his fourth Academy Award nomination, for his role in The Contender.^[6] He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam film Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He shaved his trademark^{[citation needed]} mane of hair to play the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man.^[10] In July 2008, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, he appeared in a teaser for Tron: Legacy, shot as concept footage for director Joseph Kosinski; this developed into a full 3D feature release in 2010.

Bridges is one of the youngest actors ever to be nominated for an Academy Award (1972, age 22, Best Supporting Actor, The Last Picture Show), and one of the oldest ever to win (2010, age 60, Best Actor, Crazy Heart).^[11][12] Crazy Heart also won him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Bridges at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats, during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

Bridges received his sixth Academy Award nomination for his role in True Grit, a collaboration with the Coen brothers in which he starred alongside Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Hailee Steinfeld. Both the film, and Bridges' performance as Rooster Cogburn, were critically praised. Bridges lost to Colin Firth, whom he had beaten for the Oscar in the same category the previous year.

Music[link]

Referring to his career as an actor and his passion for music, Bridges says, "I dug what an actor did, but it took me a while to feel it, to truly appreciate the craft and the preparation. Plus, I was still playing music a lot, and I guess I had a hard time choosing: was I an actor or a musician, or could I be both?"^[13]

Bridges studied piano at a young age strongly encouraged by his mother.^[14] He released his debut album Be Here Soon on January 1, 2000. In 2005, Bridges, known as "The Dude" in the film Big Lebowski, showed up at a Lebowski Fest in Los Angeles singing and playing acoustic guitar of the film's theme song written by Bob Dylan, "Man in Me".

On January 15, 2010, Bridges performed the song "I Don't Know" from Crazy Heart on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. In the film The Contender, in which he co-starred, Bridges recorded a version of Johnny Cash's standard "Ring of Fire" with Kim Carnes that played over the pivotal opening credits. In February 2010, he was among the nearly 80 musicians to sing on the charity-single remake of We Are the World.^[15] On October 24, 2010, Bridges appeared at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert and played a set with Neko Case.

On April 19, 2011, Country Music Television announced that Bridges had signed a recording contract with Blue Note Records/EMI Music Group. He worked with producer T-Bone Burnett and released his second album, Jeff Bridges, on August 16, 2011.^[16] On November 5, 2011, Bridges played Austin City Limits in support of this album.^[17]

Bridges plays guitars such as: Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen Model G6122-1959.^[14]

Testimonials[link]

"He set up a little recording studio in his trailer and we would go in and work on songs together, singing harmonies all the time." Karen Allen, when filming Starman in 1984.

"Jeff was a lot of fun to have around. He's a fabulous musician so he always had a guitar with him on set." Glenn Close, in reference to filming the 1985 movie, Jagged Edge.^[18]

Other work as[link]

Photographer[link]

Jeff Bridges has been an amateur photographer since high school, and began taking photographs on film sets during Starman, at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen.^[19] Since 1980, he began photographing on and off set shot with his favorite camera, a Widelux F8. He published many of these photographs online and published a book in 2003 entitled, Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Cartoonist[link]

Bridges is a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in films including K-PAX and The Door in the Floor.^{[citation needed]}

Narrator[link]

Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), about the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges had previously appeared in Gilliam's "The Fisher King." Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up.

Bridges at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.

Bridges has performed TV commercial voice-over work as well, including Hyundai's 2007 "Think About It" advertisement campaign^[24] as well as the Duracell advertisements in the "Trusted Everywhere" campaign.^[25]

On December 18, 2010, Bridges hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live; he had hosted the show before in 1983 with his brother, Beau. With the December 18, 2010 episode, Bridges beat Sigourney Weaver's record for longest gap between hosting appearances on SNL (Weaver had a 24-year gap between her first time hosting in 1986 and her second time hosting in 2010, while Bridges had a 27-year gap between his first appearance in 1983 and his most recent one, also in 2010).

Personal life[link]

Bridges married Susan Geston in 1977.^[26] They met on the film shoot of Rancho Deluxe, which was filmed on a ranch where Geston was working as a maid.^[6][27] They have three daughters: Isabelle Annie (born August 6, 1981), Jessica Lily "Jessie" (born June 14, 1983), and Hayley Roselouise (born October 17, 1985). He became a grandfather on March 31, 2011, when Isabelle gave birth to a daughter, Grace. Jeff once stated, "I had a great '70s. Today, being a parent with three daughters, I look back on it thinking, Oh, man, the things I did!" ^[28]

Bridges has studied Buddhism. He meditates for half an hour before beginning work on a film set.^[29]

He currently lives in Montecito, California.

Humanitarian efforts[link]

In 1984, Bridges and other entertainment industry leaders founded the End Hunger Network aimed at encouraging, stimulating and supporting action to end childhood hunger. He supports President Obama's initiative to End Childhood Hunger by 2015. He has teamed up with the Zen Peacemakers who operate a non-traditional soup kitchen that builds a cross-class community and provides food and wellness offerings with dignity.^[30] In November 2010, Bridges became spokesman for the No Kid Hungry Campaign of the organization Share our Strength. Its goal is to present and undertake a state-by-state strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015.^[31]

Filmography and television programs[link]