Media Power and Plurality: From Hyperlocal to High-Level Policy (Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business)

While policymakers in the world reiterate the importance of protecting voice diversity, traditional media conglomerates and new social media giants make their task increasingly challenging. This book assesses the current state of policy-making on media plurality and explores novel policy ideas for funding, regulatory and structural interventions. Democratic governments throughout the world aspire to plurality and diversity of voice as a policy goal, which is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Over the last 20 years, however, economics, technology, political ideology and global corporate power have often conspired to frustrate those normative aims. More recently, different plurality problems have been prompted by access issues and the burgeoning reach and power of digital intermediaries such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. While some countries, such as the UK and US, have seen little creative activity from policy makers, other countries have sought to explore new approaches to funding and to exploit new technologies at both national and local level. This edited collection, featuring international scholars from a range of disciplines, examines contemporary and emerging policy issues around media plurality from grassroots local initiatives to high-level policy debates in both mature and emerging democracies, in each case drawing out generalizable initiatives and ideas for policy thinking in an increasingly complex area Review: "This is a comprehensive and research-driven collection that makes a huge contribution to how we can both understand and secure media plurality. Leading scholars and campaigners guide us through the murky waters of media ownership and regulation and provide a rigorous analysis of the challenges facing those who want to see a more democratic media. Essential reading in an age of concentrated media power." - Des Freedman, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK "The range of problems besetting media diversity and pluralism in both established western democracies and emerging nations are becoming increasingly acute. Ranging across issues of media concentration, the state and its relationship to public interest and forms of media regulation, the role of global media and communications companies and the use of private information, the contributors to this book offer a comprehensive assessment of both what threatens and what might sustain media pluralism. Combining different theoretical approaches to media pluralism with case studies and legal and regulatory analysis from a range of excellent contributors, this book is genuinely thoughtful and thought provoking and should be read by all concerned with what the media should be and how near or far we are from redressing the current range of problems it faces." - Jacqueline Harrison, University of Sheffield, UK 'This valuable collection of essays from leading academics should stimulate debate and be of continued utility for scholars and policy makers in the field. The collection demonstrates the ongoing need for a plurality of media in a healthy democracy; a need which is not satisfied by the presence alone of the ubiquitous digital media. Especially valuable is the authors' willingness to grapple with how plurality might be designed and measured in the current complex media environment, offering creative approaches that try to move beyond the traditional policy and regulatory measures.' - Lesley Hitchens, University of Technology Sydney, Australia "Democratic governments throughout the world aspire to plurality and diversity of voice as a policy goal, which is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Over the last 20 years, however, economics, technology, political ideology and global corporate power have often conspired to frustrate those normative aims. More recently, different plurality problems have been prompted by access issues and the burgeoning reach and power of digital intermediaries such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. While some countries, such as the UK and US, have seen little creative activity from policy makers, other countries have sought to explore new approaches to funding and to exploit new technologies at both national and local level. This edited collection, featuring international scholars from a range of disciplines, examines contemporary and emerging policy issues around media plurality from grassroots local initiatives to high-level policy debates in both mature and emerging democracies, in each case drawing out generalizable initiatives and ideas for policy thinking in an increasingly complex area."--Publisher's website Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 What Is ‘Sufficient’ Plurality?....Pages 15-30 Diversity, Distribution, and Definitions of ‘Media’....Pages 31-44 Plurality and Public Service Broadcasting: Why and How PSBs Deserve Protection....Pages 45-62 Front Matter....Pages 63-63 Plurality and Local Media....Pages 65-82 Hyperlocal Media and the News Marketplace....Pages 83-98 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 Media Ownership and the Political Economy of Research in US Media Policymaking....Pages 101-115 From Media Policy to ‘Big’ Media Policy: The Battle for Pluralism in Australia....Pages 116-130 Media Plurality: What Can the European Union Do?....Pages 131-148 Front Matter....Pages 149-149 Transferable Media Pluralism Policies from Europe....Pages 151-169 Media Plurality in France....Pages 170-186 Media Subsidies: Editorial Independence Compromised?....Pages 187-200 Putting Ends and Means in the Right Place: Media Pluralism Policies in Central and Eastern Europe....Pages 201-220 Back Matter....Pages 221-228 Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Tables 8 Preface 9 Notes on Contributors 11 Introduction 15 Part I 27 1 What Is 'Sufficient' Plurality? 28 2 Diversity, Distribution, and Definitions of 'Media' 44 3 Plurality and Public Service Broadcasting: Why and How PSBs Deserve Protection 58 Part II 76 4 Plurality and Local Media 77 5 Hyperlocal Media and the News Marketplace 95 Part III 111 6 Media Ownership and the Political Economy of Research in US Media Policy Making 112 7 From Media Policy to 'Big' Media Policy: The Battle for Pluralism in Australia 127 8 Media Plurality: What Can the European Union Do? 142 Part IV 160 9 Transferable Media Pluralism Policies from Europe 161 10 Media Plurality in France 180 11 Media Subsidies: Editorial Independence Compromised? 197 12 Putting Ends and Means in the Right Place: Media Pluralism Policies in Central and Eastern Europe 211 Index 231