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Introduction to media studies 2 Lecture summarries
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Lecture notes of 42 pages for the course Introduction to Media Studies 2 at RuG (-)
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Introduction to Media Studies 2Lecture 1, week 2
Media regulation and policy
Part 1: framing the concepts: media governance, policy and regulation
Part 2: regulations of media organizations:
Regulation of media organizations
Regulation of media performance (content)
Media regulation and the internet
Part 1: framing the concept: media regulation and policy
It is impossible to talk about media governance and policy and also media regulation without
firstly understanding what we mean by media as an institution. A media institution is a social
organization. As much as many other social organizations, also media can be considered to
be an institution. There are two characteristics that makes it an institution. One is resources:
media provides services, in terms of for example information or entertainment. The other
one is rules, because these direct the behavior of how they act within reality. Media
institutions have a very particular kind of character, this is because media is at the center of
very different fields. They have an impact on economics, on politics and technology etc. If we
do not consider these three aspects, it is very hard to understand how media as institutions
function. The functioning of media as an institution also has an effect on society. It also
affects us. It responds to certain public means.
Media produce good and services. These are both public and private. They are private in the
sense that we watch Netfix or are in connection with our friends. There is also a public
service. These are fundamental, because they safe the public interest. It is because of this
public role that they have that they serve the public interest. It is because of this role that
media have that they situate themselves in a specific position. This because their purpose is
to serve the public, so they need to be regulated. But on the other hand, should they be
regulated? What happens when they are fully regulated by the government? (propaganda).
The freedom of speech is then not available anymore. We need to understand when we
approach media regulations that media should be regulated, but they also have a special
position because they also need to be free. Also think about the huge economical impact
that it might have.
Media as an institution has also a very huge role in the market economy. The choices that
media take are economic choices. But when we talk about regulation on media or a change
in regulation of the media have a very big economic impact.
The social cultural impact is also important. It has a social and cultural context. This is why
we cannot create a global media regulation. The regulations we find here in the Netherlands
might be very different that the regulations that you can find in Italy for instance.
What do we mean by media governance?
,Media governance is the sum of all mechanisms whether formal or informal, domestic or
foreign, central or decentralized, for the purpose of constituting a media system. The term
media governance does not simply refer to legal media regulation, rather to all those
frameworks of acts in institutions that influence or promote the performance of the media.
it refers both to the functioning and the accountability (how it should behave). This because
there is this strong relationship between media and society.
There are different levels of media governance. Formal, informal, external, and internal.
External formal: laws and regulations applied through regulatory bodies. Informal external:
market forces, public opinion lobbyists. Internal formal: internal regulation policies (self-
regulation: think about Instagram’s rules), management. Internal informal: professional
codes of conduct, ethics rules.
Which are media governance’s main areas of intervention?
There are three main areas of intervention. The first one is structure, this refers to issues
emerging from media ownership, competition, infrastructure etc. when we think about
media governance, we think about the fact that there are certain sets of regulations that are
intended to set media institutions behavior in terms of how many channels a company
should own. Or is it fair that two companies are merging? The second one is performance
(content); this refers to the content-related matters and services to audiences, so if there is
certain content that goes against certain rules (think of violence, offence, illegal, nipples).
The second one is conduct, this refers to issues related to editorial independence, relations
with sources and the government, matters of justice system, self-regulation and
accountability. How much they are for instance influenced by the government.
Defining terms
Policy: is government, organizations or individual statements of action or objectives that set
rational goals to be implemented or achieved by directing decisions and procedures that are
made by (media) companies, workers or consumers. The overall vision of non-discrimination
for instance, and how this can be applied. The set of regulations. Freedom of speech for
example.Policies and regulation are also specific tools that national authorities use for
governing media. these are usually implemented via regulatory bodies, each nation has its
own. These are official and independent agencies that are established by the government in
order to supervise media organizations, and how they are acting. Are they following the
rules?
Regulation: concerns legal or self-imposed controls or restrictions on media organizations,
involving their ownership, production processes, and output, as a means to achieve a policy
goal. A regulation in other words is nothing but the implementation of the policy. So if we
think about media governance as a tree, then the media governance itself is the root, the
media policies are the branch and the leaves are the regulations. Regulations about very
different topics. Generally, there are two kinds of regulations. Regulations authorize or
implement something, or on the other hand regulations that prohibit certain actors to be
able to do something. They might also:
, Infect actions of people involved in media production
Promote certain technical or economic developments within an industry
They may impact the production process, defining who can own a media production
company, the equipment used, who is employed
They might also control the content of media
They may restrict some people in society from getting access to content
What is the purpose of media regulation
Media regulation is particularly important because of the role of media. media has a huge
impact in our everyday life and on our culture economy and politics. For this reason it is
important to understand how can we go about it? How can we enforce a way so that media
can actually protect the public interest? Media is not only a prominent part of out individual
lives, but also an important part of our culture, economy, and politics. Think about how
much what we know, what we believe, what we think is important, comes from the direct
experience and the media. Media is the story teller in our lives. The implications that media
have make media so important, media is one of the main channels of information, through
which we learn about the world, both literal and in the figurative sense. Television, for
example, can be considered as the primary ‘story-teller’ of our times.
‘regulation of media that we can observe in practice is almost always a manifestation of
policies decided upon by governments. These are based upon a political or moral laws of this
about the role of various media and the way they act in society. For this reason, we need to
relate issues of regulation direct to questions about the nature of the society we live in and
our view of the power that media has on society.’
The fact that on the one had the fact is acknowledged is that regulations are a manifestation
of policies. On the other hand it is also true that regulations are portraying our future, so it is
a way to establish what we want from our society, what is the world that we like to live in.
Each country has its own rules. One example is the degree of freedom given to the press
across different countries.
Questions that come from this are for example should nudity be shown on the internet? Or
should it be considered immoral? How many companies or platforms should a media
company be allowed to own?
It is the way that we answer to these questions that is related to the society we live in. each
country has its own rules.
Commissariat voor de media: our aim is to protect the independence, plurality and
accessibly of our country, by doing so we also support the freedom of our information in our
society.
Reporters without borders
, Publishes by reporters without borders, ranks 180 countries according to the degree of
freedom available to journalists in that specific country, it evaluates along 7 different
indications:
1. Pluralism
2. Media independence
3. Environment and self-censorship
4. Legislative framework
5. Transp arency
6. Infrastructure
7. Abuses
Press freedom
Free press is essential for the functioning of democracies. It informs individuals, provides a
platform for diverse ideas and serves a ‘watchdog’ function. In the first amendment
founding fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role
in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The
governments’ power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain
forever free to censure the government. The press was protected by this first amendment so
that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and
unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.
The function of the watchdog: has to inquire above the act of the government, so not the
other way around. It should not be the tool of the government. generally, it has this position
of much more freedom from the government itself.
Regulations of media organizations
Regulation is a process of control. Regulation is either geared towards ensuring something
happens (positive regulation) or preventing something from happening (negative regulation)
More specific objectives of regulation: to authorize, to prohibit, to direct, to promote
something etc.
Pluralism: refers to the idea of diversity- democracy needs many outlets, that can freely
represent the wide scope of existing views, opinions and groups in society, etc.
Content and access
There are more or less three levels on which media regulations have an impact
1. Organizations how they are functioning and how they should function
2. Production and content there are certain regulations that focus on specific
content and it cannot influence the content per se, but certain regulations rule
over the things that are allowed and that are not
3. Access media access generally
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