The Independence of the Media and its Regulatory Agencies

Kristina Irion, Peggy Valcke, Schulz Wolfgang

Description

Media independence is vital for media democracies, and so is the independence of the regulatory bodies governing it. The Independence of the Media and its Regulatory Agencies explores the complex relationship between media governance and independence of media regulatory authorities within media systems within Europe, which form part of the wider framework in which media’s independence may flourish or fade. Based on research in more than forty countries, the contributions analyse the independence of regulators from different perspectives and draw links between social, financial and legal traditions and frameworks.

 

Preface – Karol Jakubowicz

Introduction: Structural interconnection of free media and independent regulators 

Chapter 1: Approaches to independence – Wolfgang Schulz

Part I: Assessing the independence of regulatory bodies within the audiovisual media sector

Chapter 2: Delegation to independent regulatory authorities in the media sector: A paradigm shift through the lens of regulatory theory – Kristina Irion and Roxana Radu

Chapter 3: Independent media regulators: Condition sine qua non for freedom of expression? – Peggy Valcke, Dirk Voorhoof and Eva Lievens

Chapter 4: Media regulatory authorities in the EU context: Comparing sector-specific notions and requirements of independence – David Stevens

Chapter 5: Locating a regulator in the governance structure: A theoretical framework for the operationalization of independence – Stephan Dreyer

Chapter 6: Measuring independence: Approaches, limitations, and a new ranking tool – Kristina Irion and Michele Ledger

Part II: Media systems and the culture of independence

Chapter 7: Independence or balance of dependencies? Critical remarks on studying conditions of media regulators and public service media in Poland – Beata Klimkiewicz

Chapter 8: The independence of media regulatory authorities and the impact of the socio-political context: A comparative analysis of Greece and Italy – Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Federica Casarosa and Anna Kandyla

Chapter 9: Does the complexity of institutional structures in federal states influence the independence of AVM regulatory authorities? A review of the cases of Germany and Belgium – Pierre-François Docquir, Sebastian Müller and Christoph Gusy

Chapter 10: The independence of media regulatory authorities in Finland and the UK: An assessment – Rachael Craufurd Smith, Epp Lauk, Yolande Stolte and Heikki Kuutti

Chapter 11: Independence through intervention? International intervention and the independence of the Communications Regulatory Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Tarik Jusić

Chapter 12: Concluding chapter: Independence in context – Wolfgang Schulz

Sujets

• Technology Policy
• Public Policy
• Political Science
• Media studies
• Cultural Studies
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783203215
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Series: ECREA
Series ISSN: 1742-9420 (Print), 2043-7846 (Online)
Cover image: Charlotte Moorman playing Nam June Paik’s TV Cello in 1971. © Takahito iimuri.
Cover designer: Ellen Thomas
Copy-editing: Prufrock
Production manager: Bethan Ball
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-84150-733-0
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-320-8
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-321-5
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
Contents
Editors’ foreword
Prefaced
Karol Jakubowicz
Introduction: Structural interconnection of free media and independent regulators
Chapter 1: Approaches to independence
Wolfgang Schulz
Part I: Assessing the independence of regulatory bodies within the audiovisual media sector
Chapter 2: Delegation to independent regulatory authorities in the media sector: A paradigm shift through the lens of regulatory theory
Kristina Irion and Roxana Radu
Chapter 3: Independent media regulators: Condition sine qua non for freedom of expression?
Peggy Valcke, Dirk Voorhoof and Eva Lievens
Chapter 4: Media regulatory authorities in the EU context: Comparing sector-specific notions and requirements of independence
David Stevens
Chapter 5: Locating a regulator in the governance structure: A theoretical framework for the operationalization of independence
Stephan Dreyer
Chapter 6: Measuring independence: Approaches, limitations, and a new ranking tool
Kristina Irion and Michele Ledger
Part II: Media systems and the culture of independence
Chapter 7: Independence or balance of dependencies? Critical remarks on studying conditions of media regulators and public service media in Poland
Beata Klimkiewicz
Chapter 8: The independence of media regulatory authorities and the impact of the socio-political context: A comparative analysis of Greece and Italy
Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Federica Casarosa and Anna Kandyla
Chapter 9: Does the complexity of institutional structures in federal states influence the independence of AVM regulatory authorities? A review of the cases of Germany and Belgium
Pierre-François Docquir, Sebastian Müller and Christoph Gusy
Chapter 10: The independence of media regulatory authorities in Finland and the UK: An assessment
Rachael Craufurd Smith, Epp Lauk, Yolande Stolte and Heikki Kuutti
Chapter 11: Independence through intervention? International intervention and the independence of the Communications Regulatory Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tarik Jusić
Chapter 12: Concluding chapter: Independence in context
Wolfgang Schulz
Contributors’ biographies
Editors’ foreword
The independence of the media and its regulatory agencies is vital for democracies. This volume ventures to explore the complex relationship between media governance and independence of regulatory authorities within media systems in the European context, as this is part of the wider framework in which media independence may flourish or fade.
This book builds on two major European research networks, which both investigated media independence from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective. A study on ‘Indicators for independence and efficient functioning of audiovisual media services regulatory bodies for the purpose of enforcing the rules in the AVMS Directive’, better known as INDIREG, was conducted on behalf of the European Commission by a European consortium led by the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research. The study team mapped, compared and analysed the situation of independent media regulatory bodies in all European and four non-European countries, contributing to the theoretical understanding of media governance and the development of methodologies for assessing various dimensions of independence. The MEDIADEM project – called, in full, ‘European media policies revisited: Valuing and reclaiming free and independent media in contemporary democratic systems’ – is a collaborative European research project on media policy-making processes in EU member states and candidate countries. Its purpose is to identify which policy processes, tools and instruments can best support the development of free and independent media. The project was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme, and it was concluded in 2013 after three years of productive research.
The various contributions to this book shed new light on formal and actual regulatory independence in the media sector in the national context. The special focus on media governance recognizes the connection between media freedoms and regulation, which determines important contextual factors that might influence independence externally. The contributing authors offer theoretical perspectives that combine law and public policy; review research methods; and offer a set of case studies that explore how the national socio-political context influences local institutions. As a whole, the book offers an accessible and relevant account of research into regulatory independence as applied to the audiovisual media sector in Europe.
As editors, we would like to thank, first of all, the contributors who have made this such a varied but coherent publication. Our thanks are extended to the ECREA book series editors Nico Carpentier and François Heinderyckx, as well as Manuel Puppis, the chair of ECREA’s ‘Communication Law & Policy’ section. Additional thanks go to Bethan Ball at Intellect, our publisher, and our copy-editor Joost van Beek. The cover shows Charlotte Moorman playing Nam June Paik’s TV Cello with TV glasses in 1971 and we are grateful to Takahiko iimura for his permission to use the image.
Most sadly, our distinguished colleague Karol Jakubowicz, who contributed the Preface to this book, passed away. We would like to dedicate this book to him, knowing that his thought-provoking scholarship will continue to inspire us.
Wolfgang Schulz Peggy Valcke Kristina Irion
Preface
Broadcasting regulatory authorities: Work in progress
Karol Jakubowicz
The concept and institution of an independent regulatory authority is today seen as the default choice for regulatory governance. That much we know. Beyond that, however, little is certain, as the term covers a multitude of sins (committed by or, more often, against these authorities) and problematic issues. To complement the information and findings presented in this book, we will seek in this preface to highlight some of these issues and to provide, however briefly, an interpretative and conceptual framework within which to consider the subject matter.
First, this preface will deal with the question of where broadcasting regulatory authorities come from and how their emergence and operation should be interpreted. The latter is a complex issue and there is no single answer, given that these public institutions, like most, are (as this book clearly shows) a product of what may be called ‘systemic parallelism’.
Then we will take a look at a number of key issues, starting with the independence of these authorities and their position in the democratic system of separation of powers. In this context, we will also look at the process of ‘ontogenesis’ that these bodies undergo in young democracies. We will conclude this part with some comments on a further aspect of institutional evolution. Policy-makers and legislators in different countries are coming to different conclusions regarding the question of whether the authorities should remain ‘sector-specific,’ concentrating exclusively or mainly on broadcasting, or be turned into ‘integrated’ regulatory bodies (dealing with both broadcasting and telecommunications). In the latter case, the question then emerges whether they should become truly ‘convergent’ or remain merely ‘integrated’.
To conclude this preface, we will need to consider whether or not these regulatory bodies actually have a future. Given the tensions inherent to their existence and operation and the process of rapid change (technological and otherwise), we cannot discount the possibility that policy-makers will be taking a new, hard look at the rationale for their existence.
The views of some of the authors cited in this preface are at variance with the assumptions underlying some contributions to this volume. However, this is not to challenge those assumptions, but to provide a different perspective, as well as food for thought. The independence of regulatory authorities, for example, is not universally perceived as an unambiguously good thing. In fact, some authors believe that there may be not only malignant, but also benign and much-needed forms of politicization.
Knowledge of these alternative approaches should aid the reader in considering the ideas expressed in the body of this book and coming to his/her own conclusions.
The origin of broadcasting regulatory agencies
In Europe, regulatory agencies, for the broadcasting sector and in general, can be described as a product of ideology. More precisely, they are the result of an ideological shift from social-democratic systems in Western Europe, and from communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, to free-market, neoliberal social arrangements which involved the deregulation of many areas of the economy, and society in general. There are many useful theories explaining why this form of regulatory regime was chosen, but the root cause for the emergence of such authorities, as aptly explained by Jacobzone (2005: 33), was ‘building a regulat