Media Regulation

Media Regulation

• Media regulation refers to the means by which media organizations are formally restrained or directed in their activities.
• Media regulation has always responded to changes in communication technology and successive “regimes” of media regulation can be identified, largely matching the dominant technology of the time.

Levels of Media Regulation

• Regulation can be applied at four main levels of media operation:
  • The infrastructure of distribution (cable, wireless, satellite, transport, cinemas, etc.)
  • The organization and structure of the organs of production (mainly commercial firms)
  • The production itself
  • The content of what is published or disseminated

Issues of Media Regulation

• Issues leading to demands for regulation can be classified as either of public or private concern.
• Public issues include:
  • Safeguarding public order and the security of the state
  • Respecting public mores
  • Securing public sphere benefits
  • Respecting human rights
• Private issues include:
  • Protection of individual rights to reputation, privacy, respect, and dignity
  • Preventing offense to individuals by way of shock, alarm, fear, disgust, distress, insult, etc.
  • Preventing harm to individuals
  • Protection of property rights in communication and information

Media Policy and Regulation

• The main purposes of policy on media regulation can be summarized as:
  • To guarantee freedom of publication
  • To protect individuals and society from possible harm
  • To promote a diversity of provision in terms of sources and content
  • To ensure wide or even universal access to communication facilities for private use and to participation in the mass-media audience
  • To promote social and cultural goals

Phases of Regulation

• Phases of regulation include:
  • Regulation of telegraph, wireless, telephony, and postal services
  • Regulation of the new audiovisual media, starting with the cinema and extending to radio and television broadcasting
  • The Internet era

The Means of Regulation

• The means of regulation can be categorized into four main categories:
  • Formal, external regulation
  • Formal, internal regulation
  • Informal, external regulation
  • Informal, internal regulation

Formal, External Regulation

• Formal, external regulation refers to laws and public regulations to which media are obliged to conform.

Formal, Internal Regulation

• Formal, internal regulation covers the management and financial control exerted by a media firm in the pursuit of its objectives and with reference to obligations to clients, audiences, and society generally.

Informal, External Regulation

• Informal, external regulation covers the constraints exerted by market forces, lobby and pressure groups, and public opinion.

Informal, Internal Regulation

• Informal, internal regulation covers the control exerted by professionalism, organizational and work cultures, and sometimes embodied in voluntary codes of norms and practices that media claim to adhere to.

Ideologies

• The term "ideology" was coined by Antoine Destutt de Tracy in 1796-1798, derived from the Greek terms "eidos" and "logos", meaning a "science of ideas".
• Tracy defined ideology as a method to investigate the natural origin of ideas, aiming to understand and use ideas for enlightened education.
• Karl Marx employed the concept of ideology in a more pejorative sense, referring to those who interpret the world philosophically but fail to change it.

Anarchism

• Anarchism is a political philosophy that rejects justification for authority and power, seeking to advocate for stateless societies.
• The word "anarchy" comes from the Ancient Greek "anarkhia", meaning "without ruler".
• Anarchism emerged as a reaction to the establishment of systematic authority and coercion, aiming to promote individual freedom and consensus.
• Mikhail Bakunin (1873) argued that the state's existence leads to the domination of one class over others, resulting in slavery and a state without slavery is unthinkable.
• William Godwin (1793) believed that governmental power was not necessarily better than anarchy, as it can become despotic.

Critiques of Anarchism

• Anarchism is often regarded as a nihilistic and destructive ideology, rejecting order and opting for violent and destructive action.
• Anarchism is considered a utopian ideology, as it is seen as impossible to destroy or deconstruct the state.
• The idea of anarchism itself is considered incoherent, as it opposes any form of movement or collective action, making it difficult to form an anarchist movement.

Liberalism

• Liberalism is the most complex and intricate of ideologies, with the oldest apolitical use of the word "liberal" denoting a type of education.
• The French Revolution brought ideas of popular sovereignty, natural rights, and consent into sharp political focus.
• Maurice Cranston (1967) defined a liberal as someone who believes in liberty.
• John Locke (1960) believed that humans are naturally in a state of "perfect freedom" to order their actions without needing permission from others.
• Classical liberalism emphasizes liberty and private property, advocating for an economic system based on private property.
• The "new liberalism" challenges the intimate relationship between private property and personal liberty, instead advocating for government supervision of economic life.

Socialism

• Socialism is a form of social organization that seeks to eliminate economic class divisions, giving workers control over the means of production and design of the economic process.
• The principles of socialism include:
• Equality: everyone should have equal access to material and social means to live flourishing lives.
• Democracy: everyone should have equal access to participate in decisions affecting their lives.
• Individual freedom: everyone should have freedom from inappropriate interference from others.
• Self-realization: everyone should have autonomy to choose activities that allow them to develop themselves and exercise their creative capacities.
• Community/solidarity: everyone should organize their economic life to treat the freedom and well-being of others as intrinsically significant.

Critiques of Capitalism

• Socialism critiques capitalism for:
• Exploitation: capitalists keep wages low to maximize profits.
• Interference and domination: workers are coercively interfered with if they try to use the means of production possessed by the capitalist.
• Alienation: labor is external to the worker, denying self-realization at work.
• Inefficiency: firms choose work-saving technologies and lay off workers, eroding demand for their products and forcing further cost-cutting.

Fascism

• Fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes ultranationalist political ideology, militarism, and the supremacy of the nation and single powerful leader.
• Characteristics of fascist governance include:
• Extreme nationalism: fascist leaders believe in the supremacy of certain groups of people based on characteristics.
• Cult of personality: fascist regimes cultivate images of their leaders as great figures to be loved and admired.
• Popular mobilization: fascist regimes demand public participation in society through government-organized channels.

Political Ideologies in the 21st Century

• The world order has changed significantly due to:
• The end of the Cold War and the ideological battle between capitalism and communism.
• The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• The advent of global terrorism, marked by the 9/11 attacks.

Postmodernity

• Postmodernity is a process that has social, political, and cultural dimensions, characterized by the emergence of increasingly market-oriented and capitalist economies.
• Postmodern societies are increasingly fragmented and pluralistic, with individuals transformed from producers to consumers and individualism replacing class, religious, and ethnic loyalties.

Globalization

• Globalization is characterized by the emergence of a borderless world, where traditional political borders become permeable.
• The tendency of traditional political borders, based on national and state boundaries, to become permeable.
• Globalization reconfigures social space, with territory mattering less due to the increasing range of transworld and transborder connections.

Learn about media regulation and its impact on media organizations. Understand how media regulation responds to changes in communication technology and its different regimes.