Trends in Communication Policy Research

New Theories, Methods and Subjects

Manuel Puppis, Natascha Just, Manuel Puppis, Natascha Just, Manuel Puppis

• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781841504674
• eBook ISBN: 9781841506883
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

With contributions from leading international experts from within both the communications industry and academia, Trends in Communication Policy Research comprises the very latest developments in the theories, methods and practical applications of this dynamic field. Topical and politically relevant, this authoritative volume will prove an invaluable reference for students and scholars seeking to understand communication policy issues.

Introduction

Natascha Just & Manuel Puppis

Trends in Communication Policy Research

Technological, economic and social trends are changing the context of communication policy. Convergence, liberalization, commercialization, new media (e.g. the Internet and mobile communication), audience fragmentation and globalization are only a few of the more notable terms that describe this change. The question of how communication policy copes with these changes is not only of interest to academics but also of the highest societal relevance. Scholars are well aware of current and imminent changes; options for reforming communication policies and regulation are the subject of lively debates in the field.

In this volume, we are not just interested in what the above-mentioned changes mean for communication policy but foremost and more importantly in what the challenges and implications are for communication policy research. As the insights of communication policy research are fundamental to understanding and shaping media landscapes and thus for safeguarding the existence of the media necessary for democratic societies, a thorough analysis of how we undertake this research is needed. Although communication policy research traditionally proves to be a self-critical as well as self-conscious (and not always self-confident) area of research, it has been a while since new directions for communication policy research in Europe were discussed.

Trends in Communication Policy Research aims to revive and foster such a discussion by offering an overview of and insights into current and future areas of inquiry in this contested policy field. This unique volume is a compilation of articles that were mostly presented at the 2009 workshop of the European Communication Research and Education Association’s (ECREA) Communication Law and Policy Section in Zurich (Switzerland). The original call for papers solicited work that deals with questions of how to approach new communication policy issues theoretically and methodologically, of understanding what insights can be gained from the application of theories and methods of cognate areas and of identifying what policy challenges are emerging.

However, some chapters were added, as conference proceedings – no matter how thoroughly planned conceptually – always risk not doing justice to the overall field, and omissions are almost inevitable. The volume for the most part offers perspectives from European scholars on communication policy research. However, neither is it a book about European communication policies, nor is its use confined to this geographical context alone. Particularly those contributions dealing with questions of what theories and methods may be appropriate for furthering communication policy research are of wider significance. Whereas several contributions highlight the trend to apply various strands of new institutionalism to communication policy, demonstrating the potentials and limitations of such approaches, other theoretical perspectives are reflected as well. Despite technological convergence, most articles focus on traditional mass media. Nevertheless, this volume also emphasizes the trend of increasing research into the Internet, communication infrastructures and telecommunications regulation.

Thus, with the help of scholars from a variety of countries who contributed with their specific expertise, Trends in Communication Policy Research succeeds in offering thorough analyses of a wide range of communication policy subjects and addresses various methodological and theoretical challenges that face this field of research.

Overview of the Book

The introductory chapter by Natascha Just and Manuel Puppis (Universität Zürich) looks into the history of communication policy research and its contribution to policy-making. It shows that our research field is often highly self-conscious and not too self-confident, bemoaning the state of research as well as the perceived lack of influence and recognition. The authors argue, however, that communication policy research is instead a meaningful and mature sub-division, which is capable of making itself heard. Nevertheless, in order to cope with changing society and changing communication policy and to gain new insights into policy and regulation, scholars also need to apply theories that have previously not been considered. Furthermore, research methods need to be more thoroughly discussed and scrutinized so as to increase awareness of their benefits and challenges. And finally, it is pertinent to keep an open mind regarding new research subjects.

Consequently, it is necessary to discuss new or rarely employed theoretical and methodological ways of analysing communication policy issues and to identify changes in communication policy that require scholarly attention. Trends in Communication Policy Research is thus divided into three parts: new theories, new methods and new subjects.

New Theories

Scholars in communication policy research apply a wide variety of different theoretical approaches to their subjects. Articles in this part of the book apply theories that have previously been considered only marginally in communication policy research to different subjects. Specifically, institutions (different forms of new institutionalism), interests (actorcentred approaches) as well as ideas are used in order to gain new insights into policy and regulation.

Jan Loisen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) builds upon Douglass North’s new institutionalism in order to analyse the audio-visual dossier of the World Trade Organization. He argues that this framework makes it possible to map the complexity of the issue and to analyse institutional change. The analysis indicates that the audio-visual dossier is on a pathdependent course to liberalization. However, there is scope to include non-economic concerns.

Matthias Künzler (Universität Zürich) is interested in liberalization as well. Looking at the introduction of private broadcasting in three small European states, Künzler uses an ideas-based approach to explain differences in regulation. Based on Berger and Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge, he develops a theoretical model that can be empirically tested in order to show how ideas are able to shape media policy decisions.

Regulatory agencies have become key actors in communication policy-making. Manuel Puppis (Universität Zürich) and Martino Maggetti (Universität Zürich and Université de Lausanne) focus on their contested accountability and legitimacy. By drawing on policy diffusion theory and new institutionalism in organization studies, they argue that both the participation in regulatory networks and the political communication of regulators may enhance their accountability and legitimacy.

Avshalom Ginosar (Emek Yezreel Academic College and University of Haifa) looks into regulatory regimes of product-placement regulation in the European Union, Canada and Israel. New institutionalism is employed in order to understand the similarities and differences between these regimes. The theory reveals the path dependency of the policy discourse and of the stakeholders’ positions and thus of the outcome of the political process.

Using a different institutional theory, Christian Katzenbach (Freie Universität Berlin) attempts to link approaches and insights from science and technology studies with a governance perspective. He argues that conceiving of technology as an institution is necessary in order to take the politics of information and communication technologies into account as well as to overcome a determinist view on technology.

With veto-player theory, Ulrike Klinger (Universität Zürich) applies a theoretical concept of political science to media ownership regulation. She argues that veto-player theory connects well with actor-centred approaches and can open the ‘black box’ of political decision-making. As an example, she compares reforms of ownership regulation in very different political systems – Mexico and Italy.

New Methods

The articles in the second part of the book on the one hand analyse often used but rarely discussed methods of communication policy research like comparative methods and document analysis. On the other hand, the potential of new approaches focusing on networks and coalitions is dealt with. By focusing on methods, these articles establish a basis for scrutinizing and advancing communication policy research in this area.

Peter Humphreys (University of Manchester) discusses the existing comparative communication policy research. After dealing with the development of approaches to comparing media systems, he specifically focuses on Hallin and Mancini’s seminal typology. His argument is that insights from historical institutionalism are needed to explain national divergences.

Focusing on a widely used method of communication policy research, Kari Karppinen (Helsingin Yliopisto) and Hallvard Moe (Universitetet i Bergen) talk about document analysis. The authors argue that it is necessary to explicate the process from data gathering to actual analysis in order to increase the impact of communication policy research both in academic and policy debates.

The use of qualitative network analysis as a research method for communication policy research is discussed by Maria Löblich and Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München). This approach offers an opportunity to empirically investigate how interactions produce network structures and how actors are shaped by their networks. The merits and pitfalls of applying interviews and network cards are discussed using the example of the protection of minors in Germany.

Similarly, Hilde Van den Bulck (Universiteit Antwerpen) is also interested in the main policy-making stakeholders. The starting point of her article is the fact that researchers often face blind spots in their understanding of the political process, hence missing out on key documents and actors. She develops a process model for the analysis of media policy and discusses its methodological implications.

New Subjects

New policy challenges arising from media change are manifold and widespread in communication policy research. The theoretical and empirical articles in this section analyse specific new and emerging policy challenges and give an overview of current communication policy research and future fields of inquiry where research is still being developed or scholarly attention is called for.

The collection in this part of the book includes various overlapping issues that share a common topic or problem, yet they approach and analyse it from various angles and points of view. These articles have several links with articles not only in this part, but also in other parts of the book. The issue of convergence, for example, is explicitly or implicitly acknowledged as a major driving force of many current and future changes in communication policy and thus in communication policy research. The analysis by Just, Latzer and Saurwein is closely linked with New Methods, as it presents a novel research approach that methodologically furthers online research in the fields of data collection, online content and link analyses. The article by Sarikakis connects with New Theories, as it calls for a wider theoretical recognition of human and gender aspects in communication policy-making and provides guidelines for a human-centred policy approach.

The articles are arranged according to the three sub-sections, Convergence, State Aid and Participation, Power & the Role of Gender.

Convergence is the motor of change in communication policy and consequently sets the framework for much current research. Karol Jakubowicz (Warsaw, Poland) analyses how technological change impacts the conceptual framework of media and communication policy by analysing changes in the object (‘the media’) and objectives of communication policy as well as shifts in communication policy paradigms.

With convergence and digitization, new topics are emerging and others are becoming more prominent. Andrew T. Kenyon (University of Melbourne), Julian Thomas (Swinburne University of Technology) and Jason Bosland (University of Melbourne) analyse policy challenges resulting from digital content management and show how there are shifting conceptions of public interest and regulation in relation to audio-visual content.

The online activities of public service broadcasters are disputed throughout Europe and the Internet is evoking various challenges for the monitoring and control of such activities. Natascha Just, Michael Latzer and Florian Saurwein (Universität Zürich) discuss regulatory responses to and regulatory implications of online activities of public service broadcasters, based on the first large-scale study assessing the compliance of the Swiss PSB’s online service with regulations.

With the increasing disputes surrounding PSB’s online activities, European state-aid policy and the role of the European Commission have become more important in communication policy-making.

Jo Bardoel (Universiteit van Amsterdam and Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) and Marit Vochteloo (Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences) examine the struggle over how to balance cultural and economic interests in European public service broadcasting policy. They review European state-aid policy, its effect on Dutch broadcasting regulation and infer from their analysis how the current direction of PSB policy may depoliticize the definition of the role and remit of PSBs while in turn politicizing their actual editorial strategy.

European state-aid policy and the controversies over the cultural and economic nature of communication goods play a determining role in the field of cinematographic work as well. Lucia Bellucci (Università degli Studi di Milano) identifies these controversies as a source of conflict within and between the European Commission and EU member states and discusses attendant challenges that may determine the future of developments in this policy area.

State-aid policy to broadband and next-generation networks is another thus-far under-addressed, yet emerging, research area. Seamus Simpson (University of Salford) reasons that the neo-liberal character of EU telecommunications policy is being continued in this area and consequently jeopardizes and restrains the extent of state intervention for social policy reasons, despite official rhetoric to the contrary.

Finally, the sub-section on Participation, Power & the Role of Gender brings together three articles that focus on various contexts of changes in media and media governance, the role of civil society and the claim for a wider theoretical attention of gender in policy research.

Although the place of PSB as one of the key pillars of national media systems has been secured in western Europe for many decades, such a historical legacy is absent in post-communist east and central European countries. Peter Bajomi-Lazar (University of Oxford), Vaclav Stetka (University of Oxford) and Miklós Sükösd (University of Hong Kong) analyse these PSB systems comparatively with regard to trends in audience share, changes in funding schemes, supervision and political influence. They conclude by asserting that public service media need broad public support in order to guarantee its autonomy and independence.

Pietro Rossi and Werner Meier (Universität Zürich) outline how the involvement of civil society is paramount in governance processes. Based on results of case studies of advertising regulation, they argue how a participatory media governance approach, with its emphasis on conferring decision-making power on the public, may result in a reinvigoration of the democratic legitimacy of the mass media.

Finally, Katharine Sarikakis (Universität Wien) argues for the need for a gender-conscious agenda in communication policy analysis in order to adequately contribute theoretically and practically to understanding the complex power relations of social and political worlds. Such a perspective would seek to integrate a gender perspective, among other things, in the evaluation and analysis of policy objectives and of the effects of policy implementation.

Words of Thanks

It would not have been possible to organize the 2009 workshop of the ECREA’s Communication Law and Policy Section in Zurich without the substantial financial support of the Association of Non-Professorial Academic Staff at the University of Zurich (VAUZ), the University of Zurich’s Hochschulstiftung and the University of Zurich’s Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ), whose generous support we gratefully acknowledge.

We would also like to thank ECREA for selecting this volume to be published in the ECREA Book Series and for subsidizing its publication. Moreover, the Zürcher Universitätsverein (ZUNIV) and the IPMZ generously co-financed the proof reading of the manuscript. Last but not least, our thanks go to David Westacott (Vienna) for copy-editing and to Florian Schmitz (Zurich) for supporting us in the production of this volume.

Chapter 2

Communication Policy Research: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Natascha Just & Manuel Puppis

Old paint on a canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman’s dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter ‘repented,’ changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again. (Hellman 1973: 3)

Introduction

Communication policy research evolved from the outset as a multi-disciplinary field and domain of various academic disciplines from sociology and political science to law and economics, resulting in the coverage of a myriad of multi-faceted topics. The choice of subjects in communication policy research is affected by sociocultural, political, economic and technological forces that determine the overall framework for communication policy and regulation as well as by the many regulatory objectives in communication. This makes it almost impossible to sort o...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Communication Policy Research: Looking Back, Moving Forward
• Part I: New Theories
• Part II: New Methods
• Part III: New Subjects
• Back Page