Full Description
Television and press systems in Western Europe are currently undergoing revolutionary changes, raising profound questions for public policy. This comparative, textbook analysis explores how mass media systems across Europe have been shaped by technology, economics and politics. Peter Humphreys argues that whilst both states and markets can constrain progress towards the goals of media freedom and pluralism, public policy can also promote a diverse media system across Europe. He explores the impact of public regulation and private commercial activity, and argues that threats to pluralism can arise from either political interference or from the concentration of media ownership and markets. Another key concern of the book is to explore the political impact of the new media technologies - notably transfrontier satellite broadcasting - in Western Europe. The author explores the implications of the commercialization of national broadcasting systems, and the media policies of the European Union in the age of transfrontier media operations.
Contents
Press freedom, the free market and the development of the modern press; press freedom and its limits - the state, the law and the private individual; press concentration in western Europe; European public service broadcasting systems; the "new media" and broadcasting deregulation in western Europe; market trends - internationalization, media-concentration and cross-media ownership; the impact of deregulation on programme services and the policy implications; the European Community and pan-European broadcasting.
