Rethinking Media Pluralism by Kari Karppinen

Author:Kari Karppinen [Karppinen, Kari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Public Policy, General, Social Science, Media Studies
ISBN: 9780823245123
Google: vxaN3zUxhG0C
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 15864228
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Published: 2012-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Uses of Pluralism in Contemporary Media Policy

This chapter presents two case studies of the different ways in which media pluralism has been conceptualized and used in contemporary European media policy. After briefly discussing the rise of media pluralism as one of the central principles of European media policy, I demonstrate the political rationalities associated with its different definitions by analyzing two cases in detail. The first case concerns the attempts to introduce a common European approach on media concentration and pluralism; the second deals with the arguments put forward in recent debates on the role and remit of public service media in the new digital landscape.

Both issues have recently culminated in the drafting of key policy documents. After almost two decades of discussions that never resulted in any meaningful action, the European Commission has finally published a new initiative on media concentration and pluralism that includes a study on indicators to assess media pluralism in EU member countries (EC 2007a). The debate on public service media, on the other hand, has recently focused on the communication from the European Commission on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting (also known as the Broadcasting Communication, see EC 2009). While both documents serve more as recommendations than binding regulations, the debates surrounding them provide a good example of the different interests and values in current European media policy debates. After a broader review of the context of these debates, I will proceed to analyze the argumentation of these particular documents and the accompanying public consultations to illustrate the implications of different political rationalities.

A central purpose of this chapter is to analyze which articulations of media pluralism have become hegemonic in European media policy and to identify the political rationalities on which they rely. As noted above, abstract principles such as media pluralism often function more as rhetorical devices used by self-interested agents than as analytical tools for policy makers. However, the different uses and abuses of guiding principles have consequences regardless of how reflectively or instrumentally they are used. In this sense, the intention here is not primarily to seek the foundations of the concept of media pluralism, but to identify the key arguments or ideas communicated in these policy debates and to examine how the concept has been used, defined, and operationalized in these contexts.

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