scholarly journals Media policy for private media in the age of digital platforms

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunn Enli ◽  
Tim Raats ◽  
Trine Syvertsen ◽  
Karen Donders

Digital platforms such as Google, Facebook and Netflix have caused a watershed moment not only for markets and businesses but also for media policy. Concerns about the US-based digital platforms’ impact on national media markets have grown among European media businesses as well as policy makers. Media policy research argues that small media markets are particularly vulnerable to global players and foreign influence, but that market size must be understood also in the context of political traditions. This article investigates how digital platforms influence media policy for private media businesses in the small media systems of Norway and Flanders. Drawing on 20 qualitative interviews with CEOs and top-level media managers in these two small media markets, we ask what private media businesses expect from policy makers in light of the intensified competition from digital platforms, what experience they have with cooperating with policy makers and what explains the differences between Norway and Flanders. A key finding is that the managers in both markets want policy makers to regulate digital platforms to secure level playing field, and that the Norwegian respondents had more positive experiences with co-regulation and expressed more trust in policy makers and policy instruments, compared to the Flemish. Despite the global players and the need for transnational solutions, regional variations in policy making still matters, and might inform the discussion about how to regulate the digital platforms.

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 604-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Des Freedman

Far right populist politicians and movements have secured high levels of visibility thanks to often compliant media outlets and unregulated digital platforms. The pursuit of media coverage and the communication of rage are no longer incidental but essential to the growth of reactionary populisms. Yet, while prominent liberal media outlets are ‘aghast’ at events such as the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote, little attention has been paid to the structural conditions and policy frameworks that have facilitated the circulation of clickbait and misinformation, together with the incessant coverage of their leaders, that have been exploited by far right movements. This article identifies four areas of ‘media policy failure’ that have nurtured highly skewed media environments and concludes by calling for a new policy paradigm based around redistribution that aims to reconstruct media systems in order to undermine the appeal of populist forces on the far right.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Bajomi-Lázár

 After the political transformation, Hungarian journalism organizations and media policy makers attempted to introduce the standards and practices of neutrality-seeking journalism, yet most news outlets continued to offer engaged accounts of political events and issues. Why was the professionalization of journalism interrupted? This paper attempts to answer this question by offering an overview of the comparative media systems literature in search of the factors shaping journalism practices and by placing Hungary on the map of media systems. Then it suggests that different audience needs may be an additional factor explaining the dominance of different journalism practices in different media systems, with the public in transition societies seeking confirmation rather than information when using the media.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel ◽  
Elizabeth Ann Harris ◽  
Philip Pärnamets ◽  
Steve Rathje ◽  
Kimberly Doell ◽  
...  

The spread of misinformation, including “fake news,” propaganda, and conspiracy theories, represents a serious threat to society, as it has the potential to alter beliefs, behavior, and policy. Research is beginning to disentangle how and why misinformation is spread and identify processes that contribute to this social problem. We propose an integrative model to understand the social, political, and cognitive psychology risk factors that underlie the spread of misinformation and highlight strategies that might be effective in mitigating this problem. However, the spread of misinformation is a rapidly growing and evolving problem; thus scholars need to identify and test novel solutions, and work with policy makers to evaluate and deploy these solutions. Hence, we provide a roadmap for future research to identify where scholars should invest their energy in order to have the greatest overall impact.


Affilia ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 088610992097856
Author(s):  
Moshoula Capous-Desyllas ◽  
Deana Payne ◽  
Meg Panichelli

This research study is informed by anticarceral feminism to understand and highlight the experiences of violence and oppression that individuals in the sex trade experience as a result of police stings, raids, and incarceration. We present findings from 23 in-depth, qualitative interviews with men, women, and trans individuals who were arrested in the Los Angeles sex trade. More specifically, we explore experiences of violence that occurred interpersonally, systemically, and institutionally. Such experiences examine police violence, arrest and incarceration, coercion, and client violence. The findings from this research shed light on the impact the criminalization of sex work has had on research participants in terms of their physical health and mental health, economic security and opportunities for growth and education, and their sense of freedom and autonomy. We also attend to the role that intersecting identities might have played during their encounters with the police. This study explored these aspects while being mindful that the policies and procedures followed by the police are born out of a carceral state. We conclude with antioppressive and antiviolent implications for social work practice, policy, research, and education as we imagine the next decade of social work in relation to sex trade.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bowles ◽  
Déirdre Ní Chróinín ◽  
Elaine Murtagh

The provision of regular physical activity opportunities has the potential to have positive health benefits for children. This study used qualitative interviews and focus groups to examine the experiences of two Irish primary school communities as they worked to attain an Active School Flag. The data suggest that engagement in this formal physical activity initiative impacts positively on children’s engagement in physical activity. Schools were encouraged to embark on innovative activities that attracted widespread participation within schools and in the wider community. The establishment of links with community groups fostered collaborations that were empowering and inclusive. This research supports the contention that primary school initiatives can provide enhanced physical activity opportunities for children, and may provide guidance to national and international policy-makers as they devise school-based physical activity interventions.


2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH GRANT ◽  
SCOTT A. MURRAY ◽  
MARILYN KENDALL ◽  
KIRSTY BOYD ◽  
STEPHEN TILLEY ◽  
...  

Objective: Health care professionals and policy makers acknowledge that spiritual needs are important for many patients with life-limiting illnesses. We asked such patients to describe their spiritual needs and how these needs may impinge on their physical, psychological, and social well-being. Patients were also encouraged to explain in what ways their spiritual needs, if they had any, could be addressed.Methods: We conducted two qualitative interviews, 3 months apart, with 20 patients in their last year of life: 13 patients with advanced cancer and 7 with advanced nonmalignant illness. We also interviewed each patient's general practitioner. Sixty-six interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed.Results: Patients' spiritual needs centered around their loss of roles and self-identity and their fear of dying. Many sought to make sense of life in relation to a nonvisible or sacred world. They associated anxiety, sleeplessness, and despair with such issues, which at times resulted in them seeking support from health professionals. Patients were best able to engage their personal resources to meet these needs when affirmed and valued by health professionals.Significance of results: Enabling patients to deal with their spiritual needs through affirmative relationships with health professionals may improve quality of life and reduce use of health resources. Further research to explore the relationship between spiritual distress and health service utilization is indicated.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Mahboob Khurshid ◽  
Nor Hidayati Zakaria ◽  
Ammar Rashid ◽  
Muhammad Nouman Shafique

This article examines factors that can be argued to influence the academician's behavioral intentions in using open government data (OGD). Policy-makers and practitioners will determine policy instruments in increasing acceptance and use of OGD by maintaining a good understanding of these factors. In this article, Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory has been proposed and used in order to empirically examine these factors taking perceived characteristics of innovations. Relevant hypotheses have been developed through the literature review, forming a preliminary research model, while respective influences of the factors on the behavioral intention to use open government data have been statistically tested. Results have shown that compatibility and voluntariness have had a strong influence on behavioral intention, whereas a 66.2% variance has been found in academicians' behavioral intentions to use open government data.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-249
Author(s):  
Nicu MARCU ◽  
Georgeta-Mădălina MEGHIȘAN ◽  
Ionel Mugurel JITEA

Fruits and vegetables sectors are considered to be strategic in the European Union due to their contribution to a better human health. Among others positive effects, their intake increase reduce mortality and obesity, assuring in the same time harmonised development for young children. The present study thus focused to reveal the consistency of the measure implemented in the Common Agricultural Policy to support fruits and vegetables production in Romania in liaison with the policy objectives. The country is one of the main ten important European producers of horticultural products in terms of production volumes and acreage. Results showed that over the last seven years (2007-2014), the sectorial production drawbacks have not been ameliorated very much. Both sectors are dominated by small-size farms that can produce only seasonally and mainly for short-market chains. In the same time, the greenhouses area shrink to levels that made the country extremely dependent to imports especially for tomatoes. The analysis of the pillar one payments schemes revealed that the fruits and vegetables producers could have access to only one payment that was half from European averages. Moreover, almost half of the producers had low sizes that left them outside the eligible criteria. The measures designed for the second pillar also penalized producers through the selection criteria. These results showed that for Romania there was not a real consistency between the actual policy measures and the objectives assumed by policy makers. The future measures (2014-2020) seem to correct these negative findings being better tailored to the situation of the local fruits and vegetables producers.


Politik ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Signe Ravn-Højgaard

This article discusses the potential impact of Greenlandic independence on Greenland’s media system and suggests initiatives necessary for maintaining strong Greenlandic media in the future. Using Manuel Puppis' (2009) theory of the characteristics of small media systems, the Greenlandic media system is described. It is shown that it is built with the following aim in mind: the media should support the Greenlandic society by being independent and diverse, strengthening the Greenlandic language, and providing quality journalism that can heighten the public debate. However, as a small media system it is vulnerable to global tendencies where legacy media lose users and advertisers to digital platforms like Facebook and streaming services. The article argues that the vulnerability of the Greenlandic media system could increase if independence leads to a tighter public economy, impeding the media's ability to support Greenlandic society and culture. An interventionist media regulation could, therefore, be a prerequisite for a strong Greenlandic media system that can act as a unifying and nation-building institution.


2019 ◽  
pp. 248-262
Author(s):  
Silvia Majó-Vázquez ◽  
Sandra González-Bailón

The Internet has fundamentally changed how people access and use news. As Dutton and others (Chapter 13, this volume) note, there are concerns that the Internet leads us to get stuck in “echo chambers” or “filter bubbles”—limiting our access to points of view that might challenge our preexisting beliefs. This chapter introduces a network approach to analyzing news consumption in the digital age. The authors explain how we can compare patterns of news consumption across demographic groups, countries, and digital platforms, and determine if there are differences across groups of users and media systems. Measuring news consumption has long been difficult owing to the limitations of self-reported data, so this chapter is notable in offering a novel approach that leverages the digital traces that people leave behind when navigating the Web.


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