The Media in Europe’s Small Nations


Book Description

Small nations are growing in prominence. In 1950, there were 22 sovereign European states with a population below 18 million. Today there are 36 – not to mention many more stateless nations. What are the particular characteristics of the media in small nations? What challenges do broadcasters and other media institutions in these countries face, how can these be overcome, and are there advantages to operating in a small national context? How are small nations represented on screen, and how do audiences in small nations engage with the media? Bringing together perspectives from across Europe, including case-studies on Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia and Macedonia, this collection answers these questions. At the same time, it provides readers with insights into broader issues of media policy, representation, national identity, transnationalism, audience reception and media research methods. With European media institutions and practitioners coming to terms with the changes brought about by digitisation and globalisation against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, this collection offers a timely contribution to debates about the media in Europe. Contributors include: Steve Blandford, John Newbigin, Sally Broughton Micova, Josep Àngel Guimerà, Ana Fernández Viso, Agnes Schindler, Dilys Jones, Trish Reid, Jacqui Cochrane, Anabela de Sousa Lopes and Merris Griffiths.




The Media


Book Description

Today, arguably more than at any time in the past, media are the key players in contributing to what defines reality for the citizens of Europe and beyond. This book provides an introduction to the way that the media occupy such a position of prominence in contemporary human existence. This expanded and fully updated third edition of the bestselling The Media: An Introduction collects in one volume thirty-six specially commissioned essays to offer unrivalled breadth and depth for an introduction to the study of contemporary media. It addresses the fundamental questions about today’s media – for example, digitisation and its effects, new distribution technologies, and the implications of convergence, all set against the backdrop of a period of profound social and economic change in Europe and globally. Key features: Expert contributions on each topic Approachable, authoritative contributions provide a solid theoretical overview of the media industry and comprehensive empirical guide to the institutions that make up the media. Further Reading and related web-resource listings encourage further study. New to this edition: New five part structure provides a broad and coherent approach to media: Part 1 Understanding the Media; Part 2 What Are the Media?; Part 3 The Media Environment; Part 4 Audiences, Influences and Effects; Part 5 Media Representations. Brand new chapters on: Approaches to Media; Media Form; Models of Media Institutions; The Media in Europe; Photography; Book Publishing; Newspapers; Magazines; Radio; Television; The Internet and the Web; News Media; Economics; Policy; Public Service Broadcasting in Europe; Censorship and Freedom of Speech; Audience Research; Sexualities; Gender; Social Class; Media and Religion; The Body, Health and Illness; Nationality and Sex Acts. Other chapter topics from the last edition fully updated A wider, more comparative focus on Europe. The Media: An Introduction will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of media studies, cultural studies, communication studies, journalism, film studies, the sociology of the media, popular culture and other related subjects.




Small States Inside and Outside the European Union


Book Description

Small States in and outside the European Union offers a broad overview of the small states problematic in Europe. It touches upon definition issues, history, security policy, neutrality, EU institutional aspects and also includes contributors from Central and Eastern European countries. It presents a thorough analysis of different scenarios for EU institutional reform and their repercussions on the influence of small member states. The comparative results are visualized in tables. The work contains several contributions from practitioners who give insight into policy games and issues of national sensitivity not usually covered by purely scholarly publications. The European environment has changed dramatically through the processes of regional integration and rising interdependence. Relations between European states both inside and outside the EU are governed as never before by rules, norms, and fixed procedures. The book investigates the consequences of these developments on the foreign and security policy of small states. Academics and professionals from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as from the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, elaborate on these issues. Institutional regulations and traditional power politics as well as the foreign and security policy traditions of the states concerned, including the question of neutrality, are investigated. In addition, the book identifies the main interests of small states in today's Europe and offers an overview of different strategies these states apply in the realm of foreign and security policy. The book is interesting for the case studies it offers as well as for the reflections it contains regarding fundamental questions of the essence of statehood in today's Europe.




The Media in Europe


Book Description

Completely rewritten, the Third Edition of this successful guide to European media systems has also been expanded to include Central and Eastern Europe as well as Western Europe. Covering 23 countries, the volume highlights and explains key issues of debate and current tendencies in media policy.




Media Pluralism in the Digital Era


Book Description

Bringing together scholars, journalists, and researchers from 27 European countries, this book provides a comparative and longitudinal analysis of the evolution of conditions and standards relevant for sustainable, free, and plural media and journalism in Europe in the last ten years. Approaching the challenging and ever-changing concept of media pluralism from various complementary and sometimes conflicting angles, combining legal, economic, social, and political perspectives, chapters provide a holistic account of the concept of media pluralism, a key condition for a well-functioning democracy. This book draws on data from the Media Pluralism Monitor project, a scientific tool designed and implemented on a regular basis to document the health of media ecosystems, to provide insights into central dimensions of media systems across the EU and candidate countries. These include: the fundamental protection of freedom of expression and safety of journalists and the independence of media authorities; market plurality, transparency of ownership, media concentration, media viability, competition enforcement, and digital platforms’ dominance; disinformation, media literacy, and digital challenges; political independence, conflicts of interest, editorial autonomy, and the independence of public service media; social inclusiveness, including access to media and representation of women and community media. Offering a comprehensive overview of key areas of EU media policy, causes and solutions for the media economic struggle, and innovative examples of business models for journalism in the digital age, this book is recommended reading for advanced students and researchers of media policy and regulation, as well as policymakers.




Audiovisual Regulation under Pressure


Book Description

In the face of globalization and new media technologies, can policy makers and regulators withstand deregulatory pressures on the ‘cultural policy toolkit’ for television? This comparative study provides an interdisciplinary investigation of trends in audiovisual regulation, with the focus on television and new media. It considers pressures for deregulation and for policy in this field to prioritise market development and economic goals rather than traditional cultural and democratic objectives, notably public service content, the promotion of national and local culture, media pluralism and diversity. The book explores regulatory policy in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe. The book focuses on a range of instruments designed for promoting pluralism and cultural diversity, particularly the role of public service broadcasting and the range of measures available for promoting cultural policy goals, such as subsidies, scheduling and investment quotas, as well as (particularly national) media ownership rules. The book draws on findings of two research projects funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and is written in an accessible style by leading scholars of media law and policy, who bring to bear insights from their respective disciplines of law and political science.




Democracy and Political Ignorance


Book Description

One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Often, many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This may be rational, but it creates a nation of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know. In Democracy and Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin mines the depths of ignorance in America and reveals the extent to which it is a major problem for democracy. Somin weighs various options for solving this problem, arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. Somin provocatively argues that people make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.




European Media


Book Description

European Media provides a clear, concise account of the structures, dynamics and realities of the changing face of media in Europe. It offers a timely and illuminating appraisal of the issues surrounding the development of new media in Europe and explores debates about the role of the media in the formation of a European public sphere and a European identity. The book argues that Europe offers an ideal context for examining interactions between global, regional and national media processes and its individual chapters consider: the changing structure of the European media; the development of new media; the Europeanization of the media in the region; the challenges for the content; and audiences. Special emphasis is given to the transformation of political communication in Europe and the alleged emergence of a European public sphere and identity. European Media: Structures, Politics and Identity is an invaluable text for courses on media and international studies as well as courses dealing with European and national policy studies. It is also helpful to students, researchers and professionals in the media sector since it combines hard facts with theoretical insight.




Cinéma&Cie 29


Book Description

This special issue of Cinéma & Cie analyses the logic and processes of re-intermediation emerging in the contemporary European media industry landscape, providing an opportunity to bring questions of availability, text circulation and gatekeeping to the centre of scholarly debates and investigations. Through contributions showcasing a wide array of methodological and theoretical approaches, the volume illustrates and analyses the presence of new gatekeepers, their impact in shaping texts and their consumption in different European contexts. Its case studies include file sharing, Curzon Home Cinema, VOD services and the problematic implementation of the Digital Single Market policy.




Communication Theory Today


Book Description

This state-of-the-art overview reflects the rich variety of approaches and disciplines embraced by contemporary communication studies. The book consists of thirteen original essays by some of the most prominent communication scholars, including Ien Ang, Deidre Boden, David Crowley, James M. Collins, Klaus Krippendorff, William Leiss, Denis McQuail, William Melody, Joshua Meyrowitz, David Mitchell, Mark Poster, Majid Tehranian, John B. Thompson and Teun A. van Dijk.