Henrik Søndergaard

Media Policy and New Regulatory Systems in Denmark

In the light of the rapid and comprehensive changes that have characterised the Danish media landscape for the past decade, the central values of Danish media policy have stayed remarkably constant: the political focus remains on securing the freedom of expression and pluralism of voices by actively supporting both private and public media. These values continue to be underpinned by the broad political consensus that has characterised Danish media policy for more than 50 years. The constancy of the core goals of media policy stems, in part, from the small size of the media market in Denmark, due to the small population, and consequently its language. The media market thus requires state intervention if a sufficiently varied supply of content is to be provided. The value attached to pluralism and the concomitant necessity of state subsidies for media production also stem, in part, from the development of the media as an integral element of the egalitarian Scandinavian welfare state model.

Danish Media Policy

Denmark is a small country, and Danish, with only about 5.5 million native speakers, has confined usage. This makes the market for commercial media production so small that it would only be able to support a very small number of media on its own, resulting in a media landscape with a highly concentrated ownership structure and potentially low levels of diversity of content. Concerns about the obvious democratic problems with this scenario are shared across the political spectrum, and have historically led to a high degree of consensus about the central aims of media policy, namely to foster a diversity of media and media content. In practice, this has led to the development of a pervasive system of state support for both private and public media, and of a regulatory framework where media independence is given a high priority.

Meeting the Others on TV: How Drama Translates into Cultural Encounters

This chapter is grounded in focus group studies—that is, people interacting with each other and with us as researchers about specific TV drama episodes shown on an actual TV screen. We pose two questions: How do Danish viewers reflect on and engage with Danish and British series respectively? How do Danish viewers conceptualize and negotiate genre categories within and beyond the genre framework of the MeCETES project? In the concrete meeting between viewers and series, we were able to experience cultural encounters as they were happening. Focusing on five case study TV series, the chapter approaches the negotiations and understandings around these cultural encounters and in what they consist. As such, we analyse the stories people tell and the arguments they make in order to account for their personal reception.

Facing Everyday Life and the Societies We Live in: Contemporary Drama

This chapter deals with contemporary drama, comparing primarily English and Danish series but also taking up Scandinavian and other European examples. By telling dual stories of large-scale contemporary conflicts and themes as well as showing scenes from everyday life, contemporary drama can expose the links between the public and private realms. In many ways, everyday life can be seen as the often unnoticed or taken-for-granted reality we all live in but upon which we seldom reflect. The chapter analyses the production and reception of the family-community drama and of the social-political drama. Family life and everyday life is central in these kinds of drama, and, by showing the lives of others, contemporary drama is an important vessel for mediated cultural encounters.

History, Heritage and Memory: Historical Drama

This chapter deals with European historical television drama, with examples from Scandinavia, the UK, Germany and Belgium. The chapter discusses why historical drama is one of the most popular transnational European genres. Our past seems to appeal to our present, living memory, and historical drama in Europe often creates strong reactions and debate. This is due to the role of memory in both the individual and the collective contexts. Part of the forming of identity in human beings is connected to the ability to create a link between past and present, the feeling of being a person with a particular history. Through case studies, the chapter deals with different kinds of historical drama, their transnational distribution and reception.

National Patterns of TV Drama Consumption in Europe

This chapter combines three distinct quantitative data sources in a mixed methods research design in order to map national patterns of TV drama consumption in Europe. This design enables us to do three things: (1) map what characterizes the distribution of European, non-European and national television fiction series across the major channels in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Denmark; (2) focusing on the Danish case, to show how particular distribution has evolved over time; (3) characterize audience viewing patterns across the Danish population. We start out by targeting the three countries and their internal similarities and differences when it comes to national, European and non-European broadcast patterns. Secondly, we expand this snapshot, by investigating development over time in Denmark as an example. And thirdly, we turn to analysing audience viewing patterns and developing four ideal viewer types for European content.

Creative Work in a Transnational Context: Cultural Encounters Behind the Scenes

This chapter analyses tensions related to creative work when collaborating on making transnational television drama in Europe. Drawing on qualitative case studies of the bilateral Swedish–Danish co-production Bron/The Bridge (2011–), the co-financed shooting of episode 100 of the UK TV series Midsomer Murders (1997–) in Copenhagen, and the pan-European co-production The Team (2015), the chapter analyses what the main practitioners behind these series perceive as the greatest strengths or challenges when working with transnational television drama, along with notions of best practice in this regard.

Introduction: Transnational European TV Studies

The introduction argues for the importance of mediated cultural encounters for a deeper European understanding across borders. Fictional narratives and cultural encounters are posited as the missing link in European studies. The introduction outlines a sociology of mediated cultural encounters, considering the dynamics of cultural and media policy, the processes of co-production and distribution, the forms of creative encounters and the dimensions of transnational reception. Along with providing an overview of each of the chapters, it argues for the importance of combining qualitative and quantitative data and analysis in transnational television drama studies.

Conclusion: European Television—Diversity with Very Little Unity?

In this concluding chapter, we discuss the main findings of the book in the context of the historical development of European media and policy. We consider the forms of mediated cultural encounters dealt with in the book, in terms of different forms of creative co-productions and in the dimensions of audience and reception. We point to our main findings apropos transnational networks in European television production and distribution but also to the still fragmented and nationally organized television culture, which leads to a rather limited distribution of many TV series. We also highlight the main findings about how audiences consume and evaluate national and European products. Finally, we discuss present and future perspectives for European collaboration in light of nationalism and globalization.

A Theory of Mediated Cultural Encounters

In this chapter, we outline a theory of mediated cultural encounters based on social cognition theory along with theories and empirical evidence of cultural globalization and media consumption. Ideas around mediated cultural encounters are part of a broader theory of social and cultural categorization that can help us better understand European integration. This chapter also discusses theories of globalization and mediatization. We draw on theories and empirical studies of European integration and how this may gradually change the relation between national and transnational identities. Finally, we discuss the processes of transnational reception of TV drama and the complexity of the subjective and collective dimensions of reception.