Manuel Puppis

Media Regulation in Small States

What is so special about small media systems? The following article touches upon their structural peculiarities, arguing that the small states perspective in communication science is not limited to Western Europe: small production and sales markets, dependence on and the high penetration with foreign media make the operation of domestic media organizations in small states more difficult. In some countries, this problem is intensified by giant next-door neighbours sharing the same language. The main claim of this article is that size has an impact on media regulation as well. It is suggested that small states, in order to protect and promote media diversity, are inclined to an interventionist approach of media regulation. They may even revert to protectionist measures undermining the goal of media diversity.

National Media Regulation in the Era of Free Trade The Role of Global Media Governance

There is a growing emphasis on free trade in global media governance, which could rock the foundations of media regulation in western democracies. While the US government pushes for the further liberalization of audiovisual services under the umbrella of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), other countries are less enthusiastic. They see the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a threat to their media culture. This article discusses the implications of the GATS for societal regulation of the media and the role of UNESCOs new Convention on Cultural Diversity (CCD). The conclusion is that the liberalization of audiovisual services will prevent several media regulation measures: quota regulations, support programmes for the audiovisual industry and the funding of public service broadcasting are all potentially at risk. Additionally, UNESCOs efforts to promote and protect cultural diversity appear unlikely to stop this development. I

The European and Global Dimension: Taking Small Media Systems Research to the Next Level

State size matters. However, small states do not only share structural peculiarities but also feature different political and historic traditions. This helps explain why the connection between smallness and media regulation is far from clear. Thus, it is suggested here to amend existing typologies of media systems with the notion of smallness, which would allow for more systematic comparative research. In addition, future research on small states needs to consider issues of Europeanization and globalization, examining the role of small states in decision-making on the supranational and international level.

Kommunikations- und medienpolitische Perspektiven: Internet Governance

Der Beitrag diskutiert kommunikations- und medienpolitische Fragen der Online- Kommunikation aus der Perspektive des Governance-Konzeptes. Dieses ermoglicht eine integrale Betrachtung verschiedener Formen von Politik und Regulierung, vom hoheitlichen Handeln staatlicher Akteure uber Zwischenformen der Co-Regulierung hin zu reinen Formen zivilgesellschaftlicher Selbstregelung. Der Beitrag grenzt Governance von verwandten Begriffen wie Politik und Regulierung ab und zeigt die Entwicklung, zentralen Akteure und Bereiche einer Internet Governance auf. Im Ergebnis zeigen sich vielfaltige Parallelen zwischen der ‚alten Welt’ der Medienpolitik und Regelungsfragen im Online- Bereich. Vor allem bleibt die Grundfrage identisch, welche Ziele die Gesellschaft bezuglich Kommunikationsinfrastrukturen als ihres zentralen ‚Nervensystems’ verfolgt.

Minorities, Integration and the Media. Media Regulation and Media Performance in Multicultural and Multilingual Switzerland

Due to intensifying processes of migration, more than 20 percent of Switzerland’s resident population are of foreign origin. In addition, the country is home to an indigenous minority and divided into different language regions. This article examines how the Swiss media landscape deals with these challenges. Looking at the issue of integration from different perspectives, both media regulation and media performance are analysed. On the one hand, a qualitative document analysis provides evidence that the integration of immigrant minorities is only a marginal subject in broadcasting regulation. On the other hand, a quantitative content analysis as well as surveys and focus group interviews with persons with a migratory background indicate that the media are not supporting their integration. When it comes to immigrant minorities, neither media regulation nor media performance reflect Switzerland’s tradition as a multicultural and multilingual country.

Private Television in Small European States: Ireland, Austria and Switzerland

Starting in the 1980s, European broadcasting markets were liberalised, putting an end to the long-time monopoly of public service broadcasting. At the same time, also due to new distribution technologies, a new era in transfrontier television began. Operating from the most favourable regulatory base, television stations could access more strictly regulated markets and circumvent domestic regulation (Dyson and Humphreys, 1989; Hallin and Mancini, 2004: 275; Harrison and Woods, 2007: 97-98, 192-193; Humphreys, 1996: 164-170). Due to their structural peculiarities, small states with giant next-door neighbours sharing the same language are particularly affected by the liberalisation of broadcasting. Small market size and the availability of foreign channels broadcasting in the same language impede the existence of a domestic television industry and raise political and cultural concerns (Bonfadelli and Meier, 1994; Meier and Trappel, 1992; Puppis, 2009; Siegert, 2006; Trappel, 2011).

Press Governance: A New Concept for Analyzing Press Regulation

For several years now, the term governance enjoys great popularity among researchers and practitioners alike (Benz 2004; Bevir 2009; Kersbergen and Waarden 2004; Kooiman 2003; Mayntz 2004; Pierre and Peters 2000; Rhodes 1996; Schuppert 2005; Treib et al. 2007). Communication scholars use the term media governance in order to describe changes in policy-making and regulation in the media sector. Given societal and media change, they call for regulatory reforms such as implementing self- and co-regulation, strengthening citizen participation or developing processes of informal decision-making in (global) networks [for a detailed discussion, see, for example, the special issue of Communication, Culture and Critique, edited by d’Haenens et al. (2010), or Donges (2007a)].

Public Value in Kleinstaaten

Die Medienpolitik der meisten europaischen Lander weist dem offentlichen Rundfunk nach wie vor einen wichtigen Stellenwert zu. Dieser spezielle Organisationstyp wird als eigentlicher Garant gesehen, gemeinwohlorientierte Leistungen im Rundfunkbereich zu erbringen (vgl. Saxer 2005: 15, 29; Puppis 2010: 200–204). Diese gemeinwohlorientierten Leistungen des offentlichen Rundfunks werden in jungster Zeit oftmals mit dem Begriff des Public Value umschrieben.