Marc Raboy

The World Summit on the Information Society and Its Legacy for Global Governance

The World Summit on the Information Society has highlighted a range of questions about issues and process that characterize communication governance at the start of the 21st century. Without having resolved them, it indicates a new paradigm for global governance generally, in which information and communication issues are central, and in which new actors, particularly global civil society, will have to be involved.

The WSIS as a Political Space in Global Media Governance

We are ®rmly convinced that we are collectively entering a new era of enormous potential, that of the Information Society and expanded human communication. In this emerging society, information and knowledge can be produced, exchanged, shared and communicated through all the networks of the world. All individuals can soon, if we take the necessary actions, together build a new Information Society based on shared knowledge and founded on global solidarity and a better mutual understanding between peoples and nations. We trust that these measures will open the way to the future development of a true knowledge society. (WSIS, 2003a, art. 67)

The Dilemma of Social Demand Shaping Media Policy in New Civic Contexts

The new media environment is seamless, global and, apparently, boundless in possibilities. Popular misconceptions and dominant discourses about the end of regulation notwithstanding, however, activity within this environment is still based on rules and likely to remain so. The rules are changing, of course, but more significantly, the way the rules are made is changing. New global institutions like the WTO are the site of monumental battles between stakeholders. National governments are looking for new ways to continue tweaking the influence of the media on their territories. Corporate strategies are redefining the shape and substance of media institutions. Users, the networks they create and the choices they make constitute a perpetual wildcard that makes it impossible to predict how the media are likely to evolve. What does all this frenetic activity mean for media governance? By closely examining recent events and placing these in historical perspective, we can imagine a number of possible models. Unquestionably, a global framework for media policy is emerging. Its contours are not yet clear. But the stakes are so great that any social actor who ignores this framework does so at its peril. Corporate players have long recognized this unfolding process, and have organized themselves in various ways to influence media policy in their interests. The situation is far more complicated for actors associated with social movements, cultural communities and the ordinary exercise of citizenship. In order to try to think through this problem with respect to both academic understanding and support for an activist agenda, we began some time ago to develop the concept of ‘social demand’. We use the term to refer to the range of expectations with respect to media that exceed economic or market considerations – that is to say, expectations as they can be extrapolated from what people say about their media use, as well as the efforts of organized social and cultural groups to influence the direction of media policy. The theoretical and epistemological basis for this idea has been developed in two published papers, first in the International Journal of Cultural Policy (Raboy and Abramson, 1998) and then in Television and New Media (Raboy et al., 2001). Now, in this special theme issue of Gazette, we present some of the empirical findings of researchers associated with this project. GAZETTE: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR COMMUNICATION STUDIES

The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy: Mansell/The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy

The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy offers insights into the boundaries of this field of study, assesses why it is important, who is affected, and with what political, economic, social and cultural consequences. * Provides the most up to date and comprehensive collection of essays from top scholars in the field * Includes contributions from western and eastern Europe, North and Central America, Africa and Asia * Offers new conceptual frameworks and new methodologies for mapping the contours of emergent global media and communication policy * Draws on theory and empirical research to offer multiple perspectives on the local, national, regional and global forums in which policy debate occurs.

Dreaming in Technicolor The Future of PSB in a World Beyond Broadcasting

In the new media environment, the public broadcasters primary purpose should be to operate at the cutting edge; it must make itself indispensable to anyone who wants to be informed, educated and entertained. And as we move towards a post-broadcasting environment, it must think of itself as a full-service public communicator.

Public Broadcasting and the Global Framework of Media Democratization

Public broadcasting remains a key institution of democratization in the context of globalization, marked by the shift from the national to the transnational as the site of media power and, increasingly, media activity. In the face of rampant commercialization of media, public broadcasting is essential to the promotion of pluralism in the public sphere. In a multichannel environment, public broadcasting must find its particular place. At the same time, multilateral politics present a specific new challenge to public broadcasting. As media politics go global, public broadcasting must be rethought and new structures and mechanisms put in place at the global level.

Repositioning Public Broadcasting

Among rhe legacies of the British Empire [0 former colonies such as Canada and Australia are its institutions. Some of them, like parliamentary government and the stiff upper lip, appear to be everlasting. The endurance of public broadcasting, on the other hand, appears to be less assured. Ironically, rhe well-being of public broadcasting in the former Dominions is threatened by other features of Britains one-time global hegemony, namely mercantilism, the homogenising effects of rhe English language and the ideas of Adam Smith. If rhe sun ever sets on public broadcasting it will largely have these to thank. In Canada, at the end of 1996, the insecurity surrounding the future of public broadcasting was palpable. Even the future of the country itself seemed more likely and no one with any sense was laking bets on rhat, However, it shall be the thesis of this article that the problems of public broadcasting should be seen as coniunctural rather than definitive, and that the current crisis, truelltgently dealt with, can even be salutary.

Part V: Broadening media discourses Global media policy — defining the field

Since the turn of this century, a new object of study has emerged, at the interface of what used to be called ‘international communication’ and media policy studies. The object is elusive. Unlike its conventional ‘national’ counterparts, global media policy is not ‘made’ in any clearly definable political space, and it involves the oddest imaginable assortment of actors. Where media policy has always been difficult to grasp as an object of study, studying global media policy raises a new and fundamental problem, of definition: what are we talking about here? Unquestionably, a global framework for media policy is emerging, although its contours are not yet clear. What was still, only a short while ago, a field essentially defined by national legislative and regulatory frameworks and a minimum of international supervision, is now subject to a complex ecology of interdependent practices, structures and institutions. Specific policy issues, such as copyright, information flow, rules governing media ownership, and internet governance, migrate from one level to another, often typifying the flashpoint of conflicts between interests and jurisdictions. But it is no longer possible to understand, let alone deal with, such issues locally without referring to the broader context. This situation poses a particular challenge not only to internationalizing media studies, but far more importantly, to the ongoing development of citizenship and democratic public life. For that reason alone, it demands our attention. Defining the field of global media policy studies at this stage means ‘mapping’ the global media policy environment, developing a theoretical understanding of the object, and establishing an empirical base from which to explore the issues and processes involved. It means developing a conceptual and analytical framework for studying media policy that takes account of corporate THEMED SECTION

Global communication policy and the realisation of human rights

Citizenship is tied to democracy. and global citizenship should in some way be tied to global democracy. at least to a process of democratization that extends some notion of rights, representation and accountability to the operations of international institutions…2

Viewers on Television Between Policy and Uses

Drawing policy studies and audience studies closer together requires that the individual be conceptualized as the subject of both political and media apparatuses. This article explores such a conceptualization in the Quebec context, working with a group of activist viewer-citizens to evaluate the content and form of the television programming available to them, on the one hand, and the usefulness of some key Canadian broadcast policies, on the other. Examining the respon, dents’ media practices and expectations, the article highlights how expectations for public television are set against increasingly blurred divisions between public and private television; individualist media usage; and the pertinence of Canadian broadcasting law in this unfolding media system. By situating media use within a broader set of social practices that affect and are affected by state policy, the article seeks to contribute to an understanding of social demand in communication policy.