Media Power and Plurality ― From Hyperlocal to High-level Policy

Democratic governments throughout the world aspire to plurality and diversity of voice as a policy goal, which is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Over the last 20 years, however, economics, technology, political ideology and global corporate power have often conspired to frustrate those normative aims. More recently, different plurality problems have been prompted by access issues and the burgeoning reach and power of digital intermediaries such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. While some countries, such as the UK and US, have seen little creative activity from policy makers, other countries have sought to explore new approaches to funding and to exploit new technologies at both national and local level. This edited collection, featuring international scholars from a range of disciplines, examines contemporary and emerging policy issues around media plurality from grassroots local initiatives to high-level policy debates in both mature and emerging democracies, in each case drawing out generalizable initiatives and ideas for policy thinking in an increasingly complex area.

Steven Barnett is Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster and an established writer and commentator on media issues. Over the last 30 years, he has acted as specialist adviser or given evidence to several parliamentary committees as well as the European Parliament, and has directed numerous research projects on the communications industry. He is author or co-author of a number of books and book contributions on journalism and media policy, including most recently The Rise and Fall of Television Journalism (2011).

Judith Townend is Director of the Centre for Law and Information Policy based at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. She was previously a research associate at University of Westminster and lecturer in journalism at City University London. Her research interests lie in media, communication and information law, regulation and policy.