Global Media Policy in the New Millennium

The terrain of media policymaking is shifting. What was still, even 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 structures. This environment is characterised by a number of new developments, the most significant of which is that communication policy is no longer "made" at any clearly definable location, but is increasingly the result of a vast array of formal and informal mechanisms working across a multiplicity of sites. Specific policy issues, such as copyright or rules governing property transactions, migrate from one level to another, often typifying the flashpoint of conflicts between jurisdictions.But it is no longer possible to understand, let alone deal with, such issues without referring to the broader context.Media policy today is the result of a set of complex and multifaceted operations that take place simultaneously and transversally in a range of venues that include national parliaments and ministries, international organisations such as the WTO, ITU and UNESCO, global "clubs" such as the G8 and the OECD, regional bodies and treaty agreements such as the EU and NAFTA, as well as in transnational corporate boardrooms and on the barricades of anti-globalisation protests from Prague to Seattle. "Global Media Policy in the New Millennium" explores a number of issues, themes and case studies that illustrate and enhance our understanding of this situation. Its purpose is to amplify the empirical basis for a critique of the emerging global media policy environment as well as serve as a resource for actors seeking to intervene effectively in the area of media policy. Its target audience includes academics and students specialising in media policy; policymakers, regulators and analysts working in national agencies and international organisations; media professionals, grassroots practitioner and civil society lobbyists; industry strategists; and the interested lay public. A majority of the contributors are members of the Global Media Policy Working Group of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).

Table of Contents:
Media policy in the new communications environment Marc RaboyPart 1: InstitutionsThe WTO, emerging policy regimes and the political economy of transnational communications - Dwayne Winseck; Privatizing Intelsat: Implications for the global south - Daya Kishan Thussu; Trilateralism, co-regulation and governance in the global information society - Wolfgang Kleinwachter; Supranational governance and the shifting paradigm in communications policy-making: The case of the European Parliament - Katharine Sarikakis; Asserting cultural and social regulatory principles in converging media systems - Ben Goldsmith, Julian Thomas, Tom O'Regan & Stuart CunninghamPart 2: IssuesBroadcasting and the social contract - Terry Flew; "Illegal and harmful" content - Monroe E. Price; The global restructuring of media ownership - Robert W. McChesney; The international community as media regulator in post-conflict societies - David Goldberg; Cities as the physical site of the global entertainment industry - John HanniganPart 3: PracticesGender and transversal cultural policies - Alison Beale; Independent media centres: A multi-local, multi-media challenge to global neo-liberalism - John D. H. Downing; The politics of broadband: Virtual networking and the right to communicate - Bram Dov Abramson; The civil society challenge to global media policy - Cees J. Hamelink; A global movement for people's voices in media and communications in the 21st century - Voices 21

About the Author :
Marc Raboy is a professor and head of the Communication Policy Research Laboratory in the department of communication at the University of Montreal.