In the last several decades, the European media landscape has transformed in ways that were unpredictable. From the viewpoint of ordinary media users, these changes have offered increasing choices: new gadgets, services and channels are continuously entering the market. Behind this transformation and escalating choices lie numerous political and administrative decisions that regulate how the media industry works and how the choices of consumers are guided. The body of these decisions and their implementation is called media policy. Media policy affects all media functions and uses. It concerns, for example, questions such as: How to guarantee all citizens equal access to information networks? How to secure open public access for vital information? How to protect minors from harmful media content? As an academic field, media policy is still a rather new research area. It has close relations, among others, to political sociology, media economy, media and communications law, media ethics and obviously, to political studies. This shows that there are many different approaches to media policy studies. However, despite their differences, a common strand for many is a close relationship to critical political economy of communication.

Comparative Media Policy, Regulation and Governance in Europe - Unpacking the Policy Cycle represents the continuation and further development of a long tradition of media policy books, focusing on the development of media structures and media policy within Europe. It provides a comprehensive overview of the current European media in a period of more or less disruptive transformation. It maps the full scope of contemporary media policy and industry activities while also assessing the impact of new technologies and radical changes in distribution and consumption on media practices, organisations and strategies. Dealing with a good selection of critical issues in comparative media policy, regulation and governance, the book combines a critical assessment of media systems with a thematic approach. It starts out with the state of affairs at the level of media platforms, approaching these from a functional perspective, i.e. opinion and debate, news provision and entertainment. The book is both an academic book and a text book, as well as a source providing good practices for steering media policy, international communication and the media landscape across Europe.

Media policy issues sit at the heart of the structure and functioning of media systems in Europe and beyond. This book brings together the work of a range of leading media policy scholars to provide inroads to a better understanding of how effective media policies can be developed to ensure a healthy communication sector that contributes to the wellbeing of individual citizens, as well as a more democratic society. Faced with a general atmosphere of disillusionment in the European project, one of the core questions tackled by the volume’s contributors is: what scope is there for European media policy that can exist beyond the national level? Uniquely, the volume’s chapters are structured around four key policy themes: media convergence; the continued role and position of public regulatory intervention in media policy; policy issues arising from the development of new electronic communication network environments; and lessons for European media policy from cases beyond the EU. In its chapters, the volume provides enriched understandings of the role and significance of policy actors, institutions, structures, instruments and processes in communication and media policy.

"An exemplary study of how media regulation works (and, by implication, how it could work better) set within a wider discussion of democratic theory and political values. It will be of interest not only to students and scholars but to people around the world grappling with the same problem: the need to regulate markets, and the difficulty of doing this well." - James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London In Media Regulation, two leading scholars of the media examine the challenges of regulation in the global mediated sphere. This book explores the way that regulation affects the relations between government, the media and communications market, civil society, citizens and consumers. Drawing on theories of governance and the public sphere, the book critically analyzes issues at the heart of today′s media, from the saturation of advertising to burdens on individuals to control their own media literacy. Peter Lunt and Sonia Livingstone incisively lay bare shifts in governance and the new role of the public sphere which implicate self-regulation, the public interest, the role of civil society and the changing risks and opportunities for citizens and consumers. It is essential reading to understand the forces that are reshaping the media landscape.

Leading scholars investigate media policies in Europe, inquiring into the regulatory practices, policy tools and institutional features of media policy-making in 14 countries. The book offers a fresh assessment of the ways European media policies are formulated and identifies the factors that exert an influence throughout the process.

Digital and social media companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook grip the globe with market, civic, and political strength akin to large, sovereign states. Yet, these corporations are private entities. How should states and communities protect the individual rights of their citizens – or their national and local interests – while keeping pace with globalized digital companies? This scholarly compendium examines regulatory solutions which encourage content diversity and protect fundamental rights. The volume compares European and US regulatory approaches, including closer focus on topics such as privacy, copyright, and freedom of expression. Further, we propose pedagogical models for educating students on possible regulatory regimes of the future. Our final chapter invites readers to consider social and digital media regulation for both this generation and the ones to come. Chapter(s) “Introduction: New Paradigms of Media Regulation in a Transatlantic Perspective”, “From News Diversity to News Quality: New Media Regulation Theoretical Issues” and “The Stakes and Threats of the Convergence Between Media and Telecommunication Industries” are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.