Flew dmrc 11 sept 15

National Media Regulations in an Age of Convergent Media: Beyond Globalisation,

Neoliberalism and Internet Freedom Theories

Terry FlewDigital Media Research Centre

Seminar Series #411 September, 2015

Digital Media Research Centre

Background• T. Flew and S. Waisbord (2015)

The Ongoing Significance of National Media Systems in the Context of Media Globalization’, Media, Culture and Society, 37(4): 620-36.

• T. Flew (2016, in press) ‘National Media Regulations in an Age of Convergent Media’, in T. Flew, P. Iosifidis and J. Steemers (eds.), Global Media and National Policies (Palgrave), pp. 75-91.


Background• ICA pre-conference London, May 2013 • Joint event of CAMRI (U. Westminster, UK) and CCI

- 36 participants from 16 countries• Questions– Does media globalisation weaken state capacities?– Is there a ‘return of the state’ in managing convergence

(e.g. copyright/IP laws)?– How is convergence reshaping PSM?– Pressures to harmonise national laws and regualtions– Are Google, Apple etc. now media companies?


Globalisation and the ‘digital turn’: weakening nation states?

• End of ‘methodological nationalism’ (Ulrich Beck)• Shift to cosmopolitan/diasporic media and identities (Hepp &

Couldry)• ‘the state becomes just a node … of a particular network’

(Manuel Castells)• State institutions as ‘shell institutions’ (Anthony Giddens)• ‘TNCs have effectively surpassed the … nation-state’ (Hardt &

Negri)• ‘The nation-state is becoming too small for the big problems

of life, and too big for the small problems of life’ (Daniel Bell, 1987)


Drivers of change1. Economic globalisation has shifted power away

from nation-states2. Political ideologies of neo-liberalism have been

used to weaken nation-states3. Globally networked internet cannot be regulated at

the national level4. Media scarcity assumptions that underpinned

regulation no longer hold5. Locus of influence has shifted to non-state actors

(corporations, NGOs, digital activists)


Challenging the ‘disappearing state’ thesis

• Fallacy of the ‘scalar shift’: local > national > global – interscalar relations

• Path-dependency of national institutions: comparative media systems

• Global corporations operate as ‘nationalised’ entities

• No trend towards a declining public sector• Diversity of capitalisms: developmental states,

state capitalism, Putinism etc.


7

Government spending in 13 OECD nations, 1980-2009

1980 1990 2000 2005 200930

35

40

45

50

55

60

Government spending in 13 OECD nations 1980-2009

AustriaBelguimBritainCanadaFranceGermanyItalyJapanNetherlandsSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUnited States13-nation average

Govt

. spe

ndin

g as

% o

f GDP

Source: The Economist, March 17, 2011.

Media convergence and regulatory divergence

• China: ‘Great firewall’/ ‘walled gardens’• Brazil: Marco Civil• Selective filtering in various jurisdictions• Australia: mandatory ISP filtering failed because

of domestic politics• Lessig, Code 2.0: need to get past state

censorship/personal liberty dichotomy• Regulation occurs at levels of code, algorithm,

structuring of participation etc.


Various public enquiries into how to respond

• ‘Regulation constructed on the premise that content could (and should) be controlled by how it is delivered is losing its force, both in logic and in practice’ (ACMA, 2011)

• Australia: Convergence Review 2012• Singapore: Media Convergence Review 2012• UK: Review of Communications Act• EU: Convergence Green Paper (2013)• NZ: Content Regulation in a Converged World (2015)


Conclusions• Nation-states quite central to Internet and

digital media developments• There is not a tendency towards policy

convergence (e.g. around neo-liberalism), but considerable cross-national policy learning occurs

• Tripartite levels of policy/regulation/governance• Exploratory phase for media policy making

worldwide


Flew dmrc 11 sept 15

Education