Broadcasting Regulation and the Public Interest

Abstract

This study addresses the potential connection between media regulation and public interests. While investigating two Israeli media regulatory authorities, the study's findings indicate that there is a difference between an Independent Regulatory Agency (IRA) and a governmental agency regarding the place of public interests and that both institutional and substantive consideration affect the extent to which public interests are the core of media regulatory policy. The study's design and findings enhance the trend of bringing back the public interest theory to the center of media regulatory agenda on the expense of the competitive theory, the private interest theory.

Mass Communication Law and Policy Research and the Values of Free Expression

“…At least six articles published in 2016 could be considered squarely within mass communication law and policy. Three articles used structural approaches and discussed theory or values (Camaj, 2016;Ginosar & Krispil, 2016;Youm & Park, 2016), whereas two other articles used doctrinal approaches and at least mentioned theory or values (Bunker & Calvert, 2016;Stewart & Littau, 2016). A sixth article used a nonlegal research method but nonetheless made a significant contribution to understanding the chilling effect related to one's perception of being subject to online government surveillance (Stoycheff, 2016).…”

“…One fruitful area for exploring free-speech values involves foreign, international, and comparative law. Whereas just three international-structural articles with discussion of theory (Burrowes, 1997;Najjar, 1998;Perkins, 2001) appeared in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly from 1993 to 2002, and none from 2003 to 2015, three international-structural or foreign-structural articles appeared in the year 2016 (Camaj, 2016;Ginosar & Krispil, 2016;Youm & Park, 2016). The future of mass communication law and policy scholarship's analysis of values and theory is likely to involve international, foreign, and comparative law.…”