Media research and proposals for media change: Notes on a key variable

Abstract

A significant body of media research internationally involves suggestions for planned change, often as a key point of conclusion. The suggested changes or reforms are placed in the context of perceived deficits in media performance, which may be seen as longstanding or as a result of recent shifts in the broader economy, the political frame or a major disruption such as that brought about by COVID-19. Some research restricts itself to documenting the deficits with possible remedies largely implied. However, other work seeks to go further. Recommendations for change in media structures and practices differ widely in their scale, specificity and also in their level of engagement with the surrounding political, economic and social settings. These settings are the consequence of various planned and unplanned factors interacting over time. This note looks at a number of variables around ideas of planned change in the contexts of current media inquiry, including that of media historiography, taking a few illustrative examples to examine the frameworks within which they are placed. It reviews connections made with levels of the political and economic system and of public evaluations and media uses as well as with the levels of the media industries themselves and their workforces.