ABOUT THIS BOOK

Media independence is vital for media democracies, and so is the independence of the regulatory bodies governing it. The Independence of the Media and its Regulatory Agencies explores the complex relationship between media governance and independence of media regulatory authorities within media systems within Europe, which form part of the wider framework in which media’s independence may flourish or fade. Based on research in more than forty countries, the contributions analyze the independence of regulators from different perspectives and draw links between social, financial, and legal traditions and frameworks.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Wolfgang Schulz is director of and professor of law at the Hans Bredow Institute at the University of Hamburg. Peggy Valcke is research professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and teaches media law at the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel. Kristina Irion is assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy and research director in public policy at the Centre for Media and Communications Studies at the Central European University in Budapest.

REVIEWS

"The Independence of the Media and its Regulatory Agencies provides a solid survey of European practices and organizations, and how they are changing amidst the media technological revolution….Based on research in more than 40 countries, the contributions analyze the independence of regulators from different perspectives and draw links between varied social, financial and legal traditions and frameworks."

— Communication Booknotes Quarterly

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor’s Foreword

Preface

Karol Jakubowicz

Introduction: Structural interconnection of free media and independent regulators

1. Approaches to independence

Wolfgang Schulz

Part 1: Assessing the independence of regulatory bodies within the audiovisual media sector

2. Delegation to independent regulatory authorities in the media sector: A paradigm shift through the lens of regulatory theory

Kristina Irion and Roxana Radu

3. Independent media regulators: Condition sine qua non for freedom of expression?

Peggy Valcke, Dirk Voorhoof and Eva Lievens

4. Media regulatory authorities in the EU context: comparing sector-specific notions and requirements of independence

David Stevens

5. Locating a regulator in the governance structure: A theoretical framework for the operationalization of independence

Stephan Dreyer

6. Measuring independence: Approaches, limitations, and a new ranking tool

Kristina Irion and Michele Ledger

Part 2: Media systems and the culture of independence

7. Independence or balance of dependencies? Critical remarks on studying conditions of media regulators and public service media in Poland

Beata Klimkiewicz

8. The independence of media regulatory authorities and the impact of the socio-political context: A comparative analysis of Greece and Italy

Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Federica Casarosa and Anna Kandyla

9. Does the complexity of institutional structures in federal states influence the independence of AVM regulatory authorities? A review of the cases of Germany and Belgium

Pierre François Docquir, Sebation Müller and Christoph Gusy

10. The independence of media regulatory authorities in Finland and the UK: An assessment

Rachael Craufurd Smith, Epp Lauk, Yolande Stolte and Heikki Kuutti

11. Independence through intervention? International intervention and the independence of the Communications Regulatory Authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tarik Jusić

12. Concluding chapter: Independence in context

Wolfgang Schulz

Contributors’ biographies