Why is there a need for the media industries to be regulated? There is a contradiction intrinsic to the notion of regulating what are supposed to be the free means of expression and information in a modern society. Regulation by its very nature sets limits to freedom, which is the most basic principle of democratic societies. At the very least, this means that there have to be clear and convincing reasons for regulation, and although we can give general justifications for regulation that help to reconcile it with principles of freedom and democracy, we cannot escape from this underlying tension. There is no single or simple answer to the question `why regulate?' and often the surface reasons given conceal other purposes (especially the interests of the state). Even so, six general reasons for media regulation can be proposed, as follows: The management of what is arguably the key economic resource in the emerging `information society', with a very high dependence on all f...
Comments
Post a Comment