When the financial markets collapsed in 2008, the media industry was affected by a major slump in advertising revenues, and a formerly highly successful business model fell into a state of decay. This economic crisis has threatened core social values of contemporary democracies, such as freedom, diversity and equality. Taking a normative and policy perspective, this book discusses threats and opportunities for the media industry in Europe: What are the implications of the crisis for professional journalism, the media industry, and the process of political communication? Can non- state and non-market actors profit from the crisis? And what are media policy answers at the national and European level?

This book aims to feed into the critical debates about media, power and change through the respectful inclusion of a wide variety of critical approaches and traditions. This diversity is simultaneously structured and balanced by a deeply shared set of concerns, that are mobilised to defend core societal values including social justice, equality, fairness, care for the other and humanity. Critical Perspectives on Media, Power and Change raises questions about how the omnipresent media can contribute to the materialisation of these core values, and how it sometimes works against them. Rethinking social change, mediatisation and regulations are thus significant issues - explicitly addressed in this book. In addition the authors show how the role of the critical media and communication scholar merits and requires (self-)reflection; critical voices matter, but they also face structural limitations. This book was originally published as two special issues of Javnost - The Public.

When the financial markets collapsed in 2008, the media industry was affected by a major slump in advertising revenues, and a formerly highly successful business model fell into a state of decay. This economic crisis has threatened core social values of contemporary democracies, such as freedom, diversity and equality. Taking a normative and policy perspective, this book discusses threats and opportunities for the media industry in Europe: What are the implications of the crisis for professional journalism, the media industry, and the process of political communication? Can non- state and non-market actors profit from the crisis? And what are media policy answers at the national and European level?

This book aims to feed into the critical debates about media, power and change through the respectful inclusion of a wide variety of critical approaches and traditions. This diversity is simultaneously structured and balanced by a deeply shared set of concerns, that are mobilised to defend core societal values including social justice, equality, fairness, care for the other and humanity. Critical Perspectives on Media, Power and Change raises questions about how the omnipresent media can contribute to the materialisation of these core values, and how it sometimes works against them. Rethinking social change, mediatisation and regulations are thus significant issues - explicitly addressed in this book. In addition the authors show how the role of the critical media and communication scholar merits and requires (self-)reflection; critical voices matter, but they also face structural limitations. This book was originally published as two special issues of Javnost - The Public.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the current European media in a period of disruptive transformation. It maps the full scope of contemporary media policy and industry activities while also assessing the impact of new technologies and radical changes in distribution and consumption on media practices, organizations, and strategies. Combining a critical assessment of media systems with a thematic approach, it can serve as a resource for scholars or as a textbook, as well as a source of good practices for steering media policy, international communication, and the media landscape across Europe.

Das Verhaltnis zwischen Redaktion und kaufmannischer Abteilung eines Mediums wird in der kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Forschung haufig thematisiert. Gerade in Zeiten okonomischer Krisen gewinnen die Widerspruchlichkeiten an Brisanz. Gelten in solchen Zeiten andere Regeln bezuglich der Trennung von redaktionellen Inhalten und Werbeinhalten? Legitimiert das Ziel der Erhaltung von journalistischer Substanz die gelegentliche oder regelmassige Grenzuberschreitung in Krisenzeiten? Dieses Forschungsvorhaben beschaftigt sich mit dem Spannungsverhaltnis zwischen den publizistischen Anforderungen an Redaktionen einerseits und den okonomischen Zwangen andererseits. Theoretisch nahern wir uns der Thematik mit den Ansatzen der politischen Okonomie und der Idee der Medienfreiheit."

Medienkonzentration und Medienmacht sind Phanomene, die das moderne und kommerzielle Medienwesen zunehmend charakterisieren. Dabei lassen sich Prozesse der Medienverflechtung sowohl auf regionaler, nationaler als auch auf globaler Ebene ausmachen. Neben den vielfach erforschten oekonomischen Folgen, die aus Konzentrationsentwicklungen resultieren, stellt sich die Frage, welche gesellschaftlichen Konsequenzen die Medienkonzentration hat bzw. haben kann. Die Studie geht systematisch moeglichen Folgen der Konzentration fur verschiedene gesellschaftliche Teilbereiche nach. Auf dieser Basis werden schliesslich potentielle Massnahmen zur Vermeidung unerwunschter Folgen der Medienkonzentration entwickelt.

This book questions how to monitor the contribution of mass media to democracy, and focuses on the initiatives, achievements and flaws of media monitoring. Moving beyond previous studies which have tended to discuss the legal issues related to media freedom alone, On Media Monitoring takes a broader approach, examining media structure, ownership, policy, economics, company conduct, law and regulation - all important indicators of how well the mass media serve contemporary democracies. Throughout, the book strikes a balance between monitoring initiatives with an academic, governmental, and non-governmental origin. The book - which includes a new monitoring model, the Media for Democracy Monitor, together with the results of its initial empirical implementation - is intended to further discussion about how to monitor the contribution of the mass media to democracy. It is suitable for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars who teach and research in this area.

For 25 years, members of the Euromedia Research Group have analyzed the connection between mass media, the public, and politics. On the basis of established and new theoretical approaches, this collection of papers by members of the Group examines the changes in the European media. It also looks at the European trends of central media-political concepts, such as media diversity, journalistic responsibility, and media governance.