This project, originally developed for the European Community, examines parental roles in controlling television programs watched by children in Europe. The structure of the study includes:
*an analysis of the technical devices available to assist in parental control of television broadcasting services, including descriptions of devices, their cost, availability, and the infrastructure needed to introduce them;
*a corresponding analysis of potential ratings or labeling systems to work in conjunction with or in the place of technical devices, enabling a comparative analysis of rating systems used in film, video, and online services; and
*an overview and assessment of the educational and awareness measures in the field of protection of minors and harmful content, providing the data for the review of available considerations in this field of viewer literacy.
In addition to these main strands of analysis, the study provides for background information and analysis in the following areas:
*an overview of the main media theories focusing on the effect and impact of specific types of content on children and their behavior;
*an assessment of the economic impact and social efficacy of different protective measures; and
*a comparison of the regulatory contexts and rating systems for film, video, television, and online services concerning the protection of minors from harmful content.
This volume is intended for scholars and students in comparative media studies, media policy, and regulation.

Using examples of media from a range of countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa including Uruguay, Poland, China, Indonesia, Jordan and Uganda, Media Reform considers the social and cultural implications of a free and independent media.

The V-chip is a highly significant part of the discussion about whether television (or broadcasting in general) deserves some special attention in terms of its accessibility to children, its particular power to affect conduct, and its invasiveness. But as this notion of filtering and labeling has caught the imagination of the regulator, the legislator, and all those who wish to consider new ways to alter bargaining over imagery in society, the very "idea" of the V-chip or its equivalent is moving across other technologies, including the Internet. The V-chip issue has also fueled the ongoing debate about violence and sexual practices in society, and how representations on television relate to those practices.
Although the initial concept of the V-chip is simple, its flow into the public realm raises so many extraordinary questions that the introduction and production of the chip virtually serves as a case study in problems of law and public policy. The very conceptualization of speech in society is being affected by this issue. Accordingly, the place of the V-chip in this debate is increasingly important; indeed, it may be argued that the V-chip's contribution to legal argumentation may be greater than its ultimate contribution to the relationship between children and imagery. Among the questions the contributors address are:
*What research basis is necessary to require a framework for labeling and rating?
*What relationship between government and the image-producing industries can be characterized--for constitutional and other reasons--as voluntary as opposed to coercive?
*Who should evaluate these images?
*To what extent should the evaluation process be centralized and/or distributed?
*What assessment is appropriate to evaluate whether the experiment is "successful?"
In addition to the V-chip's origin's in Canada and its further evolution in the United States, this book discusses the development of the V-chip and television rating systems in Europe, Australia, and throughout the world. It also includes essays which contrast the very different approaches in Canada and the United States in terms of the role of regulatory agency, industry, and government.

This project, originally developed for the European Community, examines parental roles in controlling television programs watched by children in Europe. The structure of the study includes:
*an analysis of the technical devices available to assist in parental control of television broadcasting services, including descriptions of devices, their cost, availability, and the infrastructure needed to introduce them;
*a corresponding analysis of potential ratings or labeling systems to work in conjunction with or in the place of technical devices, enabling a comparative analysis of rating systems used in film, video, and online services; and
*an overview and assessment of the educational and awareness measures in the field of protection of minors and harmful content, providing the data for the review of available considerations in this field of viewer literacy.
In addition to these main strands of analysis, the study provides for background information and analysis in the following areas:
*an overview of the main media theories focusing on the effect and impact of specific types of content on children and their behavior;
*an assessment of the economic impact and social efficacy of different protective measures; and
*a comparison of the regulatory contexts and rating systems for film, video, television, and online services concerning the protection of minors from harmful content.
This volume is intended for scholars and students in comparative media studies, media policy, and regulation.

The V-chip is a highly significant part of the discussion about whether television (or broadcasting in general) deserves some special attention in terms of its accessibility to children, its particular power to affect conduct, and its invasiveness. But as this notion of filtering and labeling has caught the imagination of the regulator, the legislator, and all those who wish to consider new ways to alter bargaining over imagery in society, the very "idea" of the V-chip or its equivalent is moving across other technologies, including the Internet. The V-chip issue has also fueled the ongoing debate about violence and sexual practices in society, and how representations on television relate to those practices.
Although the initial concept of the V-chip is simple, its flow into the public realm raises so many extraordinary questions that the introduction and production of the chip virtually serves as a case study in problems of law and public policy. The very conceptualization of speech in society is being affected by this issue. Accordingly, the place of the V-chip in this debate is increasingly important; indeed, it may be argued that the V-chip's contribution to legal argumentation may be greater than its ultimate contribution to the relationship between children and imagery. Among the questions the contributors address are:
*What research basis is necessary to require a framework for labeling and rating?
*What relationship between government and the image-producing industries can be characterized--for constitutional and other reasons--as voluntary as opposed to coercive?
*Who should evaluate these images?
*To what extent should the evaluation process be centralized and/or distributed?
*What assessment is appropriate to evaluate whether the experiment is "successful?"
In addition to the V-chip's origin's in Canada and its further evolution in the United States, this book discusses the development of the V-chip and television rating systems in Europe, Australia, and throughout the world. It also includes essays which contrast the very different approaches in Canada and the United States in terms of the role of regulatory agency, industry, and government.

Vast changes in technologies and geopolitics have produced a wholesale shift in the way states and other powerful entities think about the production and retention of popular loyalties. Strategic communication has embraced these changes as stakes increase and the techniques of information management become more pervasive. These shifts in strategic communications impact free speech as major players, in a global context, rhetorically embrace a world of transparency, all the while increasing surveillance and modes of control, turning altered media technologies and traditional media doctrines to their advantage. Building on examples drawn from the Arab Spring, the shaping of the Internet in China, Iran's perception of foreign broadcasting, and Russia's media interventions, this book exposes the anxieties of loss of control, on the one hand, and the missed opportunities for greater freedom, on the other. New strategic communication arises from the vast torrents of information that cross borders and uproot old forms of regulation. Not only states but also corporations, nongovernmental organizations, religious institutions, and others have become part of this new constellation of speakers and audiences."

Vast changes in technologies and geopolitics have produced a wholesale shift in the way states and other powerful entities think about the production and retention of popular loyalties. Strategic communication has embraced these changes as stakes increase and the techniques of information management become more pervasive. These shifts in strategic communications impact free speech as major players, in a global context, rhetorically embrace a world of transparency, all the while increasing surveillance and modes of control, turning altered media technologies and traditional media doctrines to their advantage. Building on examples drawn from the Arab Spring, the shaping of the Internet in China, Iran's perception of foreign broadcasting, and Russia's media interventions, this book exposes the anxieties of loss of control, on the one hand, and the missed opportunities for greater freedom, on the other. New strategic communication arises from the vast torrents of information that cross borders and uproot old forms of regulation. Not only states but also corporations, nongovernmental organizations, religious institutions, and others have become part of this new constellation of speakers and audiences."

Is there a relationship between a free and independent media and the development of a democratic society? What impact does political change have on the media and how do changing media structures influence political reform?
Media Reform examines a complex process: the reform of media and its role promoting democratic practices. Using examples of media from a range of countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa including Uruguay, Poland, China, Indonesia, Jordan and Uganda, Media Reform considers the social and cultural implications of a free and independent media. Each case-study provides a background to political transition and reform and addresses the processes of media liberalisation, the growth of civil society, new technology developments as they have affected the media sector and the different trends found in broadcast media and print media.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203471415

What is meant by an 'independent' television and press, and what affirmative role should any government have in the regulation of television? How do competing interest groups use media regulation to their advantage? What impact does television have on democratic values and the process of democracy itself? Television, the Public Sphere, and the National Identity focuses on these and other questions in a broad reinterpretation of television's role and influence on democratic societies in a time of increased globalization of the media. Monroe E. Price's lively and wide-ranging study is unique in developing a theory which covers media developments in both the United States and Europe, including the states of the post-Soviet transition (Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union). Examining the relationship between television and these societies, Price asks how the globalization of television affects the medium's impact on these nations and, indeed, on the survival of the nation state itself. The book also looks at the justifications and abuses that have arisen in television's regulation, and predicts the future role of TV in society.

Self-Regulation and the Internet examines how self-regulatory entities for content relate to other quasi-legal and state institutions, what powers are accorded to or seized by self-regulatory institutions, and how the use of self-regulation can contribute to the more effective and more efficient realization of both economic and societal goals. This book offers:
- a general and theoretical examination of self-regulation, focusing on codes of conduct;
- approaches to the methodology and process for adopting such codes;
- descriptions and evaluations of technical devices as self-regulatory tools; and
- an analysis of Internet self-regulation in a converged and digital environment.

Rapid progress in information technologies has produced an ever-broadening array of choices in information products. At the same time, it has caused historically segmented industries, such as television, telephones, computers, and print media, to converge and compete. The result is a cornucopia of products and potential in communications along with enormous strain on the governmental institutions that use and regulate information technology. The essays in this book provide a broad look at the many ways that information technology relates to issues of governance and public policy. Adjusting regulatory instititions to the new technical realities is a great challenge. Will monopoly power threaten the traditionally regulated areas of telephones and cable television or the software systems that integrate all information technologies into a single system with many competing players? Can traditional approaches to intellectual property rights and control of socially harmful content be applied to the converged information sector? This book sheds light on these issues, and in so doing demonstrates the usefulness of rigorous, multidisciplinary policy analysis in assessing the significance of changing technology.

The AIDS epidemic has touched the lives of all Americans. An entire generation has been forced to redefine the way it looks at intimacy. Our very images of ourselves are being altered in the wake of this tragic illness. Yet we are only now beginning to discover the true extent of the change AIDS has wrought on American society. This massive challenge to public health is creating a fault line beneath our institutions, threatening to undermine much that we have taken for granted about the pillars of our culture. Looking out across the landscape of AIDS, we sense a fundamental shift in the way we think about ourselves, about others, and about government. Shattered Mirrors is a deeply moving meditation on the impact AIDS is having on American consciousness. AIDS has become a moral lesson for our nation, Monroe Price argues, but not the narrow lesson about the dangers of deviancy that certain segments of society have professed. The AIDS epidemic challenges some of our most cherished ideas about individual autonomy, free expression, fairness, and confidence in the future. As this book points out, the ultimate legacy of the AIDS epidemic is far more than its terrible impact on the health of the citizenry. As the disease grinds on, several traditional barriers between church and state, government and the media, citizen and consumer have begun to erode, while other barriers of class, race, and lifestyle are growing larger. It is too early to say whether these and similar changes will be permanent, but as long as there is uncertainty about how devastating AIDS will prove to be to our society, we will continue to debate its meaning and how we should respond to the threat it poses to all of us. In the long run, Price maintains, AIDS may force us to reexamine the role government should play in shaping our personal lives. More than this, it may well oblige us to redefine what we mean by identity and community in a democracy under siege.