Regulating Media: The Licensing and Supervision of Broadcasting in Six Countries

Since the beginning of the 1990s, supervisory systems for broadcasting in most Western countries have undergone significant change. Meticulously documented and clearly written, this book comprises a comparative study of the licensing and supervision of commercial and public broadcasting in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. The author, a leading media scholar, highlights central issues in broadcasting supervision, such as the different ways that free speech and the free market have been conceptualized, and the consequences of these ideas. Examining both the historical and the contemporary degree of supervision in each country, and tracing the links between supervisory bodies and larger political, legal, and economic systems, the book contributes to a broader sociopolitical understanding of broadcasting in industrial democracies.