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Revisiting “Mass Communication” And The “Work” Of The Audience In The New Media Environment, Philip M. Napoli Dec 2008

Revisiting “Mass Communication” And The “Work” Of The Audience In The New Media Environment, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper revisits the concept of mass communication, which has faced persistent challenges to its continued relevance in light of changes that have taken place in the media environment. This paper offers a counterpoint to claims of the term’s diminished relevance, as well as to some recent efforts to reposition the term, by putting forth an interpretive approach that is not exclusive to the “institutional communicator” and that allows the term “mass” to extend to both the senders and receivers of messages. This paper argues that this interpretive approach is in keeping with some early interpretations of the concept’s meaning, …


The Rationalization Of Audience Understanding, Philip M. Napoli Dec 2008

The Rationalization Of Audience Understanding, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper reviews the literature that has examined how media organizations make sense of their audiences, the analytical techniques and technologies employed, and how this information is embraced or resisted in the operation of media organizations. As this review illustrates, the historical trend in audience understanding has been one of a steady process of rationalization in how media organizations have approached their audiences. In documenting this process of the rationalization of audience understanding, this review identifies key historical moments in this process. This review identifies the external forces that have influenced this process; the underlying reasons for it; and critiques …


Policies Of Inertia Or Innovation? European Public Service In Transition From Psb To Psm, Minna Aslama Dec 2008

Policies Of Inertia Or Innovation? European Public Service In Transition From Psb To Psm, Minna Aslama

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.


Access To Audiences As A First Amendment Right: Its Relevance And Implications For Electronic Media Policy, Philip M. Napoli, Sheea T. Sybblis Jul 2008

Access To Audiences As A First Amendment Right: Its Relevance And Implications For Electronic Media Policy, Philip M. Napoli, Sheea T. Sybblis

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

When the issue of speakers’ rights of access arises in media regulation and policy contexts, the focus typically is on the concept of speakers’ rights of access “to the media,” or “to the press.” This right usually is premised on the audience’s need for access to diverse sources and content. In contrast, in many non-mediated contexts, the concept of speakers’ rights of access frequently is defined in terms of the speaker’s own First Amendment right of access to audiences. This paper explores the important distinctions between these differing interpretations of a speaker’s access rights and argues that the concept of …


Media Ownership And The Diversity Index: Outlining A Social Science Research Agenda, Philip M. Napoli, Nancy Gillis Jul 2008

Media Ownership And The Diversity Index: Outlining A Social Science Research Agenda, Philip M. Napoli, Nancy Gillis

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper examines the wide range of lines of social scientific inquiry raised in the ongoing process of assessing and formulating media ownership policy. Specifically, this paper examines the areas of inquiry raised by the FCC's effort to craft an index for assessing viewpoint diversity in local media markets.


Audience Measurement And Media Policy: Audience Economics, The Diversity Principle, And The Local People Meter, Philip M. Napoli Jul 2008

Audience Measurement And Media Policy: Audience Economics, The Diversity Principle, And The Local People Meter, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper examines the policy implications surrounding Nielsen Media Research’s introduction of the local people meter (LPM) system of television audience measurement. This paper explores the diversity policy considerations that have been raised in connection with the LPM introduction and examines whether the LPM represents a legitimate threat to source and content diversity, or whether the diversity principle has been largely co-opted in support of the economic and strategic considerations of certain industry stakeholders. This paper also addresses the broader question of whether the audience measurement industry should be subjected to more rigorous government oversight.


Market Competition, Station Ownership, And Local News Andpublic Affairs Programming On Local Broadcast Television, Michael Yan, Philip M. Napoli Jul 2008

Market Competition, Station Ownership, And Local News Andpublic Affairs Programming On Local Broadcast Television, Michael Yan, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This study examines the relationship between competitive conditions in television markets, ownership characteristics, and commercial broadcast television station provision of local news and public affairs programming. Policymakers continue to raise questions about the relationship between ownership and market conditions and the provision of informational programming, in connection with a variety of policy areas, including ownership regulation, localism initiatives, and station public interest obligations; however, much of the research in this area is either out of date and/or methodologically flawed. This study presents the results of an analysis of a random sample of 285 full power television stations. Among the studies’ …


Paradoxes Of Media Policy Analysis: Implications For Public Interest Media Regulation, Philip M. Napoli Jul 2008

Paradoxes Of Media Policy Analysis: Implications For Public Interest Media Regulation, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.


Toward A Model Of Audience Evolution: New Technologies And The Transformation Of Media Audiences, Philip M. Napoli Jul 2008

Toward A Model Of Audience Evolution: New Technologies And The Transformation Of Media Audiences, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper proposes and develops a model of audience evolution. The concept of audience evolution in this case refers to the notion that the dominant framework employed by media industry stakeholders (content producers, distributors, advertisers, media buyers, etc.) to conceptualize the audience evolves in response to environmental changes. These environmental changes primarily involve technological changes that simultaneously transform the dynamics of media consumption as well as the dynamics of gathering information on various dimensions of audience behavior. These technological changes also interact with one another, in that the technological changes that affect the dynamics of media consumption also simultaneously provide …


Diversity As An Emerging Principle Of Internet Governance, Philip M. Napoli Jul 2008

Diversity As An Emerging Principle Of Internet Governance, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper investigates the ongoing emergence of diversity as a guiding normative principle of Internet governance. This paper starts from the premise that principles play a fundamental role in the development and implementation of any regulatory regime, but that the communications policymaking process historically has suffered from ambiguous and sometimes contradictory conceptualizations of its guiding principles, and from such principles functioning more as rhetorical devices to be exploited by stakeholder groups rather than as analytical tools to be used by policymakers. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the conceptualization and application of the diversity principle in traditional mass media …


Toward A Federal Data Agenda For Communications Policymaking, Philip M. Philip, Joe Karaganis Jan 2008

Toward A Federal Data Agenda For Communications Policymaking, Philip M. Philip, Joe Karaganis

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.


Issues And Challenges Facing Internet Governance: A Report From The 2007 Internet Governance Forum, Philip M. Napoli Jan 2008

Issues And Challenges Facing Internet Governance: A Report From The 2007 Internet Governance Forum, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This report examines the 2007 Internet Governance Forum, held in November, 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Internet Governance Forum is a UN-sponsored convening that emerged from the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society. The purpose of the IGF is to provide a multi-stakeholder forum for discussion and debate on the wide range of social, political, and economic issues related to Internet governance. This report first provides background on the events and issues leading up to the creation of the IGF. Next, this report examines the IGF’s mandate and how it has been executed up to this point. …