Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The American Data Culture Since 1820: From Madison’S Political Philosophy To Nielsen Ratings, Sung-Wook Jung

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

Three decades after peoplemeters were introduced into the business of syndicated audience measurement, there are approximately 20,000 peoplemeter-installed households in the US. However, growth of peoplemeters has been far slower or stationary in similarly developed countries: Japan’s number has yet to hit over 1,000; the UK’s has stayed between 4,000 and 5,000 for over two decades. Presuming that cultural variance is a critical variable in determining how particular television advertising markets respond to technological innovation in audience measurement, this study attempts to identify American data culture by using what historians say about the American past as ethnographic data. To understand …

The Algorithm As Institution: Toward A Theoretical Framework For Automated Media Production And Consumption, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Programme Typology And Its Association With The Study Of Diversity And The Audience Viewing Figures: The Typological Strategy Of The Greek Television Programme, Andreas Masouras

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Journalism And Public Media: Toward A Comprehensive Theory Of Market Failure And Public Policy Responses, Mark Cooper

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Persistent And Emergent Diversity Policy Concerns In An Evolving Media Environment:Toward A Reflective Research Agenda, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Diversity 2.0: Rethinking Audiences, Participation, And Policies, Minna Aslama, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Local People Meter, The Portable People Meter, And The Unsettled Law And Policy Of Audience Measurement In The U.S., Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Case For Title Ii: Handicapping The Next Network Neutrality Judicial Ruling, Mark Cooper

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Technical Practice And Identity Work In Democratic Media Activism, Christina Dunbar-Hester

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Journalism Is Not In The Past: Reframing The Debate Over How To "Save" Journalism, Mark Cooper

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. …

Public Interest Media Activism And Advocacy As A Social Movement: A Review Of The Literature, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This report examines the academic literature focused on public interest media and communications activism and advocacy within the U.S. and abroad (labeled, in the name of brevity, the “media reform” movement throughout this report). This report first seeks to outline the parameters of the movement under consideration, in terms of the primary conceptual frames employed, outcomes pursued, and strategic approaches. As this section illustrates, the media reform movement is characterized by a diverse array of conceptual frames (ranging from “media reform” to “media justice” to “communication rights” to “media democracy”), and a hesitancy at this point to coalesce around a …

Media Policy: An Overview Of The Field, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Media Policy: An Overview Of The Field, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

Research on media technologies frequently has illustrated the tendency for new media to adopt the structural and content characteristics of established mass media. This historical pattern is the outgrowth of a confluence of a wide range of economic and institutional forces. This paper considers the impact of hyperlinking within this process of “massification.” This paper explores the mechanisms by which hyperlinking may both facilitate and impede this process and offers conclusions regarding if and how the dynamics of linking may affect the process of media evolution.

Newspaper/Television Cross-Ownership And Local News And Public Affairs Programming On Television Stations: An Empirical Analysis, Michael Z. Yan

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This study analyzes the relationship between local newspaper/television cross-ownership and the presence and quantity of local news and local public affairs programming on broadcast television. The analyses, based on a two-week constructed random sample of television programming in 2003 for 226 randomly selected, plus 27 cross-owned television stations, show that cross-owned stations did not broadcast more local news than non-cross owned stations that also provided local news. In addition, cross-ownership had no significant relationship with either the presence or the quantity of local public affairs programming on commercial television.

Bridging Cultural Policy And Media Policy In The U.S.: Challenges And Opportunities, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

Cultural policy and media policy have remained largely distinct fields of research, policy-making, and policy advocacy in the United States. As a result, there has been relatively little cross-pollination of research findings, methodological tools, or advocacy resources and expertise. There are, however, significant areas of overlap between these two fields. Unfortunately, these areas of overlap have not been fully explored, nor have the potential benefits for researchers, policy advocates, policy-makers, of identifying, building upon, and strengthening these points of overlap been considered.

This paper provides an analytical overview of the media policy and cultural policy literatures, in an effort to …

Necessary Knowledge For Communications Policy: Information Inequalities And Commercial Data Access And Usage In The Policymaking Process, Philip M. Napoli, Michelle Seaton

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

Communications policymaking increasingly relies upon large-scale databases manufactured and marketed by commercial organizations. Data providers such as BIA Research, Nielsen Media Research, and Arbitron play a vitally important role in aggregating the data that policymakers, policy analysts, and policy advocates rely upon in policy deliberations. In many ways, these data providers supplement the limited data gathering capacity of government bodies such as the FCC and NTIA and thereby help to bring a greater quantity of relevant data to bear on policy issues than would otherwise be possible. Indeed, these data are utilized extensively by stakeholders with an interest in policy …

Intellectual Scaffolding: On Peter Dahlgren's Theorization Of Television And The Public Sphere, Minna Aslama

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

In this working paper, my goal is to revisit Habermasian public sphere theory by first discussing its strengths and weaknesses in the context of today’s (western European) television landscape. I then move on to exploring one reconceptualization of television as a public sphere, that of the Swedish scholar Peter Dahlgren (1995 & 2005). Finally, I elaborate and further develop those key aspects of Dahlgren’s model that I consider particularly relevant for rethinking the public sphere of today.

The Diversity Challenge: Changing Television Markets And Public Service Programming In Finland, 1993-2004, Minna Aslama

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.