Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICTIndependent Study on Indicators for Media Pluralism in the Member States - Towards a Risk-Based Approach
Media concentration advances, yet new technologies and media uses are changing the media landscape. This requires not just increased vigilance but also a new understanding of media pluralism. With a view of developing a new measurement tool that should enable a more substantive, evidence-driven debate, the European Commission launched a major study on “Indicators for Media Pluralism in the Member States – Towards a Risk-Based Approach”.The study was carried out by a consortium headed by ICRI K.U.Leuven-IBBT and including Jönköping International Business School, Central European University and Ernst & Young Consultancy Belgium. Over 50 researchers and subcontractors in all EU Member States, Switzerland, the United States and Australia have worked on this project between January 2008 and June 2009. They adopted a novel, multi-disciplinary approach combining indicators drawn from law, economics and social science and matching those indicators to different risks identified during the course of the work.
The final outcome is the Media Pluralism Monitor, a diagnostic tool, which functions as a radar and allows users to identify high and medium risks relating to various aspects of media pluralism, including not only ownership and plurality issues, but also cultural, political and geographic dimensions.
The Final Report and its annexes, including the software for the monitor and preparatory country reports, are available for download from the European Commission's website: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media_taskforce/pluralism/study/index_en.htm.
The report is also available in book form, at low price, via Lulu.com. The book consists of two volumes:
- Volume 1, the Final Report, describes the development process and methodology:
- Volume 2 offers the User Guide to the Media Pluralism Monitor:
Coming soon via Amazon!
