Plurality and Media Power: new policy approaches to protecting the public interest in the 21st century

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In most mature democracies around the world, preserving media plurality has become a major political and regulatory issue. As powerful media enterprises seek to consolidate in a hostile economic environment, governments are struggling to prevent too much media power becoming concentrated in too few hands. At risk is the diversity of voice and editorial output which are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.In the UK over the last 2 years, we have seen vivid examples of this accretion of corporate power, the apparent unwillingness (or inability) of policy-makers to intervene, and the failure of existing policy and regulatory regimes to protect the public interest. Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry has provided abundant testimony of the problems being posed.This project will address these issues at one of the most crucial junctures of policy-making in recent political history. Publication of the Leveson report in Autumn 2012 will be followed by a 2-3 year legislative process which will include major policy debates on a new framework for media plurality. Beyond that, there will be implications for how this framework will operate in the longer term.The research is designed to promote more effective, more ambitious and more citizen-focussed policies in this area, and therefore to animate and inform current policy thinking as well as the policy and regulatory environment which will follow. The proposed Research Fellow, Prof Steven Barnett, has conducted research in this area for over 20 years, and has advised ministers and Parliamentary committees. Because of his immersion in the policy process, he is well acquainted at the highest levels with all the key political, industrial and regulatory figures.Through a series of interviews, seminars and events aimed at key stakeholders, including groups who are not traditionally part of the policy conversation, this project will generate new and innovative ideas and will contribute to a broadening agenda around media plurality which will feed into the legislative process.The key objectives are threefold. First, to assess different approaches to defining and measuring plurality, and the challenges posed by new and convergent media; second, to examine the drawbacks of the current policy regime, and to propose ideas for a more robust policy framework; third, to evaluate new and existing ideas for structural initiatives or solutions which might exploit new media opportunities to promote plurality.Research will be conducted in three ways. First, it will analyse the wealth of valuable information and ideas in written and oral submissions to the Leveson Inquiry. Second, interviews will be held with 12 leading political, regulatory and industry figures involved in recent policy debates around plurality and the public interest. Third, a series of six seminars will be convened, including one in Scotland, one in Wales, and one including European experts in the area. In each one, a group of around 20 academics, regulators, politicians, policy-makers and representatives of civil society will address the key research questions and respond to ideas generated during the first two stages.Results of the research will be disseminated through a planned series of networking events as well as through two books, conferences and a dedicated website. Events will be directed at key politicians and policy-makers such as special advisers, senior civil servants and regulators; media industry executives and umbrella groups; civil society groups; and academics from media, law and politics.As well as proceeds from the seminars and networking events, outputs will include an 80,000 word monograph (already commissioned), conference papers, and an edited collection of essays. The project will involve a part-time post-doctoral Research Assistant who will be fully involved in the seminars and networking events, will co-author conference papers, and will assist in producing the edited collection.