A look at the basics of contemporary media regulation.

1. Contemporary Media
Regulation

2. What Is Media Regulation?
Media regulation is the control of mass communication, formatted in the press, radio,
music, film and television over multiple mediums including satellite, disks, cinema and
the internet.
The line between public and private communication is highly important in regards to
media regulation as public media is owned by the government and is under tight
editorial control, funded by taxes and license fees. Many issues come out of public
media because of the obligations it has to follow in regards to regulation laws.
Private media has fewer obligations because it is a free media. There are hardly any
restrictions placed on what broadcasters and journalists can say and write. The only
regulation private media has to follow is the expectation of professional journalistic
standards. This involves accurate and balanced reporting as well as a clear divide
between fact and opinion.

3. Historical Background to Media Regulation?
In Western Europe’s mid-15th century, media regulation was born due to the printing
press to book production instead of the age old copying of manuscript texts by hand,
which had not been formally regulated. As the printing trade expanded, the church
and the state became interested in what was being published, mostly to avoid heresy
and dissent.
In effect, this led to the requirement for approval from the church and state before
anything was printed and published.
Freedom to publish was achieved by a gradual change in Britain and a revolution in
France during the 18th century and with the 19th century’s new inventions such as the
telegraph, telephone and public radio, regulation grew tighter and tighter, taking the
form of state bodies and public monopolies.
The 20th century saw the regulation of broadcast media. This form of media never
truly received the same freedom enjoyed by the print media, however since the
1980’s invention of new distribution techniques: cable, satellite and eventually the
internet, we have begun to see more relaxed regulatory regimes.

4. Why are the Media Regulated?
One of the main rules to regulation is that there have to be clear and convincing
reasons for regulation. Here are some examples of why the media is regulated:
• The control and stability of the economy through the emerging ‘information
society’ which depends highly on all forms of communication.
• The protection of public order and to support the government and justice system
• The protection of individual and sectional rights and interests that could be
harmed by unrestricted media coverage.
• The promotion of efficiency and development of the communication system
• The promotion of access and freedom to communicate in diversity.
• To ensure innovation and expansion, consumption and production

5. What is ‘The Public Interest’?
Public interest, according to the Random House Dictionary, is
"the welfare or well-being of the general public; commonwealth.”
“appeal or relevance to the general populace: a news story of public interest.“
Public interest relates to the information which is believed to be of use and profit to
the general public. For example, the super-injunction which surrounds the celebrity
threesome scandal (cough*Elton John*cough) may have been broadcasted on the
purposes of ‘public interest’ due to this fact:
The couple involved are highly admired and respected as a strong and inspirational
homosexual couple who have adopted two young children. The fact that the famous
singer’s partner has invested himself in a separate threesome on the grounds that
they share an open relationship, reflects badly on the homosexual couple. Many
homophobic groups of society would use this information as a reason to spread hate
in the gay community and say that homosexual couples are incapable of adopting
children.