Navigating Producer-Consumer Convergence: Media Policy Priorities in the Era of User-Generated and User-Distributed Content
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: This article puts forth two media policy priorities that are emerging as a result of the ongoing transformation of the media environment, in which the traditional distinctions separating media producers and media consumers are becoming increasingly blurred. Specifically, this article contends that policymakers must prioritize speakers’ rights of access to audiences, as an extension beyond the traditional (and now largely achieved) rights of access to the media. Second, this article contends that policymakers must prioritize creating mechanisms for preserving and promoting the institutions of journalism. These policy priorities can seem somewhat at odds, given that one priority focuses on enhancing the speech opportunities of individual communicators, and the enhanced speech opportunities of these individual communicators are, in part, what is threatening journalistic institutions; yet both are essential for maximizing the benefits of our media system.Keywords: Media policy; access; audiences; media institutions; journalism
Author: Philip M. Napoli
Institution: Fordham University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2223961330