MEDIA SYSTEMS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
LECTURE WEEK 1
The concept of media systems:
- The concept of “system” and systems theory
- What is a media system?
- What are the dimensions of a media system?
- Characteristics & interrelatedness of dimensions
What qualifies as a system?
- A system is a whole, made up of interconnecting parts irreducibility
- There are necessary and dependent relationships between the parts that make up a
system stability
- The parts are in motion, if one part changes, so do the others variety and
flexibility
- There are limits to the amount of change a system can take constraint
- Systems are open, they relate to their environment this makes them vulnerable
The general idea of a system
“A system is a cohesive conglomeration of interrelated and interdependent parts”
What is a media system?
- A country’s media institutions and practices: Hardy (2012): “a media system
comprises all mass media organized and operating within a given social and political
system (usually a state)”
- Media system has to be conceived as a “whole”: it includes several features that
cannot be considered separately (Mancini, 2020)
- Media systems also includes procedures, routines, and cultures that connect these
media outlets to the surrounding context (Hardy, 2012) not just what they are,
but what they do
- It re-creates and modifies itself through reactions to changes in other social systems.
Systems maintain coherence while continuously adapting themselves to the external
influences (Hallin, 2020)
A system is a methodological tool, used for comparative research
HALLIN & MANCINI ABOUT MEDIA SYSTEMS
A media system is a country’s complex structure of media institutions and practice that
interact with and shape one another, and which is structurally and historically linked to the
political and economic system
- There are characteristic patterns of relationships between media systems, political
systems and economic system
- Media systems are not homogenous, not the result of a single ideology or philosophy
there could be differences
- Media systems are composed of many elements, differing in normative expectations
and regulation
- Media systems result from meaningful patterns of historical development path
dependency the outcome depends on the historical path of development
- National media systems are subject to change globalization
,How to assess a media system?
Note that media system is arguably a container concept:
- Each country has its own unique system it is necessary to compare systems
- Four dimensions (elements) serve as pillars for the classification in individual
countries’ media systems
- Dimensions create particular constellations (models)
- Dimensions are able to capture the dynamics of media and politics indifferent
contexts
What makes up a media system?
- Interplay between markets, professionals, politics and the state
- Dimensions differ in influence, in some countries markets are dominant, in others the
state
- Relations between dimensions may differ in strength
- Probably “the whole of a media system is greater than the sum of its parts”
(McKenzie, 2006)
- Always in flux, changing, transition, power battles, competition etc.
FOUR DIMENSIONS OF MEDIA SUSTEMS
1. Media markets
2. Political parallelism
3. Media professionalization
4. Role of the state
we can analyze any media system with these four dimensions
MEDIA MARKETS
How is media produced, financed, consumed?
Market structures including ownership, concentration, market shared, audience behavior
and media access, use, etc.
POLITICAL PARALLELISM
Media’s engagement and alliances with social groups or ideologies the relationship of the
media, journalists, and the political sphere, including political communication and political
culture e.g. when a specific television channel is very clearly in favor of a presidential
candidate, while other tv channels are in favor of the other presidential candidate
MEDIA PROFESSIONALIZATION
Rules and norms of operation and evaluation of media outputs level of professionalism
that we see in the media e.g. professional autonomy (can writers write what they want or
do they get orders from their bosses), routines, norms, associations
The issues of instrumentalization the control of media by political or outside actors e.g.
Turkish arrests of journalists that are critical/disagree with the “norms”
,STATE INTERVENTION IN MEDIA (ROLE OF THE STATE)
Media’s relations with actors and institutions of political power including media policy,
censorship (negative) and regulation e.g. The French quota system to support French
language music
THE RELEVANCE OF (CROSS-NATIONAL) COMPARISON
- Comparison is a basic social-scientific research activity
- Research is always comparative (be it implicitly)
- Cross national comparison is a methodological tool
- Comparison is always done across variables (e.g. H&M dimensions of media systems)
HALLIN & MANCINI ABOUT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
The basic functions of comparative analysis are:
- Concept formation and clarification make it clear what our concepts are about
- Explaining causal inference explain how developments in certain countries have
been made possible by these different concepts
Comparative analysis makes us understand variation and similarity within media systems:
- We can notice things we did not notice before and therefore had not conceptualized
see things that we might have taken for granted
- It forces us to clarify the scope and applicability of the concepts we employ
AIMS OF CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISONS
- Seek for distinctions, identify similarities or differences
- Enhance our understanding of phenomena
- Search for how and why differences occur
BUT
- Refrain from subjective judgement
- Be aware of points of reference
- Avoid cultural bias/ethnocentrism
Comparative research in this course:
Primarily comparison between countries but also between three main media subsectors
- News & Journalism
- Television
- Digital (internet) media
they deliver the bulk of content on a daily basis massive impact internet use has
become the common access to information in most countries + most globalized
GLOBALIZATION
- Media systems are affected by globalization
- Many definitions of globalization
- Most definitions refer to “growth of ties that span space” (Lechner, 2009)
- “Worldwide climate in which people, industries, governments, and countries across
the world are being propelled into closer political, economic and cultural unions”
(McKenzie, 2006)
, - Globalization has many dimensions
- The world is becoming bigger and smaller at the same time
DRIVERS OF GLOBALIZATION
Main driver of globalization is economic central impetus is corporate profit making
DRIVERS IN MEDIA GOBALIZATION
- Communication technology
- International travel
- Global media conglomerates
- Audience curiosity
Communication technology
- Personal communication technologies facilitate international communication
- Increased availability of foreign content through advances in television technologies
(satellite, cable) there is a globally orienting network of downloading and
streaming content which has a result that all of us have more or less seen the same
content e.g everyone has watched friends, game of thrones or the walking death
International travel
Allows people to explore the world
Global media conglomerates
Global media corporation – giant parent corporation, that presides over an amalgamation of
wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, companies, and divisions that are scattered across
the world, and that are afforded great local autonomy within individual countries in terms of
product design and distribution (McKenzie, 2006)
- Differ from multinational companies
- Very complex organizations
- Greatly diversified through consolidation
e.g Walt Disney and Sony
Audience curiosity: changing consumption patterns
- Overall, people have become more interested in foreign cultures and media content
- Acceleration of consumerism
BUT: taste for foreign content has to be acquired
CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON IN A CLIMATE OF GLOBALIZATION?
- Theorists of globalization highlight the diminishment of national boundaries and the
erosion of national state powers
- Globalization and commercialization of the media has led to considerable
convergence of media systems differences in media systems become smaller
differences in media systems become smaller media is becoming more similar
- As well as the homogenization of content more similar content
Are we moving towards a global media system?
LECTURE WEEK 1
The concept of media systems:
- The concept of “system” and systems theory
- What is a media system?
- What are the dimensions of a media system?
- Characteristics & interrelatedness of dimensions
What qualifies as a system?
- A system is a whole, made up of interconnecting parts irreducibility
- There are necessary and dependent relationships between the parts that make up a
system stability
- The parts are in motion, if one part changes, so do the others variety and
flexibility
- There are limits to the amount of change a system can take constraint
- Systems are open, they relate to their environment this makes them vulnerable
The general idea of a system
“A system is a cohesive conglomeration of interrelated and interdependent parts”
What is a media system?
- A country’s media institutions and practices: Hardy (2012): “a media system
comprises all mass media organized and operating within a given social and political
system (usually a state)”
- Media system has to be conceived as a “whole”: it includes several features that
cannot be considered separately (Mancini, 2020)
- Media systems also includes procedures, routines, and cultures that connect these
media outlets to the surrounding context (Hardy, 2012) not just what they are,
but what they do
- It re-creates and modifies itself through reactions to changes in other social systems.
Systems maintain coherence while continuously adapting themselves to the external
influences (Hallin, 2020)
A system is a methodological tool, used for comparative research
HALLIN & MANCINI ABOUT MEDIA SYSTEMS
A media system is a country’s complex structure of media institutions and practice that
interact with and shape one another, and which is structurally and historically linked to the
political and economic system
- There are characteristic patterns of relationships between media systems, political
systems and economic system
- Media systems are not homogenous, not the result of a single ideology or philosophy
there could be differences
- Media systems are composed of many elements, differing in normative expectations
and regulation
- Media systems result from meaningful patterns of historical development path
dependency the outcome depends on the historical path of development
- National media systems are subject to change globalization
,How to assess a media system?
Note that media system is arguably a container concept:
- Each country has its own unique system it is necessary to compare systems
- Four dimensions (elements) serve as pillars for the classification in individual
countries’ media systems
- Dimensions create particular constellations (models)
- Dimensions are able to capture the dynamics of media and politics indifferent
contexts
What makes up a media system?
- Interplay between markets, professionals, politics and the state
- Dimensions differ in influence, in some countries markets are dominant, in others the
state
- Relations between dimensions may differ in strength
- Probably “the whole of a media system is greater than the sum of its parts”
(McKenzie, 2006)
- Always in flux, changing, transition, power battles, competition etc.
FOUR DIMENSIONS OF MEDIA SUSTEMS
1. Media markets
2. Political parallelism
3. Media professionalization
4. Role of the state
we can analyze any media system with these four dimensions
MEDIA MARKETS
How is media produced, financed, consumed?
Market structures including ownership, concentration, market shared, audience behavior
and media access, use, etc.
POLITICAL PARALLELISM
Media’s engagement and alliances with social groups or ideologies the relationship of the
media, journalists, and the political sphere, including political communication and political
culture e.g. when a specific television channel is very clearly in favor of a presidential
candidate, while other tv channels are in favor of the other presidential candidate
MEDIA PROFESSIONALIZATION
Rules and norms of operation and evaluation of media outputs level of professionalism
that we see in the media e.g. professional autonomy (can writers write what they want or
do they get orders from their bosses), routines, norms, associations
The issues of instrumentalization the control of media by political or outside actors e.g.
Turkish arrests of journalists that are critical/disagree with the “norms”
,STATE INTERVENTION IN MEDIA (ROLE OF THE STATE)
Media’s relations with actors and institutions of political power including media policy,
censorship (negative) and regulation e.g. The French quota system to support French
language music
THE RELEVANCE OF (CROSS-NATIONAL) COMPARISON
- Comparison is a basic social-scientific research activity
- Research is always comparative (be it implicitly)
- Cross national comparison is a methodological tool
- Comparison is always done across variables (e.g. H&M dimensions of media systems)
HALLIN & MANCINI ABOUT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
The basic functions of comparative analysis are:
- Concept formation and clarification make it clear what our concepts are about
- Explaining causal inference explain how developments in certain countries have
been made possible by these different concepts
Comparative analysis makes us understand variation and similarity within media systems:
- We can notice things we did not notice before and therefore had not conceptualized
see things that we might have taken for granted
- It forces us to clarify the scope and applicability of the concepts we employ
AIMS OF CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISONS
- Seek for distinctions, identify similarities or differences
- Enhance our understanding of phenomena
- Search for how and why differences occur
BUT
- Refrain from subjective judgement
- Be aware of points of reference
- Avoid cultural bias/ethnocentrism
Comparative research in this course:
Primarily comparison between countries but also between three main media subsectors
- News & Journalism
- Television
- Digital (internet) media
they deliver the bulk of content on a daily basis massive impact internet use has
become the common access to information in most countries + most globalized
GLOBALIZATION
- Media systems are affected by globalization
- Many definitions of globalization
- Most definitions refer to “growth of ties that span space” (Lechner, 2009)
- “Worldwide climate in which people, industries, governments, and countries across
the world are being propelled into closer political, economic and cultural unions”
(McKenzie, 2006)
, - Globalization has many dimensions
- The world is becoming bigger and smaller at the same time
DRIVERS OF GLOBALIZATION
Main driver of globalization is economic central impetus is corporate profit making
DRIVERS IN MEDIA GOBALIZATION
- Communication technology
- International travel
- Global media conglomerates
- Audience curiosity
Communication technology
- Personal communication technologies facilitate international communication
- Increased availability of foreign content through advances in television technologies
(satellite, cable) there is a globally orienting network of downloading and
streaming content which has a result that all of us have more or less seen the same
content e.g everyone has watched friends, game of thrones or the walking death
International travel
Allows people to explore the world
Global media conglomerates
Global media corporation – giant parent corporation, that presides over an amalgamation of
wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, companies, and divisions that are scattered across
the world, and that are afforded great local autonomy within individual countries in terms of
product design and distribution (McKenzie, 2006)
- Differ from multinational companies
- Very complex organizations
- Greatly diversified through consolidation
e.g Walt Disney and Sony
Audience curiosity: changing consumption patterns
- Overall, people have become more interested in foreign cultures and media content
- Acceleration of consumerism
BUT: taste for foreign content has to be acquired
CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON IN A CLIMATE OF GLOBALIZATION?
- Theorists of globalization highlight the diminishment of national boundaries and the
erosion of national state powers
- Globalization and commercialization of the media has led to considerable
convergence of media systems differences in media systems become smaller
differences in media systems become smaller media is becoming more similar
- As well as the homogenization of content more similar content
Are we moving towards a global media system?
