The Palgrave Handbook Of European Media Policy

European institutions affect the day-to-day functioning of film, television, radio and the Internet. Their 'meddling' with media provokes many tensions, most importantly with member states including France, Germany, Belgium and Hungary. In addition, Europe's intervention is often deemed overly economic in approach, focusing on the success of an internal market - to the detriment of public interest objectives such as pluralism, diversity and universality.

This handbook sheds light on these tensions through state-of-the-art, scientific contributions on various domains of European media policies. The overall aim of this handbook is to explore key concepts and theoretical approaches to European media policy: its historical development; specific policies for film, television, radio and the Internet; competition law and its effect on the media sector; and international aspects of the fragmented policy domain.

Review: The editors have brought together a team of top experts to provide an understanding of the complexities of media policymaking in Europe. Essential policy issues such as convergence, diversity and pluralism, as well as questions concerning intellectual copyright and competition policy, are discussed in intelligent and accessible language.

The book should be required reading for students, politicians and citizens concerned about the cultural future of the European region. - Cees J. Hamelink, Professor of International Communication, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands