Broadcasters and Citizens in Europe: Trends in Media Accountability and Viewer Participation

Front Cover......Page 1
Preliminary Pages......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Introduction: overview of a European study......Page 10
1. Media accountability is entering into the political agenda......Page 18
2.1. Most-advanced countries......Page 19
2.2. Less-advanced countries......Page 25
2.3. The “under construction” countries......Page 29
3. Concluding remarks......Page 32
Introduction......Page 34
1. Accountability: exit, voice and loyalty......Page 35
2. Accountability: proposals for change at the BBC......Page 38
3. UK broadcasting policy: the “long wave” shift in the dominant framework......Page 39
4. Conceptions of the citizen and the consumer in broadcasting policy......Page 40
4.1. Citizens’ “legitimate expectations”......Page 42
4.2. Social capital and new thoughts on citizenship......Page 43
4.3. Potter, consumer theory and evaluation of the accountability of UK broadcasters......Page 45
5. The 2003 Communications Act: a new consumer and citizen consciousness......Page 47
6.Conclusion......Page 50
Introduction......Page 54
1.2. Media authorities......Page 55
2.1. Legal instruments for the viewers......Page 56
2.2. Legal obligations for the broadcasters......Page 58
3.1. Homogeneous countries......Page 59
3.2. Inhomogeneous countries......Page 65
3.3. Countries in progress......Page 70
4. Conclusion......Page 73
1. Viewers – not just consumers......Page 76
3. Options provided for viewer participation in Europe......Page 80
3.2. Communication platforms......Page 81
3.3. Complaints procedures......Page 82
4. Viewer associations......Page 83
4.1. Main objectives......Page 84
4.2. Types of activities......Page 87
5.1. Viewer participation across Europe......Page 89
5.2. Viewer participation as civil society activity......Page 90
5.3. Viewer participation on the European level......Page 91
Introduction......Page 94
1.1. European Parliament, Committee on Petitions......Page 95
1.2. European Commission: complaints concerning failure to comply with community law......Page 96
1.3. Actions brought to the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ)......Page 97
1.4. The European Ombudsman......Page 98
1.5. European Court of Human Rights......Page 99
1.7. The European Consumer Centres and request for intervention to the European Extra-Judicial Network (EEJ-Net)......Page 100
2. General principles on consumer protection......Page 101
2.2. Council of Europe......Page 102
3.1. EU Consumer Affairs policy......Page 103
3.2. Audio-visual policy......Page 104
4. Conclusions......Page 105
Abbreviations and Acronyms......Page 108
References......Page 110
About the authors......Page 116
Back Cover......Page 118