1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910457831503321

Autore

Baker C. Edwin

Titolo

Media concentration and democracy : why ownership matters / / C. Edwin Baker [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2007

ISBN

1-107-17100-8

1-280-74946-6

0-511-81099-7

0-511-26091-1

0-511-26148-9

0-511-25971-9

0-511-31984-3

0-511-26036-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiii, 256 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Communication, society and politics

Disciplina

302.230973

Soggetti

Mass media - Ownership - United States

Freedom of the press - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Half-title; Series-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Introduction; 1 Democracy at the Crossroads: Why Ownership Matters; 2 Not a Real Problem: Many Owners, Many Sources; 3 Not a Real Problem: The Market or the Internet Will Provide; 4 The First Amendment Guarantee of a Free Press: An Objection to Regulation?; 5 Solutions and Responses; Postscript: Policy Opportunism; Notes; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Firmly rooting its argument in democratic and economic theory, the book argues that a more democratic distribution of communicative power within the public sphere and a structure that provides safeguards against abuse of media power provide two of three primary arguments for ownership dispersal. It also shows that dispersal is likely to result in more owners who will reasonably pursue socially valuable journalistic or creative objectives rather than a socially dysfunctional focus on the 'bottom line'. The middle chapters answer those agents,



including the Federal Communication Commission, who favor 'deregulation' and who argue that existing or foreseeable ownership concentration is not a problem. The final chapter evaluates the constitutionality and desirability of various policy responses to concentration, including strict limits on media mergers.