ECREA16-Abstract

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Friday, November 11

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PN 156

Economic Austerity or Just More Market? A Critical Analysis of the Austerity Argument in Flemish Policy Making 2008–2015

H. Van den Bulck

, M. Van der Burg

University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Taking key moments in media restructuring and media policy making in Flanders - the Northern, Dutch speaking part of Belgium– between 2008 and 2015

as a case in point, this contribution analyses how the Flemish government, regulatory agencies and stakeholders in the Flemish media system make use

of the ‘economic austerity argument’to formulate their claims in media debates and in policy making processes. The analysis will evaluate to what extent

the argument is used sui generis or as a discursive tool to ensure ‘more market’, i.e. a dominance of market arguments in media policy decision making.

The Eurozone crisis that started in 2008 (identified as the biggest since the 1930s great depression (The Economist, 2013)), resulted inmany Europeanmedia

(policy) decisions being backed up by a discourse of economic austerity. Although few studies examine the impact of economic downturns on media indus‑

tries, the effect is considered obvious both in academic (Dimmick, 2005) and public debates. This seems confirmed, at first glance, by media-related events,

ranging from lay-offs and concentration waves in the European newspaper industry to the shut-down of the Greek public service broadcaster in 2013, all

in the name of austerity and survival in times of crisis. This comes on top of what are considered tough economic times for media sectors resulting from

digitisation and convergence processes that affect business models and value chains of print and audio-visual media. This discourse of economic pressures

on media has been dominant in Flemish policy making too, where it is seen to be reinforced by the small size of the market (cf. Puppis, 2009). As a result,

the crisis and austerity arguments have popped up in a range of issues, including claims of stakeholders (put before the Belgian National Competition

Authority) to justify a further concentration of the Flemish newspaper market into just two companies (Van der Burg & Van den Bulck, 2015), the decision

of the Flemish government to cut back on government funding for VRT (Flemish PSB) and, subsequently, the premature ending of VRT’s management

contract and the negotiations and outcome of the new contract. This contribute will unpack these claims by means of a discursive analysis of relevant policy

documents and public communications of various stakeholders. Results suggest that behind the ‘economic austerity arguments’ are strong pressure for

governments to reorient media policies to better benefit commercial media players, be it by allowing for further concentration or by curbing the success

of public service media.

PN 157

Liberalizing Advertising While Protecting Public Service Broadcasting: The Case of Switzerland

M. Künzler

, M. Puppis

University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur, Chur, Switzerland

University of Freibourg, Freibourg, Switzerland

The transnationalization and Europeanization of media policy affects countries allover Eu-rope, leading to a steady commercialization of media systems. It

is less clear, however, whether small and big media systems are affected by deregulation and liberalization to the same degree. As previous research shows,

small media systems tend to more interventionist and protectionist policy measures (Puppis et al., 2009; Gibbons & Humphreys, 2012). In addition, most

research focuses on the influence of the EU’s audiovisual policy an the national legislation of member states. However, scholarly attention is less frequently

devoted to processes of Europeanization of non-member states. Europeanization affects non-members to varying degrees as their institutional ties with

the EU differ. In contrast to acceding countries and EEA members, countries like Switzerland have no legal obligation to transpose EU directives into national

legislation (Sciarini et al., 2004). Nevertheless, through processes of direct and indirect Europeanization Swiss legislation is closely aligned with the“acquis

communautaire” (Lavenex et al., 2009). Direct Europeanization refers to transmission mechanisms resulting from international negotiations like the so-

called “bilateral agreements”be-tween Switzerland and the EU that amount to the incorporation of EU regulations into Swiss law in selected policy areas.

In contrast, indirect Europeanization means that a non-member state unilaterally adapts to existing European rules (“autonomous adaptation”). This paper

thus asks the question of whether and how Europeanization led to a liberalization of broadcasting in the small Swiss media system or whether protectionist

measures prevail. To answer this research question a qualitative document analysis of publicly available legal documents, accompanying explanatory notes

as well as minutes of parliamentary debates was performed. Results show that Switzerland autonomously adapted to the liberal advertising provisions

of the AVMS directive. Since so-called advertising windows on foreign channels cannot be regulated due to the state of transmission principle, existing ad‑

vertising regulation was leveled down continuously in the interest of the domestic audio-visual and advertising industries. The argument of a level playing

field for domestic and foreign broadcasters was used repeatedly to demand less rigid advertising regulation. Despite the liberalization of the broadcasting

sector and the implementation of more favorable conditions for commercial stations, there used to be a consensus that the country needs a strong public

service broadcaster (PSB) as a protectionist measure in order to compete with foreign channels. After all, the small market and the availability of foreign

channels in the same languages impede the existence of a strong domestic television industry. However, in light of the current media crisis the role of PSB

and its online activities have come under scrutiny. An upcoming referendum aims at abolishing its public funding and the media industry is eagerly awaiting

a government report on the future of PSB to be published in summer 2016. Ironically, it might be the financial crisis of commercial media that leads to

a further liberalization and to a significant retrenchment of PSB.