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Lithuania and Latvia in 2000–2014. Analysis of the media markets’ horizontal concentration in Lithuania and Latvia countries was conducted primarily
using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. The study results show that are two clear trends of the media concentration in Lithuania and Latvia since 2000 to
2014. The concentration of the conventional media (dailies, television and radio) markets is higher in the end than in the beginning of the research period.
However, the concentration of the internet media markets have shrunk down gradually due to a growing number of markets players and the increase
of competition between the largest internet market participants in both countries. References McQuail, D. (2005). McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory,
5th Edition. London: SAGE Publications. Van Dijk, J. (2012). The Network Society, 3rd Edition. London: SAGE Publications.
PS 032 The Regulation for Media and Their Contributions to the Quality of TV News: A Comparative Study Between Brazil and Portugal
J.T. Oliveira Filho1, I. Coutinho2
1 Federal University of Minas Gerais, Graduate in Communication, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2 Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Faculty of Social Communication, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
Regulators groups for media are important to ensure compliance with the democratic obligations by communication vehicles. In Europe, many countries,
such as France (Superior Council of Audiovisual), Portugal (Regulatory Authority for the Media) and UK (Ofcom), have these groups that, together with
a social tradition, provide periodic reports about the quality of programs, offer critical channels for citizens, and monitoring mechanisms. Consequently,
European regulators are reference to other countries that do not have effective means to monitor and promote democratic media, as is the case of some
Latin American countries. In recent years, some of these countries have taken important steps in such direction, like Mexico and Ecuador. Others, despite
some advances, have shown that regulatory norms are fragile in this region. This is the case of Uruguay, whose“Ley de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovi‑
sual”has been waiting presidential sanction for three years, and Argentina, where the main achievements, such as the breaking of the media's monopoly,
were shattered with the recent change of government. Faced with this problem, this study examines how the absence of a regulatory mechanism can
affect the quality of television, with a focus on television news. For this, we use as objects of analysis the rules and normative documents of Portugal and
Brazil, two Portuguese-speaking countries that have different settings for monitoring audiovisual content. Brazil, which lacks a regulatory group, is guiding
the television commitments based on the Brazilian Telecommunications Code (CBT) of 1962 and the Law 11.652 of 2008, that establishes the objectives
of the broadcasting services to be provided by Brazil Communications Company (EBC) responsible for TV Brazil - Brazilian public broadcaster. Meanwhile,
Portugal has, in addition to laws and public service concession contracts, the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC). The results shows that CBT
in Brazil is outdated, and still based on the 60s, when it was first implemented. The law that establishes the Brazilian Public TV (2007) presents several
points that approach the ERC Creation Law (53/2005), such as promoting pluralism and diversity, ensuring the free distribution and access to content, and
guaranteeing accuracy in news content and protection of individual rights. However, the absence of media regulation in Brazil puts the country in a dis‑
advantage because of the monitoring mechanisms that could be useful to citizens. The ERC, for example, offers the Regulation Report that uses as criteria
the plurality and diversity of television programs. The Political-Partisan Pluralism Report are also a way to check the political impartiality of Portuguese
stations. Portuguese citizens also play an important role in the monitoring process of the quality of news services by forwarding complaints and demands
through online forms which reached 8285 entries in 2014. Thus, the analysis of the normative documents of countries suggest that issues like regionalism,
independence, diversity and combat to prejudice emerge as TV journalism quality indicators in both countries. However, the absence of a regulatory group
makes it difficult to accomplish the ideals advocated by the Brazilian legislation due to lack of evaluation and feedback mechanisms.
PS 033 Communication Research Policy in Spain and the EU, Contesting Policies and Methods, Past, Present and Future
F. Ortega1
1 University of Salamanca, Department of Sociology and Communication, Salamanca, Spain
Introduction: Our article provides a discussion and analysis of past and current national and EU legal, regulatory and policy directions in the field of Research
in Media and Communication at the EU. We present an analysis of European media and communication research law, regulation and policy, including a his‑
torical comparison perspective between the EU and Spain between 2007 and 2015. We present this research work under the Nationally Funded MAPCOM
Research Initiative “The Spanish Research System about Social Practices of Communication. Map of Projects, Groups, Lines, Objects of Study and Meth‑
ods”- Nationally R&D Funded Project within the Excellence Programme of Spain´s Ministry of Economy and Competition, see for more
information- , this is a unique multidisciplinary nationally funded competitive research network, analysing all Nationally Funded Research Projects and
Ph.D. Thesis in “Communication Studies” between 2007 and 2014. By addressing among others the methodological issues of Research in Communication
in all R&D Funded Projects and Phd. “Communication” thesis, MAPCOM aims to contribute to the theoretical and empirical foundations of communication
research studies in Spain and the EU, stimulating its critical analysis and proposing strategic lines of action for the improvement of the“value chain”of Re‑
search, Innovation and Development in Communication Studies and Cultural Industries in Spain and the EU. We present the results of MAPCOM first Phase
of Analysis. We also discuss a context and content analysis of the Horizon 2020 Framework programme, its different strategic areas of funding linked to
“Communication and Cultural Industries” and a relative weigh indicator construction and comparison of presence and fulfilment between GDP relative
power of a State Member and“Real Presence Indicator”, where we detect, over-represented countries and infra-represented countries and“Research Inicia‑
tives” in these areas of knowledge. Methodological Approach: The paper builds its analysis from three main issues for discussion: 1. R&D Policy Analysis in
the “Communication and Cultural Industries Field”: from a National and EU perspective. 2. Research Data and Indicator Construction: Indicator Definition,