How Could Global Media Regulation Safeguard and Promote Human Rights as Well as Cultural Diversity?

• In Event: "Exit, Voice and Loyalty:" How State and Power Dynamics Impact the Development of Media Systems and Concepts of Participation

Abstract

The globalization of media legislation can be said to have begun with the establishment of the WTO in 1995 and its subsequent agreements pertinent to the media, alongside the UNESCO 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity. The focus of this paper is on a multi-level stalemate between them that appears to apply at present, providing a critical analysis of the development up to this stage, and highlighting the issues of copyright piracy, ownership concentration, media freedom, and media diversity. We review the Cold War controversy around media oligopoly and cultural diversity that shook UNESCO to its foundations and outline possible future scenarios with existing institutions, as well as with novel regulatory bodies: a world competition authority for the media, as proposed by Giddens and Hutton (2000), a non-governmental global media council, and a transparent, democratic, post-state world republic.

Authors

• Anthony Lowstedt, Webster U

• Marina Begovic, Webster U Vienna

• Gili Perl, Webster U Vienna