A Stakeholder Approach to Media Governance

Historically, government regulation has significantly impacted the room for manoeuvre enjoyed by media managers, especially in public service media but increasingly also in privately owned firms. Currently stakeholders of many different kinds attempt to influence media industries, using a number of manipulative techniques that include censorship, subsidies and sometimes bribery as well as collective action undertaken by lobbies and nongovernment organisations (e.g. citizen interest groups). This chapter discusses the core aspects of media regulation from a European perspective because this part of the world arguably features the most complex and continuous development in these aspects. Our particular interest investigates media governance, which is not understood as an external given but considered as a premise of strategic management. It is argued that to secure an appropriate remit for an industry or firm to that guarantees a longer-term licence to operate, media managers must engage different audiences and authorities in relation to restrictive as well as prescriptive regulation. Achieving that requires approaching media governance from a stakeholder perspective, which inherently involves a broad variety of actors who can influence, and in turn may be influenced by, media operators and operations—private as well as public service based.