Media ownership regulation: global trends and national solutions : a comparative analysis of the regulations regimes in Norway and South Africa

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is directed at media ownership regulation. It forwards normative principles used to legitimise ownership regulation and places these within a distinction between societal and industry regulation. The thesis presents the argument that there is a tendency on a global level, following processes of globalisation and convergence, that ownership regulation legitimised on industrial perspectives is taking prevalence over regulation with a societal orientation. On an analytical level two objectives are forwarded. First, it carries out an analysis aiming to see if there has been a shift from societal regulation to industry regulation in South African media ownership regulation. Then it conducts a comparative analysis where the outcome of the analysis is discussed with research on Norwegian media ownership regulation, done by Åse Kringstad (2004). The thesis forwards the argument that while developments, recognised by convergence and globalisation, have made regulation regimes in Norway and South Africa move towards industrial principles, regulation is still predominantly based on national concerns of a societal nature