Media, Markets, and Democracy

by C. Edwin Baker

• ISBN13: 9780521804356
• ISBN10: 0521804353
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Government interventions in media markets are often criticized for preventing audiences from getting the media products they want. A free press is often asserted to be essential for democracy. The first point is incorrect and the second is inadequate as a policy guide. Part I of this book shows that unique aspects of media products prevent markets from providing for audience desires. Part II shows that four prominent, but different, theories of democracy lead to different conceptions of good journalistic practice, media policy, and proper constitutional principles. Part II makes clear that the choice among democratic theories is crucial for understanding what should be meant by free press. Part III explores international free trade in media products. Contrary to the dominant American position, it shows that Parts I and II's economic and democratic theory justify deviations from free trade in media products.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
PART I SERVING AUDIENCES	1	(122)
Not Toasters: The Special Nature of Media Products	7	(13)
Public Goods and Monopolistic Competition	20	(21)
The Problem of Externalities	41	(22)
The Market as a Measure of Preferences	63	(33)
Where To? Policy Responses	96	(27)
PART II SERVING CITIZENS	123	(92)
Different Democracies and Their Media	129	(25)
Journalistic Ideals	154	(10)
Fears and Responsive Policies	164	(29)
Constitutional Implications	193	(22)
PART III AN ILLUSTRATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE	215	(62)
Trade and Economics	222	(23)
Trade, Culture, and Democracy	245	(32)
Conclusion	277	(8)
Postscript: The Internet and Digital Technologies	285	(24)
Notes	309	(56)
Index	365