MC403      Half Unit
Contemporary Issues in Media and Communications Policy

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Additional requisites:

There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement. Preference will be given to students who have studied MC424 but students with a strong interest or experience who have not followed MC424 will be considered.

Preparation for this course could include reviewing the indicative reading, and auditing MC424 course materials and lectures on Moodle.

This course is based on practical engagement in media policy. It examines live issues in internet, broadcasting, press and telecommunications policy with a focus on current debates and an innovative format including practical exercises in policy engagement and guest speakers who are active in media policy. The aim will be to develop a practical approach to current debates at the same time referring to the longer term normative and theoretical background to intervention in this sector. After the first session, discussion will focus on a current issue each week, and the reading contains items relating to that issue. There may be some changes to the order of the sessions depending on availability of guest speakers, and supplementary readings may be advised during seminars or by email. Students will be encouraged to debate current policy issues including those that regulators and the government are currently consulting on, and develop a critical understanding of policy intervention, the policy process and strategy.

30 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

A reading list will be provided for each topic. ** Key references. General works relevant to the course include:

• Baker, C.E. (2006). Democracy at a crossroads: Why ownership matters. In Media concentration and democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 5-53.
• Freedman, Des. (2008) The Politics of Media Policy. Polity, Cambridge.
• Mansell, R. & Raboy, M. (Eds.) (2011). The handbook of global media and communication policy. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
• **Moore, M. and Tambini, D. (Eds). (2018). Digital Dominance: The Power of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Moore, M and Tambini, D. (Eds). (2021). Regulating Big Tech. Policy Responses to Digital Dominance. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Papathanassopoulos, S., & Negrine, R. M. (2011). Europeanizing the Media of Europe. In European media: Structures, policies and identity (pp. 63–83). Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Pasquale, F., & Citron, D.K. (2014). Promoting innovation while preventing discrimination: Policy goals for the scored society. Washington Law Review, 89(4), 1413-1424.
• Picard, Robert G., [2020] Media and communications policy making: processes, dynamics and international variations. Switzerland :, Palgrave Macmillan,
• **Puppis, Manuel et al. (2024). Handbook of Media and Communication Governance. Elgar.
• Raymond, M., & DeNardis, L. (2015, November). Multistakeholderism: anatomy of an inchoate global institution. International Theory, 7(3), 572-616.
• Tambini, D. (2021). Media Freedom. Cambridge, Polity.
• Wu, Tim. (2018). The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Guilded Age. Columbia Global Reports, New York.
• Journals such as Media, Culture, and Society, New Media and Society, Journal of Digital Media and Policy, Telecommunications Policy, and Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance.
• The European Commission’s Digital Policy resources Shaping Europe’s digital future | Shaping Europe’s digital future as well as the websites of OECD, Ofcom, Home - Ofcom the FCC and other communications regulators see BEREC https://berec.europa.eu/

Presentation (50%)

Policy paper / report (50%, 3500 words)