Democratic governments throughout the world aspire to plurality and diversity of voice as a policy goal which is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Over the last 20 years, however, economics, technology, political ideology and global corporate power have often conspired to frustrate those normative aims. More recently, different plurality problems have been prompted by access issues and the burgeoning reach and power of digital intermediaries such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.

This seminar marks the publication of a new edited collection featuring a number of international scholars. It takes place in the aftermath of a UK election in which media plurality was an explicit election issue, and whose outcome some commentators believe was heavily influenced by political campaigning in the traditional press. The seminar will discuss some of the policy issues around media plurality and media ownership in the UK and Europe, to what extent new policy thinking and ideas might be politically feasible, and whether such initiatives are applicable across different nation states.

• Book details – Media Power and Plurality: From Hyperlocal to High-Level Policy (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Please register for this free event here (registration closes on 9 June 2015).

Programme

3.30–3.55pm – Refreshments and registration

3.55pm – Introduction and welcome: Prof Steven Barnett, University of Westminster

4pm – Keynote: Prof Des Freedman, Goldsmiths College, University of London

4.15pm – Brief presentations from (provisional list):

• Prof Lorna Woods, University of Essex
• Dr Judith Townend, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
• Prof Raymond Kuhn, Queen Mary, University of London
• Dr Martin Moore, Media Standards Trust

5pm – Plenary discussion

6.30pm – Drinks

7.30pm – Ends