About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 Comm. L. & Pol'y 1 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/comulp18 and id is 1 raw text is: 18 COMM. L. & PoL'Y 1-61 (2013) Routledge Copyright @ Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Taylor&Franis Group ISSN: 1081-1680 print / 1532-6926 online DOI: 10.1080/10811680.2013.746136 THE CLOSING OF THE ETHER: COMMUNICATION POLICY AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN, 1921-1926 SETH ASHLEY* How do media systems come to be structured in different ways? Through a comparative historical institutional analysis of the ori- gins of broadcasting policy in the United States and Great Britain in the early twentieth century, this study examines reasons private, com- mercial interests dominated the US. system while Britain granted a monopoly to the publicly funded, noncommercial BBC. Policy outcomes at this critical juncture were contingent on different path-dependent notions of the public interest as well as temporal sequencing. Through an analysis of primary documents and secondary literature, this study considers the implications of these different approaches for modern communication policy and democratic society. Critical discussions of the structure and function of media systems often center on the notion that there is nothing inherently natural about the way media systems develop over time.1 Rather, media systems evolve due to deliberate and accidental policies and practices that exist within social and political contexts. Once certain paths are selected, policy outcomes can have lasting effects. But how does this process unfold, and what factors lead to different outcomes? Following previous research that has identified the origins of broad- cast media as a major critical juncture in the history of communication,2 *Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Boise State University. 1See JURGEN HABERMAS, THE STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE (1989); DANIEL C. HALLIN & PAOLO MANCINI, COMPARING MEDIA SYSTEMS: THREE MOD- ELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS 2 (2004); ROBERT W. MCCHESNEY, THE PROBLEM OF THE MEDIA: U.S. COMMUNICATION POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 18 (2004); PAUL STARR, THE CREATION OF THE MEDIA: POLITICAL ORIGINS OF MODERN COMMUNICATIONS 1-2 (2004). 2See ROBERT W. MCCHESNEY, TELECOMMUNICATION, MASS MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY: THE BATTLE FOR THE CONTROL OF U.S. BROADCASTING, 1928-1935 (1993); SUSAN

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most