Communication in media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Communication in media - Essay Example In addition to this, the growth in the Internet sphere has been phenomenal. The European Union along with United Kingdom has been one of the first few to recognize the rising problems in this sector and the need to control the media and its happenings. In addition to these technology changes, it is also found that there is a growing convergence of all the technologies. Every one of these services is available on any of the media that is needed by the user (European Commission, 1997). Controlling and monitoring the changes that are happening in the industry is becoming more important. This paper would review the nature of changes that have come about in the industry and the need to control and monitor them. It explains the effective ness of the control that is already in place in UK in the form of Ofcom and what are the major lacunas in the controlling mechanism. Though UK and the media all over the world has been talking of self-control, frequently media has overstepped its brief and has trespassed into the private domain. Ofcom was launched as a regulatory authority to ensure that adequate and appropriate control exists in the wireless sector as well as to ensure that the media does not trespass into private domain and sink the liberty of the individual in the name of media liberty. Regulation is required to also ensure that there is no chaos in the wireless world. With new medias like the telephones getting highly personal, the infringement of private domain is happening too frequently. This necessitates regulation. 3. History of Regulation in UK and Europe 3.1 Early Regulations on Media Media regulation in UK started in the form of a Press Complaints Commission, which was an independent body that was working on the various complaints and issues that came about the press reports, and accuracy of the information or the personal infringement it caused. By June 1990, government's Committee on Privacy issued a report that made clear submissions about the pseudo independence of the Press Complaints Committee and reported reservations on the way the press and the media worked (Laurence Raw, 1998). Government at that time issued a stern warning to the press to organize themselves if they did not want government to interfere in their working. By 1993, the second committee recommended an ombudsman for taking care of the press invasions into privacy and also a Press Commission that would monitor the press freedom as well as ensure that the limits are not surpassed. However, the government passed regulations as a part of the civil law to restrain press from 'spying, prying, watching and besetting' into the private affairs of an individual citizen. The other regulations on the broadcasting media were the Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996. 3.2 Regulation of Television in UK and Europe 1990s also saw massive changes sweeping the European Union as well. Television without Frontiers (TWF) and Open Network Provision (ONP) form the core of the early regulation regime in Europe. When the regulation was introduced, it invoked negative reaction from the industry, which foresaw the reentry of controls in the industry as the form of regulatory mechanisms. The 1989 'TWF' regulation paved way for viewing television as a service and one that could transcend the national borders across the